I rewatched 42 earlier - I've always seen 42 as a good but fairly average episode. I think that's partly because so much of Series 3 for me at least is stand out, and so 42 would seem better in a weaker season. There are some great moments in it - the escape pod scene, the living sun twist, the Doctor possessed both in the "I'm so scared" scene and the "burn with me Martha" scene. It's a very enjoyable episode. A small part of the problem with it is the Martha's mum scenes, while enjoyable at first, start to feel added on for season arc and don't fit the style of the rest of the episode. Mostly though, none of the supporting cast are memorable, and or even that likable. I've just watched it and the only names I can remember are Corwen and Ashton and I remember them as possessed sun-zombies, I couldn't tell you anything about their characters. I do enjoy 42 and like it but I wanted to raise that point because I think it's an interesting contrast to Chris Chibnall's season s showrunner this year where the strength has been in character work for a lot of it, with very real, likeable and memorable characters largely populating the stories (with a few exceptions).
The Woman Who Fell to Earth gives us all four of our new Tardis team, and Grace as a fully formed character, and Tzim Sha as a villain. In The Ghost Monument we get the very real-feeling characters of Angstrom and Epso. Rosa is a character study of Rosa Parks. Arachnids in the UK is a weird one, giving us a very real impression of Yaz's dad and sister in no time at all then spending most of the episode with 42-like unmemorable Yaz's mum, a woman who's only character trait is she knows about spiders, and a ridiculous over the top Trump-allegory. The Tsuranga Conundrum is back on form for character at least though with Astos, Mabli, and Durkas all standing out - even if some of the others aren't particularly notable and the episode overrall is a bit forgetable. Prem and Manish in Demons of the Punjab, Kira, Charlie, Dan and Judy in Kerblam! And James I and Becka Savage in the Witchfinders, all leave an impact too in Chibnalls' season even though not written by Chibs.
I just think it's an interesting comparison for Chibnall's writing of how it's developed between his first work on Who compared to his current work - the importance of plot and character work to him seem to have swapped around. Could be a deliberate choice, could be a case of showrunning different to writing, could be the practice he got in Broadchurch having changed him - I don't know
Looking back at Chibnall's other pre-showrunner work - The Power of Three is a weird one because there is next to no plot in it but it's still really enjoyable to watch because of the great character work with the core 3 cast, the introduction of Kate Stewart and the return of the fantastic Brian Williams. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and the Silurian two parter have a much better balance (Dinosaurs is one of my favourites) so I find it interesting he bookended his work with the two extremes.
I like all 3 of the new companions - particularly Graham and Yaz - and making all 3 seem real in one episode is a great achievement. By the nature of the screen time being shared between three of them they're going to end up with less distinct and obvious character for a while than other companions managed but I still think he's done a pretty good job with them. Potentially too many companions has been a problem for the series in making both its Doctor and companions distinctive but it's certainly not been a failure. For me at least.
All in all, I think the balance has been in favour of character more than plot for most of Chibnall's Series 11 work and this is a huge contrast to Moffat's always plot-filled seasons we've got used to (and I greatly enjoyed) so I'm still adapting to Chibnall's approach and waiting to see what surprises he gives us next
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