11.23: Night Terrors
In which spooky things happen, incoherently. Or possibly incoherent things happen, spookily.
Broadcast: September 2011
Watched: January 2022
“OR giant termites, trying to get on the property ladder”.
Random creepy stuff happens without making much sense – a killer lift, an old lady eaten by rubbish, a man eaten by own carpet, and then as a finale people turn into creepy giggling dolls (which is, to be fair, terrifying). How any of this fits with the story about a space orphan isn’t exactly clear, but it’s quite enjoyable, given its origins.
And there are some genuinely good things. I like the mismatch of aesthetics, the council estate juxtaposed with the children’s fantasy. The Doctor’s performance when he reasises the monsters are real. The absolutely appalling way he winds poor Alex up about whether or not he’s going to open the cupboard. “Of course not, Claire can’t have kids!” The denouement is quite effective, because Daniel Mays can sell it, and the giant dolls’ house stuff must have been great fun to design. Is there a Dead Shoes influence here maybe? [A 2009 fourth Doctor audio, written by Paul Magrs, in which Tom Baker narrates being shrunk and running around a doll’s house. It’s brilliant.]
Anyway, it doesn’t make any sense, but it does it very atmospherically: like The Box of Delights it’s a sort of tone poem. Which is probably a review its writer, Mark Gatiss, would be pleased with.
Other things:
If we get a third of these, then children making mad shit happen and imprisoning people they have negative feelings towards can be another mini-genre. Until then it’s just a rerun of Fear Her.
I like the conceit of the Doctor getting a mission via a cry for help on the psychic paper. They could use that more.
Favourite line: “Course we get on well, I’m their landlord, they love me don’t they.” His dog is called Bernard, by the way. That’s a really good guest turn, full of moments suggesting a deep, underlying loneliness – the armchair rather than a sofa, the takeaway containers, the way he returns to reality and immediately hugs the dog for comfort – but it’s striking that they’re all things that might not have come from the script.
There are loads of stories about parents this year: Black Spot, Closing Time, this. It must be deliberate. Weird how it doesn’t connect up in any way. And also how at no point in this one does Amy say “but what about my baby”, yes yes I know it was moved in the running order yes.