12.31: Knock Knock
In which the housing crisis comes to Doctor Who.
Broadcast: May 2017
Watched: May 2022
“Bang goes the deposit.”
Even more than The Lodger this is a housing crisis story: among other things, it’s about terrible living conditions and the fact renters are stuck with accepting whatever they can get, from dodgy boilers to creepy landlords to haunted houses that literally eat people. The vibe is extremely sinister – from the house that won’t let you out to the infestation of the alien bugs, via a kid frozen in the walls, another eaten by some stairs and a woman made of wood.
Also, David Suchet is one of the few – possibly *the* only – celeb guest stars this year, which suggest the budget might have taken a battering. (He told an interviewer he said yes without seeing the script, because it was Doctor Who. Cool.) Interesting decision to have him start out mildly creepy, but also apparently friendly and kindly – more so than many landlords whose houses *don’t* eat people – then gradually ramp up the creepiness until he’s happy to see Pavel swallowed by walls (“He’s released!”). Later on, he’s properly man-the-barricades terrifying (“I am the exception, for I am your landlord”).
The twist that he’s the woman’s son, not her father, makes him even creepier. Absolutely love that this means the Doctor gets it wrong the first time, complete with fake flashbacks, and Bill works this out from the Doctor’s assertion that, “Everyone loves insects”.
That said, I’m not sure the horror of that denouement is sold quite well enough. I’m also calling bullshit on the fact everyone comes back to life, but presumably this is about not leaving Bill traumatised. Yet.
The arc... Nardole is in it briefly, right at the end, in one of those scenes you suspect got added in at the last minute (“You don’t have to go to outer space to find monsters. There’s plenty of things that wanna kill you right here on Earth”). But the Doctor clears him out pretty quickly so he can entertain the *mysterious prisoner* in the vault by telling them a Doctor Who story. And if you hadn’t guessed it was Missy by now, the bit where he says “lots of young people get eaten” and she starts playing Pop Goes The Weasel should be a dead giveaway.
Anyway, this is one of the more effective ways of structuring an arc I think: it’s real, it’s present, but it doesn’t overwhelm the show. Better than just saying a word over and over again, anyway.
Other things:
Love the fact it literally starts with someone knocking on a door.
The Polish housemate who gets eaten in the pre-credits says “Wicked!” like he’s Ace or something.
While we’re on the suspiciously old students: Harry has a strong Brummie accent of the sort you hear on TV surprisingly rarely given how many people live there. (On Googling, I learn that the writer intended him to be the grandson of [1970s companion] Harry Sullivan for some reason?) I initially quite liked the way Paul the shagger makes it very obvious he wants to bang Bill, and then cheerily stops bothering her the literal second he knows that she’s gay, although it does rather raise the “what, so you’d keep hassling if she’s just not interested” question.
The Doctor using the TARDIS as a removal service is quite sweet. So is him posing as a grandfather again. His refusing to leave the creepy house when Bill asks is... less sweet.
The trailer for Oxygen is movie sized. They’re clearly very proud of this one.