Doctor Who: How ‘Sleep No More’ Could Have Reached its Potential

The latest episode of Series Nine of Doctor Who, ‘Sleep No More,’ had the potential to be one of the best episodes in the history of NuWho. Virtually everything about the episode – from the way it was filmed, to the overall tone, to the distressingly uncertain ending – worked perfectly. The only issue? The Sandmen.

Let’s be honest – the concept of creatures made from the gunk in the corners of the eyes of humanoids, who also swallow up humanoids, is quite bizarre. It was also not a concept that seemed to have been explained well. By

going without sleep for extended periods of time

watching a video to reprogram one’s brain, that somehow made the sand in the corners of one’s eyes come to life? How so, exactly?

It was mainly that one issue that kept ‘Sleep No More’ from being one of the best episodes in a long time. This also leads to the question of what type of creature would have been best for that episode. It is, in reality, a collection of insomniacs wandering about and being killed by their own lack of sleep. So, let us work with this.

When someone is sleep deprived, they experience a number of medical issues, including hallucinations. These hallucinations could have been the physical computerized manifestations of dreams that these people did not get to have. An additional possibility would be to have them be visible only to the one person experiencing them, and would therefore not appear on the cameras.

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This would also explain how these creatures knew what the Doctor and his group were doing. As hallucinations, they would take place within the minds of those who were sleep deprived; in essence, following them around. They would know and see what the host knows and sees, helping them to seemingly stay a step ahead of the Doctor as he attempted to determine what was happening.

Having the hallucinations as the villains in the episode would have also added to the horror aspect. No one else would have been able to see what was happening, as the victims would have been fighting something that was literally within their own head. Each person would have their own battles, that only they could see. From a pure horror standpoint, that would work much better than a being made out of eye crust.

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Next: Mark Gatiss Planning Sequel to Sleep No More

‘Sleep No More’ had the potential to be one of the best episodes of Doctor Who in recent memory. Instead, the Sandmen were one of the worst creatures that the Doctor has ever come across. If only that one change could have been made…