Doctor Who Retro Review: Midnight

A review of possibly one of the darkest, scariest, and disturbing episodes written by Russell T Davies: ‘Midnight’

Last week, I finally watched 10 Cloverfield Lane, a film about a group of people stuck together in an underground bunker, and it was exactly what I was looking for: tense, claustrophobic, and a really great thrill.

What I especially loved about it was how a great deal of the horror came not from your usual sci-fi alien monsters, but from the seemingly ordinary people you’re trapped with. It reminded me of a Doctor Who story that was both my favourite Tenth Doctor episode and even my favourite written by Russell T Davies: ‘Midnight.’

‘Midnight’ is one of those rare episodes that’s difficult to watch, but in a very good way. It’s a brilliant example of the show relying exceedingly little on effects, or even impressive sets, and just focusing on human characters and strong acting to support it.

For those not familiar with the episode or haven’t watched it in a while, the premise is this: the Doctor is visiting a popular tourist planet called Midnight, enjoying a bus trip with a whole group of strangers to see a waterfall made of diamonds. However, that’s all quickly forgotten when, after the bus takes a detour, it breaks down in the middle of nowhere, and the situation with the passengers on board escalates very, very quickly. And this is where the real strength of the episode lies – not with the alien of the week, but with the people stuck in an awful situation.

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I really liked how Davies was able to build up each and every one of the characters nicely over the opening ten minutes, and usually with one or two lines of really great establishing dialogue. A line that I especially loved came from the father of the Cane family, while reaching the end of a funny story: “The pool is abstract!” Initially, the parents not only come across as likeable, but also rather relatable, especially with a father telling an embarrassing story to complete strangers. Davies makes it really hard to believe that any of these people could hurt a fly, especially as all of them feel like the kind of people we’d know in some shape or form.

So what does the soulless writer do? He turns all of these rather nice people into monsters.

Not literally, in this case. Well, at least not most of them. But Sky Silvestry is one key exception. We learn only a little about who she was before getting on the bus, but she comes across as a pretty nice, ordinary human being. That all changes, however, when she gets possessed by… something.

There are two main things I like about the creature itself. One is that we never really find out what it is, and that leaves plenty of mystery surrounding it. We don’t know what it looks like, if it has any real physical form, if it’s even a native to Midnight, or if it just got stuck there. It’s nice to have an episode where not all of the questions are answered by the end.

The other main thing I loved about the creature: Lesley Sharp. She gives an amazing performance as the main monster in the episode. It’s not just the fact that she’s not wearing any special makeup, although the first time you watch it, you’re certainly expecting it – maybe even just glowy eyes that have been done post-production. But no, there are no visual tricks here, and instead she relies on what really makes her performance a success – pure body language.

It’s easy to forget that she has very little dialogue for the evil force that she portrays, only repeating dialogue from everyone else until towards the end of the episode. She doesn’t even move an inch, either. And yet she’s still absolutely terrifying because of the look in her eyes. The look that says that Sky is truly dead and something extremely horrific and dangerous has taken possession of her body. Because of Lesley Sharp’s performance, it really does help to make everyone’s rapid panic quite believable.

What all of these things and more lead to is one of the rarest examples of pure adult horror in Doctor Who that explores the darkest corners of humanity. I’m not sure whether it’s a shame that Davies didn’t write episodes like this more often (to me, it’s certainly leagues better than ‘Aliens of London’), or whether part of the strength of this episode comes from the fact that it is a rare occurrence – that it pushes the boundaries of Doctor Who without crossing them. (Although for me, it certainly comes close.)

Next: The Tragic Nature of the Doctor

Whatever the case, to me, it’s a great episode, and one that I’ll always be keen to watch whenever I’m in the mood for some pure, dark horror from the show.

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