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Series 4 Episode 10: “Midnight”Broadcast on BBC1, Saturday June 14th, 2008 As premiered ondanowen.blogspot.com
Series 4 Boxset:
Series 4 Part 1:
Series 3 Boxset:
Director:
- Alice Troughton
(TV: The Doctor’s Daughter, Midnight)
Screenplay:
- Russell T. Davies
Cast:
- The Doctor: David Tennant
Donna Noble: Catherine Tate
Sky Silvestry: Lesley Sharp
Hostess: Rakie Ayola
Professor Hobbes: David Troughton
Dee Dee Blasco: Ayesha Antoine
Val Cane: Lindsey Coulson
Biff Cane: Daniel Ryan
Jethro Cane: Colin Morgan
Driver Joe: Tony Bluto
Mechanic Claude: Duane Henr
Synopsis: The Doctor takes a trip on a shuttle bus to see a Sapphire Waterfall, and encounters a frightening alien entity…
This one will divide audiences! For the first 10 minutes “Midnight” is theusual mix of Russell T. Davies broad-stroke storytelling, with echoes of his”Voyage Of The Damned” special (sketchily-written people stuck aboard aterrorized vessel), but then things get considerably more interesting.
It doesn’t quite gel together, or even end particularly well, but for a goodchunk of its runtime… the tension and claustrophobia is enough for this episodeto lodge in your brain and unsettle…
“Midnight” finds The Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna (Catherine Tate)on the same-named inhospitable planet, which is home to a leisure complex (lowered tothe surface from orbit, we learn.) Donna opts to stay inside by a pool andget a sun tan, while The Doctor boards a shuttle bus to see a famous SapphireWaterfall. Unfortunately, because the planet’s soaked in dangerous sunlightat all times, the view is restricted and irritating entertainment pumped intothe craft until they reach their destination.
But The Doctor disables the audio-visual distractions and suggests his fellow passengersactually talk to one another. Thus, we’re introduced to Sky Silvestry (Lesley Sharp),the nameless Hostess (Rakie Ayola), planetary expert Professor Hobbes(David Troughton; son of Second Doctor Patrick Troughton), intellectual girl Dee Dee Blasco (Ayesha Antoine), mother Val Cane (Lindsey Coulson),her husband Biff (Daniel Ryan) and disinterested son Jethro (Colin Morgan).
In these early scenes, Davies’ script shows every sign of becoming a tediousbore, populated by stereotyped characters in a situation that seems designedpurely to save the budget. Yet, against expectation, once the threat is introduced(a mysterious knocking on the outside of the shuttle’s hull, when the craftmalfunctions and comes to a standstill) things quickly become very interesting.
In restricting the story to one primary location, Davies has to rely on hisskills with character and dialogue to entertain, and the early blandness is swept awaythanks to the introduction of a genuinely creepy antagonist…
The villain of the piece is never explained (to Davies’ great credit), butit’s an entity that infiltrates the shuttle bus and proceeds to “possess”Sky — initially making her repeat whatever anyone else says. It’s strange,slightly amusing and weird behaviour, but The Doctor is keen to help thisalien learn to “communicate”.
However, when Sky synchronizes her dialoguewith that of the other passengers — eerily predicting every word they say,without a split-second’s delay — things become twice as frightening. What doesthis alien want? Why has it possessed one of them? And how is it able tocopy peoples’ speech so precisely?
As even The Doctor struggles to find answers, fears amongst his fellowspassengers escalate and they begin to debate throwing Sky out of the airlock.As The Doctor pleads with them not to start condoning murder as a knee-jerkreaction to witnessing something unexplained, the others quickly start toquestion The Doctor’s role in this nightmare…
As a stranger with a great deal of opinions and authoritative nature, canhe be trusted? This is perhaps the most interesting facet of “Midnight”, asDavies subverts the idea that characters immediately trust and help The Doctor.What really works about this episode is seeing characters react badly towardsThe Doctor’s presence, particularly once Sky starts to only synch her speechwith the Time Lord, and eventually moves on to possess him instead…
While clearly “filler” material (focused on one simple set, Donna onlybookending the story, FX reduced to a few panoramas), there’s a lot to be saidfor how “Midnight” uses its restrictions to its advantage. Once Davies settlesinto the frightening middle-section, he doesn’t put a foot wrong. The situationis scary, tense, atmospheric and brilliantly acted. Lesley Sharp was particularlystrong as Sky, crouching insect-like in the shuttle’s corner, parrotting everyoneelse.
It’s a mesmerising performance of a very freaky, simple idea — and Sharpdelivers the requisite chills. The other characters stay fairly two-dimensionalthroughout, but Troughton is good as the concerned academic, and Coulson makesa great shouty mother concerned for her family’s safety.
The episode’s rushed climax is both a positive and a negative: the fact”Midnight” refused to even explain the villain’s motives or identity added toits overall mystique, while also giving the whole story the vibe of a surrealdream. But it also proves slightly unsatisfying and (beyond a brief flash ofRose Tyler on a video-screen) the repercussions of this episode won’t be feltanywhere.
So yes; it’s a “bottle show” and a budget-saving exercise (simultaneously filmedwith next week’s “Turn Left”), but it also proves Russell T. Davies can writemore interesting episodes if he’s challenged.
Overall, “Midnight” is definitely one of Doctor Who’s stranger episodes, but Iwas bewitched and unsettled by the captivating 20-minutes in the middle. Theopening wasn’t particularly strong, and the ending did seem rather forced, butLesley Sharp’s insidious performance, coupled with a genuine sense of threatfor an out-of-his-depth Doctor (by this bizarre alien and the suspicious,frightened crew) was armchair-gripping stuff.
Join in the discussion about this episode atDan’s Media Digest
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.