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The Haunting of Villa Diodati is the eighth episode of Doctor Who Series 12…
It’s 1816 and we’re in the time of Mary Shelley, but referring to her 1818-published and best-known work, we’re told “Nobody mention Frankenstein. Nobody interfere. Nobody snog Byron.”
What happens on this night, in June 1816, is what inspires the novel about the scientist who creates a monster – because that’s science, yeah?
It’s also the age where people have to poo in a bucket, rather like Greta Thunberg does today when she virtue-signals by travelling to another country in a boat instead of an aeroplane like normal people.
However, a bigger problem with The Doctor and the Scooby Doo gang is that they’re struggling to leave the house because it’s like an Escher painting, taking them round and round in circles, but to the viewer, they’re just entering and leaving a variety of rooms, and any time anything’s meant to be scary, I wasn’t in the least bit scared.
A hand jumped out of a painting and grabbed Ryan by the throat, threatening to kill him, but… they stop it! Jeez, don’t look a horse down in the mouth! Let it kill him!!! Let’s hope the producers do that to him and Yaz at the end of this series, instead. You can keep Graham. Who’d have thought that Bradley Walsh was the best thing in this when he was first announced?
There was one amusing moment when guessing The Doctor’s place of origin, Byron says, “She’s from somewhere much more evil… The North”. 😀
And be careful in the current climate. The Doctor only wants Byron to refer to her as ‘Doctor’ and not “Miss Doctor“. Yes, in 2020, DO NOT assume her gender!
But what was the cause of the kerfuffle? It was all down to a time traveller… a lone Cyberman… and he would’ve gotten away with it if it wasn’t for these meddling kids!
In fact, The Doctor tells us that a Cyberman is stripped of what makes them human, and is devoid of all human emotion… so, a member of the Tory party, then.
And I don’t remember the Cybermen being so chatty, before. And haven’t they been killed endless times before? So, how come they’re about now? Or, in 1816? Or, whenever… I’m past caring, and the half-arsed explanation sounded like they nicked it from a Terminator film. Cool suit, though.
At one point, Graham asked, “What just happened?” Don’t ask me! The ending, which leads into next week’s episode, was more confusing than most episodes and I gave up trying to understand it.
David Warrilow said on the Doctor Who Facebook page (and I’ll hide this behind a spoiler header). Do you agree? Comment below:
The Haunting of Villa Diodati is available on the BBC iPlayer.
You can pre-order this series on Blu-ray and DVD, ahead of its release on March 16th.
Out the same day, is the Limited Edition Blu-ray Steelbook.
Score: 1/10
Director: Emma Sullivan
Producer: Nikki Wilson
Writer: Maxine Alderton
Cast:
The Doctor: Jodie Whittaker
Graham O’Brien: Bradley Walsh
Ryan Sinclair: Tosin Cole
Yasmin Khan: Mandip Gill
Lili Miller: Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin
Jacob Collins-Levy: Lord Byron
Lewis Rainer: Percy Bysshe Shelley
Maxim Baldry: Dr John Polidori
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.