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Midnight (Doctor Who)

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196 – "Midnight"
Doctor Who episode
Cast
Others
Production
Directed byAlice Troughton
Written byRussell T Davies
Script editorHelen Raynor
Produced byPhil Collinson
Executive producer(s)Russell T Davies
Julie Gardner
Music byMurray Gold
Production code4.8
SeriesSeries 4
Running time45 minutes
First broadcast14 June 2008 (2008-06-14)
Chronology
← Preceded by
"Forest of the Dead" 		Followed by →
"Turn Left"
List of episodes (2005–present)

"Midnight" is the tenth episode of the fourth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 14 June 2008. The episode placed much more emphasis on the Tenth Doctor, with his companion, Donna Noble playing only a minimal role. As a result, this episode has been described as being "companion-lite", in contrast to the usual "Doctor-lite" episodes.

The episode is principally set on board a small touring vehicle, which stops in the middle of a tour on the hostile surface of the planet Midnight and has its cockpit destroyed with its driver and mechanic still inside, by an unseen entity. The entity is depicted only through sound effects and by its possession of one of the vehicle's passengers, Sky Silvestry, who repeats the words of the other passengers on board.

"Midnight" was watched by 8.05 million viewers. It received positive reviews from critics, who particularly liked the psychological horror of the unseen creature, as well as the tense claustrophobic feel of the episode.

Plot

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The Tenth Doctor and Donna visit the resort planet Midnight, which is bathed in lethal radiation from its star. The Doctor takes a shuttle tour to visit a waterfall made of sapphires- he goes alone, unable to convince Donna to leave the comfort of the local spa. Mid-route, the shuttle unexpectedly stops; the Doctor joins Driver Joe and Mechanic Claude in the cockpit, with all systems appearing operational, but the shuttle still not moving. The Doctor asks Joe to briefly open the cockpit radiation shielding to see what may be causing the problem, and before they are closed again, Claude claims to have seen something moving outside. Joe calls in for a rescue shuttle, which would need some time to arrive.

The Doctor returns to the cabin, and everyone hears knocking on the sides of the shuttle. The knocking seems to follow their movements, but soon only comes from the side of the shuttle where one passenger, Sky, is cowering. The shuttle rocks violently, and the hostess finds that the cockpit has been ripped from the shuttle. The Doctor and other passengers see Sky behaving oddly, repeating what they are saying; frightened, the passengers think she has become possessed by whatever was outside. Sky begins talking simultaneously with the passengers, increasing the paranoia among the group. They begin to debate throwing Sky out onto the surface of the planet, and after the Doctor's objects, they threaten to throw him out as well. Sky then begins only repeating what the Doctor says.

As the Doctor tries to reason with Sky, he suddenly appears unable to move. Sky starts saying things before the Doctor repeats them, making the other passengers believe the entity has moved on to possess the Doctor. Unable to communicate with the Doctor, the passengers soon reach hysterical levels of paranoia. Sky attempts to convince the passengers that she is back to normal, and that they must throw the Doctor off the shuttle.

While most of the other passengers start to pull the Doctor towards the shuttle door, the hostess, hearing Sky use some of the Doctor's unusual phrases, realises Sky is still possessed. The hostess pulls herself and Sky out of the cabin and into the radiation. The Doctor is freed and the shuttle passengers are rescued and returned to the resort. The Doctor intends to have the resort removed from the planet, still feeling haunted.

Production

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Writing

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"Midnight" was filmed at the same time as "Turn Left"; Donna has a minor role in the episode (appearing in only the pre-credits sequence and the final scene), while the Doctor has a minor role in "Turn Left".[1][2][3] For this reason Stephen James Walker has described this episode in his book Monsters Within as being "companion-lite".[4] Russell T Davies has stated that "Midnight" was inspired by the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Darmok".[5]

The script of the episode ran for 60 pages, with the bulk of it comprising of just one scene- Scene 9, which ran for 44 pages. The scene featured the conversation and rising paranoia of the passengers on the shuttle.[6] Russell, writing to replace a previously planned story (replaced due to similarity with a just-filmed script), decided to focus on the dark side of humanity, and "the way people turn on each other.[2]

There were many references to the series' story arc: a passenger Dee Dee tells the Doctor that she has written a paper on the lost moon of Poosh, the Doctor mentions the Medusa Cascade, and Rose Tyler appears briefly on a television screen. Rose appears along with the lost moon of Poosh (and other missing planets), in the two-part season finale "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End," which takes place in the aforementioned Medusa Cascade.[7]

Dee Dee also quotes, and the Doctor references, Christina Rossetti's poem "Goblin Market," excerpting the famous lines:[7]

"We must not look at goblin men,
We must not buy their fruits:
Who knows upon what soil they fed
Their hungry, thirsty roots?"

Casting

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David Troughton, cast here as Professor Hobbes, was a late replacement for Sam Kelly, who broke his leg and had to withdraw from the production.[8] Troughton joined the rest of the cast in Cardiff with just two days notice.[8] Now known for his stage work with the RSC as well as television, he is the son of Patrick Troughton, who portrayed the Second Doctor. He has had a long association with the series since the 1960s, appearing as an uncredited extra in the Second Doctor serial The Enemy of the World, as Private Moor in the Second Doctor serial The War Games, and as King Peladon in the Third Doctor serial The Curse of Peladon.[6] He has appeared in the Doctor Who audio dramas Cuddlesome, The Judgement of Isskar, The Destroyer of Delights, and The Chaos Pool. He is unrelated to the director of the episode, Alice Troughton.[9]

Daniel Ryan (Biff Kane) had announced in a 2006 interview that he was going to ask Russell T Davies for a role in Doctor Who, as he wanted his children to see him acting on television in a programme that was not inaccessible. Ryan had a supporting role in the Davies created series Bob & Rose (starring Lesley Sharp), and Davies had previously written an episode of Linda Green which Ryan starred in.[10]

Filming

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Filming for the episode took two weeks, from 27 November to 11 December 2007. The majority of the filming took place in Studio 6 at Upper Boat Studios, with the exception of the opening and closing scenes. These scenes were shot on the last day, as they included Tate, who was busy on the set of the Doctor-lite episode eleven "Turn Left". The scenes were filmed in a spa resort in Newport.[2]

During filming, Scene 9 was broken down into scenes 9A to 9K, with each focusing on part of the growing paranoia. The production team noted that due to the scene's real-time nature, it was almost possible to film it in real-time too.[6]

Broadcast and reception

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The episode was first broadcast on BBC One on 14 June 2008, and ran against ITV1's coverage of Euro 2008. The episode was also shown on the Gloucester Guildhall's cinema screen, due to an arrangement made by the BBC, similar to the one for the previous series' "Blink". A corresponding Doctor Who Confidential episode was broadcast afterwards on BBC Three.[11]

Ratings

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"Midnight" was watched by 8.05 million viewers, a 38% share of the total television audience, making it the fifth most-watched programme of the week, and the top rated show of the day. This made it one of the highest placed episode ever in the show's history. The episode received an Appreciation Index score of 86 (considered Excellent).[12][11]

Reception

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The Guardian's Sam Wollaston, who found the episode great, described the episode as "tense and claustrophobic", and that "it gnaws away at you." He praised the fact that all the action happened in one confined space with an unseen enemy, saying "this is psychological drama rather than full-blown horror; creepy-unknown scary, not special-effect-monster scary."[13] IGN's Travis Fickett rated the episode 8.6 out of 10, commenting that it was "a nice change of pace" from the more complex and emotional two-parter that preceded it. He thought the most successful aspect of the episode was the creature and praised the fact that it was "tightly written" and allowed the viewer to get to know the different passengers.[14]

The Times's Andrew Billen noted that Davies had chosen to forgo special effects and chases in favour of dialogue, but that it "felt too much of a writing exercise to be really scary" and was an example of how the 2008 series "fails as often as it succeeds". He praised the episode for its claustrophobic atmosphere and for showing the series was not "afraid of variety," but instead "dead scared of repetition".[15] William Gallagher of Radio Times was generally positive about the episode, but he said he would have "liked just a beat more, just a tiny further step before the resolution; can't even tell you what was missing but I needed one more stage in the journey".[16]

In 2010, Matt Wales listed "Midnight" as the second-best Tennant episode of the series in an IGN article.[17]

Legacy

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The episode has been adapted three times for the stage: by students from Salford University's BA Performing Arts and Media Performance courses in March 2011, at the Lass O'Gowrie pub theatre in Manchester in January 2012, and by Sporadic Productions as part of the Adelaide Fringe in 2016.[18]

References

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  1. ^ "Doctor Who Magazine". Doctor Who Magazine. No. 396. 29 May 2008.
  2. ^ a b c Pixley 2008, p. 109.
  3. ^ "The Stars are Coming Out". Radio Times. No. 5–11 April 2008. BBC. April 2008. pp. 14–24.
  4. ^ Walker, Stephen James (17 December 2008). "Chapter 4.11 – Turn Left". Monsters Within: the Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Doctor Who 2008. Tolworth, London, England: Telos Publishing. pp. 182–194. ISBN 978-1-84583-027-4.
  5. ^ SFX (200): 140.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
  6. ^ a b c Pixley 2008, p. 110.
  7. ^ a b Pixley 2008, p. 114.
  8. ^ a b "David Troughton guest-stars". Radio Times. June 2008. Retrieved 16 June 2008.
  9. ^ Lewinski, John Scott (3 June 2008). "The Doctor Dates His Daughter From 'The Doctor's Daughter'". WIRED. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  10. ^ Green, Kris (23 October 2006). "Daniel Ryan". Digital Spy. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  11. ^ a b Pixley 2008, p. 115.
  12. ^ "Weekly Top 30 Programmes". Barb Audiences. Retrieved 19 August 2024. (No permanent link available. Search for relevant dates.)
  13. ^ Wollaston, Sam (16 June 2008). "Doctor Who was absolutely terrifying - and we didn't even get to see the monster". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 June 2008.
  14. ^ Fickett, Travis (7 July 2008). "Doctor Who: "Midnight" Review". IGN. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  15. ^ Billen, Andrew (16 June 2008). "How the West was Lost; Doctor Who". The Times. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  16. ^ Gallagher, William (14 June 2010). "Doctor Who: Midnight". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 20 November 2008. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  17. ^ Wales, Matt (5 January 2010). "Top 10 Tennant Doctor Who Stories". IGN. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  18. ^ Purser-Hallard, Philip (2024). The Black Archive #69: Midnight. Obverse Books. pp. 115, 119, 123.

Bibliography

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  • Pixley, Andrew (19 November 2008). "Series Four Companion". Doctor Who Magazine. No. 20 – Special Edition.
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Wikiquote has quotations related to Tenth Doctor.


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