Night Terrors IS Doctor Who. It’s without it’s story arcs (except from a chilling scene at the end of the episode) and it’s how Doctor Who – modern Doctor Who, should be.
The setting of the council estate reminds me of “Damaged Goods”, the New Adventures novel by Russell T Davies. And in Damaged Goods, there is also a child that everyone knows, that there’s something alien about. And I was hoping that George in Night Terrors would have the same alien skill as Gabriel in Damaged Goods (a power which makes you see what you want). The revelation that Claire can’t have kids, and that George is an alien is perfectly acted, and it’s written brilliantly. It’s one of the most powerful moments in the episode – though surely… there could be a better name than Tenza.
The lighting on the council estate, and the whole architecture of it, is brilliant. It’s fantastically directed, and the balconies of the buildings are used perfectly. The Doctor, Amy and Rory making house calls is fantastic, funny and just… excellent. In fact – the whole episode is. It mixes horror (for younger kids) with humour, and it takes a 21st Century idea, and a 21st Century version of Doctor Who – and makes it… good. It shows how well people can write Doctor Who now – and how EXCELLENT the episodes would be without story arcs. So, as much as I enjoy the story arcs – perhaps less of them, and more focus on standalone episodes (which Night Terrors proves can be done really well) is what’s needed.
The Peg Dolls are… interesting. They are scary, but their voices are quite deceiving because their mouths don’t move. And they’re so easily defeated! That means that the ending feels slightly rushed, it’s all resolved very quickly, and Night Terrors could’ve done with an extra ten minutes on the end. Apart from a rushed ending – it’s a very very good episode, and even though the Peg Dolls are easily defeated, they still have, on the whole, the menace and terror they need.
Amy and Rory are excellent (if a little slow at working out it’s a Dolls House) and Rory takes his slow, slightly bumbling lines, and makes them funny. They’re well placed, and they don’t show Rory to be completely ignorant and stupid – Rory’s lines show Rory to be – Rory. But Mark Gattiss has written excellently for both Amy and Rory – and even though Rory does continue as he’s been portrayed before, he still shows initiative that he showed in the previous episode.]
Overall – Night Terrors is excellent. A brilliant example of how a modern Doctor Who episode should be.
And the council estate was filmed in Bristol, so was the dolls house!
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