Doctor Who [4]

So Neil Cross returns to pen Hide (or in fact he doesnt but we saw his second penned episode first, the devisive Rings of Akhenten) and its easy to see why the Moff asked him back to do another.

Hide starts out as a ghost story- set in 1974 in a spooky house on a moor where Professor Palmer (played superbly by Dougray Scott) and his assistant (Doctor- "Yes, of course, 1974, you have assistants not companions") Emma Grayling, played by Jessica Raine, are investigating the Witch in the Well. Their releationship, full of unspoken looks is rather reminscent of the Doctor and his assistants during the 3rd Doctor, Pertwee era.

Emma is a psychic and Palmer has her trying to contact the ghost, which not only has haunted the house since it was built, but the land that that was there before the house.
To aid Professor Palmer he has a wonderful array of 70's machinery and technology, and its a particular joy once the Doctor turns up to see his delight at the sort of stuff which used to litter his lab at UNIT HQ in the 70's.


Indeed Matt's Doctor has a very Pertwee 3rd Doctor vibe to it of late, showing a far more paternal side with Clara than he did with the Ponds where he was, in Amy's words, "My friend, my best friend." Not something Clara could say of him, or vice vera it seems.

So haunted house- check. Psychic investagtor- check. Psychic- check. Mysterious ghost- check.
So its a ghost story, and does it very effectively. Its never scary, scary for adults, but it will do the trick for the little uns, and it gets as far as errie and tense for the adults which is all it needs to for the story to be effective- but then its not really a ghost story anyway, because the Doctor and Clara turn up and it turns into a Who story- one with a crashed time traveler, a bubble universe moving at a different time, and a thing in the bubble universe that stalks you whilst you are there. Oh and a love story, at least two of them.


You see in amongst the candle lit corridors, spooky lighting, and ghostly appearences and noises there is a lovely portrayed romance between the Professor and his assistant. One he refuses to acknowledge.
The Professor it turns out is a war hero, one who takes no acclaim, and there is a very touching conversation between him and the Doctor where they discuss how, even when its the right thing to do and in a just cause, sending people to what you know will be their death haunts you evermore.

This scene sits alongside another weighty scene later between the Doctor and Clara.

In order to find evidence that the ghost is not a ghost but something trapped the Doctor uses the Tardis to hop through earth's history, from its very beginng to its very end.
To the Doctor its a normal day in the Tardis, quick hop through time here and there. To Clara is horrific. And she comes to the realiation that to the Doctor everyone is either not born yet or dead.


To this is coupled a third conversation between Clara and the psychic Emma, wo warns Clara not to trust the Doctor as he has 'a sliver of ice in his heart'.

And the capping of all this comes at the episodes end, where we discover that the real reason the Doctor came there at all was to meet the famous psychic Emma Grayling, and get her to check out Clara.
Its proving to be an interesting and quite unique dynamic, one in which neither the Doctor or the Companion is sure or completly trusts the other.

There is also more on the TARDIS not liking Clara, with the Doctor explaining she is 'a bit like a cat'- it takes her a bit of time to accept someone. And Clara even gets a conversation with the Old Girl in the form of holographic version of herself acting as the Tardis interface. With next weeks episode taking us into the heart of the TARDIS there will be more to come on this matter.


So onto the plot in which all this slighty heavier matter sits.
The Doctor, having disovered the ghost exists across a very large chunk of time and having discovered it is women in what looks like a spacesuit, deduces she is trapped in a bubble universe and goes in after her poltergiest style at the end of a rope through a psychicly opened wormhole (the well) held open by Emma's powers amplified through a gem from the planet where the 3rd Doctor (Pertwee again-surely not a coincdence) died.
Unfortunetly the stranded woman is not alone. There is something in the bubble universe with her.

The bubble universe takes the form of a spooky wood at night wreathed with mist. And it doesnt take the Dctor long to find the lost women, who turns out to be from about 800 years in the future and is a famous test pilot in early time experiments- history records her lost.
The Doctor saves her but Emma canot maintain the link, leaving the Doctor trapped, and rather scared, in the woods in a fast diminshng universe with a hostile thing lurking in the mists.
And from the glimpses of the thng you get it is not pleasent, scuttling around with an odd alien movement.

And this is where Clara has her showdown with the TARDIS, insisiting they save the Doctor even though the TARDIS puts herself at great risk going into the collapsing universe, as the entropy would drain her and kill her within minutes.
Despite this the TARDIS relents and opens the doors for Clara. And Emma reopens the wormhole giving them an exit.

So the Doctor is saved from the evil monster, the 'ghost' mystery is solved and the doctor reveals that the timepilot ghost is in fact the great great granddaughter of Emma and the Professor which is why the connection was so strong. Lots of love is in the air.
Which is when the Doctor realises he has made a mistake.
Because some of the ghostly things that happened werent caused by the ghost, but by there being not one, but two monsters, and one of them is still in the house.


But the twist is they just look like grotesque monsters when in fact they are mates, one stuck here, one stuck there, drawn into the universes by the time crash.
So off the Doctor goes again this time to let the monster catch him so he can bringit and its mate together and everyone lives.

Probably only Doctor Who could do a ghost story where the ghosts turn out to be a trapped time test pilot and two disgusting looking aliens in love. And get away with it with such style.

Its very easy to see why Moffat recommissioned Cross for a second episode after this one. The characters are very well drawn, the plotting is dense but never to difficult to follow ad the slower moments never feel like padding but give more depth for everyone and the general themes that have been building up since Clara arrived.
Its an accomplished piece of scripting. And it proves one thing for certain about Neil Cross when taken side by side with Rings of Akhenen. He is not afraid to take a risk or play with styles, and I like that.


Things of note-
Lots of Pertwee references in this one that I wont list individually, there were 1st Doctor refrences in Akheneten and last week we had an old foe of the 2nd Doctor in a very 2nd Doctor style story. Coincidence?
According to psychic Emma- there is nothing odd about Clara. She is a normal person. You could see the frustration on the Doctor at that news.
A reappearence for 10's orange spacesuit too and a mention for the Eye of Harmony- I dont think Nuwho has refrenced it before.
And where has the Doctor hat-stand gone?

I liked the idea that the ghost was from the FUTURE as opposed to being yet another ghost seeking revenge,dah dah dah dee dah, reminded me of another "turn around story", a film called "the others", I noticed the way DR who kept on about Clara, I havnt kept up with it all over the years but, is he hoping to find someone really special ? like one of his kind ? IDK, made a nice change that the 2 aliens were not blood thirsty madmen, & were "star crossed lovers",

havnt kept up with it all over the years but, is he hoping to find someone really special ?- Azriel

Clara is impossible- he has encountered her three times in three different places in the universe at three different times.
The only reason he took her along is that she is 'the only mystery worth investigating'- it was the mystery of her brought him back out of his selfimposed exile after he lost the Ponds. What she is we dont know any more than the Doctor- but you can bet its leading into the 50th somehow.

I noticed that He said she was a mystery !, It has got my juices flowing, investigativly speaking !