Midnight (Doctor Who)

196 – "Midnight"
Doctor Who episode
Cast
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companion Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)
Others Billie Piper – Rose Tyler Lesley Sharp – Sky Silvestry Rakie Ayola – Hostess David Troughton – Professor Hobbes Ayesha Antoine – Dee Dee Blasco Lindsey Coulson – Val Cane Daniel Ryan – Biff Kane Colin Morgan – Jethro Tony Bluto – Driver Joe Duane Henry – Mechanic Claude
Production
Writer	Russell T Davies
Director	Alice Troughton
Script editor	Helen Raynor
Producer	Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s)	Russell T Davies Julie Gardner
Production code	4.8
Series	Series 4
Length	45 minutes
Originally broadcast	14 June 2008
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → "Forest of the Dead" "Turn Left"

"Midnight" is the tenth episode of the fourth series of 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 role of David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor than in the rest of the fourth series, with the Doctor's companion, Donna Noble (played by Catherine Tate) playing only a minimal role. For this reason Stephen James Walker has described this episode in his book Monsters Within as being "companion-lite", in his analysis of this episode's successor, the "Doctor-lite" episode "Turn Left".^[1]

Plot

Synopsis

While visiting the crystalline resort planet Midnight, the exposed surface of which is bathed in X-tonic radiation due to its close orbit around its sun, the Doctor is unable to persuade Donna to join him on a long shuttle bus trip to see the Sapphire Waterfall. The Doctor joins the other passengers on the shuttle; Professor Hobbes and his assistant Dee Dee, the Cane family (Biff, Val, and Jethro), and businesswoman Sky Silvestry. Upon departure of the shuttle the hostess attempts to start a cacophony of en route entertainment; the Doctor disables the entertainment system, and the rest of the passengers readily join him in casual conversation.

The cruiser unexpectedly stops mid-route, which the pilot suggests is caused by a problem with the micropetrol engines, and he issues a request for help. The Doctor suggests they raise the radiation shields briefly to take a look at the view, and as they close the shields, the technician claims to have spotted something moving outside. Soon, a rhythmic knocking starts on the hull of the shuttle, which then mimicks the patterns the passengers make on the walls. The knocking moves around the hull to where Sky is cowering; the shuttle is rocked briefly, causing the lights to fail, but when they return they find that the pilot cabin has been torn away, killing the pilots, and that Sky appears to be possessed amid an array of damaged seats.

The Doctor talks to Sky, but she appears able only to repeat the words he or the other passengers say. However, as they talk to her more the delay in her repetition decreases, to the extent that she eventually speaks at the same time as the other passengers. The other passengers become increasingly afraid of what has possessed Sky, and they start plotting to throw her out of the shuttle. The Doctor strongly opposes the idea and the passengers begin to accuse the Doctor; distrusting him for not revealing who he truly is. The Doctor realises that Sky is now repeating only his words, and turns back to Sky to try to help her. However, at his last sentence, Sky says it first, before the Doctor, and then begins to talk on her own. It is the Doctor that is now repeating Sky's words instead, causing the other passengers to think the possession has moved onto the Doctor. Though Sky tries to encourage the other passengers to throw the Doctor out of one of the airlocks, both the hostess and Dee Dee, and later Jethro, believe this to be the next stage of Sky's possession. When Sky uses words and phrases that the Doctor used at the start of the trip, the hostess realises that Sky is still possessed and drags her out of the other airlock, sacrificing herself in the process. With Sky gone, the Doctor regains his normal self while the other passengers come to grips with what happened. As they wait for rescue, the Doctor realises that no one knew the hostess's name.

At the spa, a mournful Doctor is reunited with Donna. When she repeats one of the Doctor's phrases, he quickly tells her not to.

Continuity

• Rose Tyler appears briefly on one of the shuttle's television screens shortly after the lifeform attacks the transport, echoing a similar appearance in The Poison Sky.^[2] In both instances, she silently shouts for the Doctor, who is not there to see the image in the first instance and is looking the opposite way in this episode. She also appears briefly in Partners in Crime. Rose is also mentioned by the Doctor by name along with Martha and Donna. In an early conversation with Sky about becoming recently single, the Doctor indirectly referred to Rose as one who "went to a different universe."

• This is the first story since 1975's Genesis of the Daleks where the TARDIS does not appear.^[3]
• Two of the Tenth Doctor's common phrases are used to identify his voice: "allons-y" (French for "let's go") and "molto bene" (Italian for "very well" or "very good"), first used in Army of Ghosts and The Runaway Bride respectively.^[3]
• The location concept of an enclosed leisure palace on a deadly and lifeless but beautiful planet was used previously in The Leisure Hive.
• Dee Dee tells the Doctor that she has written a paper on the lost moon of Poosh, the third reference to a missing planet in the series, after Adipose 3 in Partners in Crime and Pyrovilia in The Fires of Pompeii. All three disappearances are explained in episode 12 and reversed in episode 13 of the series: the planets were snatched out of time and space by Davros and the Daleks. Whilst speaking to Sky, the Doctor also mentions the Medusa Cascade, where these planets were sent.

Production

This episode is the fiftieth episode filmed for the revived series, and 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".^[2][4][5]

Cast notes

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.^[6] Troughton joined the rest of the cast in Cardiff with just two days notice.^[6] 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 long association with series since the 1960s, appearing as an (uncredited) extra in the Second Doctor serial "The Enemy of the World",^[7] as Private Moor in the Second Doctor serial "The War Games",^[8] and as King Peladon in the Third Doctor serial "The Curse of Peladon".^[9][10] 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.

Colin Morgan, the young actor who guest stars as Jethro in this episode, has gone on to star as the lead character in the hit BBC series Merlin.

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. Ryan's former castmates Sean Gallagher and Claire Rushbrook had already appeared in Doctor Who.^[11]

Reception

"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.^[12] The episode received an Appreciation Index score of 86 (considered Excellent).^[13]

The episode received a number of reviews in British national newspapers. The Guardian's TV reviewer Sam Wollaston described the episode as "great... it's tense and claustrophobic, and 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."^[14] 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".^[15] 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 preceeded 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.^[16] The Times's reviewer Andrew Billen wrote that Tennant's Doctor was becoming "increasingly irritating", that the episode was "sheet upon sheet of dialogue" that "felt too much of a writing exercise to be really scary" and an example of how the 2008 series "fails as often as it succeeds". Billen praised the episode for its claustrophobic atmosphere and for showing the series was "not afraid of variety," but instead "dead scared of repetition".^[17]

Cultural references

• Dee Dee Blasco quotes, and the Doctor references, Christina Rossetti's poem "Goblin Market," excerpting the famous lines:

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

^[18]

• The song that plays on the shuttle's entertainment system is "Do It Do It Again", by Raffaella Carrà.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ Walker, Stephen James (17 December 2008). "4.11 – Turn Left". Monsters Within: the Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Doctor Who 2008. Tolworth, Surrey, England: Telos Publishing. pp 182–194. ISBN 184583027X. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Doctor Who Magazine. Doctor Who Magazine. 2008-05-29. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Midnight Fact File". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/episodes/?episode=s4_10&action=factfile. Retrieved 2008-06-14. 
4. ^ "Doctor Who – Midnight Ep 10/13". BBC Press Office. 2008-05-29. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/tv/wk25/sat.shtml#sat_doctor_who. Retrieved 2008-05-29. 
5. ^ "The Stars are Coming Out". Radio Times (BBC) (5–11 April 2008): pp 14–24. April 2008. 
6. ^ ^{a b} "David Troughton guest-stars". Radio Times. June 2008. http://www.radiotimes.com/content/show-features/doctor-who/david-troughton-guest-stars/. Retrieved 2008-06-16. 
7. ^ The Enemy of the World. Writer David Whitaker, Director Barry Letts, Producer Innes Lloyd. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1, London. 23 December 1967–27 January 1968.
8. ^ The War Games. Writers Malcolm Hulke and Terrance Dicks, Director David Maloney, Producer Derrick Sherwin. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1, London. 19 April 1969–21 June 1969.
9. ^ The Curse of Peladon. Writer Brian Hayles and Terrance Dicks (uncredited), Director Lennie Mayne, Producer Barry Letts. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1, London. 29 January 1972–19 February 1972.
10. ^ "Filmography by TV series for David Troughton". IMDB. 2008-04-01. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0873739/filmoseries#tt0056751. Retrieved 2008-04-01. 
11. ^ Green, Kris (23 October 2006). "Daniel Ryan interview". Digital Spy. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/a38080/daniel-ryan.html. Retrieved 17 May 2009. 
12. ^ "Weekly Viewing Summary w/e 15 June 2008". BARB. 2008-06-25. http://www.barb.co.uk/viewingsummary/weekreports.cfm?report=weeklyterrestrial&requesttimeout=500. Retrieved 2008-06-25. 
13. ^ "Midnight - AI and Digital Ratings". Outpost Gallifrey. 2008-06-16. Archived from the original on 12 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080612093745/http://www.gallifreyone.com/news.php#newsitemEkEFyEFpFVOvRxzrfu. Retrieved 2008-06-16. 
14. ^ Wollaston, Sam (2008-06-16). "Doctor Who was absolutely terrifying - and we didn't even get to see the monster". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jun/16/television. Retrieved 2008-06-16. 
15. ^ Gallagher, William (14 June 2010). "Doctor Who: Midnight". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 25 August 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/61DDfsimw. Retrieved 17 September 2011. 
16. ^ Fickett, Travis (7 July 2008). "Doctor Who: "Midnight" Review". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/articles/886/886488p1.html. Retrieved 17 September 2011. 
17. ^ Billen, Andrew (2008-06-16). "How the West was Lost; Doctor Who - Weekend TV". The Times. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article4132908.ece. Retrieved 2008-06-16. 
18. ^ Ravitch, Diane; Michael Ravitch (2006). The English reader: what every literate person needs to know. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 309. ISBN 0195077296. 

External links

• Midnight (TV story) on TARDIS Index File, an external wiki
• "Midnight" at the BBC Doctor Who homepage
• "Midnight" at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
• "Midnight" at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• "Midnight" at the Internet Movie Database
• Shooting Script for "Midnight"

Reviews

• "Midnight" reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide