Doctor Who: The Haunting of Villa Diodati

[andraste]

So after being ambivalent about Spyfall, hating Orphan 55, loving Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror and Fugitive of the Judoon I thought that Praxeus and Can You Hear Me? were ... OK? Full of interesting ideas but a bit over-crowded in way that didn't quite come together for me. Some day, I suspect that I am going to be saying that about this era as a whole.

But! I really liked this one!



On paper, this should really should be an over-crowded mess, with so many guest characters and three companions and a Doctor and most of a Cyberman (to say nothing of the baby) but somehow I felt that this script struck the balance between its elements in a way that the last couple haven't quite managed to do.

I loved that that first historical figure to spend the whole episode trying vainly to get into Thirteen's culottes was George Gordon Byron, because he absolutely would. And poor Claire Clairmont getting over him because he hid from a Cyberman behind her was delightful. (As was the look on Polidori's face.) Speaking of which, I sort of wish everyone hadn't been distracted from the proposed duel by a reanimated skeleton hand (god I love this show) because that had considerable unexplored comic potential. But then, as previously stated, there was a lot going on here.

Mary was absolutely the stand-out among the guest characters, as she should be, and her confrontation with Ashad was my favourite part of the whole thing. It's especially poignant when you know what happened to little William. (And her older daughter. And her next daughter. The fam were right to tell her not to lose hope.)

Also, I would just like to take a moment to once again state my love for Graham. Not quite the first companion to go looking for the loo (that would be Bill, AFAIK) but assuredly the first to cheerfully eat a meal provided by mysterious ghosts that never get explained. Although maybe they'll come up again later?

Comments

[lilacsigil]

I really enjoyed it, too! Whoever wrote this one had entirely justified confidence in their ability to split up the cast into smaller groups for focus. It was a great mystery, too!

[andraste]

I really hope that writer Maxine Alderton comes back for more - it's an especially astonishing piece of work from someone writing an episode of Doctor Who for the first time.

[jhall1]

Yes, it was great fun.

[neuralclone]

When Graham went looking for the loo I found myself talking to the screen: "It's 1816! You're not going to find an indoor loo in 1816!"

[andraste]

I have a feeling that everything Graham knows about periods of history the Doctor hasn't taken him to yet comes from watching TV dramas that don't get into the question of where various Jane Austen characters go to the loo :D.