Review: Doctor Who - Sleep No More

When Russell T Davies was showrunner of Doctor Who there was a tonal consistency to the program, and - after "Love & Monsters" proved a bit divisive - each episode was a great, safe action adventure story. Since Steven Moffat has taken over, he's given the writers more freedom (unlike Davies, Moffat doesn't do a final script rewrite of each episode), though this has resulted in a loss of that tonal consistency. Equally, Moffat doesn't deliver great, safe action adventure stories every week. Whereas Davies' Doctor Who was a enjoyable ride through the countryside, Moffat's is more of a rollercoaster, with some huge highs, and a few lows. Truthfully I'm not sure which is the better approach to the program, though the general audience would seem to prefer Davies' approach, but I do think that had Davies remained as showrunner, Doctor Who wouldn't be around today. Moffat doesn't play it safe; he likes to experiment with the formula and takes a very different approach to the series, and that inventiveness keeps it fresh and exciting. Though it doesn't always work...



"Sleep No More", the title of tonight's episode, which you may have missed given the decision to throw away the title sequence (which I think was an excellent idea, frankly...if you're going to commit to found footage, don't ruin it with the title sequence) was one of the most experimental episodes the series has tried from an aesthetic point of view. That said, the story itself was essentially a base under seige story, without the element of an outside agent trying to get in - this time the monsters were already on board waiting to attack. Though we did, of course, get our standard base-commander-gone-nuts character in the form of writer Mark Gatiss' best mate Reece Shearsmith. Shearsmith had a small role in Gatiss' An Adventure In Space And Time, spectacularly failing to convince as Patrick Troughton, but this time round was much, much better. Not quite as effective were the actors playing the four soldiers, none of whom really convinced me that they were trained in any form of military. Indeed from the outset as the commander took the gun from one of her troops, it felt less like a senior officer retrieving a weapon, and more like an actor taking a prop from another actor, which, at the end of the day, it was. It just shouldn't look like that.



The star of this episode, therefore, was neither the actors (though both Capaldi and Coleman were great, they seemed a little on autopilot as well, and at times seemed like completely different characters, particularly in the opening scenes...I'm struggling both with the Doctor's Oliver line and Coleman's circling her face and saying "Not just this", as neither seemed suited to their characters), nor the script, but rather the direction of newcomer Justin Molotnikov. Molotnikov obviously watched Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project before approaching this one, as the monsters first appearance is fleeting, and he tries to never linger to long on them (though this is probably more a horror movie convention than a found footage one). The look and the feel of the episode is very effective, and the found footage aspect doesn't jar with the Doctor Who format, nor does it detract from it.



It does detract a little from the story though. This sort of format requires a simple story, and as I said, Gatiss' script doesn't stray too far from Doctor Who's old fallbacks, but despite that, I have to admit to some confusion at the end. Rasmussen's plan doesn't seem particularly clear, and while I don't necessarily want a complete resolution, a little understanding would have been useful (what was the point of the story exactly?). Perhaps another viewing is required to get it completely sorted out in my head, and perhaps that's a good thing - after all I don't particularly feel chagrined about having to rewatch it, so an episode that begs a second welcome viewing has got to be a good thing, surely?



I'm impressed Doctor Who, despite its age, still has the ability to try something different that will shake the series up a little, and even if it didn't work, we should still be grateful that the creators have the desire and the passion to keep trying to keep the series fresh and interesting.