Hide

Chapter The 152nd, where people stay inside a house while something a bit scary's going on.

Plot:

The Doctor brings Clara to a stately home, Caliban House, in 1974, where a former WW2 special operative Professor Alec Palmer and an empath Emma Grayling are doing experiments trying to contact a ghost that's historically recorded as haunting the site. With help from the Doctor, they discover that the ghost is a pioneer time traveller called HIla Tacorian, stuck in a pocket universe, echoing into our world. Also inhabiting the house is a scary monster thing, but there are for some reason no records of this creature relating to the site or the house, even though it looks nothing like the ghost of a woman, and it scuttles about in the open, and even holds hands with people; nobody's thought to mention it before. Harnessing Emma's psychic powers, and using a blue crystal from Metebe-lis 3 (twin planet with the similar but presumably different as it's pronounced differently Mete-be-lis 3 that Jon Pertwee visited), the Doctor goes through a portal into the pocket universe and saves Hila, sending her back through, but gets stuck in there himself. He is being stalked by another similar creature, but the TARDIS comes to save him. Once back in Caliban House, the Doctor realises that Hila is Palmer and Grayling's great, great, great, great, great granddaughter, or thereabouts, which is why there was such an empathetic link between Emma and her (and presumably also explains why Palmer was drawn to investigate the house too, or else that's a massive coincidence). The Doctor also realises that the two creatures are not dangerous, they are mates, separated, and he asks Emma one more favour, to open the portal again, so that he can reunite them.

Context:

During what I guess will be the early adjustment phase of the Coronavirus lockdown, but I hope like hell is the middle or towards the end of it (I can hope, can't I?), I was alone of an evening as all the family had gone to bed, and watched this story from the series 7 box-set Blu-ray. I'd waited for this sort of opportunity to watch it unaccompanied. It's not a story I revisit regularly; but, from what I remembered when the random number generator picked it as the next story to watch, it was a bit scary for the littler of my little ones. Having now watched it, I think I was overcautious and it would have been okay. No chance of a re-watch with the kids, though. Right now, they are in the middle of enjoying the (colour) animated version of The Faceless Ones, watching an episode every couple of days; so, I doubt they will be watching this story any time soon. So much for the idea that the lockdown would allow more time for catching up with new things; I seem to still be ploughing through the same build up of discs and books and watch-lists that I ever was (more on this later). 

First time round:

Would have been watched on the day of its original broadcast on BBC1 in early 2013, probably slightly time-shifted to allow for putting the kids to bed. I remember not being blown away, but it being generally okay. That was my default mode for the whole of the 2013 mini-season. This is one of only a handful of stories from the David Tennant and Matt Smith eras that the Better Half and I judged too frightening for our children to watch; the others were Blink, Midnight, Night Terrors, and The Waters of Mars, the last of which they have seen since. There's no hurry to show them this story or Night Terrors (no offence to either of them) but imagine how it's going to be when Midnight and Blink come up for the blog, and my children finally get to see them for the first time.

Reaction:

The role of the Doctor is in many ways a dull and thankless one for an actor. There's obviously some fun that can be had performing - play-acting - as the hero, but that can only get one so far. Like James Bond and maybe a few other showy roles, the Doctor doesn't change. Every week is the same, there's never going to be the interest of a plot where the Doctor is, say, bitter for the loss of his early promise as a scientist, or humiliated in a dead end teaching job, or shocked by a cancer diagnosis, or starting a double life cooking meth in an RV. Bryan Cranston as Walter White (in Breaking Bad) famously got to change by small degrees "from Mr. Chips to Scarface" and each gradual change on the way was a moment of drama that was interesting to play. Matt Smith as the Doctor saves the universe, every week, week on week. You can sometimes tell the moment the lead actor gets bored of trying to find different ways of saving the universe, and I think Hide is where this happens to Matt Smith. The performance displays a lack of discipline to me, particularly in the comedy, but even the tense moments don't really work. When Smith is doing lines like "Come on then big boy, chase me" or "You old romeo, you" or even "I am the Doctor and I am afraid", I don't believe him.

Aside from those occasional overripe lines of dialogue, there isn't really much wrong with Neil Cross's script. It's a contained chiller, making the most of a small cast, and it has some interesting surprises and reversals. It's another in the many, many examples in Doctor Who's history of "Nigel Kneale called and he wants his plot back" syndrome; it's set-up, tone and some plot details are shamelessly paying homage to / ripping off The Stone Tape and The Road. It's none the worse for that, though, and if one had to discount any Doctor Who that borrowed a bit liberally from Kneale, there wouldn't be many good ones left. There are definitely some plot points left frustratingly unexplained - how long has "the crooked man" creature been in our universe, for example? If nobody - not even Palmer who has bought the house and is thoroughly investigating the place - has noticed it, it can't have been a long time, so it is a big coincidence that it is only in view once the Doctor has arrived. I'm also uneasy about the TARDIS acting autonomously to save the Doctor, as she does in this story; if that can happen this week, what's to stop it happening every week? But these are fridge moments, as Alfred Hitchcock had it, they only bother you when you've finished watching and have gone to get a snack.

I suspect that the issue is with the direction, or parts of it at least. Jamie Payne manages to achieve atmospheric scary scenes creeping round the empty house, with ghostly things happening just behind our heroes, and lightning flashes and other jump scares: that's all great. There's also some reasonable visuals, particularly in the sequence where the Doctor travels through the history of Earth taking pictures of the ghost. The performances, though, are not quite there; it's clear that Payne wasn't strict enough to rein in Smith's excesses, but that's not the major issue. If "this isn't a ghost story - it's a love story" as the Doctor has it in the script, then it's the love story moments that let the side down. Dougray Scott and Jessica Raine, playing the mutually lovelorn pair, are both very good actors, and the script hits all the right notes, but there's no chemistry between them. The scenes of their gradual realisation of the romance that's been under their noses the whole time are stiff and a bit dry. When Raine as Emma is connected to the Doctor's lash-up, and it's causing her pain and torment to keep the link open to another world, we're supposed to feel worried for her, but we just don't know enough about her to feel anything.

It doesn't help that both the actors aren't the right ages for their roles. Based on Dougray Scott's age (and he looks pretty good for a 48 year old in Hide) Palmer would have been 19 when the Second World War ended; it stretches credulity that he would have got to the rank of Major, or been in a significant role within the SOE (or whatever fictional equivalent is presented in the narrative); even the cover story of his spending "most of the war in a POW camp" isn't believable, unless he lied about his age and enlisted very, very young. My guess is that Jessica Raine was cast first, also too young, and a younger actor had to be cast as the Professor to avoid the distraction of an age gap (but replacing it with the distraction of everyone like me doing hurried mental arithmetic as they watched instead). Jenna Coleman as Clara isn't very well served either, which given that there's only two other main cast members to give lines to, seems a shame. There's not much of her arc plot as the "impossible girl" this time; just some scenes where the TARDIS takes a dislike to her (was this ever adequately explained?), and the ulterior motive the Doctor had for visiting Caliban House in the first place (he wanted the famous empathetic psychic to secretly scan his friend for clues, which is slightly creepy). Ultimately this is a perfectly serviceable script, which has a few flaws, and is not held together sufficiently by the direction, so further flaws creep in - it's not bad, it's just a bit juiceless.

Connectivity: 

Both stories feature experimental time travellers from the future travelling back to a historical period, and being mistaken for something they're not (a god in The Talons of Weng-Chiang, a ghost in Hide). By the time of Hide's production, the 1970s (the decade when Talons was made) has become a period setting.

Deeper Thoughts:

Coronavirus and hiding from the sun. At the time of writing, everyone in the UK (and many other  countries around the world) is on lockdown, staying in their homes to stay safe, and to slow the spread of Covid-19, the Coronavirus. No social events, no going to the pub, no visiting friends or family; no sporting fixtures, no concerts, no meetups; no restaurants, cinemas or theatres open. Everyone has to stay inside and amuse themselves with whatever they can receive or stream on their devices. Three things occur immediately. First, I marvel at how lucky we are to have even these limited options; if this pandemic had happened back when I was the age of two out of three of my children now, I would have had only three TV channels and whatever books were in the house. I'd have gone mad in a week. Even if it was when I was the age of my eldest child, it would only have granted me an extra TV channel. I didn't yet have a video player, let alone any kind of tape collection. As it is, in 2020, I can find and watch pretty much any TV show or film I care to see, by hook or by crook; this includes new releases, and even theatre. I feel for those who are sports fans, instead of pallid geeks like what I am. Second thought: lots of commentators are saying how this emergency could be a golden opportunity for everyone to catch up on all those books and films they haven't had time for. I assume these commentators must go out a lot, but I'm a pallid geek with three young children: the amount of extra time I'm getting back is not a significant proportion, and my read- and watch lists are ever growing. But that brings me to my final and more positive point: I'm a pallid geek, I'll never run out of stuff to entertain me - I've been training for this lockdown my whole life!

If you are looking for ideas, there have already been a few Doctor Who mass watch-a-longs, with more planned: The Day of The Doctor on Saturday 21st March, and Rose, on the 26th at 7pm - the 15th anniversary (to the minute) of its original broadcast. This allows a communal experience, with fans (and some of those involved in making the programmes) syncing up the story, pressing play, and then hitting social media with comments to share each moment. I enjoyed both. The latest one, still in the future at time of writing, is Vincent and the Doctor, with a lot of the cast and crew joining in - I will pass it up, though, as these events are all about positivity, and I don't rate the story highly, but what do I know. If you're looking for something less communal, more just for you, then the history of Doctor Who throws up plenty of thematic material. If one wants to put together a 'virus playlist', then there are lots of contenders. Terry Nation particularly loves wiping out humanity with a micro-organism, or at least threatening to, in such stories as The Dalek Invasion of Earth, Planet of the Daleks, Death to the Daleks, Genesis of the Daleks, The Android Invasion, and probably a few others I've forgotten about.

It wasn't just a predilection of Nation either; other Doctor Who plague parables by many different writers include The Ark, The Seeds of Death (sort of), Doctor Who and The Silurians, The Visitation, The Curse of Fenric. In Tom Baker space opera The Invisible Enemy, they actually have someone playing a virus (it looks more like a prawn when it comes down to it). You could add cyber stories The Moonbase and Revenge of the Cybermen to the list too, as they both feature an infection that affects more and more people cooped up together, but it turns out both are cases of surreptitious poisoning. Other stories that might resonate at the moment are in the "trapped inside, going a bit stir crazy" sub-genre, which would include many of the so-called 'base under siege' stories that have been popular in many eras of Doctor Who, plus three other notable examples: Kinda, Heaven Sent and Gridlock. The last of these shows a community were every person or family group is trapped inside a box going nowhere, while the environment outside is liable to kill them, but they communicate to one another remotely and still have hope.  Of course, if all these feel a bit too close to home and you just want some escapism, then your playlist can be all the other episodes of Doctor Who, every last one, it's all good. Testing times will continue, but be thankful for good things, and embrace your pallid geekiness - we'll get through this!

In Summary:

Hide's a bit dry.