PART 1 of 2
Written by Steven Moffat
Directed by Euros Lyn
“It’s what’s in the dark…it’s what’s always in the dark.”
What is Steven Moffat’s secret to success? How does Doctor Who’s new show-runner manage to capture magic time and time again, no matter what type of script he writes for the series?
First, he takes a world. A world that is easily understood - whether it be London during the Blitz, 18th century France, the present day, or even a spaceship in the 51st century. The environment is knowable almost immediately - something the audience “gets” instinctively, or learns about quickly, thanks to its small, self-contained nature. No technobabble, no info-dumps…just people living in — and interacting with — their surroundings. These are lessons learned from the best writers of the classic series: Malcolm Hulke, Terrance Dicks, Chris Boucher, Douglas Adams, and the great Robert Holmes.
Then, like all good, classic Doctor Who, he throws our favourite Time Lord into the mix…and we watch as the world on offer is warped & twisted by his very presence.
Finally, we take a simple, direct concept…and transform it into the stuff of nightmares! And not just any nightmares…but the kind that makes kids wake up in a cold sweat, in the middle of the night. Bed-wetting terrors.
Children in gas masks, pleading for their mummy…clockwork robots, hiding under the bed…angel statues, hunting you when you’re not looking…it’s a litany of Brothers’ Grimm-style, fairy tale horrors, magnified a thousand times by the stakes for which the Doctor is fighting.
It’s the type of formula you can repeat over and over. In the hands of the perfect writer - and a talented director - it’s endless, timeless magic.
Silence in the Library does what it says on the tin. A library world…empty & silent. Creepy shadows coming to life. The nightmares of meat - bones sucked dry & flesh faces stuck on to machinery. An isolated group, with no escape. A little girl, disconnected from the rest of the story, who is told that her nightmare is our reality…
…and, to top it all off, Alex Kingston and David Tennant acting their socks off, portraying a woman and a man who are victims of a mysterious, puzzling, poignant relationship that seems to be completely out of sequence for both of them. There’s even a commentary on fandom’s obsession with spoilers, turned on its head to become both a running gag and a key plot point.
Are these ingredients good enough to create the best episode of the season so far? As if there could be ANY doubt!
This is the Doctor Who of our memories - dark, creepy, witty, exciting, and terrifying. This is the reason children hid behind sofas, covered their eyes, and buried their faces into their pillows…and the reason adults are now following suit! Fascination and horror. Filmed like a series of art prints - unearthly, piercing light beams, corridors dancing with dark shadows - the story and the environment work hand in hand to create a masterpiece of mood and adventure.
What else is there to say? This is the type of Doctor Who that would appear in a dictionary, under “iconic”. Will the second half live up to this stunning combination of the cerebral and the primal? Stay tuned…
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