Doctor Who: Hide

Sean Alexander reviews `Hide`

Four episodes into what we are obliged to refer as ‘Season 7b’ (or the 2013 series as DWM prefers) and finally there is a spark of quality.  So far we’ve been treading water this year. ‘The Bells of Saint John’ was a silly run around which just introduced the new plus-one (or, in this case, the third version of the same character).  ‘The Rules of Akhaten’ was worse: a basic re-tread of Season One’s ‘The End of the World’ with less heart and a frankly ridiculous trip on a space-bike that made scaling the Shard on a Triumph almost acceptable.  And ‘Cold War’ likewise only reminded one of Robert Shearman’s far superior ‘Dalek’.  If Season 7b was an album it would be a tired greatest hits released by a record company whose artist has long passed its sell-by date.

The Doctor is so busy he doesn't notice the old fashioned ghost behind him.

But like I say tonight there was hope. ‘Hide’ would probably still be an average episode had this gone out in 2006 or 2007. But after three clunkers it shines bright.  Basically it does what Doctor Who has done so well for a very long time: tell a tight, tense tale with plenty of scares and performances that help sell the concept.  Neil Cross was a curious choice of writer to be blooded this year.   His police crime Luther is more of a Cracker for the 21^st Century, with a flawed protagonist who has more in common with those he investigates than he would care to admit.

‘Hide’ has two great performances at its heart.  Dougray Scott and Jessica Raine (soon to be seen as Verity Lambert in the drama-doc An Adventure in Space and Time) really impress as the couple whose furtive attraction provides the necessary emotion to make you care about the people involved.  Raine especially captures the quirkiness of a medium/psychic  who senses the paranormal and is the link between the real world and a pocket universe that contains a trapped astronaut who manifests herself as a spectral presence.  The scares are well handled by new director Jamie Payne, especially the very moody woodland scenes that evoke the fairy-tale nature of much of Who’s output at present.

The resolution – an almost retread of ‘Image of the Fendahl’ – is disappointing merely because a scientific resolution seems unnecessary.  If the spectral plot had been maintained, and the air of mystery sustained, then this would have been elevated into a genuine highpoint of the Matt Smith era.  Speaking of whom, Smith still has a preponderance for mugging which belies his otherwise mature handling of the role.  Like Peter Davison three decades ago, Smith does have the ability of depicting an old man in a young man’s body.  If he dropped the whole ‘Toff’ aspect then we’d see more of the quality he is capable of.

Both ‘Vincent and the Doctor’ and ‘The Doctor’s Wife’ showed that Smith is an accomplished actor who understands what makes the role tick but unlike David Tennant he seems incapable of mixing the light with the serious.  The woodland scenes show him at his best, but all too often his approach to the essential eccentricity that made the likes of Troughton or Tom Baker so good is more like overacting and playing to the crowd.  Even Baker at his most uncontrollable always respected the audience enough not to allow the Doctor to come across as a buffoon.

Another weak link this season has been Jenna- Louise Coleman.  She’s just a bit too clever for her own good – in a smug, self-satisfied way that is unbecoming of the companion role – and the final reveal as to who (or more importantly, what) she is will have to be damn good to make this all worthwhile.

‘Hide’ shows signs of definite improvement, but this is still a work in progress.  As the season reaches the halfway stage there needs to be a real upping of the game.  Neil Cross is a far better writer than his debut script suggested, and given more free rein on the show could see him produce a genuine classic.  But in a series that has done little more than underwhelm so far – especially with anticipation so high in this Anniversary years – ‘Hide’ feels like a tribute band playing to the crowd.  Doctor Who should be celebrating its story-telling prowess as well as its longevity in 2013; but then Season 20 wasn’t very special as memory serves either.