Midnight

For me, this is one of the best stories ever. And I mean top 3 stories of all time! It is my favourite "NuWho" story.

That is despite the superb Donna only being in the episode a small amount and most of the episode being limited to the interior of a small transport with a few people. In fact, that is one of the strengths because it is in the style of great film maker Alfred Hitchcock who would make a film where incredible tension and drama is created in a very limited, claustrophobic setting. Russell T. Davies has absolutely nailed that Hitchcockian brilliance by writing an awesome, scary, tense and suspenseful story.

RTD deserves huge credit for bringing Doctor Who back so successfully and keeping series quality consistently excellent. This is the best example showing he was capable of writing the very highest standard stories.

In addition to the incredible story idea and phenomenal script we also are given the finest quality acting and direction. Alice Troughton won well deserved awards for direction as this is perfectly executed. David Tennant puts in a masterclass of acting, not just being a top notch Doctor but a top notch TV performance by any standards.

The performance of guest star Lesley Sharp is equally amazing, totally convincing and chilling. The repeating of speech is such a fabulous idea and is acted so well that it is scary and unbelievably impressive.

The rest of the guest cast including David Troughton, son of 2nd Doctor Patrick Troughton, is solid as a rock and provides interest. The themes are great and similar to the Hitchcock classic Lifeboat (developed expertly from Steinbeck's story) which explores people turning on each other out of fear. This theme obviously links in to larger societal issues.

This is simply Doctor Who at its very best. A total masterpiece of TV magic!

My Rating: 10/10.

With minimal set and a small group of actors, this is a fantastically claustrophobic and effective episode. Unusually for one penned by Russell T. Davies, this episode is removed from the story arc of the series, and as Blink, would stand alone as a short sci-fi horror.

A strange choice to follow the atmospheric Forest of the Dead, as three such strong episodes in a row could make the overall arc of the series uneven - but it's an episode worth watching purely for itself, regardless of the rest of the series. Interesting and frightening, with a marvellous performance from Lesley Sharpe, and an unusually restrained turn from David Tennant. Magic.

To put it short, this episode is astounding. It's a classic tense horror story with a Doctor Who spin squeezed into 45 minutes. As far as scariness goes, Midnight ranks right up there with Blink and The Impossible Planet, but at the same time it's stunningly well written, brilliantly acted, and flawlessly produced.

The best thing about it is that it plays on everyone's fear of the unknown - there's SOMETHING knocking on the wall, but no-one's got any idea what, not even the Doctor. The tension starts about 10 minutes in and doesn't let up until 2 or 3 minutes from the end. While it might not have the flawless intricate detail of a Steven Moffat story, Midnight is so simple and so effective that it doesn't really matter, because it's so superb as it is that you're just transported to a world of fear where details don't matter.

A special mention must go, of course, to Lesley Sharp, for a truly unbelievable performance. This episode wouldn't have been half as scary without her acting the way that she does - you'll understand why once you've seen it. It's by far the best and the scariest "human villain" perfformance since Harry Lloyd in The Family of Blood last year.

It's episodes like this that make you a little sad that Russell T Davies is standing down, because this, along with Doomsday, is probably the best episode he's written. But at least he's being taken over by Steven Moffat. If the Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead double header hadn't been as good as it was, this would easily be the best episode of the series.

Seriously. Just. Wow.

"Midnight", I can safely say, is a Doctor Who experience unlike any other. In a series that had previously left me quite underwhelmed, this completely blew my mind.

This is bar none Russell T. Davies' greatest work. He tosses aside all of the DW typicality: the companion, the hideous monsters, the running... Even the Tardis takes a leave of absence. In their places, he gives us a claustrophobic,motionless, and tense 45 minutes of sheer paranoia - and boy is it amazing!

Here we find The Doctor leaving Donna behind at a spa while he boards a tour bus on its way around Midnight, or 'the diamond planet'. He gets acquainted and rather chummy with the other passengers to pass the time, until suddenly the bus stops unexpectedly in a place where no person has ever gone, and they realize that they are no longer the only passenger on board . . .

As we all know, Steven Moffat is the master in creating a disturbing, chilling, and very cerebral atmosphere. Remember "Blink"? He created a monster that was genuinely terrifying without being aggressive or loaded with prosthetic. Well, Davies does him one better here. This time, we don't even know what the monster is, or what it looks like. It's more of an essence, like a demon possession. It grabs hold of its victim and corrupts it. How? We don't know. Why? Don't know. And that's what makes it so horrific.

This seems to be The Doctor's strongest adversary to date. He can't use words to talk sense into it, or use his screwdriver to find out more about it, and as paranoia strikes everyone on bored, he can't even win their trust. There's nothing for him to fight, and he is left in the mercy of scared innocents that think of him as a risk to their own safety. In fact, this is the only time we've seen the 10th rendered completely helpless - and David Tennant plays to that beautifully! In fact, everyone in this episode did a magnificent job! It's just a gripping study in character and emotion from start to finish.

All in all, this was my favorite episode to date, and by the end of it, my heart was racing so fast, I just had to watch it again.

Seriously, ignore carrotjuicer3000's review. This is one of the best episodes of season 4, maybe of the whole series. It's suspenseful, its well written, its just....eerie. Just because its a standalone episode doesn't mean its not just as good as others. And not every episode needs comic relief, specially not one like this. So Tate is not missed. She gets the next few episodes focused on her anyways.

Lesley Sharp is fantastic in her role, marvellously creepy... Tennant is brilliant as always. The supporting cast is fantastic too, which includes Colin Morgan(Merlin).

Once you start watching this episode, you literally can't stop. Every time I've seen it repeated on BBC3, and skipped over the channel, at any point during the episode, I'd have to continue watching. Who'd a thunk an episode set in one room would be so brilliant? It's simply....molto bene.