The Haunting of Villa Diodati

The Doctor and her irritating tag-alongs materialise in Villa Diodati in 1816, on the evening famous for inspiring Mary Shelly to write Frankenstein. Needless to say, something is amiss - strange events begin to occur and people slowly realise that they are trapped in an ostensibly haunted house. The episode is nicely filmed and does very well in establishing a sense of claustrophobic dread. Also needless to say, the supernatural trappings are eventually established to be alien-tech in origin (although the 'why and how' details are a bit vague), as a representative of a long-established Whovian enemy appears, linking the episode to the portentous utterances of Ep. 12.5 ('Fugitive of the Judoon'). The episode eschews the simple-minded preachiness that has muddled earlier stores and the cast playing the Regency era celebrities (the Shellys, Lord Byron, Polidori, Claimont) are very good (maybe too good - as other's have opined, the guest cast outshines the stars). 'The Haunting of Villa Diodati' ends abruptly and really can't be judged as a standalone story, but as the opening to a 2 or 3 part story arc, it is quite good. We can only hope...

It's all a little creepy at the start, quite atmospheric, electric and dark; in an isolated villa, they're about to draft a thriller, cadaver born again from a large spark. There's disinteresting chat from Lord Byron, our Time Lord thinks he's dull and a moron, there are rooms and walls that move, apparitions disapprove, and a wandering hand from a skeleton. Then a rusty bucket suddenly appears, only one side of his face can produce tears, he's angry and he's glum, someone's nicked Cyberium, and he reckons Percy Shelley has the gear.

Some online fans were livid that Maxine Alderton was chosen to write an episode of Doctor Who. After all, she writes for Emmerdale and has no sci fi credentials. Forgetting classic writer Malcolm Hulke wrote for Crossroads and even Russell T Davies wrote for Coronation Street.

It is 1816, set on the night Mary Shelley came up with the idea for Frankenstein. The Haunting of Villa Diodati looks to be another celebrity historical.

The haunted house setting reminded me of recent stories such as Hide and Knock Knock. However this goes up a notch with the creeps. A crawling skeletal hand, characters going out of one room and ending up at the same place, ghostly sightings and Graham desperately looking for the khazi.

At times it was a homage to Scooby Doo. The valet who would suddenly pop up and always has a sharp look. Graham even stops for a snack break.

The episode shifts gear when the lone foe appears with a mixture of cruel killings and maybe one moment of tenderness. I thought for a second an event from Frankenstein would be mirrored and the BBC complaints hotline would be jammed for the evening.

A very poetic episode, not a surprise given the literary characters involved. The exposition was cut to the minimum and a very atmospheric staging with lighting by candles.

This series may have had about 5 "love and monsters" but this episode was actually alright - but let's be clear - it still wasn't absolutely brilliant.

But let's look on the bright side while we can. The first half was sort of creepy and reminded me a bit of 'The God Complex' going all the way back to series 6. But not fears, 'ghosts'.

And then we have the finale build up for the next half of the episode which I won't bother spoiling for you.

It definitely isn't my favourite story arc, but at least there is one, and at least I'm kind of half looking forward to the finale despite the amount of terrible episodes throughout this series.

My highest rating since Twice upon a Time: 7/10.

This episode had me gripped from the very first minute. Entertaining from beginning to end, a perfect way to lead into the epic finale.