Doctor Who: Steven Moffat and Douglas Mackinnon Set for Listen Rewatch

Posted on | by Adi Tantimedh | Comments

The next Doctor Who Lockdown rewatch episode has been announced, with Doctor Who Magazine writer and BBC Radio editor Emily Cook revealing it would be the horror-tinged episode "Listen" from Series 8, Peter Capaldi's first season as The Doctor. The rewatch will take place on Wednesday, May 20th at 7 pm British Standard Time, which is 2 pm Eastern Time in the United States. Then-showrunner and writer of the episode Steven Moffat will livetweet the event along with episode director Douglas Mackinnon.

Artwork for Doctor Who Lockdown Rewatch "Listen"
Artwork for Doctor Who Lockdown Rewatch "Listen"

The story was one of Moffat's experiments in storytelling, a precursor to the much more radical "Heaven Sent" one season later. This was a story where there was no visible villain or monster. It was a menace that existed purely the mind if it was there at all. Moffat set out to explore a common fear that children have, that a monster was lurking in the darkness. Just there if you listen for it. Every child has night terrors, afraid that a monster would grab their ankle in bed. The episode was mostly an updated British ghost story that has always been popular, usually around Christmas time. Mackinnon directs with a fun spooky atmosphere of silences and creepy shadows. There was also a lot of spooky imagery that used visual tropes common from Japanese horror movies like The Ring and The Grudge. It was the closest Doctor Who ever came to J-Horror.

Series 8 was a flawed season. Capaldi's Doctor was overly surly and even downright unlikable as Moffat tried to explore the darker parts of the Doctor without much fun. It also became a bit more of a soap opera by spending so much time with Clara (Jenna Coleman) and her relationship with her boyfriend Danny Pink (Samuel Anderson). There were many moments in Series 8 and 9 where the show felt more like "The Clara Show" than Doctor Who. Clara as a companion was always a weirdly flawed creation, more a concept from "The Impossible Girl" of Series 7 to a surrogate Doctor. Series 7 to 9 were an odd time for the show, even with lots of great moments. Moffat should have some interesting things to say during the livetweet. He's might create some bonus material for the rewatch event. That should be fun.

About Adi Tantimedh

Adi Tantimedh is a filmmaker, screenwriter and novelist who just likes to writer. He wrote radio plays for the BBC Radio, “JLA: Age of Wonder” for DC Comics, “Blackshirt” for Moonstone Books, and “La Muse” for Big Head Press. Most recently, he wrote “Her Nightly Embrace”, “Her Beautiful Monster” and “Her Fugitive Heart”, a trilogy of novels featuring a British-Indian private eye published by Atria Books, a division Simon & Schuster.

twitter