Night Terrors (TV story)

Night Terrors was the ninth episode in the sixth series of Doctor Who.

Synopsis
The Doctor receives a distress call from the scariest place in the Universe: a child’s bedroom. Every night George lies awake, terrorised by every fear imaginable – fears that live in his bedroom cupboard. His parents are getting desperate – George needs a doctor. Fortunately for George, his pleas for help break through the barriers of all time and space and the Doctor makes a house call. But allaying his fears won’t be easy. George’s monsters are real.

Plot
The Doctor decides to make a "house call" after his psychic paper receives a message from George, a frightened 8-year-old child, asking his help in getting rid of the monsters in his bedroom. On arrival at a council estate on present-day Earth, the Doctor, Amy, and Rory split up to try to locate the child. The Doctor, taking the guise of a social services worker, finds the right flat, and meets George's father, Alex, while his mother Claire is working a night shift.

Through Alex's photo album, the Doctor learns that George has been frightened all his life, fearing many of the sounds and people around the flat and is helped to cope by various habits, including metaphorically placing his fears within his wardrobe. Meanwhile, Amy and Rory, while taking the lift down, suddenly find themselves in what appears to be an eighteenth-century house, but shortly discover most of the furnishings are wooden props.

Other residents of the estate appear in the house, but are caught by life-sized peg dolls that laugh and sing like children, and transform the residents into more dolls. Amy and Rory witness one transformation and try to flee, but Amy is caught and becomes a doll herself, joining the others in chasing Rory.

The Doctor, suspecting that the wardrobe is containing the evil that George fears, opens it to find its contents are simply clothes and toys, including a doll house. The Doctor suddenly recalls from Alex's photo album that Claire did not appear pregnant in the weeks leading up to George's supposed birth, causing Alex to remember the fact that Claire was unable to have children.

The Doctor asserts that George is a Tenza child, an empathic alien who took on the form of Alex and Claire's desired child through a perception filter, and has the ability to literally lock away his fears within the wardrobe. George begins to panic from this revelation and the Doctor and Alex are pulled into the wardrobe, joining Rory in the dollhouse.

As the dolls descend on the three, the Doctor calls out to George to face his fears; George is able to open the wardrobe and appears in the dollhouse, but the dolls turn to advance on him. The Doctor realises that George is still frightened that Alex and Claire plan to send him away, having mistakenly interpreted a conversation they had earlier that night; Alex rushes through the dolls to embrace George as his son.

They all soon find themselves back at the estate, restored to normal. Claire returns the next morning to find George no longer scared while Alex and the Doctor make him breakfast. After being thanked, the Doctor rejoins his companions to set off for their next adventure. Meanwhile the Teselecta File showing the day the Doctor Dies is shown again while a nursery rhyme that the Dolls were singing becomes coherent: Tick Tock, everyone has a time, Even the Doctor.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
 * Rory Williams - Arthur Darvill
 * Alex - Daniel Mays
 * George - Jamie Oram
 * Claire - Emma Cunniffe
 * Jim Purcell - Andrew Tiernan
 * Elsie Rossiter - Leila Hoffman
 * Julie - Sophie Cosson

Crew
to be added

The Doctor

 * The Doctor mentions three of his favourite bedtime stories as a child: The Three Little Sontarans, The Emperor Dalek's New Clothes and Snow White and the Seven Keys to Doomsday.

Foods and beverages from the real world

 * The Doctor and Alex drink tea.
 * The Doctor mentions Jammie Dodgers.

Races and species

 * George is a Tenza. He is able to match himself to people's needs and create perception filters.

Television series from the real world

 * Rory mentions EastEnders.

Story notes

 * This episode had the working titles: What are Little Boys Made of? and House Call.
 * This was originally going to be the fourth episode of the series, but was moved to the second half as Steven Moffat felt that the first half was "too dark". This necessitated minor changes to the episode. A scene with Madame Kovarian was removed, and the ending with the data file from Let's Kill Hitler was added.
 * The scene where the Doctor and Alex are being sucked into the cupboard is very similar to the movie Poltergeist where the daughter is sucked into the spirit realm through her bedroom cupboard.
 * When the Doctor knocks on the door to address Alex, a ring can be seen on his wedding finger. Whether this is a production error or a hint at a future episode remains to be seen.

Ratings

 * UK Overnight: 5.5 million

Myths

 * Amy will be turned into a doll. This was proven true.

Filming locations

 * Bristol

Production errors
to be added

Continuity

 * Inside the dollhouse, Rory initially thinks he and Amy are "dead again". (DW: Amy's Choice, DW: Cold Blood, DW: The Pandorica Opens) He also believes at one point that the TARDIS is altering time and space again. (DW: The Doctor's Wife)
 * The Doctor asks for a Jammie Dodger. (DW: Victory of the Daleks, DW: The Impossible Astronaut)
 * When the Doctor and Alex wake up in the Doll House, Alex wonders how it can be bigger on the inside. The Doctor says "More common than you'd think, actually" referring to the TARDIS, among other things.
 * When the Doctor explains to Alex that George is using a perception filter, he stops in the hallway to look in a mirror and makes the same face he did when he first saw his reflection in DW: The Vampires of Venice.
 * The Doctor performs his odd greeting kiss to Claire. (DW: The Lodger)
 * The sonic screwdriver doesn't work on wood. (DW: Silence in the Library, DW: The Hungry Earth, DW: The Curse of the Black Spot)
 * The information of the Doctor's death is shown. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler)
 * The Eighth Doctor was previously turned into a doll by the Celestial Toymaker in a similar manner to Amy. (CC: Solitaire)
 * The Doctor again shows a connection to and concern for children.(DW: The Beast Below)

Timeline

 * This story occurs after: DW: Let's Kill Hitler
 * This story occurs before: DW: The Girl Who Waited

Home video releases
This episode will be released on DVD and Blu-ray shortly after the airing of episode thirteen.