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
In an apartment in an old building, a child named George is terrified of everything. When his mother, Claire, says goodnight before she goes to work, George makes her turn the light on and off five times to keep the monsters away. When she leaves, George starts chanting "please save me from the monsters" over and over. Through the crack in his bedroom door, he can see and hear his mother talking to his father, Alex. They may need a specialist to see him. In the TARDIS at the other side of the universe, the Doctor gets George's message on his psychic paper and decides to make a house call on little George.

When they arrive, Amy, Rory and he split up to look for a scared child. Each visits a different apartment: the Doctor talks to the elderly Mrs Rossiter; Rory talks to the landlord, Jim Purcell; and Amy meets twin girls and their mother. All of them are suspicious of the strangers and slam the doors in their faces. The Doctor spots George looking out of his window and knocks on his apartment door. Amy and Rory get in a lift to join the Doctor, but the lift plummets and they disappear from it. They end up in an unusual house that Rory suspects is from the 1700s until they find a electric lamp. They also find a wooden pan that is painted to look like copper.

Meanwhile the Doctor asks George's father, Alex, about George's fears. The Doctor starts to open George's closet, but the landlord arrives and starts hectoring Alex about his rent, while the Doctor brings all of George's toys to life using his sonic screwdriver. The Doctor scans George's cupboard. Whatever is inside it is off the scale.

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

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: House Call, (The Doctor notes that he doesn't often make house calls) and What are Little Boys Made of? (a play on the Star Trek episode What are Little Girls Made Of?).
 * 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. (This means Karen Gillan, when she filmed the episode, was in fact performing as the Ganger version of Amy.)
 * 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 Alex is looking at pictures, an announcer from the television can be heard. She says that he is watching BBC One on Saturday night, the same channel and day Doctor Who is on.
 * One of the children's stories the Doctor mentions, Snow White and the Seven Keys to Doomsday, shares its title with a story in the recently published Doctor Who The Official Annual 2012. Had Night Terrors aired as originally planned in the first half of the season, the story would have been published afterwards (suggesting a probable tie-in with the episode).

Ratings

 * UK Overnight: 5.5 million
 * UK Final: 7.07 million

Myths

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

Filming locations

 * Dyrham House, Bristol

Production errors
to be added

Continuity

 * Inside the dollhouse, Rory initially thinks he and Amy are "dead again". (DW: Amy's Choice, Cold Blood, 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, 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, The Hungry Earth, The Curse of the Black Spot)
 * The information of the Doctor's death is shown (DW: Let's Kill Hitler) and the story arc involving his death is continued with the Peg Dolls nursery rhyme (see plot above).
 * The Eighth Doctor was previously turned into a doll by the Celestial Toymaker in a manner similar to Amy. (CC: Solitaire)
 * The Doctor again shows a connection to and concern for children. (DW: The Beast Below, The Hungry Earth, A Christmas Carol, The Impossible Astronaut, The Curse of the Black Spot).
 * The Doctor asks if there are any Jelly Babies he can have.
 * The Doctor says "It's good to be all back together again, in the flesh.", which may or may not be foreshadowing that one or more of Amy, Rory, and the Doctor are not actually there, but The Flesh.
 * Considering that this episode was originally filmed for the first half of the series, it was probably meant to be foreshadowing for DW: The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People.
 * The Doctor mentions the titles of children's books from Gallifrey (although it's clear he's simply making up the titles): "The Three Little Sontarans"; "The Emperor Dalek's New Clothes" and "Snow White and the Seven Keys to Doomsday". The latter title marks the first acknowledgment in televised canon of the events of the 1970s stage play SP: Doctor Who and the Daleks in The Seven Keys to Doomsday.

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.