Midnight (TV story)

Midnight was the tenth episode of the fourth series of the BBC Wales version of Doctor Who. It was the first "companion-lite" televised Doctor Who story. It also featured the third abrupt cameo of Billie Piper as Rose Tyler in the series before her role in the seasonal arc fully unfolded.

In production terms, it was the first episode of Doctor Who to be filmed primarily in narrative order since the practice was abandoned around the time Jon Pertwee began portraying the Third Doctor. It was the only story in which the antagonist was never even partially glimpsed, leaving the threat to be realised by the actors and the sound editors. It was also the second episode of 2008 to guest star the child of an actor who had played the Doctor: David Troughton as Professor Hobbes, his father having played the Second Doctor.

The sound team of Tim Ricketts, Paul McFadden, Paul Jefferies and Julian Howarth shared a Royal Television Society Award and a Welsh BAFTA for their work on this episode.

Synopsis
The Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble go to the leisure planet of Midnight for a simple, relaxing holiday. However, life with the Doctor can never be that simple, and things go horribly wrong for the Doctor when he decides to go off on an bus trip to see the Sapphire Waterfall, starting with the bus shutting down. When a mysterious entity infiltrates the shuttle bus, no one is to be trusted. Not even the Doctor himself...

Plot
The Tenth Doctor and Donna spend some leisure time on the crystalline planet Midnight, whose crust is composed of diamonds. Donna receives a call from the Doctor, who wants her to go on a trip to see the Sapphire Waterfall, but she insists that she'd prefer relaxing at the spa and sunbathing. However, the Doctor warns her to be careful because of the X-tonic radiation (which is lethal). Paying him no mind, since the glass she's under is fifteen feet thick, Donna agrees to try out the anti-gravity restaurant (with bibs) once he gets back. Despite her warning him to be careful, the Doctor jinxes himself: "Taking a bus full of strangers across a diamond planet called 'Midnight', what could possibly go wrong?"

He boards a shuttle bus ride to the Sapphire Waterfall. Other passengers include the Cane family (Val, Biff, and their bored, rebellious teenage son Jethro); Professor Hobbes, who is investigating the waterfall; his assistant Dee Dee Blasco; and recently-divorced businesswoman Sky Silvestry. Before they start, the driver informs them of a 'slight detour' due to a diamond fall on the regular path. For the long journey to their destination, the hostess activates the entertainment for passengers, consisting of several annoying television programs. Most of the passengers find the entertainment to be rather irritating, rather than pleasing, covering their ears. The Doctor discreetly disables them with his sonic screwdriver; Professor Hobbes comments, "That's a mercy!" when the hostess finds the entertainments shut off.

Biff Cane wonders aloud if they have to spend the whole ride in silence, to which the Doctor replies. "Tell you what: we'll have to talk to each other instead!" with a grin.

The Doctor talks to every passenger: Biff and Val about a time they had with an abstract swimming pool, to Dee Dee about the lost moon of Poosh and her job as Professor Hobbes' assistant, and to Sky about travelling (remarking that he 'had a friend, went to a different universe', possibly referencing Romana in E-Space, Rose in Pete's World, or both).

Hobbes, whose pet research project is Midnight precisely because there aren't any written history records about it, presents his slideshow about it. We learn that the X-tonic sunlight is 'raw galvanized radiation' and can basically vaprorise any lifeform in split seconds. Because of this, Midnight has been uninhabited since - well, since forever, according to Professor Hobbes. Jethro pipes up - to the dismay of his parents - with a question: how would anyone know? No one's ever been outside. Hobbes agrees and notes that even the Leisure Palace was prefabricated and dropped onto the planet from orbit. He concludes by saying no one can really know what's out there... it could be anything.

The shuttle shudders to a stop and Biff asks if they've arrived. Hobbes and Dee Dee object, telling them that the Crusader Vehicles never stop. Hobbes repeats that he's been on the trip fourteen times (which he earlier told the Doctor) and that they don't stop. Sky snaps at him to stop denying it, and a mild chaos erupts, quickly broken up by the hostess, who strides in and informs them it's 'just a small delay' - something about the driver needing to 'stabilise the engine feeds'.

The Doctor shoulders past the hostess and flashes his psychic paper at driver Joe and mechanic Claude, learning that there is nothing wrong with Crusader 50's systems; however, they are stopped. Just dead, point-blank, stopped. Joe's called for a rescue truck, but that'll take another hour.

The Doctor meanwhile convinces the pair to lower the shutters and take a look for a few minutes - the windows are finitoglass, which should hold against the X-tonic rays for a bit. The view outside is beautiful: a landscape built entirely out of rough natural diamond, shimmering like glass in the white X-tonic sunlight. Joe laments that they've been poisoned by the sun and can't be safely touched.

The Doctor asks about the detour to which Joe replies that it's only a few kliks (a Midnight time measurement) to the west, but it's a new path that the computer figured out on automatic. They're the first people on this part of Midnight. Suddenly, the mechanic points out at the landscape, having apparently seen movement. He dismisses it almost instantly as a trick of the light, but the Doctor seizes on it eagerly. Before Claude can elaborate, the X-tonic starts to overwhelm the cockpit's finitoglass windscreen and Joe closes the shutter. Right before it closes, Claude points out the movement again: 'like something shifting.... like it was running.... towards us!'

Joe reminds the Doctor that rescue's on it way and not to say a word. He returns to the cabin, where the Hostess nips in to talk to the duo. Sky asks him what's going on, prompting everyone to try questioning him at once. This leads them to start worrying about the amount of oxygen they have. However, the Doctor yells for silence and prompts Dee Dee, an expert on vehicles as her father is a mechanic, to explain; the air is recycled, so they can breathe for years inside the bus without any worry. Once again the Doctor reassures the group that he's been to the engine room and everything's alright.

Everyone's silenced by a banging noise on the shuttle, like something's knocking on it. Hobbes brushes it off as the metal cooling down and settling, Dee Dee suggests it's rocks, and Biff asks how long they have to wait, but the banging sound interrupts them. It repeats, panicking the group. The Doctor temporarily pacifies them as he listens to the knocks with his stethoscope. The knocking moves around the bus towards both doors, even testing one to see if it can open it, frightening all into silence but the Doctor.

Biff knocks thrice on the door to prove the ship is sturdy; the knocks repeat his pattern. Everyone freaks out as the Doctor asks them to calm down and investigates, as limited as his information can be. The Hostess tries to persuade them to sit back down, but Sky yells at her and is interrupted by the Doctor, knocking four times on the hull to confirm if there is something outside despite what Hobbes says about nothing being out there. Like Biff's, his pattern is repeated, freaking everyone out even more. Sky begins to wail that it's coming for her, which it indeed seems to be doing, as the knocking is moving around the shuttle apparently following her.

Sky gets hysterical and backs towards a wall, repeating, "It's coming for me!" in remembrance of a threat her partner made to her during their divorce. The Doctor shouts "Get outta there!" just as the walls cave in and the shuttle rocks, cutting out the lights.

When the lights are restored, the Doctor checks everyone for injuries and/or casualties, not noticing that behind him the video of the singer has changed to a muted feed of Rose's face, calling, "Doctor! Doctor!" Strangely, no one points it out to him.

The hostess distributes torches and everyone looks around. Jethro notices the seats near Sky have been ripped off the floor and she is cowering in the corner. The Hostess tries to reach Joe and Claude, discovering the intercom is down, and opens the door to the cabin, letting in X-tonic light instead. Everyone screams and she shuts the door, realising that the cabin is gone - they've lost Joe and Claude.

Biff calls to the Doctor, who's sonicking a system plate open. He asks the Doctor if it's safe, which is answered with, "If it'd been ruptured it would've sealed itself." The Doctor gets it open, but reveals some cut wires behind the face plate: the cabin has literally been cut off. The Doctor informs the group that Joe and Claude had sent a distress signal and promises them that they're going to get out of this.

Jethro calls everyone's attention back to the cowering Sky, who hasn't moved a muscle; the Doctor kneels next to her and, with a lot of coaxing, convinces her to turn around. However, she moves jerkily, like a robot, and she looks directly into the beams of their flashlights without a sign of flinching. Her pupils have contracted to a frighteningly small point in her irises.

The Doctor starts to reassure her, only to have Sky repeat everything he says right back to him in a slightly dazed tone of voice. When members of the group start remarking or asking her to 'stop it', she merely parrots their words back to them in the same dazed tone. Deciding to test how well Sky can copy them, the Doctor states the square root of pi, amazed at how she repeats every number without fail even when they were talking over each other, as well as adding the 'wow' he used to cut himself off at the end.

Chaos erupts as the passengers start talking over each other with pseudo-Sky talking over them. The glitch of the back-up generator coming on halts them all, and Professor Hobbes takes the floor, trying to have everyone calm down and be rational.

Jethro and the Doctor, however, notice that there's a curious echo to Hobbes's words, and are watching Sky. Hobbes tries to get the Doctor to back away from her, but stutters and trails off when he notices the 'echo', which is really Skye speaking simultaneously.... with the same words.

Val Cane points this out, but Sky talks along with her as well, freaking the whole group out even more than they're already terrified. The Doctor calls for silence, but Val notes, increasingly hysterically, that '[Sky;'s] got [Val's] voice, she's got [her] words!'

The Doctor decides to test Sky by saying random words and names (even rattling off the names of his companions, in order, and abruptly ending the string with the TARDIS), nonsense words and sentences, and the alphabet, which he cuts off suddenly at the letter O, only to have her copy him in every particular. She not only says the words simultaneously, she takes on the same tone of voice, moves her mouth in a very similar manner, and even mimics his movements (tilting her head back and forward).

The Doctor gives a satisfied smile (in the style of Rose Tyler), and stands up, wondering what the next stage is. She started out repeating and is now speaking simultaneously. What's next?

Jethro guesses that it's not truly Sky anymore, which the Doctor agrees to. She imitates even Val's weeping noises when this happens.

The Doctor backs everyone up to the opposite end of the shuttle as pseudo-Sky, who snatches the words of a poem called 'We Must Not Look At Goblin-Men' from Dee Dee's mouth, reciting the lines even without Dee Dee's saying them.

The Hostess suggests throwing her out. To the Doctor's shock and horror, the other passengers start hopping on board that train of thought. He snaps at them to leave it alone, saying it could be a new life and challenging them to actually murder Sky Silvestry and whatever consciousness has taken hold of her. Everyone falls silent. But the Hostess pipes up with an "I would" and all agree with her except Jethro and Hobbes.

His attempt to take charge backfires when the passengers become suspicious of him, especially when he talks of 'humans' like he's not one of them, refuses to tell them his real name or origin or talk about Donna, and admits to being fascinated by whatever's talking through Sky. The group consider throwing him out as well. They dare him to tell them his name but refute his alias (John Smith). Finally he shouts that they need him, but Val points out that he's been repeating himself more than Sky.

Jethro points out that Sky has stopped repeating and is starting at the Doctor. The passengers begin talking again but the only one being 'echoed' is the Doctor, which they take as proof of his duplicity. He pleads with pseudo-Sky to stop it, but her echoes get louder and louder until finally, when he offers it whatever it needs, offers it help, offers it a deal, he repeats after Sky, not before.

A moment of terror passes before the Doctor starts repeating after Sky in a reversal of what happened when he tried to get Sky to talk. Jethro guesses that whatever possessed Sky has now moved into the Doctor. Sky's now able to move again, unlike the Doctor, who's motionless and trembling like he's trying to fight it. Sky begs Hobbes to get her away from the Doctor, who can't move. Her ability to move convinces everyone that it's moved out of her and into the Doctor.

Dee Dee, however, disagrees, though everyone, including Jethro, thinks whatever it is has now possessed the Doctor, whose voice is stiff and reluctant, as though fighting with all he can use. Sky's movements are a bit jerky, but otherwise she seems fine.

Dee Dee theorises that 'it repeats then it synchronises then it goes onto the next stage', which she thinks is completely stealing the voice of the victim, pointing out the Doctor as the second victim, as Sky's voice has already been stolen. Sadly no one believes her. Behind them the Doctor struggles inside his pseudo-self, shaking and terrified as he tries to wrestle the consciousness that's stealing his voice.

Professor Hobbes shouts at Dee Dee that she shouldn't pretend to be an expert when she's only 'average at best' and to 'SHUT. UP!' Sky tells them about how 'he' 'gets inside your head' and 'makes you fight', and while he repeats the words the Doctor's expression morphs from the determined set before he was 'possessed' to a seriously terrified one, though no one notices. Sky encourages them to throw the Doctor out, and Biff and Hobbes obey, grabbing him and dragging him to one of the doors. Pseudo-Sky continues egging them on, but makes a vital mistake: using the Doctor's catchphrases 'Molto bene!' and 'Allons-y!' consecutively, which the Hostess notices, especially when pseudo-Doctor repeats them in exactly the same tone he used. The Hostess tries to tell them that it's his voice, that It has finally finished assimilating the Doctor's speech pattern, but the car is in an uproar and no one hears her. So she grabs pseudo-Sky and slams open the opposite door, counting the seconds while pseudo-Sky and pseudo-Doctor scream in terror and agony. The air pressure shields lower and the two fly off the car into the X-tonic sunlight.

The car door shuts and the men let go of the Doctor, who tumbles to the floor in a daze.

The Doctor slowly recovers from his paralysis, repeating 'It's gone' and being echoed by his own voice until it fades, while the others try to calm down with varying degrees of success. The Doctor drags himself up onto a seat, looking dazed, exhausted, and grieved. Val guiltily tries defending herself by saying she knew it was Sky ('I said it was her'). He just glares at her. The passengers wait for the rescue vehicle in a haunted silence. When the rescue bus is within three minutes of them, the Doctor asks, "The hostess... what was her name?" To their great shame and remorse, the passengers realise that they have no idea. In the heat of the moment, they never asked the name of the woman who just saved them all.

At the Leisure Palace, the Doctor walks toward Donna with a frown and a glazed look in his eyes that tell her something's wrong. She pulls him into a hug even without understanding what went south.

The two later discuss what happened, with the Doctor still clueless over what the creature is, where it came from, if it survived, or how many more there may be. Either way, he intends to inform the Leisure Palace Company and have them take off the planet, once again leaving Midnight to its silent orbit around the X-tonic star. Donna says, "I can't imagine you without a voice." The Doctor tells her, "Molto bene," with a weak smile. Donna copies him, even mimicking his Italian flair. Disturbed, the Doctor pleads with Donna not to do that, then looks away, still haunted.

Cast

 * The Doctor - David Tennant
 * Donna Noble - Catherine Tate
 * Rose Tyler - Billie Piper
 * Hostess - Rakie Ayola
 * Sky Silvestry - Lesley Sharp
 * Professor Hobbes - David Troughton
 * Dee Dee Blasco - Ayesha Antoine
 * Val Cane - Lindsey Coulson
 * Biff Cane - Daniel Ryan
 * Jethro Cane - Colin Morgan
 * Driver Joe - Tony Bluto
 * Mechanic Claude - Duane Henry

Cultural references from the real world

 * A Betty Boop cartoon and Italian soubrette Raffaella Carrà are briefly shown on a screen during the voyage as part of the animation archives.

The Doctor

 * During Sky's constant copying of the Doctor, he mentions such things as Rose Tyler, Donna Noble, Martha Jones, TARDIS, bananas and the Medusa Cascade.
 * The Doctor attempts to pass himself off as John Smith when asked what his name is, which is treated with scepticism by the others.

Astronomy

 * The lost moon of Poosh is mentioned.

Species

 * Biff tells a story of his encounter with a Shamboni.

Story notes

 * Working titles included Crusader Five and Crusader 50.
 * This is the first episode in Series 4 in which the Doctor is present when Rose Tyler appears although he does not see her.
 * Donna was largely absent from this episode, as Catherine Tate was filming Turn Left. While the previous two series included one episode each referred to as "Doctor-lite" for including only brief appearances by the Doctor and, by extension, his companion, this was the first time a "companion-lite" episode focusing on the Doctor by himself has been attempted in the revived series.
 * Dee Dee mentions the lost moon of Poosh, continuing the theme of disappearing planetary bodies featured throughout series 4.
 * This episode was originally intended to be episode 8, before Steven Moffat's two-parter, but was pushed back to episode 10. The name of the shuttle bus, Crusader 50, was a reference to it originally being the 50th episode of the new series to be screened and David Troughton was going to add symmetry as he was in the 50th story of the classic series. It was however the 50th episode of the "new series" to be filmed. A similar reference was made in Planet of the Dead, with the bus numbered 200 referencing the 200th Doctor Who story to be broadcast.
 * This is the first televised story since Genesis of the Daleks in 1975 not to feature the TARDIS. The only other televised stories in the history of Doctor Who in which it does not appear are Mission to the Unknown, Doctor Who and the Silurians, The Mind of Evil, The Daemons, The Sea Devils, The Sontaran Experiment and The Lie of the Land.
 * This is the second episode in which the Doctor has not had a companion to assist him. The first episode without a companion was The Deadly Assassin, although the earlier story remains the only one in which no companion appears at all (as opposed to Donna's appearances at the beginning and end of this episode).
 * For the first time ever in Doctor Who history, the villain in this episode is never actually revealed.
 * David Troughton, who plays the professor, is the son of Patrick Troughton, who played the Second Doctor. Episode director Alice Troughton is not directly related. David Troughton appeared in his father's final story The War Games, and also in the Third Doctor story The Curse of Peladon and is a veteran contributor to the Big Finish Productions audio dramas.
 * Sky Silvestry mentions to the Doctor that "I found myself single recently, not by choice... she needed her own space". This is in keeping with the increased mentions of same-sex relationships in humanity's future, once again suggesting a more tolerant viewpoint by this point about it.
 * Sky also says that her ex went to "a different galaxy, in fact". The Doctor's response is, "I had a friend who went a different universe", referencing Rose Tyler's departure in Doomsday, and foreshadowing her return in Turn Left.
 * Although rumoured to have originated from an earlier episode, the brief cameo of Rose was scripted for this episode and was filmed especially for this episode by director Alice Troughton during production of Turn Left. According to the DVD commentary for this episode, Russell T Davies decided to also include the clip in The Poison Sky, too, a fact Troughton — and David Tennant — were not made aware of until during the commentary recording for Midnight.
 * Months after the episode aired, the story element of having two characters speaking the same words at the same time, and one character trying to throw the other off by spouting random references, would be duplicated in "The Arrival", an episode of the American series.
 * This story was written, at short notice, to replace a script called Century House by Tom MacRae which Russell T Davies felt was too similar, in terms of tone, to The Unicorn and the Wasp. (DWM 400)
 * When Donna impersonates the Doctor's Italian accent at the end, the Doctor says, "Don't do that," as he addressed Martha Jones and Rose Tyler's earlier attempts at accents; however on this occasion it is with serious intent and more directly references the fact that he is uncomfortable with her repeating his words as he had just recovered from an adventure with a mysterious entity that wanted his voice.
 * The lost moon of Poosh is first introduced in this episode as another lost planet alongside Adipose 3 and Pyrovillia, continuing this series' trend of having lost planets, and the trend of a unique story arc per series. The first series had the Bad Wolf, the second had Torchwood, and the third had Mr. Saxon. These planets are ultimately revealed to have been stolen by the Daleks and are found by the Doctor and Donna. The lost moon of Poosh is returned home by Donna in Journey's End is thus later no longer lost.

Rating

 * Official BARB ratings - 8.05 million viewers. Midnight was the 5th most watched programme on British television for the week.

Myths

 * Billie Piper's brief cameo was taken from an earlier episode, most likely The Idiot's Lantern, in which she was also shown shouting silently from a TV screen, and was a last-minute addition. This was false, it was filmed during Series 4.

Studio

 * Upper Boat Studios, Trefforest

Location

 * Dylan's Health Spa, Newport

Production errors

 * Donna's phone in the prologue is clearly the handset of a wired phone due to the jack on the bottom. She was supposed to hold it upside down so no one would notice, but nobody on set caught the mistake.
 * Also in the prologue, as the Doctor is saying his last words to Donna on the phone, behind him you can see a green screen that is supposed to be the bus depot on where he travels to the bus. (However, in some repeats of the story... the error has been cleaned up and the background has been placed in.)
 * While trying to turn off the entertainment, the Doctor extends his sonic screwdriver. The camera then switches to Sky, then to the Doctor where he extends the sonic screwdriver again.
 * When the Hostess tells Dee Dee that Sky has "stolen" the Doctor's voice, the second shot of Dee Dee is mirrored. The first shot shows her with a black blur to her left, presumably Jethro's shirt, and a bracelet on her right wrist, but in the second shot, it is reversed. Also, on there is a different pattern on the wall that switches sides between shots.
 * When the hostess apologises for the entertainment breaking you can see the boom mic operator in the reflection of the glass behind her.

Continuity

 * An image of Rose Tyler calling to the Doctor again appears briefly, this time on one of the shuttle bus's screens. (TV: The Poison Sky)
 * "Molto bene", Italian for "very well", has been used by the Tenth Doctor before. (TV: The Runaway Bride) The Doctor's other favourite catchphrase in this incarnation, "Allons-y" (French for "Let's go!"), is also said and significant. (TV: Army of Ghosts, Voyage of the Damned)
 * The Doctor also encountered a shuttle bus during his seventh incarnation, also as part of a dangerous situation. (TV: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy)
 * When the Doctor is talking to Sky, she tells the Doctor about her ex wanting more space. The Doctor mentions having a friend who went to a different universe. This references Rose Tyler's "exile" to Pete's World (TV: Doomsday)
 * When the Midnight entity initially attacks the Crusader 50, the Doctor knocks on the cabin wall four times (to which the entity also knocks four times). (TV: The Sound of Drums) Later on, the Doctor learns of the prophecy stating that this would signify his death. (TV: Planet of the Dead)
 * The Lost Moon of Poosh is mentioned. The Doctor later realises that it is part of the 27 planets stolen by the Daleks. It is returned by Donna Noble to its right position is space. (TV: The Stolen Earth/Journey's End)
 * The hostess would be among those remembered when Davros asked the Doctor: "How many have died in your name? (TV: Journey's End)

Home video releases

 * This story was released in the Series 4 DVD box set in November 2008 along with the rest of the series.
 * It was released as Series 4 Volume 3 in a vanilla edition with Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead.