John (Knock Knock)

John, also referred to simply as the Landlord, was the landlord of a large house in England.

Biography
During his childhood, John's mother Eliza contracted a terminal illness. One day, he found peculiar bugs in his garden and showed them to Eliza. Overnight, the insects (revealed to be Dryads) came to life at the sound of high pitched frequencies and healed Eliza by gradually transforming her into wood. Realising it was the only way to keep her alive, John lured various students to live in his house by allowing many people to stay whilst also being affordable so the Dryads could consume them and stabilise Eliza. Judging by the evidence the Twelfth Doctor found, he had been periodically harvesting university students every 20 years since at least 1957.

When Bill moved in with her friends in 2017, they noticed something strange about the landlord as well as the old-fashioned and creaky house. With help from the Doctor, they soon found out his secret and convinced Eliza to end it, since she was his parent and had the power to do as such. As such, she ordered the Dryads to eat her and John, and as a result caused all of them to swarm out of the house, removing all the wood and making the house uninhabitable. (TV: Knock Knock)

Personality
At first, John appeared as a calm, collected yet discreet landlord. However, he quickly became more sinister and intimidating, such as when he sharply told Harry the tower was out of bounds and even throwing a menacing glare his way. He was quick to justify his own cruel actions in order to keep Eliza preserved by the Dryads. However, as events progressed, John's facade eventually melted down and revealed his child-like personality in front of his parent, that of a child desperately wanting to save his mother by any means necessary. (TV: Knock Knock)

Behind the scenes

 * The name of the Landlord is never made obvious in the episode, being only whispered once by Eliza. Furthermore, the name is only made obvious in the subtitles of BBC iPlayer.

John (Knock Knock)