Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Matt Smith, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Jessica Raines, Dougray Scott, Kemi-Bo Jacobs, Aiden Cook.
An old haunted house, an empathic psychic, an old war hero dealing with his own distracting memories and a girl whose life remains a mystery…has Stephen Moffat been peeking at the Doctor Who fan’s Christmas list?
The classic ghost story, much favoured by writer and fan of the shadow world alike and for legion of Doctor Who enthusiasts, a genre that doesn’t get a sniff of the airplay it richly deserves. In a single bound, a slip of the spectral pen, Neil Cross’ script for Hide goes into the annals of Doctor Who classic stories for out of nearly 250 separate tales in 50 years; Hide easily jumps into the top ten per cent of Doctor Who television stories ever. A bold statement perhaps but Hide is perhaps arguably the best story alongside The Doctor’s Wife that Matt Smith has been involved with in his tenure in the Tardis.
The rising fear of the unknown and intangible, the mounting anxiety that appears on the four main actors faces grips the audience in a way that only a confrontation with the Daleks can easily match. At its heart though, it is well written story that digs deep into the apprehension that people feel about what is beyond the seen world and the terrors that lost souls may be witnessing. The story plays very much on a primeval level of the viewer, aliens, modern day viruses and technology that get into the internet or domineering races trying to enslave or eradicate another are near child’s play for the Doctor to deal with but the fear that deals with the thought of a ghost, an otherworldly projection is too much…even for the man from Galifrey.
Hide benefits from greatly from the addition of the two main supporting actors of Dougray Scott and Jessica Raines. Both actors of incredible repute and who have been in much demand for their undoubted talent. For Dougray Scott especially to portray a man that the Doctor admires, a rarity at the best of times, showed the actor to be of immense stature, his inner turmoil of having had sent many men and women to their death during World War Two played heavily on his heart and for something that is not easy for anyone to convey, especially 70 years on, Dougray Scott carried it off with great distinction.
If any of the following stories reaches the heights that Hide sets then the series will be considered one of the best since its resurrection in 2005. Certainly Hide sits comfortably with the very best of the classics, up there with Horror of Fang Rock, the magnificent Inferno and the splendid Peter Davison story The Caves of Androzani.
Hide? There will be many that certainly tried.
Ian D. Hall