Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Matt Smith, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Dame Diana Rigg, Rachael Stirling, Neve McIntosh, Cartrin Stewart, Dan Starkey, Eve de Leon Allen, Kassius Carey Johnson, Brendan Patricks, Graham Turner, Olivia Vinall, Michelle Tate, Scott Stevenson, Jack Oliver Hudson.
The Crimson Horror, the type of tale that would make readers of Victorian melodrama and penny dreadful salivates with the expectation of a reader enjoying Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for the first time, transpose this expectation to the type of Doctor Who-lite story, add a splash of immense acting royalty from Dame Diana Rigg and her superb daughter, the incredible Rachael Stirling and it becomes not just Doctor-lite but extra-lite, no additives, no fat, just a wonderful story that was edging on the macabre that writer Mark Gatiss obviously enjoys.
The Doctor-lite stories split the audience and fandom. There are moments when the story losing the grip of what errs on the frankly rubbish and absurd, Love and Monsters for example had some splendid moments, the relationship focusing on one of those that the Doctor’s presence has touched and how they cope with what they do showed a side that rarely gets seen. Elton Pope was a great character, portrayed with a sense of fun and genius by Marc Warren but the flip side, the truly dreadful way in which Peter Kay was reduced to hamming it up in a green body suit that frankly looked less alien and ridiculous and about as scary as a night in 5 star hotel with all the trimmings.
When Doctor-lite stories are written well, such as in perhaps one of the great Doctor Who stories of all time Blink which starred the impressive Carey Mulligan, a call for her becoming a companion of the Doctor surely affirmed this. When the audience becomes more involved, the questions are more accepting and shows in a way why the Doctor maintains that humans is his favourite species. Like Blink, The Crimson Horror relied on very strong character and a script that was written by someone who cared about the tale they were weaving, by having the addition of the aforementioned Diana Rigg and Rachael Stirling, who in the last ten years has given some of the most incredible performances in parts that require incredible depth such as Tipping the Velvet and Lewis, and three characters that fans have taken to their heart played by Neve McIntosh, Catrin Stewart and the superb Dan Starkey, this episode like Blink, didn’t miss the Doctor. When he did turn up it was with an extra spring in step, cheeky and exuberant. Kissing Jenny in thanks was a great touch, as was her indignation at his effrontery.
It may be the times we live in but the penny dreadful, the Victorian melodrama that crept throughout the dark satanic mill was as creepy and terrifying as the haunted house or even angels taking people out of their place in time. With some subtle hints dropped into the dialogue by Mark Gatiss, a writing legend on par with Steven Moffat, this series is reaching now the heights laid down and promised.
The Crimson Horror was an episode that may not have been sweet but certainly was sharp.
Ian D. Hall