Knock Knock

"This house is eating people."

Writer: Mike Bartlett
Format: TV
Broadcast: 6th May 2017
Series: 10.04

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Bill

Synopsis

Bill and her friends rent an old house to live in, but the floorboards and the walls are creaking, and there's a creepy Landlord lurking around. Can the Twelfth Doctor save the day as creatures come crawling out of the wood?

Verdict

Knock Knock was another very good episode in what is turning out to be an extremely consistent start to the tenth series of modern Doctor Who. This one sadly was not quite as great as I remembered it being on broadcast but it still remained very, very good. I think the main difference I noticed from my memory of the episode was that it wasn't quite as scary as I thought it was. Now, that may be down to me picking up an urge to watch a large number of horror movies between the occasions I watched this episode but even Gemma, who gets scared very easily, didn't think it was scary at all. I found that a bit of a shame. I think it was definitely more eery than scary which was absolutely fine and you had a terrifically intriguing character in the shape of the Landlord. He was played wonderfully and I loved how he just crept about the house and appeared as if from out of nowhere. Bill using the Doctor and the TARDIS to move her stuff into her new rented accommodation was amusing but I did think she could have been a little more polite. I appreciate that she didn't want him getting involved with her friends but they all knew him anyway from the university. The humour surrounding her stating that he was her grandad was brilliant though. I thought Peter Capaldi was excellent as the Doctor and it was clear right from the off that he wasn't going anywhere once he caught the slightest sense of something not quite being right. The concept of a house that eats people was good and I thought the image of Pavel being stuck between being digested was grotesque. The fact that his eyes moved was brilliant and riveting. Paul having a thing for Bill was good and definitely felt like something you'd expect from a mixed group at university. I lived in mixed accommodation for each of my three years as an undergrad and I was very impressed with how well university life was captured in this episode. Harry was a fantastic character and I really liked how he found the tenancy agreements that led the Doctor to discovering just what was going on. The history of the house and the Landlord was very good and quite emotional when we found out that he was actually Eliza's son. The Doctor deducing how he found the alien insects was brilliant and I loved childlike the Landlord became once the truth about his mother was revealed. She was less pleased knowing that all of the children the house has devoured over the years was merely to keep her alive. But what life did she have when she was literally stiff wood? It was time to stop and she fully accepted that. The image of Eliza and her elderly son hugging and being taken into the floor of the house was emotional and it led to a momentarily exciting exit from the house. It was no more and I do feel for the students who won't be getting their deposits back! The late scene with the vault was intriguing and develops that story more which was a bonus. Overall, another very good episode!

Rating: 8/10