Midnight

********Spoiler Warning********

I was happy when I eventually got away from work to be home in time for the start of this weeks Doctor Who episode, Midnight. It made a nice change to watch it on television rather than on my laptop, via BBC iPlayer!
The whole episode plays out as a study in hysteria and paranoia, showing how, when faced with an unknown danger, man turns on his companions and acts in packs to attack who they perceive to be the enemy or the weak. It is well written, but ultimately I felt a bit let down and not hooked by the story.
Lindsey Coulson, played her character, Val, well. She was the main instigator of the hysteria from the get-go when the level of oxygen was mentioned in passing, she hooked onto it and got everyone thinking that the air was running out! For a sci-fi show it had a lot of realism when dealing with how people, any group of people, would react in a similar situation.
The young actor playing Val's son, Jethro, was good too, Colin Morgan. Being a voice of reason for most of the show, he showed an intelligence not acknowledged by either of his parents. He could have been companion material, and the Doctor did like him, well at least until even he turned on the Doctor. He was cute too, for a young guy!
This episode also starred David Troughton, son of the second Doctor, Patrick Troughton, making him the second child of a former Doctor to appear in an episode this season alone. He played a, not so intelligent, professor. He has appeared in several episodes before though, even in episodes with his father.
Ayesha Antoine, playing the professor's assistant Dee Dee, was great. Showing an intelligence that in another situation could also have led to her becoming the Doctor's next companion.
Speaking of companions, Donna was absent during this story. She appeared briefly at the beginning and the end, as she was off sunbathing somewhere, though thankfully we didn't see much flesh.
This story was a different take on the Doctor. One of the few stories where he is companionless it showed that he often needs a companion to help him reason with other humanoids who he otherwise does not see eye-to-eye with. When the entity starts to sway the opinion of almost all his fellow travellers he gets a look on his face of real emptiness, not knowing what to do! When he had this I felt that he looked like the actor Alastair Mackenzie (mainly known to me from Monarch of the Glen), I wonder if they are related? This is the second time Tennant has looked like someone else to me (the other being a young Kenny Everett).
Though not a brilliant episode, in my humble opinion, it was an incredibly well performed piece that was obviously incredibly difficult to film. Lots of scenes with everyone talking at the same time, and other scenes with people saying the same lines after each other and at the same time. I can only imagine the nightmarish thoughts that went through the actors minds when they first saw their scripts! It was a bit of a break between the [background] ongoing story of this series, that could have been shown at any point in the series. The only link to continuity was the brief shot of Rose Tyler on the transport monitor, silently calling for the Doctor as she has in previous episodes. Next week is when we find out what she is trying to warn the Doctor about. Oh, and it appears from the sneak-peak we get of next week, that Donna does indeed have something growing on / in her back! I thought that was a bluff story line when I read it months ago! And it also appears that the Doctor will not be in next weeks episode, which I also read that would happen months ago. Just goes to show you can never know what to believe and what not to!