Hide (2013)

Lets start with a fact. Hide is the shortest title for a Doctor Who story in its history. Written by Neil Cross, this story that looks for all intents and purposes like a ghost story and I must admit that I did get a sense of terror when Clara did the Ghostbusters gag. I’m waiting to see whether the years that the stories from this part of the series are relevant in any way.  The story sees the Doctor and Clara arrive at Caliburn Mansion where Professor Alec Palmer and Emma Grayling are investigating a ghost that is known as the Witch of the Well (there was a 2011 Big Finish story called Witch from the Well which is what I thought they said). It turns out that the ghost isn’t a ghost but infact someone called Hila Tukurian who has found herself in a pocket dimension and she is being hunted by what is credited as a crooked man.

There are some really good moments as it superbly directed and has a really spooky script. The moment when the Doctor got left behind in the pocket universe was one of the best moments of the episode. It was superbly done and it’s the latest in a long line of good moments and what helps is that both Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman do some light comedy in their performances which I think saves it from being too dark. They both give good performances and this was actually JLC’s first story on the show but it doesn’t show as she is great from start to finish.

Like ‘Cold War’, this story benefits from a nice small cast. Apart from Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman there are just four cast members if you include Aidan Cook who plays the crooked man. Dougray Scott is not an actor that I have thought of as carrying great weight on screen. However he does very well as Professor Alec Palmer who is a man with a past and has feelings for Emma Grayling. Grayling is played by Jessica Raine who is perhaps best known for appearing in the BBC drama ‘Call The Midwife’ and here she plays someone who has psychic powers and can connect with the ghosts. It was a good performance from Raine who manages to do confident one minute and then vulnerable the next with equal conviction. I thought that Kemi-Bo Jacobs was given a bit of a duff role as she doesn’t really get to do very much apart from being rescued by the Doctor and then being introduced to Grayling and Palmer.

The whole reason why the Doctor and Clara have arrived at the Caliburn Mansion is so that the Doctor can hear what Emma Grayling can tell about Clara as the Doctor continues to work out the only mystery worth solving. Not surprisingly we learn nothing really about Clara. This was the better of the two Cross episode. After the Ice Warriors episode I thought that this was going to be a let down however I was really impressed with this story and thought that it was a intelligent and very atmospheric adventure.