While it’s debatable whether or not this should be the Tenth Doctor’s greatest story, this is easily the best written work of Russell’s career. You may have noticed I’ve not been very kind towards Russel as I’ve taken shots here and there at his writing and show running. It’s not that I don’t like Russell’s works or appreciate what he brought to Doctor Who, I do see the appeal behind his era and the Tenth Doctor era holds a special place in my heart as being my starting point for Doctor Who. But I found that Russell often took a very flawed approach with his writing and show running decisions; his episodes in particular carried a lot of tropes and motifs that quickly became not only repetitive but very grating; the animal-based aliens, the random psychic characters, foreshadowing that’s way too self-aware and an over emphasis on angst. Also, a lot of things he introduced as a showrunner are still plaguing Doctor Who to this day, which I feel is really holding the show back from properly growing. Whether it’s Steven Moffat or Chris Chibnall and especially Russell's return, it always feels like the show’s still trying to hang on to that past glory Russell’s era had when Doctor Who is all about change and moving forward.

Midnight has quite the interesting history, allegedly this was an idea that Russell had written very early on in his tenure, but he kept putting it off because he wasn’t sure it would gel with the audience. Then we finally get it at the tail end of Series 4, by which time Russell had already announced his departure and it was too late to write anything like this ever again. Midnight is very different from anything Russell’s written for Doctor Who before and since and it plays on his greatest strength as a writer, the ability to write characters as believable people in a believable setting. The idea of the monster is simple and not overly ambitious meaning it doesn’t come off as ridiculous and ill-thought like a lot of his previous monsters and it takes a very traditional Doctor Who formula and tweaks it ever so slightly to create one of the most intense, atmospheric and claustrophobic stories the show’s ever put out. The formula being the Doctor’s gift for taking control of a situation the moment things go awry, except this time he tries to take control and he fails! Throughout the episode we see things spiral further and further out of control as the Doctor is backed into a corner and becomes more and more scared, but not by the monster, but by a group of ordinary frightened people who we spent the first half of the episode getting to know as a friendly group but are now being driven further and further into survival by any means necessary, with no companion to help him. This is quite honestly David Tennant’s best performance as the Doctor as we see him put on the usual charm and clever nature the Doctor often exhibits but as the situation gets worse and worse, we see that transition into sheer helplessness and terror. That last scene between him and Donna really nails just how shaken the Doctor is following this event, just that traumatised look on Tennant’s face before the credits roll was pure gold.

The horror in this is spot on thanks to a chilling score from Murray Gold, a terrifying performance from Lesley Sharp and a brilliant concept for the entity that’s never seen or properly understood. The episode is so good at letting your imagination ponder on what this entity might be, from that perfect setup where one of the drivers notices something like a shadow far off in the distance making a ducking movement like it’s running, running towards them, the knocking at the door scene where it almost toys with the passengers as they panic more and more before moving toward Lesley Sharp’s character. Which is then followed by Sharp giving a phenomenal performance that still to this day has me in a stunned silence every time I watch it. The entity in this is never named, seen or properly defined, all we know is that it’s malevolent and can perfectly sync with other people’s voices.

If there’s ever a Doctor Who story that can conceivably be done as a stage play, with its single setting and limited number of characters, Midnight is a deserving candidate. Given Russell’s hesitancy towards going through with this episode only for it be regarded as one of his biggest triumphs, I was hopeful we would get more like this in his second run of the show, where Russel forgoes his usual bag of tricks and focuses on his true strengths as a writer.