Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

“THE WELL: A GRIPPING AND GORGEOUSLY TENSE UNEXPECTED SEQUEL”

Following directly on from the fourth-wall-breaking Lux, Sharma Angel-Walfall’s (co-written with Russell T Davies) debut Doctor Who episodeThe Well dials down the scale but not the intensity, plunging us into an eerie, barren mining planet in the distant future. The episode transports the Doctor and Belinda from the glamorous glow of 1950s Miami to a bleak, lifeless world 400,000 years in the future – and in a very classic Doctor Who touch, this vision of sci-fi desolation is brought to life through quarries and steelworks in South Wales. But it’s never once unconvincing, thanks to stellar direction, haunting design, and genuinely chilling atmosphere.

The return to a more contained “base-under-siege” setup is a smart pivot after Lux, offering a tense, almost claustrophobic experience that echoes Midnight without mimicking it. The mining base on planet 6-7-6-7 feels lived-in yet ominously abandoned, with detailed set design suggesting a bustling operation brought to a sudden, horrific halt. Every broken mirror and scattered body tells a story, and it’s in the quiet exploration of these ruins that the episode builds its dread.

CHARACTERS: DEATH, DISABILITY, AND DESPERATION

Unlike The Robot Rebellion or The Devil’s Chord, this week’s guest cast gets room to breathe. The episode introduces eleven soldiers, but wisely focuses on just a few: Shay Costallion, the pragmatic and courageous captain; Cassio, the brash, insubordinate soldier who won’t take orders from the Doctor; and Mo, a more soft-spoken and relatable presence. Most of them are doomed, of course – this is a Midnight-sequel after all – but we get to know them just enough for their deaths to sting.

But the real standout is Rose Ayling-Ellis as Aliss Fenley, a deaf cook and the only survivor of the base. Her performance is riveting – equal parts fragile and fierce – and the writing never reduces her to a victim or a gimmick. Instead, her deafness is integral to the plot in a subtle, meaningful way. The future’s use of augmented sign language and speech-to-text tech offers smart, hopeful world-building, and the episode makes several poignant jabs at present-day inequality through lines like Aliss' horror that Belinda doesn’t know BSL – “It’s illegal for nurses not to know sign in my time.” Brilliant.

Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor is, once again, a masterclass in contrast. He’s warm and inquisitive one moment, then suddenly terrified and rattled when he realises where they are. His fearful recognition of Midnight is brilliantly underplayed – a quiet dread creeping in, setting this apart from the louder, more reactive responses of other incarnations. You feel that he remembers what happened last time.

Belinda also continues to grow in strength and presence. Still a bit swept away by the chaos, she’s more confident, improvising, taking initiative, and getting to be a nurse again – a lovely nod to her core identity. Her unwavering support of Aliss, even when everyone else turns on her, is an important beat for her development.

PLOT AND THEMES: THE UNKNOWN, THE UNSEEN, AND THE UNSTOPPABLE

The episode thrives on atmosphere, paranoia and ambiguity. There’s no exposition dump for the monster, no clear solution, no real name. Like Midnight, the fear is in what we don’t know. The creature is never fully seen, but we feel its presence in every shot – whispering, stalking, killing anyone who walks behind Aliss. The visual cue of Aliss’ terror every time someone moves behind her is quietly terrifying, and rewards rewatching.

That this is Midnight again isn’t immediately clear, but when the reveal hits – that the creature is back, and they’ve returned to the same planet – the horror truly sets in. Crucially, this isn’t a lazy retread: the creature has evolved, or is perhaps a different strain of the same threat. It doesn’t mimic people like in the original, but instead hides behind its host, feeding on fear and waiting to strike. The twist that it moves from body to body if its current host is killed adds an unsettling logic to the chaos. The rules are simple but horrifying: don’t walk behind the wrong person.

When it’s finally revealed that the creature is playing with its victims – not hunting out of necessity, but for the thrill – it’s one of the darkest implications the show has dared to make in recent years. The creature is unknowable and unstoppable, and the only option is to run.

ACTION AND CLIMAX: SACRIFICE AND SURVIVAL

The action scenes – especially the one where multiple troopers are flung into the air – do slightly undermine the terror with their silly theatrics, but this is a minor flaw. The episode regains its footing with the emotional and character-driven final act. Costallion’s sacrifice in the airlock to save Belinda is deeply moving and sobering, a brutal reminder of the cost of travelling with the Doctor. It also mirrors The Waters of Mars in tone – fatalism, heroism, and the weight of time.

The Doctor’s desperate gamble to use a wall of mercury to break the creature’s grip on Aliss – despite its toxicity – is a solid moment of practical ingenuity. But it’s not a neat resolution. The final moments don’t bring closure, just survival. And then comes the final shot: the creature is still there, whispering, watching. Ready to strike again. It’s one of the most chilling endings Doctor Who has done in years.

AUDIO, DIRECTION AND ATMOSPHERE: SCARING US SILLY

From its minimalist score to the clever sound design – whispers, static, and the eerie hum of a base gone cold – this episode knows how to use silence. Director Dylan Holmes Williams creates a tangible sense of dread through lighting and camera movement, and the production values are top-tier across the board.

There’s also a fantastic use of lighting and reflections – mirrors are a key motif here, and the shattered remains across the base evoke ideas of broken identities, unseen threats, and shattered lives. Smart visual storytelling all around.

BUILDING THE ARC: ANOTHER PIECE OF THE PUZZLE

The series arc gets a chilling advancement here. The reveal that no one has heard of Earth – because it was destroyed on May 24th, 2025 – adds a whole new layer of existential tension. Suddenly, the Doctor and Belinda’s adventures aren’t just thrilling romps through time and space; they’re a desperate attempt to uncover a mystery and stop a disaster.

📝 VERDICT: 9.9/10

The Well is one of the strongest episodes of the RTD2 era so far – a perfect blend of atmosphere, character, mystery, and existential horror. It builds on Midnight without diminishing it, delivering an entirely new kind of fear while still honouring the legacy of the original. With brilliant performances, particularly from Rose Ayling-Ellis, gorgeous production values, and a slow-burn plot that rewards patience, this is modern Doctor Who firing on all cylinders. Creepy, characterful, and completely captivating.