Stories Television Doctor Who (2005-2022) Doctor Who S8 Episode: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Listen 1 image Overview Characters How to Watch Reviews 5 Statistics Related Stories Quotes 5 Transcript Overview First aired Saturday, September 13, 2014 Written by Steven Moffat Directed by Douglas Mackinnon Runtime 45 minutes Time Travel Past, Future Tropes (Potential Spoilers!) Cloister Bell, Bootstrap Paradox, End of the Universe, Time Travel Pivotal, Flashbacks Inventory (Potential Spoilers!) Psychic Paper, Sonic Screwdriver Location (Potential Spoilers!) Earth, England, Gallifrey, London UK Viewers 7.01 million Appreciation Index 82 Synopsis The Doctor has been pondering a question: have people ever been truly alone? Does something lurk unseen beside us all? With Clara at his side, the Time Lord will find himself delving into familiar pasts and eerie futures. Just where does the answer to the old man's unanswerable question lie? Will he find the answers he's been searching for, or will his quest cost him his life this time? Watch Watched Favourite Favourited Add Review Edit Review Log a repeat Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Owned Save to my list Saved Characters Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi Clara Oswald Jenna Coleman Danny Pink Show All Characters (3) How to watch Listen: Watch on iPlayer Blu-Ray The Complete Eighth Series [Steelbook] Blu-Ray The Complete Eighth Series DVD The Complete Eighth Series Reviews Add Review Edit Review Sort: Newest First Oldest First Most Likes Highest Rating Lowest Rating Username (A-Z) Username (Z-A) Spoilers First Spoilers Last 5 reviews 3 December 2024 · 6 words Review by MarkOfGilead19 1 Perfect episode. Infinitely rewatchable. Immensely captivating. Like Liked 1 23 September 2024 · 58 words Review by AndyUK I thought it was great, a completely psychological horror story that's not done enough nowadays. It was a character study of The Doctor and was perfect in that regard. Capaldi is perfect for this sort of thing and the twist at the end of him as a child was very unexpected. Best episode so far for me, definitely. Like Liked 0 14 September 2024 · 7 words Review by dykepaldi rewatched 13/9/24 10 years of twelveclaratardis psychic threesome scene 💕💕 Like Liked 0 18 May 2024 · 168 words Review by dema1020 Spoilers 1 This review contains spoilers! I think Listen is a remarkably strong episode and Doctor Who story. It is an excellent bit of horror and mystery, while, just like Midnight, somewhat frustratingly leaves you with more questions than answers. Yes, it is also somewhat frustrating that Clara is once again the explanation for everything, I feel it is easy to look past that given how emotionally-drive Moffat scripts are. This is a story of fear itself and it is quite masterfully done, at least in my opinion. That scene with the figure is haunting, and leaves so many questions. If it all was just a childhood fear instilled by Clara, was the mysterious entity really there? What was it, exactly? I think that mystery is what makes it so tantalizing. Every Doctor shows fear in some way at some point. Capaldi still manages to stand-out here. But Jenna Coleman is also just so excellent here. Overall, a very impressive episode that sticks in my memory. Easily one of my favourite New Who episodes. Like Liked 1 30 April 2024 · 615 words Review by Speechless Spoilers 3 This review contains spoilers! Series 8; Episode 4: --- "Listen" by Steven Moffat Listen is a really damn interesting story. A story that can have no villain or possibly one of the scariest in the whole show. I'll admit, the idea of a creature so good at hiding it can always be with you and you'd never notice is an amazing idea and I don't know which interpretation I prefer - that there was no creature or that there was one. Whilst not the greatest episode to ever exist, it's certainly a highlight of the series for me. The Doctor's found a new obsession. A mysterious message in the TARDIS that appeared from thin air has made him ask a question: what if there was a creature so good at hiding you could never possibly find it? The answer will take him from a dingy little children's home, to the edge of the universe, to the site of the Doctor's greatest fear. (CONTAINS SPOILERS) I always found the concept of Listen to be terrifying. This episode has some great horror moments, everybody highlights the shape under the bed and, whilst that scene is pretty great, I think that Moffat's interpretation of the last man in the world hearing a knock on the door horror story is easily one of his best scenes period. I also really like Clara in this episode, despite one scene we'll get back to later. She honestly steals the show and I find her way better in episodes like this where she acts as a human being and not a canon plaster. Her and Danny's relationship is definitely a highlight of Series 8 to me, it feels like a very realistic and well constructed, especially in this episode. The awkwardness over dinner is, I'm sure, a well known experience to some and it gives a very palpable relatability to the two characters. The elephant in the room for this episode is probably the scene with Clara and the Doctor. If Moffat had made it an explanation for the Doctor's motivations during the episode, it would be fine, the only real problem would be that it was Clara, again. However, they stepped on old Doctor Who's toes by having Clara give the Doctor some of his iconic lines, which I feel was a leaning too far into fanwank and also downplayed some truly great and iconic quotes. Other than that, I felt the Doctor was a little abrasive in this episode. He was too animated and felt more like a weird side character than the story's main character and it certainly didn't fit into his personality in Series 8. Whilst the episode has gone down a bit for me upon rewatch, most of the enjoyment comes from the constant second guessing and plot reveals, I still think it's a great little atmosphere piece Moffat slipped in with some truly great and terrifying moments. 8/10 Pros: + Great concept executed perfectly to a terrifying extent + Amazing take on the Last Man in the World hearing a Knock on the Door concept + Fantastic direction of horror + The ambiguity of the episode is really experimental territory for Doctor Who that helps along the episode + Clara and Danny have really realistic and interesting scenes together Cons: - The infamous scene of Clara meeting the Doctor leaned to far into fan service and ended up sullying a great line from Classic Who - The Doctor acts weirdly out of character quite a lot in this episode. - I didn't actually find the scene's in the children's home that interesting outside of the creature under the bed, the rest just felt like meandering Like Liked 3 Open in new window Statistics AVG. Rating589 members 3.85 / 5 Trakt.tv AVG. Rating1,821 votes 4.14 / 5 The Time Scales AVG. Rating222 votes 4.25 / 5 Member Statistics Watched 1229 Favourited 133 Reviewed 5 Saved 3 Skipped 0 Owned 10 Related Stories Doctor Who Lockdown Listen Rating: 3.34 Story Skipped Webcast Reviews(1) More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: Doctor Who Lockdown Set of Stories: Minisodes Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved The Lives of Captain Jack Volume 3 • Episode 3 R & J Rating: 4.09 Story Skipped Audio Drama Reviews(1) More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: The Lives of Captain Jack Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Quotes Add Quote Link to Quote Favourite DOCTOR: Question. Why is there no such thing as perfect hiding? Answer. How would you know? Logically, if evolution were to perfect a creature whose primary skill were to hide from view, how could you know it existed? — Twelfth Doctor, Listen Show All Quotes (5) Open in new window Transcript (The Doctor is on a world tour. First we see him sitting on top of the TARDIS above the Earth.) DOCTOR: (sotto) Listen! [TARDIS] DOCTOR: Question. Why do we talk out loud when we know we're alone? (blows out candle) Conjecture. Because we know we're not. (He writes on his blackboard.) Show Full Transcript Open in new window