Stories Television Doctor Who Series 7B Episode: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 The Crimson Horror 1 image Overview Characters How to Watch Reviews 6 Statistics Related Stories Quotes 1 Transcript Overview First aired Saturday, May 4, 2013 Written by Mark Gatiss Directed by Saul Metzstein Runtime 45 minutes Story Type Companion-Lite Time Travel Past Tropes (Potential Spoilers!) Bleak Resort, LGBTQA+ Location (Potential Spoilers!) Earth, England, Yorkshire UK Viewers 6.47 million Appreciation Index 85 Synopsis In 1893, the Eleventh Doctor's old friends, Vastra, Jenny Flint and Strax find an optogram of the Doctor on a victim of the mysterious "crimson horror". They head for Yorkshire, where Jenny infiltrates Mrs Winifred Gillyflower's community of Sweetville to find what has happened to him. Watch Watched Favourite Favourited Add Review Edit Review Log a repeat Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Owned Save to my list Saved Edit date completed Custom Date Release Date Archive (no date) Save Characters Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith Clara Oswald Jenna Coleman Madame Vastra Neve McIntosh Jenny Flint Catrin Stewart Strax Dan Starkey Mister Sweet Spoiler!Click to reveal 👀 Show All Characters (6) How to watch The Crimson Horror: Watch on iPlayer Blu-Ray The Complete Seventh Series [Steelbook] Blu-Ray The Complete Seventh Series DVD The Complete Seventh Series Blu-Ray Series 7: Part 2 DVD Series 7: Part 2 Reviews Add Review Edit Review Sort: Date (Newest First) Date (Oldest First) Likes (High-Low) Likes (Low-High) Rating (High-Low) Rating (Low-High) Word count (High-Low) Word count (Low-High) Username (A-Z) Username (Z-A) Spoilers First Spoilers Last 6 reviews 19 April 2025 · 12 words Review by Sp1derandthefly So much fun when there isn’t someone telling you that it’s bad. Sp1derandthefly View profile Like Liked 0 14 October 2024 · 224 words Review by 15thDoctor Spoilers 2 This review contains spoilers! A woefully underrated story and easily one of Mark Gatiss’ very best episodes, my favourite since The Unquiet Dead. He is playing to his strengths with the Victorian era setting, summoning a really beautiful story in a season which has lacked stories with this level of clarity of thought. Diana Rigg and daughter provide the story excellent antagonists, giving it a unique flavour. When you add to this another outing for the fabulous Paternoster Gang and the horrific surprise that is Mr Sweet, you get an incredibly unique production. The look of the story is stunning. Some victims in bell jars, others who are blood red. Empty factories with giant gramophones engineering fake noises. Blood sucking parasites. It’s a truly wild story. And a brilliant showcase of how to do a Doctor and companion lite story - by giving over the first 14 minutes to Strax, Jenny and Vastra. It makes Matt and Jenna’s reveal all the sweeter. How could it be better? The villainous plan could be slightly tighter - it doesn’t share the same vision as the rest of the story. Also - the season arc truly gets in the way, with Artie and Angie randomly popping up at the end ahead of Nightmare in Silver. They are wielding unlikely photos of Clara throughout time that have come from… somewhere? An unwelcome distraction. 15thDoctor View profile Like Liked 2 23 September 2024 · 43 words Review by AndyUK 1 Not a massive fan of this, it was a little too silly for my tastes and I wasn't a massive fan of the plot. Thought the pacing was a bit all over the place too. Probably my least favourite episode of Series 7 overall. AndyUK View profile Like Liked 1 10 September 2024 · 172 words Review by Callandor Spoilers 2 This review contains spoilers! The Red Scare Prerequisites: A few scenes only make sense given the context of The Snowmen and The Bells of Saint John, but they aren't strictly necessary. Spoilers! The Crimson Horror is yet another pretty mediocre story in a season full of mediocrity already. To be fair, I do like some elements on display here. I always enjoy the Paternoster Gang, and the flashback with the Doctor and Clara is a pretty fun exposition dump. However... that's about it. Not only is the plot unremarkable, but I find the villain's motivations to be nearly completely nonsensical and incomprehensible. How did she find out what Mr. Sweet could do? How did they build a rocket in Victorian times? Is there any motivation at all beyond 'she's crazy'? These are all questions I had, and none of them received satisfactory answers. Plus, 11 behaves weirdly sexually here (kissing Jenny without warning, getting a sonic 'boner'), and I really don't like that. That all being said, this isn't an actively painful watch. It's just not good. Callandor View profile Like Liked 2 27 May 2024 · 21 words Review by Jenny 2 Re watching this episode made me realise how much I slept on matt Smith as a doctor . I always loved Clara 😍 🥰 Jenny View profile Like Liked 2 Show All Reviews (6) Open in new window Statistics AVG. Rating740 members 2.88 / 5 Trakt.tv AVG. Rating1,343 votes 3.82 / 5 Member Statistics Watched 1581 Favourited 64 Reviewed 6 Saved 5 Skipped 1 Related Stories Other adaptations of this story: We define an adaptation as a recreation of a similar story but on a different medium or with different characters. Target Collection Doctor Who: The Crimson Horror Rating: 3.70 Story Skipped Book Reviews(1) More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: Target Collection Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Quotes Add Quote Link to Quote Favourite STRAX: And how will she locate the Doctor? VASTRA: To find him, she needs only ignore all keep-out signs, go through every locked door, and run towards any form of danger that presents itself. STRAX: Business as usual, then. VASTRA: Business as usual. — The Crimson Horror Transcript Needs checking [Factory corridor] (Yorkshire 1893. In a small town perched on the side of a hill, with factories belching smoke down by the river.) EDMUND: If I have not returned in an hour, you must fetch the police.EFFIE: Edmund! (She kisses her husband.) EDMUND: Don't fret, Effie, my dear. All will be well, but we must get to the bottom of this dark and queer business no matter what the cost. Show Full Transcript Open in new window