This episode was tense from start to finish and didn't let up at all. Just a thrill ride like my favorite episodes of the show, where danger lurks behind every corner coming up against some horrific force. I completely did not expect the reveal that this was a sequel to Midnight, and it absolutely ratcheted up the intensity. The entity was behaving a little differently, but just knowing the extent of its power was enough. Plus: the reveal that the big heroic sacrifice might have been a waste of time? Jaw-dropping horror ending. This is similar to Wild Blue Yonder, these types of episodes are what Doctor Who can do better than anyone else. Fantastic performances by the whole cast too. Bravo!

It was fine.

I think there is a lot to love and dislike with this one, it all comes together to give me the Feeling of "Yup this was fine", which might feel a bit paradoxical but let me explain:

I think it being a Sequel to Midnight was unnecessary. Not even necessarily because I think it handles the Task of a Sequel poor, but mainly because at the End of the Day, I think and don't really see much Point how this adds anything. I am sure some like this Connection Bit and how it handles the Midnight Entity is for the most Part okay. But like many other Things with this Era, if I have any major Issue with it, it's the Need to connect Bits together. Oh look, Sutekh, the Toymaker and the Mara are now in the same Pantheon of Gods! Oh, look, this mysterious Creature is that other Creature from 2008. It just makes the Universe much smaller, and I rather have another mysterious Creature than just say it's the same one. I love a good ol' Sequel, but really if anything Doctor Who's biggest Strength is how it isn't bound to a few Villains, Creatures or anything and yet despite it all, this Era feels the Need to say "Well actually the Universe of this World is much smaller!", which to me feels paradoxical to the Core of the Show.

Despite that, I think the Episode for the most Part is fairly solid. The Side Cast is great, everybody gives a good Performance and feels believable, from the terrified Aliss to the skeptic to the one who fully believes in the Doctor. I think we get to know them well enough for the most Part for it to work enough. That said.. I really must admit the Way this Creature attacked them felt quite silly and it being the Midnight Entity at the same Time makes me enjoy it kinda less(?). Like I said it handles it Sequel Status fine enough, it gets that this Creature would evolve and learn more, but I would lie if I didn't felt too sold on it.

On the other Hand, you have the superb Directing, which is something you could say for most if not all the Episodes. Here it adds to the Atmosphere, which was build really well in the first Half but didn't hit the landing with the last few Minutes. As always, our Leads do a great Job. I particularly like the Beginning with the two in the Tardis, Scenes like that were really missing in the last Season. Probably the Highpoint for me.

I totally get why this one will probably end up for many either a 'love it' or 'hate it' Episode. I think it's solid as it is, but could have been better on its own Feet, since frankly regardless if you think is it handles it Job as a Sequel well, its Nature as such will bring comparisons with it. And in general, I will be more open to a brand-new Creature.

This is probably a prime example that maybe on Rewatch can go either way for me. For now, I think there is equally Stuff I like and equally one that bothers me. Very curious to see how the next Episode will land for me.

This episode is really messy. I’m not sure it ever quite coheres. The references back to Midnight feel pointless and self-indulgent—this monster demonstrably does not work the same way. There’s maybe some thematic echoes, but I think it would have been stronger to just let them remain so. Also, I know this canon had been established previously, but the fact that the TARDIS translation circuits can’t handle signed languages is absurd.

And yet for all my nitpicks I admire The Well for what it’s trying to do. There is something suffocatingly claustrophobic about the whole affair (which I mean as a compliment—it’s successful horror). And I love the imagery, the broken mirrors, flowing mercury, dark landscapes, empty hallways. I like Belinda navigating this alien future; I continue to like Belinda, period.

We. Are. Fricking. Back.

OH MY GODDDDDD????????????? God this season is on FIRE so far!

I feel like I’ve woken up into an alternate universe because I genuinely don’t see the hype with this one, all of the characters including 15 & Belinda were 2 dimensional at best and it tried to be a sequel to Midnight a story that works so well partly because of the mystery and while it isn’t given away as such I think we’re still told too much about it.

The horror is also non-existent after a the first couple of moments at-least for me I thought the logic behind the “If you go behind her you will die” stuff was really stupid and it was made worse when the deaths look like.. *that* I was on the brink of laughing it looked so bad and it’s not that they had to be super gory because Midnight only had two deaths right at the end that were built up to and were impactful instead of random army grunt getting tossed like a ragdoll.

If this is this era’s “peak” I don’t think the show is for me anymore.

It was perfect PERFECT I FEAR

It's no Midnight.

The Well works as your run-of-the-mill sci-fi horror story, except it's a secret sequel to Midnight, with half the characterization, half the writing quality, and somehow, despite the fact that Midnight is a bottle episode that is basically 100% talking, half the story.
That's the trouble with making a sequel to one of the greats, you invite comparison, and in this case, in my opinion, I don't think it's a favourable one.

The story feels like it's building to something big and emotional, a big crechendo, and then The Doctor shouts something to the effect of "I got it!" and suddenly the mood is ruined as it tries, for some reason to have a big, high-energy, save-the-day, run-for-your-life moment, only to kill that momentum immediately afterwards, which in my opinion, just doesn't work at all. It doesn't feel like hope just before the world comes crashing down, it just feels like it wants to be that, and tries to be that in the most brash, in-your-face, ott way possible.

A problem I have had with these two series is that the individual episodes feel small, short, like it's missing a little something that nu-who had for each episode to feel as grand as they could. I personally write it down to their reliance on sets and - seemingly - downright refusal to do location shoots, but perhaps there is something in the writing which feels less substantial than some series, I don't know, I'm still chewing on that. But, whatever it is, I feel it here again, it feels like we've just gotten to the middle point and then it's time to wrap everything up in a neat bow. Maybe stories are too verbose, this episode is certainly an offender of that. Just endless talking of being sad and missing your family in a way that is meant to be impactful, but never manages to feel it for me.

All-in-all it's a decent episode of television, no more than that, one that is perhaps a little confused as to which tone it wants to convey at times and spends too much time yapping without telling, or telling without showing, but really, it's biggest sin is being unremarkable.

6/10

I feel like for people who are normal this is a good episode. And it is, but you can't really improve on peak.

Midnight is a big favourite of mine. It still holds up as one of the best episodes of NuWho even after a good 17 years, and I don't really see *why* RTD wanted to make a sequel for it, except for adding a surprise twist in the middle of this story.

I've seen people say that The Well would hold up better under it's own merits and I wholeheartedly agree. The suspense, especially at the start and very end, is great. The first time Belinda 'sees' the Midnight entity, I legitimately jumped. It was great to feel scared by an episode again.

I think it was cheapened a bit somehow by seeing the actors being thrown around by the entity. And I do think that we shouldn't have seen it as much as we did, if at all. This wasn't a lot, I'll admit, but the fact that I could sort of make out the shape of the entity was disappointing for me personally. Again, a great episode for normal people but it has some drawbacks for neurotic fans such as myself.

Perhaps I am nitpicking too much but ultimately I think that it shouldn't have tried so much so be a sequel - or at least alluded less blatantly to Midnight. There are merits to leaving things to the imagination, which I think is where Midnight originally flourished, and The Well faltered.

holy s**t, he did it. the madman did it. he made a sequel to Midnight that's actually good, without showing the monster, without cheapening the effect.

I haven't been scared by 'Doctor Who' in a long time, but this proper terrified me.

Now, do I think it needed to be a 'Midnight' sequel? Probably not. And if this episode were worse, I might be mad at it.

But the story they managed to tell with this impressed me to no end.
The characters were believable and fun to watch.They still didn't show too much of the monster. And the conclusion was heartbreaking.

Right after 'Lux' now this season is shaping up to be great!

Season Two (Series 15); Episode Three - “The Well” by Russell T. Davies and Sharma Angel-Walfall

God damnit, Russell. One change, one thing, and this episode could’ve been decent. Granted, I have a number of other problems but Russell was so close, so very close, to getting it right but just had to go and give into temptation. This episode isn’t as bad as I’ve rated it, I think it’s a competent bit of TV, with some really nice direction and a wonderful set but it pisses me off. It pisses me off because it’s emblematic of one of RTD2’s biggest problems: trying to capture the magic of the first RTD era without really knowing how.

A second attempt at getting Belinda home lands the TARDIS on a nameless planet, where a mining colony has gone silent. Grouped up with a rescue team, the travellers soon find themselves face to face with an unfathomable terror.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

This episode was hitting all of the right buttons for me before it was released. A good, creepy central mystery? Check. An isolated location in deep space? Check. A rescue team investigating the horrific aftermath of an unknown event? Check. Check. Check. There is something about the premise of The Well that hits all of the right buttons for me, it fills a weird niche I can’t begin to properly describe or even reference but seem to always love. And I have to say, the first half of this episode did it so well: the setting was really cool, the exploration of the base was unnerving and the implication that something came out of a five mile deep bore hole is a brilliant touch of cosmic horror, hitting yet another weird niche for me in buried creatures beyond comprehension (if anybody knows the video game Still Wakes the Deep, basically that). And then the actual story began.

Before we get to that s**t show, I do want to say the direction and set design are both masterfully crafted. The scene in which we are first faced with the creature, popping up behind deaf survivor Aliss for a split second genuinely made me jump and was the first moment I began to think I might actually be giving a high rating this season. Not only that, but the long shots through the empty corridors and huge, foreboding pit were brilliant. Modern Who is definitely strong on set design so far - pretty much every episode looks fantastic - but something about the grungy, underlit, metalwork corridors just heightened the tension fantastically, the whole first act draped in shadow and corners just out of sight.

And then Russell had the f**king gall to reveal it was a sequel to Midnight. And all I can say is, goddamnit Russell. I groaned when they said the planet was made out of diamond because I knew I wasn’t going to like whatever came next and yeah, it actively tries to recapture the magic of an old episode with bullshit fan service but just makes it worse in the process. Sure, we still don’t entirely know what the entity is, but the simple fact we see it again makes it more knowable. The fact we know it has a physical form makes it more knowable. The fact we know it has personality and intentions and intelligence makes it more knowable. The fact we know it can throw people across a room and break all the bones in their body makes it more knowable. And the more knowable it is, the less scary this episode and Midnight become retroactively. Russell keeps doing this - trying to recapture what made Series 4 so good - but can’t seem to get it right for whatever reason. He also has a tendency to remove previous conflicts in place of convenient resolutions and mawkish happy endings, which is just condescending to fans of the episodes he’s trying to please. I could describe a not insignificant amount of the Modern Era as “patronising”, which isn’t great.

This episode is bad in my opinion because it represents the shallowness of this era to me, feeding off old glory and refusing to allow any kind of resolution that isn’t shoving some underwritten emotional moment in my face. However, it has problems outside the downfall of its central conceit and they mostly stem from pacing; I don’t know what is wrong with this season specifically, but every episode has felt too short. The characters aren’t deep, we don’t get proper build up to our climaxes and by the time they seem to have gotten going, we’re ten minutes from the end. It’s weird, because they’re the same length as every other episode of the show and seem to be identical structurally, but for whatever reason feel so brief and lacking in tension or meaningful payoff. This episode specifically loses its tension completely because we spend what feels like very little time exploring the base or surviving: once the action starts, we have one set piece and then it's basically over.

And this pacing causes another problem too: characters. So far, I have not cared for a single side character this season. It got close a couple times with the projectionist Mr. Pye in Lux and the squadron leader Shaya in this episode, but both are shallow to me and the back to back self sacrifice doesn’t help. Maybe it's the fact their perceived depth is conveyed to us in exposition or maybe it's the weird pacing issues of the series but for whatever reason, they’re already barely present arcs don’t feel well earned. With Shaya specifically, the actress does a great job but her one minded and unexplained trust of the Doctor and her feeling like a function more than a character, what with that amazing shooting ability the episode keeps on telling she has. As for the rest of the cast, the only other character who didn’t just feel like a meatbag padding out the numbers was the standoffish Cassio, played buy Christopher Chung of Slow Horses fame but he’s unceremoniously killed off in an astoundingly dumb scene that was the very thing that killed the tension for me. 

And that’s another thing, this episode is super dumb at times. Why doesn’t Aliss just tell them there is a murderous entity behind her that could kill anybody. And no, you can’t just say she’s scared because she calms down and then frequently denies that anything’s there even when Belinda notices the entity. Also, why is everybody so quick to right off the very obvious movement they keep seeing behind Aliss to the point where they will insist they didn’t see anything the third time they notice it. And then we get to the final moments of the creature latching onto Belinda and there might as well have been a giant neon sign above Shaya saying “self-sacrifice”. The moment I heard that they couldn’t leave the planet without taking the entity, I knew where the character of Shaya was going and it was just annoying. Also, she very much turns her back on the others multiple times, so paired with the hokey flashbacks you get as she’s running and the ending to this episode is just a dud to me.

One final note, Belinda is still getting worse. I feel like Russell’s making fun of me, teasing a companion that wasn’t just going to let the Doctor get away with his antics and then immediately making her have an identical personality to every other RTD companion. She calls people out one fifth of the time and that’s all that differentiates her from Ruby if I’m being honest, and as much as Verada Sethu is doing a good job she doesn’t have the chemistry Gibson and Gatwa had to keep her interesting. Yes, I talked about this before but it annoys me enough that I’m going to list it as a negative every episode that doesn’t follow through on Russell’s promise.

The Well could’ve been a half decent episode if Russell changed one thing: he could’ve easily made it not a sequel to Midnight. Granted, it would still be a poor script with a bad sidecast and unsatisfying resolution, but it would’ve been a decently creepy little episode. Now, it’s just an annoyance that makes this whole era feel like the TV equivalent of a mid-life crisis. Russell’s clearly good at writing horror and all he has to do to have another Midnight is write something original.

5/10

Pros:

+ Really nice direction that heightens the scares

+ Brilliant first half with a nice mystery

+ Excellent location and set design

Cons:

- The nature of the twist ruins the episode

- We don’t spend enough time with the supporting cast to feel for them

- The pacing doesn’t allow the tension to rise properly

- The plot lacks intelligence

- Belinda continues to be wasted potential

im really not sure what to think about this one. i mean it was pretty good on its own, but i dont know if we really needed a sequel to midnight? also the blatant sequel bait wasnt great. tbh i think being a sequel to midnight made this story worse

The scariest Doctor Who has been for a while!

The Doctor and Belinda are (literally) thrown into a tense, dark, and threatening world. At the start, nothing feels impossible to happen next - the usual rules are gone, and death is everywhere. Genuinely, nothing in Doctor Who has been as scary as this in a long time. No puns intended, this would have thrived as a midnight release!

The cast gives phenomenal performances, again some of the best guest actor performances of the era, with special commendation to Rose Ayling-Ellis, who portrays a terrified victim expertly. Handling her deafness incredibly well, this was cleverly incorporated into the story. The sets the actors inhabit are also incredibly well realised, and made everything feel so real.

A sequel to a fan favourite story is risky, especially when most (if not all), were not convinced the sequel was necessary. However, it was handled well. Layers to the mystery was added, the creature has changes slightly in all this time, but the basic fear, paranoia and terror it thrives and develops is still there. And keeping aspects of this mystery, while building on this, was handled incredibly well. The smaller scale of Midnight may perhaps still give the original the edge, but this sequel is certainly a worthy follow up.

It makes sense that this is a sequel to Midnight (albeit with some strands of Turn Left thrown in). I'm not crazy about the ability additions to the entity itself (although bear in mind I wasn't big on the upgraded Angels in The Time Of Angels/Flesh And Stone, another Aliens-ificaton of an iconic NuWho monster), but in terms of theme, it fits. Another iso-horror tale about how easily paranoia can worm its way into people's heads and have them turn on each other.

And yet, this is a bit more hopeful in its examination of the topic. (Actually bloody terrifying conclusion notwithstanding, good lord!) The same concept that must be combated, but approached with a clearer head. The way it treats 'don't turn your back on others' as its thematic mantra hits a similar sweet spot for me as the 'mirror machine' from Vincent And The Doctor. A simple idea that gets at something deep within the core concept that actual words wouldn't have been able to do justice (actual words in the script aside). Where Midnight lingered with the devastating negative effects of that level of paranoia and mob mentality, The Well (while admittedly resorting to a similar heroic sacrifice by the end) is more adamant about the possibility of overcoming it. Not by one person deciding to do the right thing, but by people together making that decision. It creates a nice balance with the incredible sense of dread throughout (it may not be the genuine technical marvel of Alice Troughton's direction for Midnight, but Amanda Brotchie absolutely understood the assignment here), once again showing Dark RTD as willing to offer a positive outcome... but only if the characters (and the audience) earn it.

The way it handled deafness, both specifically with the character of Aliss and as a more general societal norm, was good too. I like its approach that avoids the weird eugenic utopianism of "oh, we'll have cured all that in the future" that crops up every so often in sci-fi, and treated it more realistically. Like, no one on that team knew they'd end up meeting a deaf person, and yet they still had those visual displays ready to use; that alone paints an oddly optimistic picture of disability aid in the future. Rose Ayling-Ellis' performance was terrific, both in giving Ncuti Gatwa room to show his more emotionally-in-tune incarnation of the Doctor, and as just an authentic deaf character in her own right. I got the same joy out of watching her as seeing Marlee Matlin or Millicent Simmonds; I like it when I don't have to deal with passing in stories like this.

I have a few minor niggles to do with the attempts to bridge the entity's behaviour in this and Midnight, and the arc maintenance was more cute than anything else (humans aren't a thing in the future? compared to the imminent threat, that's a bit shrug-worthy), but it offers a comparable adrenaline rush to its predecessor, and Aliss saying "Don't turn your back on me" felt like it was going to rip my heart out of my chest. It succeeded at what it set out to do, and while we still have a while to go, I wouldn't be surprised if this wound up being my favourite of the season.

Another banger!! This season is shaping up super well. I really enjoyed the tension, the atmosphere and the side characters especially Shaya and Aliss. Really another great directed episode too, the same director who did Lux! I hope she'll return in the future.

The Mrs Flood cameo was certainly interesting, as I think its clear she's involved in what's going on with Earth! She looked fantastic too!!

I can't lie though, while I enjoyed this a lot, the leak that the Midnight creature would return massively soured the reveal for me. I just spent the whole ep waiting for it, and was like 'oh sure okay' when it happened. Don't get me wrong, the reveal was good, but it didn't hit as much as it would've had I not known. Also did we need the flashback?

Review #15

00:30

This episode was OK. Its a sequel to midnight but it could be a different entity than what we saw all those years ago. To me the episode felt slow and dragged out. The cameo of Mrs flood was cool and reminded me of the Susan Triad appearance in dot and bubble. This is my least fave of the series so far. 5/10

This is my favourite episode this series, and my second favourite of the RTD2 era (after Wild Blue Yonder). Wild to say because I had this exact thought with Lux! Are we 3/3 for this series so far!?

I absolutely adored the building tension throughout this episode, and while I'm not one for jump scares they really worked for me too once we reached them. I do admit that the throwing across the room stuff got a little silly by the 4th or 5th person with how over the top it was, but it didn't seriously affect my enjoyment.But genuinely the horror stuff worked so well for me. Fear of the unknown is such a common thing to have, and I loooove when DW explores it so much!!!

All the performances were great, and the side cast were fantastic! It's nice having an RTD2 side cast that I care about and feel invested in. Obviously, Ayling-Ellis steals the show with an incredible performance as Allis, who's such an amazing character in her own right. And Shaya's character development from the start (where she was pragmatic and uncaring) to the end (where she remembered she got into this job to bring hope to the people, and was optimistic about saving folks) was so great! With an amazing performance too! I also love that the Slow Horses guy continues to only play smug assholes lol

Gatwa and Sethu continue to be outstanding, and this is a contender for my favourite Gatwa performance as 15 yet. He nails both the gravitas of stepping into a scene and taking control, and the sheer fear and terror perfectly. Plus the empathy he shows Aliss, while still not fully trusting her. Just such a great nuanced performance!

I also absolutely adored the world building and the fact that they explicitly say that the world is more accessible to deaf people, and how that's been taken into account. But then on top of that, the squadron still often forget/choose not to turn on their communicators. Even when directly addressing Allis! Even with all the accessibility options in the world, and the law being made for more accessible people, that sadly doesn't mean people will always take advantage of that to help those that need it. It's a good dose of very depressing realism in what's otherwise optimistic worldbuilding. 

Oh, and no long paragraph about this; but I thought the episode was gorgeous! I love how great the visual direction consistently has been this era.

Only reason this is a 4.5-4.75 star story and not a full 5 is because I really don't think it needed to be a sequel to Midnight. While it tackles similar themes, and thankfully doesn't actually show us the entity, I don't think I gained anything from it being a sequel? It's very much standalone as is and works well enough being so. But this really doesn't majorly take away from my enjoyment.

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

This was absolutely perfect,loved it from start to finish,and honestly even if Midnight entity wasnt here it wouldnt have mattered cause this is such a standalone story tbh.Aliss Fenly was great and a cried a few times.Mrs Flood cameo was the best so far! - 10/10

Absolutely terrifying. Scary, sad, emotional. Amazing side characters. Belinda, sweetheart, I love you and you deserved none of that. Amazing episode in my opinion

I knew this was going to be a sequel to Midnight and I couldn't stop thinking that it was going to be the same thing again, but I'm glad to say that it waasn't! Altought I must say that I felt the creature was a tad underutilised compared to the original episode were it had the center of attention. I would've like to see at least one instance of the creature posessing Aliss or the Doctor. It didn't feel as dangerous as before where we didn't know what it was actually capable of, here it feels more like a "Hide" situation, which is fine with me, but I don't know, still the rest was fantastic!

Watched Apr 26th 2025

Boy I'm glad I decided to rewatch Midnight for no reason today.

It’s always great to have another horror focused episode, although I do feel kinda the same as other reviews with wondering exactly why it needed to be a Midnight sequel. Could have easily stood strongly on its own without inviting the comparisons, but was just incredibly solid. My only other gripes would probably be the mild throws taking me out of the episode in what should be a tenser scene, and Cassio being a bit one-note.

A tense and at times terrifying episode shot through with an undeniable sense of dread. Dread because we know some of these characters are doomed. Dread because we know we will not be allowed to understand the Midnight creature.

I appreciated the brief but necessary levity on the TARDIS and into the mission. Because the rest was heavy. Belinda has seen the death that follows the Doctor. Now she has seen the cosmic horror he meets with joy. “You’re dangerous,” she said in The Robot Revolution. What could she be thinking now?

I’m sure I’ll have more thoughts once I’ve sat with the episode

so so so so good but i don't think it needed to be a sequel to Midnight and man do I hate that they showed bits of the creature

if this wasn't related to Midnight it easily would have been a 9-10/10

great episode but the Midnight connection felt a bit arbitrary

And s2 comes out with yet another banger, to the surprise of nobody. Holy f**k what an episode. I will not lie, out of all the episodes of the entire show, Midnight was one of the last ones I would want or expect a sequel to. That said, this is exactly how it should be done - it added just the right amount of information to the entity whilst keeping the mystery and not resorting to the same tricks as before. And both the regular's acting in this one? Dear god. And the ending!!! Is the entity just loose in the universe now???

OMG WOW. I AM STUNNED

10/10 NO NOTES

I AM STRESSED OUT

WHAT AN EPISODE.

Beautiful performances, beautiful direction, beautiful score, beautiful writing, beautiful everything. Favourite RTD2 episode yet

👏👏👏👏👏

Scariest episode of Doctor Who ever.