10 Most Terrifying NuWho Doctor Who Episodes
Exploring the scariest Doctor Who episodes of the NuWho era.
Doctor Who has been scaring its viewers since it first aired in 1963. Not afraid of shying away from any horror elements, the BBC series has created quite the reputation of forcing its audience to watch from behind their sofas. There's no shortage of nightmare fuel in the show, with it filled with bizarre monsters, creepy aliens, and some downright terrifying humans.
At its core, Doctor Who is a sci-fi horror show that pretends to be a fun, happy time travel show. The best episodes are the ones that will make you watch through your fingers and be afraid of the dark. Who's showrunners have toyed with the sci-fi horror genre throughout the years, bringing other elements to their episodes, ranking from the goofy to the downright terrifying.
While there had previously been many scary episodes, NuWho has taken the scare factor to a new level; psychological terror, visual scares, imaginative monsters, and a tense narrative tend to create the most frightening episodes in the NuWho era.
Whether you're a casual Doctor Who watcher or a hardcore fan, every person can remember at least one Who episode that was scary to them. But what are the scariest NuWho episodes?
With all of that in mind, then, here are the ten most terrifying Doctor Who episodes of the NuWho era.
10. Hide
Switching to a darker and more mysterious tone for the episode, Hide takes its inspiration from haunted mansion-set gothic horror. The Doctor and Clara put on their ghost hunting shoes and investigate a spirit who has been trying to connect with psychic Emma Grayling.
Written as a classic haunted house story based in the mid-1970s, Hide creates a much darker and eerier atmosphere than other NuWho horror episodes. This episode catches the horror vibe nicely with spooky sounds, loud noises, creaking in the walls, walking through dark hallways by candlelight and old-timey creepy photographic evidence, which gives chills up anyone's spine when they see them.
As Clara initially believes there's no such thing as ghosts, she starts to question that as she and the Doctor investigate further. As many Doctor Who stories turn out, Hide had nothing to do with spirits but rather two creatures stuck in different universes are just trying to reunite with each other. The Doctor realised one of the creatures is trapped in a pocket universe where time moves much faster than it does on Earth.
Hides defiantly provide for a decent Halloween watch as the cast does a great job of upping the creep factor in the first half of the episode.