10 Terrifying Doctor Who Monsters That Had Us Hiding Behind The Sofa

Listen is a very interesting episode of Doctor Who, on account of it not really having an outright villain. By this point, we were all too aware of the ‘Moffatisms’ that were more than a little prevalent through the Smith and Capaldi years, but what we weren’t ready for was for Moffat to weaponise our familiarity with his storytelling cliches against us.

The episode starts with The Doctor musing on the existence of a creature that has perfected hiding - setting us up for another Moffat villain concept in the vein of the Angels or Silents. What’s interesting is that, in this story, we never actually get any confirmation that this creature exists, and the episode just plays on the natural human fear of being watched from the dark.

One particular scene, which is expertly done, sees The Doctor, Clara, and a young Danny Pink cornered by an unknown presence in an orphanage - an unknown creature sitting completely still under a red blanket. This could, in all likelihood, just be a fellow orphan playing a mean prank on Danny. It shouldn’t be scary, but because the Doctor has got himself worked up about the idea of this ‘perfect hider’, his imagination starts to run riot. In this scene, the Doctor is genuinely afraid, urgently insisting that his companions do not turn around under any circumstances, and begging the creature to leave them be. There’s a panicked feel to this encounter that makes the entire thing feel very uneasy, and it achieves all this without ever giving us a monster.

Well played, Moff. Well played.