Doctor Who: 10 Worst Twelfth Doctor Moments
8. Found Footage Sandman
Writer Mark Gatiss hasn't really been knocking them out of the park when it came to standalone episodes. Responsible for the aforementioned Robot of Sherwood and series 10’s Empress of Mars, Gatiss’ episodes amount to an underwhelming three-act structure that doesn’t quite live up to the wonder of Doctor Who.
However, while Sherwood and Mars had their moments, series nine’s Sleep No More was nothing short of a colossal mess. Set up like a found footage horror movie, this episode was about as entertaining as a found footage horror movie - and not one of the passable ones.
Gatiss’ main shortcoming is that he’s far too focused on plot when Doctor Who has always been a program focused on its characters. Sleep No More didn’t work as a spooky story because the audience didn’t care about the characters being picked off. Typically when somebody dies on the show, it’s not about him/her, but rather how The Doctor or his companion feels about his/her death.
Besides, the found footage format doesn’t work when there are survivors.