Doctor Who: All 40 Steven Moffat Episodes Ranked From Worst To Best

Giving Capaldi an opening soliloquy to this superlative episode was a masterstroke by Moffat, as it heightened our primal fears - or piqued your curiosity for those brave enough among you - about what might be hiding under the bed or lurking in the dark, to which the Doctor is so excitedly eager to decipher.

Such nerve-racking emotions are also conveyed in a similar yet distinguishable way during Clara and Danny's first date: the awkward wave, the embarrassing one-liner, getting tongue-tied, not-wanting-to-talk-about-work-but-end-up-doing-so, touchy subjects.

Equally masterstroke is how Moffat mixes those everyday fears and anxieties - we've all experienced - with understated ripples that are imaginatively explored throughout, and also cleverly and suitably symbolised by the unarmed toy soldier. Moffat has written a story that the casual viewer can easily understand and relate to, whilst adding to Doctor Who lore.

Listen sees Capaldi really break in those new Doc Martens of his. However it's Coleman who is the standout star, particularity in the scenes with children. She is reassuring like a big sister with Rupert, then calmly attentive as any loving parent is with the young child Doctor.

The scariest parts revive a couple of NuWho's most suspenseful moments. The dreaded knocking outside Orson's ship allied to the sinister mood lighting, relives the terror and torture of Midnight. The children's home brings back memories of the Arkham Asylum-esque orphanage in Day of the Moon.

Although the dangling-from-the-ceiling Silence from that episode merely adds to the multitude of frightening images conjuring up in our minds about the unknown entity under the bedspread.