Doctor Who: Top 5 Two-Parters And What Series 9 Can Learn From Them

2. The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances

Horror films can become all the more spine-tingling when they transpire in a retro era. Muffled music from a scratchy record player lingers in air unstirred for centuries, and something sinister waits to emerge from beneath its melodic overlays. Perhaps a decaying, vintage record can be so frightening because it is from a forgotten, unfamiliar time, gathering dust as well as other, more unpleasant and insidious things in the attic. Using only a gas-mask as well as rusty telephones, typewriters, stereos and toys animated by the docile voice of an empty child, this pair of episodes broadcasts televisual terrors, the likes of which unseen by Doctor Who since the classical years. Still, the Doctor and his stealthy trio manage to placate a hospital of these hostile, gas-mask clad patients and evade certain "zombification," all with the resourcefulness of... a banana? Horrifying, indeed. What Series 9 Can Learn From It: Perfectly balanced with chilling imagery and interspersed with humourous quips, The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances paves the way for a two-part thriller starring our Twelfth Doctor and his disarmingly creepy grin. In a Sherlock-length galavant during 20th century London, 90 minutes could easily be slotted with strings of clues, blood-curdling screams, demonic possession, and dimmed alleyways crawling with supernatural apparitions. There is no one who would enjoy sleuthing around for a good murder-mystery as much as the Doctor (Watson).