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Hide (TV story)

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Hide was the ninth episode of series 7 of Doctor Who. It was written by Neil Cross, directed by Neil Cross and featured Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Jenna-Louise Coleman as Clara Oswald.

It saw the Doctor continue his investigation into Clara Oswald's true nature, and led her to directly communicate with the Doctor's TARDIS for the first time, leading into the subsequent episode.

Synopsis

Clara and the Eleventh Doctor arrive at the haunted Caliburn House, set alone on a desolate moor. Within its walls, a ghost-hunting professor and a gifted empathic psychic are searching for the Witch of the Well. Her apparition appears throughout the history of the building, but is she really a ghost? And what is chasing her?

Plot

"Caliburn House. Night four. November 25th, 1974. 11:04 pm."

Professor Alec Palmer and his assistant Emma Grayling are attempting to contact an apparition haunting Caliburn House. Emma is a psychic, and uses her gifts to gain the attention of the "ghost". They are interrupted by knocking at the front door, and open it to find the Eleventh Doctor and Clara. The Doctor tells Alec that he is looking for a ghost and Clara claims that they are "Ghostbusters".

The Doctor claims to be from "the Ministry", and knows who Alec and Emma are. Photographs taken by the professor show the same figure in the same pose throughout the history of Caliburn House. The Doctor and Clara search the house, as a strange creature stalks them through it. Loud knocking is heard, which is said to be associated with the "Witch of the Well".

The Doctor returns with Clara to the TARDIS and takes a series of photographs of the "ghost" throughout Earth's timeline. Upset at seeing Earth become a lifeless rock, Clara believes that she is nothing more than a ghost to the Doctor, because as a time traveller he has been to a time when she is long dead. He tells her that she is "the only mystery worth solving". The Doctor uses his photographs to explain that the "ghost" is in fact a time traveller called Hila Tacorien, who is trapped in a pocket universe in the process of collapsing and being chased by an unknown creature.

The Doctor uses a crystal from Metebelis III to enhance Emma's thoughts and use them to create a portal to the pocket universe, a reality "well". He goes to rescue Hila, who escapes, but is trapped in the pocket universe with the monster after Emma collapses. As the professor encourages Emma to try again - finally admitting he loves her - Clara returns to the TARDIS, and after a brief argument with the voice interface (which appears as herself, much to her annoyance), manages to break into the pocket universe and rescue the Doctor from the creature.

The next morning in conversation with Emma, the Doctor reveals that he brought Clara to Caliburn House in order to see Emma, not the ghost. He asks what she senses about Clara, but Emma reports nothing unusual about her. As the Doctor and Clara are preparing to leave, the Doctor inadvertently reveals that Hila is Emma and Alec's future descendant. Alec and Emma are in love, and the Doctor advises them to "hold hands, and don't let go". Then the Doctor realises that the creature in the pocket universe has been trying to return to another creature in the house. He then states that every lonely monster needs a companion, and explains to Clara that the two creatures have been separated through time and space and certain events, and are yearning to be with one another. He describes this as not a "ghost story" but a "love story". He then returns to the pocket universe, where he reconciles with the monster to bring it back in the exact same manner as before.

Cast

Crew

General production staff

Script department

Camera and lighting department

Art department

Costume department

Make-up and prosthetics

Movement

Casting

General post-production staff

Special and visual effects

Sound



Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.


References

The Doctor

  • When the Doctor introduces himself, Alec asks him, "Doctor what?", to which the Doctor responds, "If you like."
  • The Doctor says he loves carrier pigeons.
  • Emma tells Clara not to trust the Doctor, saying that "he has a sliver of ice in his heart".
  • The Doctor uses his strange greeting again. (TV: The Lodger et al)

Individuals

Popular culture from the real world

  • Clara introduces herself and the Doctor as "Ghostbusters." The Doctor and Rose sang this song earlier in Army of Ghosts.
  • The Doctor quotes the song Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love) by Cole Porter when he realises the truth about the two monsters ("Birds do it, bees do it - even educated fleas do it!").

Foods and beverages

  • The Doctor drinks milk.
  • Emma and Clara both have a glass of whiskey which they don't like, and so drink tea instead. Furthermore, Clara calls whiskey the "11th most disgusting drink ever invented."
  • The Doctor requests some Kendal Mint Cakes to go with his Tacorien rescue.

Places

  • Alec owns Caliburn House, which was built sometime before 1474.
  • The "Cumbrian agenda" of Series 7 Part 2 continues in this episode with not only the positive reference to Kendal Mint Cakes, but also the negative one to Carlisle being the "opposite of bliss".

The TARDIS

  • Clara calls the TARDIS a "grumpy old cow."
  • The TARDIS uses her voice visual interface to talk with Clara, using a hologram of Clara herself, because the interface is programmed to "select the image of a person you esteem." Unlike the last time the Doctor used a similar interface, (TV: Let's Kill Hitler) the TARDIS projects the interface outside of the ship and, for the first time on screen, addresses a companion in this manner.
  • The TARDIS unlocks herself in order to allow Clara to enter, even though she doesn't yet have a key.
  • Clara says that they need a place to keep her umbrella, the Doctor states that he has or had a place at one point. The First, Second, Fourth, Fifth and Seventh Doctors all had umbrella racks in their control rooms, and the Fifth, Ninth, Tenth's control rooms, as well as the Eleventh's first one, had hat stands.
  • It is revealed that the TARDIS is capable of piloting herself, at will, even into challenging locations where her existence is threatened. This supports the contention made in The Doctor's Wife that she often guides the Doctor to where he needs to go.

Technology

Story notes

 
Hide playset released by Character Options
  • Working titles for the episode were Phantom of the Hex and The Hider in the House.[source needed]
  • The read-through for this episode took place on 21 May 2012, and filming began on the 24th.
  • Scriptwriter Neil Cross confirmed that the episode had been inspired by Nigel Kneale's acclaimed 1972 TV play The Stone Tape, also about a scientific investigation of a haunted house with a psychic as one of the team.
  • Hide was the first episode filmed by Jenna-Louise Coleman as a series regular, but screened as the fourth episode in series 7b.
  • What the "ghost" version of Hila is saying is "Em pleh", which is "Help me!" backwards.

Ratings

"Hide" was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 20 April 2013. Overnight ratings showed that the episode was watched by 5 million viewers live. When time-shifted viewers were calculated, the figure rose to 6.61 million viewers, making it the sixth most-watched programme of the week on BBC One. In addition, "Hide" received 1.53 million requests on the online BBC iPlayer for April, placing sixth for the month on the service. It also received an Appreciation Index of 85.

Reception

The episode received generally positive feedback from fans and critics. Nerdist's Kyle Anderson stated it was 'easily my favourite of this half-series,' as well as complimenting the 'terrific' direction by newcomer Jamie Payne. Den of Geek liked the episode but criticised the twist ending, as to them it 'didn't feel like a comfortable fit,' claiming it was 'a twist for the sake of a twist.'

The episode was claimed to be the superior of the two Neil Cross-penned scripts for Series 7, as his previous script, The Rings of Akhaten, received mostly negative reactions from the fan base.

Filming locations

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
  • Several wires are seen running from the TARDIS to the equipment which opens the wormhole to the pocket universe, but when Clara returns, they are all missing.
  • While the Doctor is wandering the pocket universe for the first time, he removes his bow tie. The bow tie then appears and disappears between close and wide shots.
  • During one of the scenes, Clara is holding a candelabra with a candle missing. When the camera changes, the candle is back on the candelabra.
  • For an unknown reason, the TARDIS Interior has a Red-Orange hue that is exclusive to this episode and is not accounted for, explained or shown in any other episode.
  • After the Doctor says "It's ghost time", there's a sequence where Palmer takes the Doctor and Clara on a walk down a hallway, in which Clara remarks about Palmer having bought the house. It then cuts to a sequence where the Doctor talks about empaths. For some reason, Clara's hair appears to be wet and she's drying it with a towel. There is nothing in-between to suggest how it got that way. Immediately thereafter Palmer begins telling his history of the ghost and Clara's hair changes arrangement from the way it was when she drying it.
  • A technical error: Palmer is shown using regular negative print film and developing it in his lab. The Doctor takes the same camera, presumably loaded with more of the same film, and goes to different times to take photos. These images, however, are placed into a slide carousel and projected. Slide film is not the same as negative film, and, in fact, in 1974 most people could only get slides processed by sending the exposed film away.

Continuity

Home video releases

 
Series 7, Part 2 DVD cover.

DVD Releases

Hide was released as part of Doctor Who Series 7 Part 2 on May 22, 2013, and as part of The Complete Seventh Series on September 24, 2013.

Blu Ray Releases

to be added

External links

Retrieved from "https://tardis.wiki/w/index.php?title=Hide_(TV_story)&oldid=2522897"
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