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It really did have to be a companion lite episode, cause Donna would have just slapped sense into everyone

The smartest thing the story does is to never explain the entity

Not knowing the hostesses name is the biggest punch in the gut I’ve ever felt.

In the commentary for this episode, RTD said that Sky was planning to commit suicide at the Sapphire waterfall because her divorce which makes it even more heartbreaking and disturbing that the creature targeted her because she was the most emotionally vulnerable.

To make a 40 minute video on a 45 minute episode is truly spectacular Harbo. Almost as spectacular as BBC Studios is at blocking your work

People often talk about how scary Doctor Who is, I usually disagree but this one is actually terrifying

Mignight is easily one of the best DW episodes. This deserved the hype Blink got. Its such a a great story, most remember as just a horror episode, but its so much more. This episode is like the gold standard on character driven episode and all the actors really sold it.

Something I’ve never seen noticed by anyone is Sky when she begins panicking says “she said she’d be back for me” or something along those lines. Just a small line to suggest a heavy amount of abuse from her ex, who sky potentially ran away from and left behind in another galaxy. It could also be the reason the midnight creature chose Sky: huge amounts of trauma.

I always remember how chilling it was to see The Doctor overtaken by the entity but not fully enough so that he's unaware of what's going on - the fear in his eyes as he's dragged towards the door and unable to prevent his imminent death, and the relief in those same eyes when he catches his foot and cheek on a chair just by chance; the scene doesn't just weaponise fear, it philosophises it

I think the lack of visible monster is a great way to show the human instincts

This episode as well as the doctor lite episode with Donna shows how important the doctors companions are. You realize that if Donna had gone with him the situation would have most likely turned out differently and the doctor wouldn’t have lost the trust of the group.

Lesley Sharp gave one of the best guest performances in the history of the show, she was phenomenal. I also realised whilst watching this video that if the Doctor really had died in Turn Left, then the passengers in Midnight would all have died with no one ever finding out what happened to them - or worse, being rescued only for the entity to continue possessing people until there was no one left. Chilling.

I love it how the Doctor silently looks at Donna like he agrees that thing is still out there. It shows how violent and scary the whoniverse actually is.

Worth noting that Sky seems to be not conscious or the entity possessed her much more strongly, as her face and tone are just blank and monotone, whereas when the Doctor is possesed, you can see fear in his expression and hear it in his tone of voice

This episode was really triggering for me. The way Val screams at everyone is the closest imitation to my mum that I've ever heard. I heard a sound like that (worse) every day as a child. Seeing someone like that trying to kill the Doctor through sheer arrogance and stupidity, when I knew the Doctor was innocent, infuriated me in a way I can't really describe. It was like I was trying to manifest myself to stand between her and the Doctor through sheer force of will so I could defend him.

Public transport tip: if a child ever repeatedly kicks your seat wait for them to go for a kick then suddenly pull your seat forward. You should here a thump as they fall off their seat.

It also actually makes sense the hostess would be the one to figure it out, their job is to read people and understand them. Her subconsciously taking in that *Alonzy* line and then realizing it's significance when another person who had no connection to the doctor prior to this meeting and with no context for that line as well as never having saying it before makes perfect sense.

6:48 - The drivers didn’t decide to go that route the computer worked out a new path. I’ve always thought the “midnight creature” planned the rock collapse and knew they’d have to go that route.

This is my favourite Tennant and my top 5 RTD episode. I love how it plays on psychological terror and panic and how clever the episode is with the whole, 'you don't need to create a monster, you can just create a monster which is invisible so you don't know where it is and can play on fear.'

One thing that needs mentioning is the impeccable score to this episode. Some of the weird sounds made are so uncomfortable and unknown that they create horror in of themselves. Also when the Doctor knocks 4 times on the wall to the Entity it takes it a good few seconds to reply, like even it knew what it meant. This episodes great!

When they started criticising the Doctor for how smart he was, he really needed to do his speech from Voyage of the Damned.

This also had to be one of the cheapest episodes to make. It’s 11 actors total, and it takes place almost entirely in one unremarkable room. A high school theater club could put on a half-way decent production if they wanted to. This is what writing with limitations can do: there was no room to hide behind fancy sets, cool monsters, flashy special effects, or fun action sequences, so RTD knew all the drama had to come straight from his words and his actors. It’s a really impressive feat to deliver such a riveting episode solely on the strength of the characters and their interactions

I don't blame the moody goth son his parents are horrible especially his mum.

And this is a major reason why Donna is my favorite companion. The empathy at the end.

harbo is one of three people on the planet who analyze things the way you learn at school i forgive my teachers, they were right, this is worth it

this is an episode Chibnal could never do, he needs all this editing and CGI but Davies could write a perfect episode like this with one set and a limited cast which is brilliant everyone’s acting especially David and Lesley’s is phenomenal and how we will never find out what it was and how heartbreaking is the hostess’ name is never known this is definitely one of the most underrated episodes in series4 because it is overshadowed by the library parts and the epic three parter finale

I think one of my favourite things about this episode is how it shows the Doctor interacting with people when he doesn't have a companion. It was a big thing about the 10th Doctor, him being lonely and not knowing what to do without someone. It shows how when the Doctor doesn't have someone to bridge the gap between strangers and himself he becomes even more alienated than usual.

I see you kept that beautiful green screen shot behind Tennant at the beginning and fixed it by adding the greatest companion and Time Lady.

this episode really hits hard rewatching it as a neurodivergent adult specifically because of the fear of trying to reason with angry people who will take any sign of 'unusual behaviour' to turn it against me or to imply that im a freak or theres something wrong with me (eg moving in a certain way, or not having 'the right' facial expression, or finding it difficult to talk. hell, repeating things (echolalia) is a common autistic trait). i can absolutely see myself getting overwhelmed in public and then getting yelled at by someone who looks like jethro's dad, and then not being able to do anything because of not being able to talk properly (im not non verbal, its just hard to talk when overwhelmed). unlike almost every other situation in doctor who, this is scary because its something that can (and probably will, and kinda has) happen to me irl

“Do we have a deal” still gives me goosebumps every time. There’s a lot of reasons to be uneasy and afraid, seeing The Doctor be afraid and not understanding, and as soon as she talks first you know somehow, the Midnight Entity is in power now. Whatever being in power means for its abilities

It feels like watching a modern theatre piece. A small ensemble, stuck in one location the entire time, almost the whole plot being driven through dialogue. I probably won’t watch it again any time soon, because it’s SO INTENSE and stressful to watch, but I agree it is absolutely amazing, the acting in this is extremely good

I love this episode. The “Do we have a deal?” scene is so spine chilling when you first watch it.

This is another episode which terrified me as a child It still makes me slightly uneasy and I've watched it so many times at this point Season 4 was the scariest season imo

it’s such an underrated but not underrated episode at the same time.

No matter how many times I've seen this episode, even though I know exactly what's coming, I find myself curling up in fear. Every single time. It's very rare that a piece of media can instill genuine fear in me, and that's why I love this episode so much because I rarely get to experience those emotions.

Midnight is the only episode of Doctor Who I feel intensely terrified watching - it is simply incredible.

When I saw the video title: That's a bold statement. When I saw which episode: Yeah, that's accurate.

I’ve always felt like this is RTD’s take on Moffat’s style, and it’s perfect

whats more scary about this episode ... even merlin couldn't save the day

tagline of the episode: my boy jethro. he's a good lad.

If we consider Moffat's magnum opus to be Heaven then for Russell T Davis it must be Midnight, right?

I always thought that family was going to fall apart after that. Jethro not coming home for Christmas as an adult oop. His parents tried to bully him into committing murder and almost did, so....

Can we give harbo some huge respect for making a 40 minute video just for 1 episode🙌your gonna deserve your success with your very hard work man👏

I’m so glad for someone to finally cover this episode. One of the best bottle episodes of all time. Including one of the only times we’ve ever seen the doctor genuinely scared.

Fun Fact: The actress who plays Sky Silvestry (the vessel for the Midnight creature), Lesley Sharp, is currently playing Rosalind in Netflix's Fate: The Winx Saga. 🧚‍♀️

David Troughton (Patrick Troughton's son) has been in Doctor Who in the past, last appearing in the Curse of Peladon as King Peladon (a great Third Doctor story check it out).

In the picture you showed of The Doctor being dragged towards the door, you can see Sky in the corner grinning madly. While everyone in front are in a dark area, Sky is shown in a bright light.

Not sure if it’s mentioned in this video yet but Sky tells the doctor at the start that she has an ex from another Galaxy. And when she starts panicking she says things as if she knows it’s related to this.

Episode gives me the real willies. It's like a Steven King story: the true monsters are us. Also the contempt you feel towards the mum at the end, and her self righteous posturing. You know she's not learned anything from this episode and she's already changing the narrative in her head to make her the hero

Why did you have to include that family from Resolution? I've tried so hard to push that awful awful scene from my memory :p

This is the original Among Us! 😂

The reason Donna isn't in this episode is because she'd probably spend the whole episodes having a fight with that horrible wife woman.

32:46 I'm with you. When I saw this episode, I'd already seen some Eleventh Doctor episodes (plus you know they're not going to kill the title character on Doctor Who), but for about five minutes near the end of Midnight, I was thoroughly convinced that the Doctor was not going to survive and would not regenerate. This episode manages to get scarier the more I watch it.

I am absolutely loving the longer videos. I’m sick of these “video essay” channels that try ham-fist a deep message about a film/show in 10 minutes without really making any definitively clear point. This longer format gives the video more time to breathe, and for you to develop your thoughts beyond just describing what happens in the episode.

Fun fact you can see the shadow of the creature in this when the engineer spots it. It’s terrifying, it’s hard to explain but focus on the bottom left you see a shadow of some creature jump down past a large Boulder. It’s literally to the right of the guy on the lefts head the very split second the barrier starts lowering.

I also love how all of the characters who don't follow the bandwagon (to some extent) are the younger ones, this being one of the leading factors as to how this all goes to shit because they're not seen as as smart or important as the older, more "mature" characters. Midnight is also my favourite Doctor Who episode and I can't even count how many times I've watched it, loved the video!

I always wonder what the next day is like for the other characters in episodes like this.

I can't be the only one who as a kid used to try and find the shadow the mechanic claude was pointing at lol

Even when I was a 6-year-old kid watching this for the first time when it aired, I knew this shit was art. ART.

Just look at the amazing acting from Lesley Sharp, and the whole cast. Stunning. It just goes to prove again how much the show has lost lately. This is clever Sci fi-horror. No hysterical spinning or gurning, no massive exposition dumps, it's all so brilliantly unfolded, adding to the tension. It's claustrophobic too, another thing many humans feel and fear. Brilliant TV.

The interesting thing about the “Best Doctor Who Episodes Ever” is that they’re never standard Doctor Who episodes. Blink barely has the Doctor in it at all, Midnight is a bottle episode with no companion, no TARDIS and no visible monster, and Heaven Sent is the same except the Doctor is the only character in the entire episode. None of the all time great episodes of Modern Who have featured the Doctor and his companion going on an adventure in the TARDIS.

I love how at 15:12 if you go frame by frame you can actually see one of the glimmers of light momentarily dim as something passes infront of it. It's something that would have been impossible to spot on the original broadcast, but makes rewatches more interesting (a bit like the subliminal messages and fifth housemate in The Young Ones). (Also, Sky reminds me of Laura Dern from Inland Empire, but that's just because I'm a David Lynch freak)

We stan Jethro, the good lad

Oh my god, I love Midnight. Im a sucker for self contained episodes with mysterious foes that never get a proper explanation. Their true power, origin and potential is left unanswered, the episodes that usually have this type of enemy are always super well written and never fail to give me chills. Thought Tennet was never my favorite doctor, this is absolutely the best episode Ive ever seen this show produce.

This episode is so frightening because this kind of thing has really happened many times before. Most notably on a plane where a guy with a brain tumor goes insane because of the air pressure changes. The people on the plain kill him because they are afraid that he's going to open the door.

No matter how many times I watch Midnight the part where Sky talks over the Doctor gives me chills. It's one if my favourites.

Apart of me will always be grateful to Doctor Who for sparking that curiosity and love for adventure and science, the need to ask questions and look for answers, and with Tennant being so lively and so welcoming it just makes you want to be as warm and open to making friends and sharing stories as him! It was such a unique experience that I really wish new Doctor Who fans can experience even if the episodes aired years ago. This whole episode so perfectly encapsulates why I adore the deep-sea, from the mystery and fear of how hostile the environment is and the impossibility of live to this surreal experience when you get to witness even just a snippet, like the three witnessing the site for the very first time. I can also very much confirm every single person is science will gladly give a presentation on their their topic at any given chance so the professor is spot on with his portrayal! Just a fantastic episode that I feel can never be replicated with its story and general feel, thank you so much for making this video and reminding me of how amazing it was!

I always felt like Skye knew what this thing was. The way she seemed more panicked than anyone else when everything started and the way she yelled its coming for me even though there really wasn't much evidence of it. It feels like Skye had this whole story we didn't get to know.

I am so glad I’m not the only one who has had a fascination with this episode for years. I love discussing it and thinking about it almost more than I enjoy watching it. I end up gripped by the tension. Almost like I’ve been possessed by the creature too. It’s incredible how much is conveyed by people talking in a room. I also love the affirmation that some things aren’t meant to ever be understood. The universe is beautiful and terrifying. Tread carefully. (That feeling of “letting things go unexplained” was lost over the next few seasons I think) Great video!! You’ve got another subscriber.

Friendship ended with Skye Now Jethro is best friend

The scariest moment in the entirety of DW for me is when in Midnight Rose appears for a second on the screen behid the Doctor that no one notices but you as the viewer does, and it seems even more impossible than anything else in this impossible episode, plus it is even more unexpected than anything else in the episode, it is scary and worrying and NO ONE SEES IT, for me seeing this beloved character is just like when you see the ghost or monster behind the main character in a horror and I think it’s sooo genious to turn someone you love into something you fear with the atmosphere of the episode!! I really hope you will talk about this in the video, i haven’t finished it yet.

This is an episode for me that when I first watched the show as a kid I didn’t really like that much but when I rewatched the show as an adult I realised how truly great this episode is, easily top 5 nu who episodes.

me clicking on this video: really? best DW ever? i doubt that. me when i realize it's about Midnight: nevermind, he's right.

I'm so glad you covered this episode again. I was worried that you'd skip it since the reason I found your channel was by looking up your original Midnight essay

I adore this episode, especially since it could have been one of the worst with the small budget and single set- these potential pitfalls just emphasize the quality of the writing and acting in this

I first watched this while binging the series and hit this one at three in the morning, sitting in a dark room. The visual of her sitting in the corner creepily watching the rest of the crew is so memorably chilling that it still gets me, years later.

Also my favourite episode, it has everything I love about Doctor Who: scares, great writing, suspense and a great sci fi concept. Also David Tennant is pitch perfect in this episode.

I have seen a lot of Doctor Who videos talking about various episodes but never about this one and I was so disappointed, cause I remember seeing this for the first time and being completely blown away by it. The in-depth study of the human mind- the fears and anxiety- that this episode does so well makes it one of the best episodes.

One theory regarding the Entity that I came across somewhere (I wish I could remember where so that I could credit it but this was a while ago and I just saw it in passing) that I think is an interesting way of interpreting the episode is that the Entity itself was neither originally good nor bad in its intentions - its only initial goal being to learn in the only way it knew how - and its eventual malevolence was entirely influenced by everyone's fear of it. A sort of Frankenstein's Creature "since everyone treats me as evil, I guess I must be evil" situation. It absorbs the information via the character's voices that they believe it to be a threat to be destroyed so it essentially fulfils that role because it literally doesn't know any better. I don't know whether I personally entirely believe that theory or not, but it's certainly a new way of looking at the episode and again raises some further interesting ideas about the nature of mob paranoia.

I am so glad I found someone else who has Midnight as their favorite episode. I was ranting to my friend about it(obviously the abridged version because I can go on for hours) and she almost didn’t want to see it. This episode is truly a cinematic masterpiece.

I saw that title and went "Daaamn alright, we're getting into potentially controversial territory here!" 😆 I'll be honest, this episode annoyed me simply because almost no one would listen to the Doctor, but it also adds to how frankly terrifying this story is. The helplessness in the Doctor's eyes as he's being dragged away, forced to repeat the Midnight creature against his will, is really scary. You can see how much it messed him up when he meets back up with Donna, as he refuses to even talk about the experience with her. It's situations like this that probably makes him glad that at the end of the day, when he made it back to the station (or wherever they were at), he wasn't alone; he had Donna there to provide him comfort and security. 🖤

Finally! A KZfaqr who knows how to time after breaks so it’s not mid thought/mid sentence. I watch the ads when that happens. Well done (& another great analysis vid too)!

Every single time I see this episode I get chills, without fail. It's terrifying, not because of the monster/creature, but because of the people and how real their reactions are.

This was actually my first episode of doctor who, and I'm so glad I saw it. It pulled me in and started my journey, making me want to stay from the beginning.

I just clicked but when i saw this is my recommended I let out a triumphant yell! Gosh I love your videos and this is one of my top three fav episodes ever. Okay....watching now

we'll never see an episode like this again almost like they look at episodes now as throwing money at production CGI etc covering the cracks in acting and writing with some explosions and sets this episode defines simple but effective

One of my favourite moments from the show is when they raise the shield for the first time. The creepy/enchanting music, the reactions and the lighting is just absolutely fantastic.

Midnight is my favorite episode of Doctor Who of all time too, and you're the first person I've found that feels the same!!! Absolutely brilliant video, I've been binging your videos for the past day or two. Brilliant :))

Utterly splendid. I can't watch Midnight again for a few more years yet. It is so powerful for all the reasons you give. Your video let me relive it but with less pain.

Man I just love this episode, I really need to rewatch it I binged the series for the first time a few years ago and this was my favourite episode of my favourite season at the time (still my favourite honestly), I forgot A LOT of episodes and even entire arcs (even more recent ones), but not this one little standalone I really need to rewatch this, thank you for this

This is by far my favourite Tennant episode, and definitely makes my top 10 episodes of all time. Including classic who

It's worth pointing out - the professor might be right. It really might be impossible for anything to survive on the surface. It's a mark of how clever the episode is that we end up assuming something attacked Sky from outside the Crusader.

It's interesting to note that RTD took inspiration from a Star Trek next gen episode Darmok, or at least its synopsis. It was another story about a mysterious alien, and about words. Also seeing Rose in the monitor definitely made my heart skip a beat as a kid. Also Harbo, the adds in your videos are always so well placed!

Doctor: Everyone remain calm!!! Midnight entity: *bangs on roof* Doctor: OK, panic now!!!

Great video man. It is such a well written episode that, as you said, makes you wonder how anyone, even the Doctor, can keep going with dark and unfortunate events happening so often. I had the Doomsday then playing in my head a lot watching this.

Merlin took a vacation, I see. I think the creature appears at the bottom right when you talking about it. There's a small bit of movement

Ive been searching far and wide for this video

I never knew that Patrick Troughton played the professor. I love the thought of family members of the cast joining in.

One of the best DW episodes ever, and overall just amazing TV everyone should watch at least once. Its kinda weird though, I've watched this episode with a few people and they really just don't seem to get it. They come away either thinking Sky went mad, or that the episode is boring, or that its just "humans are bad?" or something. Its so disheartening to see such a complex episode with layers get kinda misread like that.