Even after 50+ years, Doctor Who isn't afraid to try new things. This week, the show goes all Blair Witch Project, with a lone scientist deciding to Chronicle some Paranormal Activity aboard a space station.

Yes, found footage in cinema is now a little old hat, but it's rarely seen in television and there's arguably a great Doctor Who episode to be made in the style. 'Sleep No More' isn't quite it, but there's certainly a lot to like about Mark Gatiss's latest script.

With a biological hazard devouring humankind, it's essentially an updated version of classic Tom Baker adventure 'The Ark in Space' - and Peter Capaldi, like Baker before him, is a suitably unhinged tour guide.

BBC

The episode employs some neat stylistic choices, with the traditional title sequence absent, while Gatiss's script is typically packed full of sharp wit. In one standout exchange, the Doctor and Clara (Jenna Coleman) argue about using the word "space" as a prefix to make something sound "all sort of high-tech".

There's evidence too that Gatiss and the production team have put some real time and thought into the realisation of this 38th century world. 'Sleep No More' includes an abundance of strong sci-fi notions - the Indo-Japanese civilisation, the Morpheus machines with their eerie 'Mr. Sandman' melody, and the logical and terrifying extension of a work-centric society where sleep is considered a necessary evil.

BBC

Speaking of evil, this outing also delivers some effective monsters. The explanation for the rise of the Sandmen may be seriously wonky - even by Doctor Who's flimsy scientific standards. But the found footage conceit makes for a chilling portrayal, only allowing us brief, shadowy glimpses of this week's threat.

Elsewhere though, the found footage device ends up as something of a noose around the episode's neck - and it's here that 'Sleep No More', like the Sandmen, starts to crumble.

There's some serious structural issues afflicting the episode, its biggest mistake being the constant cuts back to Reece Shearsmith's weaselly Gagen Rasmussen. Because where the best found footage horror excels is in spine-chilling ambiguity. What was that noise? Did I just see what I thought I saw?

Frequent cuts back to Rasmussen for a plot recap not only detract from this, but the persistent interruptions also spoil the mood and sense of foreboding the episode has elsewhere worked so hard to build.

Shearsmith's voiceover even flags the impending demise of certain characters. Probably intended to heighten the tension, this foreshadowing in fact has the opposite effect, robbing the episode of much of its suspense.

Gatiss does deliver a clever explanation for Rasmussen's video statement, and this final twist makes for an undeniably spine-tingling climax. But that doesn't change the fact that the episode's fractured structure stops it from being as tense as it might've been.

'Sleep No More' is a solid exercise in balancing horror and humour, something Gatiss has always excelled at. But while there's strong ideas at its heart, the execution is imperfect - and when an episode hinges on a gimmick as much as this one does, execution is everything.

This is a none too bad episode of Doctor Who, but if you're looking for a spooky tale that really makes the most of found footage, you'd be better off watching Blair Witch again.

BBC

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- Much as I've enjoyed the resurgence of two-parters this series, a one-off tale like 'Sleep No More' did make for a refreshing change of pace. Variety's the spice of life, and all that.

- That said, Steven Moffat has apparently asked Gatiss for a sequel to 'Sleep No More' - are you intrigued to see more from the Sandmen?

- "May the Gods look favourably upon us all" - it might just be the imminent release of Mockingjay, Part 2, but am I the only one who kept thinking Hunger Games?

- "You don't get to name things - I'm the Doctor, I do the naming" - this incarnation of the Time Lord would get on well with Cisco from The Flash. Or maybe not, if they both insisted on naming the villains.

- Leave it to Gatiss to include a fun geeky nod to the original (mis-)naming of Doctor Who menace The Silurians. The Silurian era was actually 200 million years before the age of the dinosaurs, when Madame Vastra's kind apparently roamed the Earth, dontcha know.

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