Doctor Who Series 12 Episode 8 - The Haunting Of Villa Diodati - Review

Starring: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole & Mandip Gill

Written By: Maxine Alderton

Directed By: Emma Sullivan

Along with rumours of a plastic-themed episode, one of the other rumours that had been floating around regarding Series 12 was that it was set to feature an episode with Mary Shelley. For your "ever so slightly obsessed" fan, this poses an interesting quandary. Mary Shelley is already a familiar presence in the Whoniverse, especially with Big Finish listeners and has travelled on audio as a companion to the 8th Doctor. I can't comment on any of these stories from Big Finish as I've not heard them, although word has it that they're very good. The TV show may be about to contradict them, but since I'm unfamiliar with them I have the luxury of saying … oh well. So let's sit back and enjoy 'The Haunting Of Villa Diodati'.

The Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz arrive in the early 19th Century at Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Taking shelter from the stormy weather, the four arrive at Villa Diodati where they meet writers John Polidori, Claire Clairmont, Lord Byron and Mary Shelley. This is the night that inspired Shelley to write her most famous work, 'Frankenstein', but something unusual is occurring in the villa. How is the house seemingly rearranging its rooms and trapping the occupants? How are random objects being smashed by seemingly nothing and what is the strange apparition floating above the lake?

From the offset the deck is stacked in 'The Haunting Of Villa Diodati's favour, with a cracking premise that's perfect for an episode of 'Doctor Who'. A haunted house ghost story set on the night that inspired Mary Shelley to write 'Frankenstein' is too good to resist, especially when you consider the influence that it's had on the last two hundred years of pop culture. Speaking personally, the 1931 Universal film adaptation of 'Frankenstein' is one of my favourite films, but more than that, many familiar sci-fi tropes and even shows like 'Doctor Who' owe a lot to the iconic novel. 'Frankenstein' can be credited with inventing, or at least popularizing many staples of the sci-fi genre today. A haunted house story requires a certain atmosphere to work and the first act of 'Villa Diodati' sets this up very well. There's a lot of detail gone into the house itself - the candlelight, a subdued but effective score, the pathetic fallacy of the rain - it's great stuff. It was also nice to see the companions don period clothing again, it's one of those little nuggets of detail that was one of the few things lacking from Series 11's historicals. Crucially, it's the moments of quiet that allow a feeling of unease to settle in. One of the more legitimate criticisms of the Chris Chibnall era is the tendency to over-write and over-explain things. With 'Villa Diodati', the creative team are smart enough to avoid most of that, and just allow for those moments of quiet. None of the atmosphere that's conjured is particularly new or original, but it's effectively done and director Emma Sullivan does another great job following on from last week. 

Rather like 'Nikola Tesla's Night Of Terror', 'Villa Diodati' is technically another celebrity historical, with the celebrity figure this week being Mary Shelley. However, her depiction here is surprisingly subtle. Unlike Tesla, or some of the famous writers we've previously seen in the show like Charles Dickens or Agatha Christie, Shelley doesn't necessarily feel like the centre of the story. Lili Miller is pretty good in the role, but she doesn't stand out a great deal from the other supporting characters like Polidori or Clairmont. This might sound like a criticism, but I quite liked this different approach. It's much less remarkable but therefore in a way believable. At times Shelley is almost outshone by the presence of another writer: Lord Byron. Whereas Shelley is a comparably quieter character, Byron is anything but. He's a womaniser and a pompous buffoon, and Jacob Collins-Levy seems to be having fun with such a brash role. While I'm sure the same old angry voices on YouTube will take issue with his portrayal, it's pretty accurate to what we knew of Byron, and although he's a dick, he is rather fun here.

(Major spoilers from here, read on at your own risk!) About halfway through, the episode shifts somewhat with the reveal of the antagonist - the Lone Cyberman. After being teased by Captain Jack a few weeks ago, we finally get some pay-off, so is the Lone Cyberman worth the hype? Well the upcoming finale could change things, but for now I think it's a solid yes. Importantly though, introducing a Cyberman to the episode, in fact the Cyberman central to the series arc, risks another massive derailment similar to 'Fugitive Of The Judoon' when Jack showed up and when Ruth turned out to be the Doctor. However, 'Villa Diodati' goes about it much better - when the Cyberman shows up, the episode doesn't stop being a haunted house story. The Shelleys are still an important part, and the aesthetic it built up during the first half isn't lost - the Cyberman merely becomes an extension it and it works surprisingly well. I'd argue the arrival of the Lone Cyberman actually takes what had been a pretty good haunted house story and makes it better still. Thank god that they featured a Cyberman in the Mary Shelley episode too - putting her in the series and not having her come face to face with one would've been a massive missed opportunity. The Cyberman, or Ashad as was his human name, is a wonderful character in both conception and design. He's a psychopath who despite being converted, has retained his emotions and appears fine with what's happened to him. He's insane and unlike any Cyberman I think we've seen in the show before, getting some deliciously dark moments such as snapping the maid's neck. Actor Patrick O'Kane works wonders in the role, and even Ashad's design is striking. Battered up, seemingly cobbled from different Cyberman designs and with half of his human face still visible, what better way to emphasize the tragic body horror of the Cybermen than to have its human face still showing?

'Villa Diodati' ends on a high note too, providing a satisfying explanation to the more supernatural hauntings of the first half, while looking set to take us into the series finale. The Doctor is also forced into an uncomfortable dilemma: give the Lone Cyberman what it's after to save Percy Shelley, preventing massive damage to the timeline, or let Shelley die to avoid a terrible future. It's a compelling scenario and it brings out one hell of a performance from Jodie Whittaker. Whittaker was already brilliant once again when confronting Ashad, but her confrontation with her own companions is gripping. Graham, Ryan and Yaz are forced to hear the uncomfortable truth that their flat team structure isn't always so flat. Ultimately, the Doctor has to give Ashad what he wants which makes sense, even if the lines "What are you doing?" "Giving it what it wants" are a bit on the nose and open the scene up to parody when you contrast it directly with Jack's warning. But making up for it, we do get to see Mary confront the Cyberman. Learning that Ashad apparently slit his own children's throats is a dark revelation, especially for 'Doctor Who's family audience. I also can't begin to tell you how happy I was that we dodged the cliché of the Cybermen being defeated by love. Cybermen shouldn't be that easy to defeat (I'm looking at you 'Closing Time') so I'm incredibly glad they avoided that. As a side note, when Ashad says he spared Mary's infant son William because he's "sickly and weak", I had it pointed out after the episode aired that the real William actually died as a child from malaria, so this becomes an even nastier detail when read with that context.

If you were going to do a haunted house episode featuring Mary Shelley and the Cybermen, 'The Haunting Of Villa Diodati' is almost exactly the kind of episode I'd want to see. It excels on almost every level. There are a couple of caveats to this however, and while they didn't dampen my enjoyment of the story, they're worth mentioning. Although they were actually, historically there, Clairmont and Polidori feel like the weak links in an otherwise strong supporting cast. The actors themselves are fine but there isn't a whole lot for them to do here and they fail to leave as much of an impression as Mary or Byron. Also while the episode explains most of the hauntings and wraps things up neatly, there are a couple of instances that don't seem to make a whole lot of sense. If the layout of the house changing was an attempt to protect Percy and the Cyberium, then what was the purpose of the skeletal hands wandering around? It's a creepy image sure, but doesn't seem to have much practical use. Graham also encounters a couple of ghostly figures, although there's deliberately no explanation given for why he sees them. I imagine this is just a spooky "Ooh, do ghosts really exist after all?" moment. There might be more to it, but brief as it is, the appearance of those two ghostly figures seem like an odd thing to dedicate screentime to for just a throwaway "what if?" scene. 

However like I've said, these are very minor things in an otherwise very good episode. 'The Haunting Of Villa Diodati' ranks up along 'Nikola Tesla's Night Of Terror' for me as one of Series 12's best. It begins life as an effective haunted house thriller, and unfolds into more as it goes on. It serves as a great lead-in to the start of next week's finale, without diverting the episode's initial priorities. It does a far superior job to 'Fugitive Of The Judoon' in linking to the main series arc, doing so without losing itself in the process. With this and their previous appearance, 'World Enough & Time' and 'The Doctor Falls', it seems like we're currently being spoilt for great Cyberman stories.

The Haunting Of Villa Diodati

8/10