Skip to main content
Games Radar
  • Newsarama
  • Total Film
  • Edge
  • Retro Gamer
  • SFX
SFX The world's number one sci-fi, fantasy and horror magazine
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
  • News
  • Subscribe
  • Newsletter
  • More
    • PS5
    • Xbox Series X
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PC
    • Platforms
    • Tabletop Gaming
    • Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • SFX
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsletters
    • About us
    • Features
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
View
Trending
  • Disney Plus bundles
  • Best Sci Fi Movies
  • New Marvel TV Shows
  • New TV Shows

Recommended reading

The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Belinda (Varada Sethu) wearing space suits in Doctor Who: The Well.
Sci-Fi Shows Doctor Who season 2, episode 3 spoiler review: 'The Well' is a "ruthlessly gripping" installment that challenges Belinda
The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) floats through space in 'The Interstellar Song Contest.'
Sci-Fi Shows Doctor Who season 2, episode 6 spoiler review: 'The Interstellar Song Contest' is "a blast and sets the stage for a thrilling season finale"
Jonah Hauer-King as Conrad in Doctor Who: 'Lucky Day'.
Sci-Fi Shows Doctor Who season 2, episode 4 spoiler review: 'Lucky Day' has a "genuinely surprising" mid-episode reveal
Mr Ring-A-Ding (voiced by Alan Cumming) in Doctor Who: Lux.
Sci-Fi Shows Doctor Who season 2, episode 2 spoiler-free review: 'Lux' is a "bold, bonkers" second episode with an amazing villain
Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor in 'The Story & The Engine.'
Sci-Fi Shows Doctor Who season 2, episode 5 spoiler review: 'The Story & The Engine' is "one of the most original and ambitious episodes this show has produced in years"
Ncuti Gatwa is the Doctor – or is he John Smith? – in Doctor Who: 'Wish World.'
Sci-Fi Shows Doctor Who season 2, episode 7 spoiler review: 'Wish World' is "an exciting and ambitious" start to the season finale, with hints of WandaVision
Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor in a suit, tie, and bowler hat in Doctor Who's 'Wish World.'
Sci-Fi Shows Doctor Who season 2: All the Easter eggs, cameos, and references
  1. Entertainment
  2. TV
  3. Sci-Fi Shows

Doctor Who S8.04 - Listen Review

Reviews
By Jordan Farley published 13 September 2014

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Good luck if you’ve got young ’uns. Convincing them that the stygian void beneath their bed isn’t hiding some unseen lurker just got a whole lot harder after “Listen” – Who’s scariest episode for quite some time.

It’s a darker tale for a darker Doctor, one that hums with low-level menace and causes chills with the mere threat that some eldritch abomination may reveal its unfathomable face at any second. If the Doctor’s afraid, what hope do we have? It couldn’t be further from swashbuckling spoon fights and proves the cliché true – Doctor Who is a show with the power to send generations scarpering behind the sofa.

Moffat made his name as a Who writer by playing on everyday childhood fears and there’s a case to be made he’s simply recycling past glories with “Listen”, like some televisual greatest hits package (monsters under the bed or glimpsed out of the corner of your eye, a creature that’s got a thing about being watched, creepy nursery rhymes). It may lack the freshness of “Blink” or “The Girl In The Fireplace”, but crucially he takes tried and tested ideas and gives them a sensational new spin. I wouldn’t be surprised if “Listen” is mentioned in the same breath as Moffat’s best work a few years from now.

You may like
  • The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Belinda (Varada Sethu) wearing space suits in Doctor Who: The Well. Doctor Who season 2, episode 3 spoiler review: 'The Well' is a "ruthlessly gripping" installment that challenges Belinda
  • The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) floats through space in 'The Interstellar Song Contest.' Doctor Who season 2, episode 6 spoiler review: 'The Interstellar Song Contest' is "a blast and sets the stage for a thrilling season finale"
  • Jonah Hauer-King as Conrad in Doctor Who: 'Lucky Day'. Doctor Who season 2, episode 4 spoiler review: 'Lucky Day' has a "genuinely surprising" mid-episode reveal

It’s also, arguably, the first story this series where Capaldi’s Doctor has felt truly at home – the mad old uncle in the midst of a mid-life crisis. Capaldi is stunning, every bit the prickly Time Lord we’ve seen to date, but raw and exposed by a fear that has plagued him since childhood. His plea, “I have to know” what’s beyond the door at the end of the universe are the words of a desperate man. After going full-grump last week we also get a rare glimpse of the Doctor’s warmer side as he helps young Rupert overcome his night-time tormentor with a motivational speech only his mind could muster.

With creaky old country houses, a candle-lit TARDIS and a marooned space ship straight out of a horror movie it’s an impressively atmospheric episode. Director Douglas Mackinnon proves a perfect match for the spooky tale and constructs some startlingly unsettling images out of it. The Figure draped in Rupert’s red sheet atop the bed, or standing motionless behind the intrepid trio only for the sheet to fall leaving the truth tantalisingly, and terrifyingly, out of focus might be one of the most unbearably tense Doctor Who moments ever. Mackinnon’s a director who clearly understands the number one rule for sending a shiver down the spine: less is more.

For 30 minutes it’s a near-perfect PG horror, meticulously paced as it builds towards a seemingly straightforward monster appearance, but then: the rug pull – an unexpected stop at a barn on Gallifrey. The revelation that Clara had such a seismic influence on the Doctor in his formative years will inevitably irritate some, but it works wonderfully in the context of the episode, and is a genuine jaw-dropper of a twist. It risks damaging the Doctor’s air of mystery. After all, a few hints here and there, we know little about the Doctor’s early years. But like learning Bruce Banner is “always angry” in The Avengers, knowing that the Doctor is always afraid is a moment of pure magic – a compelling new facet to a character we’ve known for 50 years. It puts the rest of the episode sharply into perspective as a deeply personal tale for the Time Lord.

“Day Of The Doctor” was, in Moffat’s words, the beginning of “chapter two” of the Doctor’s life. On the basis of this episode he clearly can’t resist peeking back at chapter one, but I can’t hold it against him if he continues to do so in such thrilling fashion.

Image 1 of 8

Did You Spot?

“Sontarans perverting the course of human history” are among the first words uttered by the Fourth Doctor.

I Want To Believe

The episode goes to great lengths to provide rational explanations for all the strange goings on, but if there really wasn’t a monster in hiding who (or what) moved the chalk?

Fab Effects

There’s a pleasingly organic, Cronenberg-like vibe to the TARDIS’s fleshy telepathic interface.

Star turn

The episode’s miniscule cast is uniformly excellent: Remi Gooding as brave young Rupert, Samuel Anderson on double duties as Danny and Orson Pink, and particularly Jenna Coleman, who once again shines as Clara. Even Capaldi’s attack eyebrows are no defense against four simple words: “Do as you're told”!

LMAO

For an episode that really delivers on frights, it’s not short on laughs either. “What’s going on with your face? It’s all eyes.” Or Danny’s desperately uncool “I might go for afters…” had me in fits.

Couples Therapy

It’s less discussion-worthy than what’s going on elsewhere, but Clara and Danny’s date scenes are a lot of fun – Coupling-era Moffat back for one horrendously awkward dinner. They’re the perfect counterpoint to the scares elsewhere.

Cosplay Corner

Could this episode spawn the simplest Halloween costume ever? Throw a red sheet over your head and you’re done!

Trivia

Robert Goodman (Reg) has appeared in Doctor Who several times before, but only as an uncredited extra – a Time Lord in “Arc Of Infinity”, a Hyperion III officer in “The Trial Of A Time Lord” and a Mandrel in “Nightmare Of Eden”.

Doctor Who airs Saturdays on BBC One.

Jordan Farley
Jordan Farley
Social Links Navigation
Managing Editor, Entertainment

I'm the Managing Editor, Entertainment here at GamesRadar+, overseeing the site's film and TV coverage. In a previous life as a print dinosaur, I was the Deputy Editor of Total Film magazine, and the news editor at SFX magazine. Fun fact: two of my favourite films released on the same day - Blade Runner and The Thing.

Read more
The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Belinda (Varada Sethu) wearing space suits in Doctor Who: The Well.
Doctor Who season 2, episode 3 spoiler review: 'The Well' is a "ruthlessly gripping" installment that challenges Belinda
The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) floats through space in 'The Interstellar Song Contest.'
Doctor Who season 2, episode 6 spoiler review: 'The Interstellar Song Contest' is "a blast and sets the stage for a thrilling season finale"
Jonah Hauer-King as Conrad in Doctor Who: 'Lucky Day'.
Doctor Who season 2, episode 4 spoiler review: 'Lucky Day' has a "genuinely surprising" mid-episode reveal
Mr Ring-A-Ding (voiced by Alan Cumming) in Doctor Who: Lux.
Doctor Who season 2, episode 2 spoiler-free review: 'Lux' is a "bold, bonkers" second episode with an amazing villain
Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor in 'The Story & The Engine.'
Doctor Who season 2, episode 5 spoiler review: 'The Story & The Engine' is "one of the most original and ambitious episodes this show has produced in years"
Ncuti Gatwa is the Doctor – or is he John Smith? – in Doctor Who: 'Wish World.'
Doctor Who season 2, episode 7 spoiler review: 'Wish World' is "an exciting and ambitious" start to the season finale, with hints of WandaVision
Latest in Sci-Fi Shows
Joe Freeman as Luke Ellis in The Institute
The Institute showrunners explain why the new Stephen King dystopian sci-fi TV series is more timely than ever: "Children shall inherit the earth, but first they have to save themselves"
Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati in Ahsoka
Ahsoka star Ivanna Sakhno says the Star Wars show's second season is "currently in the middle of filming" and promises a "bigger" and "even more in-depth" journey: "I'm really excited for people to see it"
Henry Cavill at the premiere of The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
Henry Cavill’s Warhammer 40K series should ditch Space Marines for one of the series’ most important characters, and I know exactly how it would work
Sarah Michelle Gellar in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Buffy star Sarah Michelle Gellar says her "dream" for the reboot is to "bring back everyone who has died" but still wants to make time for "new stories"
Indara in The Acolyte episode 7
Star Wars actor Carrie-Anne Moss didn't think her Jedi's death in The Acolyte "would be a big deal at all" until fan backlash: "It didn't cross my mind"
Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor in Doctor Who season 2
Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies throws doubt over the future of the sci-fi show: "We don't know what's happening yet"
Latest in Reviews
A T-rex in Jurassic World Rebirth
Jurassic World Rebirth Review: "An unscary sequel that needed a little more time in amber"
An array of Space Marine and Plague Marine models on an orange battlemat littered with MDF ruins
Kill Team Starter Set (2024) review: "A great introduction to the mechanics, but it doesn't always capture what makes the game special"
A reviewer holding the Nacon Revolution X Unlimited
Nacon Revolution X Unlimited review: “As OP as pro controllers get these days”
Lee Jung-jae as Gi-hun in Squid Game season 3
Squid Game season 3 review: "A staggeringly excellent final season wraps up one of the greatest Netflix shows ever"
M3GAN doll in M3GAN 2.0
M3GAN 2.0 review: "A bold sequel with a slightly underwhelming conclusion"
Ironheart
Ironheart review: "A relic of Marvel's content-at-all-costs era"
  1. Sam fires at the ghost mech squid boss in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
    1
    Death Stranding 2: On the Beach review: "This tarpunk delivery epic is more Metal Gear Solid than ever, for better and worse"
  2. 2
    Rematch review: "As with Rocket League, the just-one-more-game pull is magnetic"
  3. 3
    Tron: Catalyst review: "Disc slinging is a thrill in this gorgeous rendition of the series, but I'm let down by a time-loop story that falls flat"
  4. 4
    FBC: Firebreak review: "A disappointingly bland multiplayer FPS that's missing far too much of what made Control special"
  5. 5
    Dune: Awakening review: "Both extremely compelling and extraordinarily boring, sometimes at the same time – yet still a true Dune love letter"
  1. A T-rex in Jurassic World Rebirth
    1
    Jurassic World Rebirth Review: "An unscary sequel that needed a little more time in amber"
  2. 2
    M3GAN 2.0 review: "A bold sequel with a slightly underwhelming conclusion"
  3. 3
    28 Years Later Review: "Enough terror, splatter and suspense to satisfy”
  4. 4
    Predator: Killer of Killers review: "Great characters, thrilling action, and gorgeous Arcane-esque animation"
  5. 5
    From the World of John Wick: Ballerina review: "Brilliant action, even if the plot gives you a sense of déjà vu"
  1. Lee Jung-jae as Gi-hun in Squid Game season 3
    1
    Squid Game season 3 review: "A staggeringly excellent final season wraps up one of the greatest Netflix shows ever"
  2. 2
    Ironheart review: "A relic of Marvel's content-at-all-costs era"
  3. 3
    Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 review: "The show's most assured run of episodes to date"
  4. 4
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 8 spoiler review: 'The Reality War' is "a mix of the good, the bad, and the truly baffling"
  5. 5
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 7 spoiler review: 'Wish World' is "an exciting and ambitious" start to the season finale, with hints of WandaVision

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...