Sleep No More

You must not watch this.

Rassmussen

Synopsis

This terrifying story is assembled from footage discovered in the wreckage of Le Verrier Space Station.

Review

I will start this review by stating that I am not a fan of horror films. Despite this, I’m aware through listening to movie podcasts and seeing horror movie trailers that found footage films are a trope that has almost run its course. Perhaps the most surprising thing about Sleep No More is that a found footage story hasn’t been attempted before. I was surprised to find more to like about this Mark Gatiss-penned episode than I remembered.

The underlying narrative of Sleep No More is one that feels like that of a quintessential Doctor Who story. The Morpheus machine, designed to compress sleep into short bursts of five minutes and marketed towards those who want to get the edge on competitors at work, feels like a standard anti-capitalist and pro-worker view that the show has never been shy about putting forward. The issue is, perhaps, that this idea is much more promising than anything else the story puts on screen and perhaps a different story altogether based on that idea would have perhaps been more successful. Instead, Gatiss’ story gets bogged down as it becomes more unbelievable, and the story’s conceit of found footage starts to break down when every bit of dust becomes a camera to facilitate the end of the story. The pacing really languishes towards the end and feels as though it rushes towards a conclusion. It almost feels as though it is heading to a cliffhanger, only to realise that a second part is not coming. Maybe if we’d ever got a sequel, as Gatiss was intending, Sleep No More might feel a little bit more consequential and we may have got some answers. I’m not sure whether I would substitute it for Empress of Mars, which is a better story than this. The monsters in this story, the Sandmen, do stretch credulity due to their origins from sleep dust becoming carnivorous.

Even I sleep.

When?

Well, when you’re not looking.

The Twelfth Doctor and Clara Oswald

I think that the found footage action, spliced with the framing narration of Reece Shearsmith’s Rassmussen, gives this episode a really choppy feeling which really do it no favours. Rassmussen tells us that we shouldn’t get too attached to the rescue crew as none of them will make it through the story, which not only adds distance between the audience and characters who through the method of the story, we are effectively closest to. On top of that, the sheer fact that the narration continues in a period of the story where the audience are supposed to believe that Rassmussen is dead really undercuts the eventual reveal that he is actually alive. Combined with the shaky camera work, it is unclear on what is happening during the action scenes, especially the ones involving the gravity failing on the Le Verrier space station.

The guest cast are not very memorable, although this is perhaps due to Rassmussen telling us not to get too attached to them. Reece Shearsmith is a solid if not exceptional villain, even given the predictable twist that he has not died halfway through the narrative. The story could do some more interesting things with the Grunt 474, played by Bethany Black, and this is perhaps something that could be explored more with a two-part story. The other members of the rescue team seem a bit one dimensional, from the young leader Nagata, to the outspoken and rebellious Chopra and the fun-loving Deep-Ando.

The Doctor and Clara form this story’s moral core, pointing out the issues with removing the obligations of the human body to sleep, and Peter Capaldi does perfectly encapsulate the anger and frustration he feels at humanity for coming up with another foolish idea. Capaldi and Coleman are such a likeable duo that they are able to elevate weaker stories, which is the case here, and this story gives the Doctor and Clara something different as they do not win at the conclusion of the story. Whilst the rather muddled ending is frustrating, it is rare to see the Doctor flee at the end of a story like he does here with the main threat allowed to continue unchecked.

Verdict: Sleep No More is perhaps the weakest story in Series 9, but it is one with some intriguing ideas. Whilst found footage is not the most original idea, it does at least show signs of experimenting with the formatting, and whilst the execution might not be great, that should be applauded. 4/10

Cast: Peter Capaldi (The Doctor), Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald), Reece Shearsmith (Rassmussen), Elaine Tan (Nagata), Neet Mohan (Chopra), Bethany Black (474), Paul Courtney Hyu (Deep-Ando), Paul Davis (King Sandman), Tom Wilton and Matthew Doman (Sandmen), Zina Badran (Morpheus Presenter) & Natasha Patel, Elizabeth Chong, Nikkita Chadha and Gracie Lai (Hologram Singers).

Writer: Mark Gatiss

Director: Justin Molotnikov

Producer: Nikki Wilson

Composer: Murray Gold

Original Broadcast Date: 14th November 2015

Behind the Scenes

• The working title for this story was The Arms of Morpheus.
• This is the first televised episode of Doctor Who to carry no opening titles, and the episode title and writer credit are featured at the end of the story. The Big Finish story LIVE 34 had done similar previously, featuring no titles or credits.
• Sleep No More is notable for using the found footage format and using first-person narration.
• This story is notable for being the only televised script written by Mark Gatiss to be set in the future. Gatiss intended to write a sequel to Sleep No More for Series 10, however, instead wrote Empress of Mars, a story which he stated that he had always wanted to write due to Series 10 being his last series.
• Discounting cliffhangers and stories that form part of a longer arc, this is the first time where an adversary triumphs over the Doctor.
• The story is also notable for featuring the first transgender actor in the show’s history, Bethany Black.

Cast Notes

• Reece Shearsmith had previously played Patrick Troughton in An Adventure in Time and Space.
• Paul Courtenay Hyu has played Wei in The People Made of Smoke (The Fifth Doctor Adventures), Oddiyana in The Secrets of Det-Sen (The Early Adventures) and Po in Neon Reign (Jenny: The Doctor’s Daughter).

Best Moment

I do really like the way that the Doctor and Clara are introduced in this story. We get to see how the Doctor and Clara come across to outsiders and gives a brief moment of light in this story.

Best Quote

“To die, to die, Glamis hath murdered sleep, therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more.”

What?

Shakespeare. He really knew his stuff. They all did: The ancients, the poets. All those sad songs, all those lullabies. Sleep is essential to every sentient being in the universe. But to humans — greedy, filthy, stupid humans? It’s an inconvenience… to be bartered away!

The Twelfth Doctor and Nagata

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