Mark Gatiss has been involved with Doctor Who since its return in 2005, penning seven episodes for the series and appearing in it twice. But which are the most popular Mark Gatiss episodes?
4. Night Terrors
Believe it or not, according to viewing figures, ‘Night Terrors’ is the third most popular episode on the list. It also achieved an audience appreciation score of 86, which is considered excellent. (Audience appreciation is a measure of how much people enjoyed a programme, as the name suggests.)
‘Night Terrors’ came in the middle of Matt Smith’s second series as the Doctor in 2011, and concerned a troubled boy who was having difficulty sleeping, and a rather interesting dolls’ house which contained – you guessed it – killer dolls. Or at least, dolls which had the ability to turn real people into dolls, after shrinking them.
Interestingly, this Mark Gatiss episodes wasn’t massively well-received upon its broadcast, at least among the Doctor Who community. Some fans referred to it as ‘Fear Her: Part Two,’ referencing an unpopular, low budget episode from 2006 which was also about a troubled child. Certainly, it doesn’t make its way into many fans’ top 10s, but it’s all subjective; the 7.07 million people who watched it seemed to come away happy, anyway.
Thematically, it was similar to 1966’s ‘The Celestial Toymaker‘ which also featured people being turned into toys, and in fact a few fans were disappointed that the famous villain didn’t make an appearance. Perhaps this contributed to the wider feelings of disappointment in the Whoniverse.
3. Cold War
The return of the Ice Warriors! These reptilian monsters hadn’t been seen since 1974’s ‘The Monster of Peladon,’ and even then they were (mostly) goodies, and hadn’t appeared as a traditional Doctor Who monsters since 1969.
Apparently, it was Mark Gatiss himself who persuaded the showrunner Steven Moffat to bring the Martians back, something which Moffat had, allegedly, been reticent to do. But Mark Gatiss sold the idea by pointing out that there were still new stories to be told, namely: what do the Ice Warriors look like under their suits? And ‘Cold War’ answered this question, showing an Ice Warrior out of its shell for the first time and stalking the stricken occupants of a Russian submarine in the 1980s.
Also joining this episode was the popular British actor David Warner, husband of Doctor Who‘s Lisa Bowerman who had previously appeared in ‘Survival‘ and also played Bernice Summerfield in the audio adventures. Warner, too, was heavily involved in the Whoniverse, appearing as the Unbound Doctor for Big Finish, who was an alternate incarnation of the eponymous Time Lord.
Certainly, this was a unique Mark Gatiss episode and an interesting new take on the Ice Warriors. Perhaps the biggest disappointment was the fact that only one Ice Warrior made an appearance, but it would have been a very different story if the Doctor had been facing a whole army. Fans would have to wait until 2017’s ‘Empress of Mars’ for the full Ice Warrior experience (another episode penned by Mark Gatiss.)
In the end, ‘Cold War’ was watched by 7.37 million viewers, with an audience appreciation score of 84.
2. Victory of the Daleks
‘Victory of the Daleks’ will forever be remembered as the one that introduced the controversial paradigm design. But if you can look past the dazzlingly-coloured shells, there is a great story underneath, with obvious parallels to ‘The Power of the Daleks‘ and Nazism. The story is set during the Second World War, after all.
Perhaps the highlight of this particular episode is the scene in which the Doctor fights off his greatest enemies with nothing more than a Jammy Dodger, but there’s plenty to love elsewhere; Ian McNeice turns in a great performance as Winston Churchill, and indeed would make continue to appear throughout the Matt Smith era.
And whilst there may not have been much love for the paradigm Daleks, the episode achieved an impressive audience appreciation score of 84, with some 8.2 million viewers tuning in.
Would you like the paradigm Daleks to return at some point? Let us know in the comments below.
1. The Unquiet Dead
By far the most popular Mark Gatiss episode is 2005’s ‘The Unquiet Dead’ which, coincidentally, is also his very first. In fact, this was only the third episode of the revamped show, and the first one not to be penned by showrunner Russell T Davies.
Well, kind of. It’s no secret that Russell T Davies heavily script-edited a number of the episodes during his tenure, as shown in The Writers Tale where he gives an example of the changes he made to James Moran’s ‘The Fires of Pompeii.’ Indeed, this was standard practice for showrunners at the time, and it wasn’t until deep into the Moffat era that the showrunner started to be credited as co-author.
But we will probably never know to what extent Russell T Davies contributed (or didn’t contribute), and it’s likely the writers themselves don’t even know; things can get confusing as scripts move through various iterations. Certainly, the original idea came from Davies in that he wanted an episode to feature Charles Dickens; apparently, the working title was ‘The Name’s Dickens… Charles Dickens.’ And, reportedly, it was Mark Gatiss himself who suggested the idea of setting the episode at Christmas owing to his love of ‘A Christmas Carol.’
Indeed, ‘The Unquiet Dead’ features a number of references to the classic ghost story, including the apparition of the Gelth on the door knocker, and the redemptive character arc of Dickens, which mirrors that of Ebenezer Scrooge.
All in all, this is the most popular Mark Gatiss episode on our list with a final viewing figure of 8.86. The audience appreciation score was slightly lower at 80, and in true Doctor Who style it received a number of complaints from parents who said that the episode was too scary for children!
Further viewing
And if you want to add some more Mark Gatiss episodes to your viewing pile, he also penned ‘The Idiot’s Lantern,’ ‘Sleep No More’ and the aforementioned ‘Empress of Mars.’ He also appeared in ‘The Lazarus Experiment’ and ‘Twice Upon a Time‘ if you really want to make your viewing experience complete.
Certainly, ‘Empress of Mars’ would make a good viewing companion to ‘Cold War’ and even ‘The Curse of Peladon,’ whereas if you’re in the mood for having your brain fried, you can’t go wrong with ‘Sleep No More.’
In the meantime, tell us: which is your favourite Mark Gatiss episode?
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