- Radio Times
- Review by:
- Patrick Mulkern
Time marches on to the Drum, a hi-tech underwater mining facility in Caithness. It’s the year 2119 and the crew discover an alien craft on the lake bed. It’s empty but soon they’re under attack from homicidal, hollow-eyed apparitions. The Doctor and Clara arrive three days later and are forced to consider: do ghosts really exist? And if so, what has created them?
Under the Lake is spooky and blessed with haunting imagery but even by Doctor Who’s standards feels derivative. Perhaps we’ve seen one too many isolated HQs with crews assailed by monstrous versions of themselves. It’s written by Toby Whithouse, creator of Being Human and The Game (BBC2’s Cold War thriller unjustly cancelled earlier this year). He knows his Who, so there’s hope that next week’s concluding part will complement and bolster this opener.
About this programme
3/12. The Time Lord and Clara set out to save the frightened crew of an underwater base who have come under attack from a mysterious threat. However, when the facility's residents starts getting killed, they refuse to stay dead - leading their colleagues to believe that ghosts are real. Can the Doctor get to the bottom of the mystery before everyone is wandering around like zombies? Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman star, with guest appearances from Paul Kaye (Game of Thrones), Morven Christie (Grantchester) and Colin McFarlane (The Dark Knight).
Cast and crew
Cast
- The Doctor
- Peter Capaldi
- Clara
- Jenna Coleman
- Moran
- Colin McFarlane
- Cass
- Sophie Stone
- Lunn
- Zaqi Ismail
- O'Donnell
- Morven Christie
- Bennett
- Arsher Ali
- Pritchard
- Steven Robertson
- Prentis
- Paul Kaye
Crew
- Director
- Daniel O'Hara
- Executive Producer
- Steven Moffat
- Executive Producer
- Brian Minchin
- Producer
- Derek Ritchie
- Writer
- Toby Whithouse