Doctor Who – The Haunting of Villa Diodati

By: Ellie Dolan-Yates

At Lake Geneva in 1816 we see Lord Byron (Jacob Collins-Levy) read a ghost story to his friends as thunder and lightning rage around the house. As the ghost story is getting tense, there is a banging on the door startling everyone. As Lord Byron and his friends cautiously approach the door they are left shouting as they are greeted by a screaming Doctor (Jodie Whittaker), Graham (Bradley Walsh), Yaz (Mandip Gill) and Ryan (Tosin Cole). This isn’t the welcome that The Doctor was hoping for, but it’s pouring it down with rain outside and, as Graham puts it whilst eyeing The Doctor, “one’s driver will park one’s carriage imprudently too far from whence one is going!”

After telling Graham what an honor it is to have Mary Shelley screaming in his face, The Doctor reminds everyone of the rules – “nobody mention Frankenstein and don’t interfere…and nobody snog Byron.” The fam learns secrets about the group of writers such as Mrs Shelley isn’t actually married to Percy Shelley yet and Lord Byron is separated from his wife and not to return to England. Instead he keeps company with Mary’s step-sister Claire Clairmont (Nadia Parkes). As Graham excuses himself to go to the little boys’ room, The Doctor suggests they all write the most spine-tingling, gruesome story of all time. It seems one is already being written though as the nanny Elise (Sarah Perles) leaves Mary’s baby, William, sleeping only to have a vase thrown at the wall behind her. Graham finds himself tracing his steps over and over again as he tries to find the non-existent bathroom. As he does so the hand of a skeleton falls from the wall and scuttles away! The Doctor notices that Percy Shelley is nowhere to be seen, although he is an important part of the night “Frankenstein” was created.

The Doctor is scanning the house with her sonic screwdriver and asks Byron if Shelley will be joining them. Byron tells her he’s indisposed. The Doctor is getting an evil vibe from the house. Ryan is attempting to play “Chopsticks” on the piano much to Polidori’s (Maxim Baldry) annoyance. Ryan asks what Polidori’s problem is and Mary explains that he gets no rest due to sleep-walking. Graham enters to tell Ryan that the house is like a maze and there’s no toilet. Fletcher (Stefan Bednarczyk), the valet, points Graham to a pot under the desk. When Polidori tells Mary she seems tired Ryan mentions to Polidori it’s him who needs to take a nap. This results in Polidori challenging Ryan to a duel. As Polidori goes to fetch his pistol, he lets in the skeleton hand! It grabs Ryan by the throat, but Fletcher manages to turn it to dust. The Doctor licks the remains and scans them to find it’s human. Byron concludes that the fam aren’t from the colonies and that “Mrs Doctor” is from somewhere much stranger…the north. Byron admits that he has a skeleton in his chamber. The Doctor tells Graham to keep an eye on Polidori whilst the rest go to check it out.

It turns out that Byron has a room full of war relics. The Doctor’s favorite being a plume from the battle of Waterloo. Mary tells The Doctor that when the storms started Shelley kept having visions of a figure, dark and charred by fire. She thinks he’s retired to their chalet to write. Graham is keeping his eye on a snoring Polidori when a creepy woman and child appear. Graham thinks they’ve brought food, which he gladly accepts. Ryan, Yaz and Mary head to the stairs, but end up going down to the top! The Doctor says she needs to get out to be able to think but ends up walking back into the same room. No one can seem to leave without going around in circles. Mary hears her son crying and tries to get to him but can’t. Elise finds him, but the window is wide open and from it she can see the figure outside. The Doctor asks if anyone else is trapped. Graham says he is and that he’s seeing dead people. The Doctor uses the fireplace chimney to communicate with Graham who tells her that Polidori just walked through the wall. As he tells her, Polidori does that very thing through the wall of The Doctor’s room. The Doctor realizes that as Polidori is dreaming he can’t see the illusion that’s keeping everyone trapped. She shouts to everyone that it’s a perception filter. Mary feels for the door she is looking for and opens it, even though she can’t see it. They get to William’s room only to find a skeleton under the blanket. Mary’s scream wakes Polidori.

After hitting her face on an invisible wall, The Doctor concludes that they can move inside the house but not out. She thinks they’re caught in a security system and the fact there hasn’t been a summer this year isn’t down to volcanic ash. It’s actually due to something that shouldn’t be there. At this point they all notice the figure appearing above the lake. The figure soon appears in the house. It’s the lone “Cyberman” Ashad (Patrick O’Kane)! The Doctor gets everyone to barricade the door and explains to Mary that a Cyberman is someone whose organs and flesh have been surgically removed and replaced with mechanical parts. This Cyberman is unfinished and he’s asking for “The Guardian.” In his search he disposes of Fletcher and Elise and grabs a crying William. The Doctor tells everyone else not to follow her as she heads to find the Cyberman. Yaz says that technically The Doctor only told them not to follow her and suggests everyone splits up.

The Doctor tells the Cyberman to tell her for what they are looking. The Doctor asks the Cyberman if whoever made him got bored halfway through. He tells her that he’s complete enough for his purpose yet as he goes to zap her he fails. However, he holds his arm out of the window and uses the lightning to recharge his energy. The Cyberman tells The Doctor that she’s not the guardian and the Cyberium must have found another host. As the Cyberman gets another bolt of energy, he recites some of Shelley’s words.  Yaz, Mary, Ryan and Byron find a room covered in papers and writings on the wall by Shelley. Graham, Claire and Polidori come across the cellar. As they head down they find a shell-shocked Shelley (Lewis Rainer).

Shelley tells Graham that he’s the guardian and that he’s been trying to keep everyone safe. As The Doctor heads to find Shelley she finds William covered by a blanket next to the bodies of Elise and Fletcher.  Polidori comes to tell The Doctor that Graham needs her as they’ve found Shelley. The Doctor wants everyone to hide. Mary hands William over to Byron and tells him to guard him before following The Doctor. The Cyberman enters the cellar, but Shelley uses his mind to move the Cyberman elsewhere. The Doctor realizes that Shelley has been changing the house. She touches his head to find out what happened. It seems that Shelley saw a glimmer in the lake like quicksilver and he picked it up. Unfortunately, it coursed through his veins. When he came back no one could see him. It was he who threw the vase across the hall. Shelley then tried to transcribe all the symbols now in his head, hence the writing on the walls and room full of papers. Shelley can see the future of the whole Cyber race and all their data and strategy. The Doctor says someone must have sent the Cyberium through time to protect if from the lone Cyberman. The Doctor wants Shelley to stop fighting. The fam remind her of Captain Jack’s warning. Ryan says that Shelley’s life is only one compared to billions, but The Doctor tells him that Shelley’s words have influenced thousands for centuries. If Shelley dies now, history won’t be the same and Ryan might never be born.  The Doctor reminds the fam that their team structure isn’t always flat – it’s mountainous with her at the summit She is alone, left to choose. The Cyberman says that the Cyberium must execute the host to be extracted. As the Cyberman threatens to kill Shelley, Mary stops it. As she looks the half man-half metal monster (*cough* Frankenstein) in the eyes, she tells him that he must have feelings since he spared her son. Just when it looks like Mary is getting somewhere, the Cyberman says he only saved William because he wasn’t worth it. With no other choice, The Doctor enters Shelley’s mind to trick it and show him his own death. It is then that the Cyberium is released. The Doctor takes the Cyberium in, but the Cyberman has transmitted to his ship. Realizing that the Cybermen are inevitable, she goes against Jack’s warning and gives Ashad what it wants. As she does so, he disappears and the sun shines.

The Doctor explains that she’s put the future in grave danger, but it’s all part of her plan. Step one was saving Shelley and step two is to fix the mess she created in step one. She’ll go to the future and find him to stop him rebuilding the cyber-army. She asks Shelley to give Yaz his symbols. As Polidori, Claire and Byron discuss the evening Byron suggests that Claire retire with him for a lie down, but she declines seeing as he kept pursing Mrs Doctor in front of her and then used her as a human shield. This amuses Polidori. Graham asks The Doctor if all the weirdness was due to the Cyberium then how come he saw the creepy lady and kid. He’s left really confused at the fact no one else saw them.

Byron reads from his poem “Darkness” and as he recites “She was the Universe” we see The Doctor ready to face the Cybermen.