Inspirations: Night Terrors

Night Terrors is written by Mark Gatiss, but it follows the Steven Moffat rule of twisting and corrupting some aspect of childhood to create a scary story which adults could relate to.

The series had attempted to do a creepy child story in the recent past - and fallen flat on its face over it, so why Moffat and Gatiss thought they could succeed where Fear Her had failed is anyone's guess.

Gatiss' story is pretty much a retread of the earlier story, with a creepy child capable of transporting others into the fantasy domain of their imagination. For Chloe it's into drawings in order to create friends, and for George it's into a dolls house as a way of disposing of the things he is scared of or feels threatened by.

It is a superior story, as it employs some striking imagery like the living peg dolls, and has a lot more atmosphere - but it's common knowledge that children have little interest in watching characters of their own age, and adults aren't bothered about watching dramas featuring children.

The "atmosphere" of this episode actually led to it being shifted in the running order of the sixth series. It was supposed to fall in the first half of the series - so technically this is the Flesh Avatar Amy we're watching. Thinking there were too many "dark" episodes in the Spring, Night Terrors was swapped - with the equally dark pirate story.

Gatiss wanted to do a ghost story for Doctor Who, having written the supernatural series Crooked House. This multi-generational story told of weird happenings at an old house, and one involved a haunting in an ordinary modern house built on the site after it had been demolished.

His initial idea was a story revolving around different phobias. A psychiatrist conference would be held at a remote country hotel, with experts in phobias attending.

However, this was too close to the story which Toby Whithouse was working on - the one that would become The God Complex.

Giving it further thought, Gatiss hit on the idea that the scariest place in the world is a child's bedroom, and the action evolved to a tower block setting - one rarely featuring in the series.

Knowing of some couples who were struggling to start a family, he thought of an alien "cuckoo in the nest" scenario. These birds lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, in the expectation that they will rear their young for them.

The forenames of the family members came from a family Gatiss knew personally, whilst the nasty landlord - Purcell - was named after a hated PE teacher.

The monster of the piece is the aforementioned peg doll, of which we get different types. Gatiss explained that he had always found dolls creepy - especially the more crudely-made ones which only marginally resembled real people.

One assumes that Gatiss was aware of the 'Arthur's Seat Dolls', found by schoolboys in Edinburgh in 1836. A number of tiny, crudely-made dolls were found, stored in miniature coffins were dug up on the distinctive hill overlooking the city - remnant of a volcanic plug. It has been claimed by some that the dolls represent the victims of the notorious West Port murders - better known as the exploits of resurrectionists Burke and Hare.

Creepy dolls had featured in Doctor Who in the past, in stories such as The Celestial Toymaker and Terror of the Autons. With their painted faces they often resemble that other common phobic source - clowns. The "Unhappy Valley" syndrome applies to both - something which looks almost human, but not quite, is found to be disquieting and eerie.

Even supposedly "nice" dolls - like the ones seen in children's series Play School or Bagpuss - can unsettle.

Fans of Forteana will be aware of the number of cursed objects which just happen to be dolls, with portraits ("false" faces, again) coming a close second.

The title comes from Pavor Nocturnas. This is a common sleep disorder in which sufferers can appear to be awake and engaging in odd behaviours including sleep-walking / eating, as well as suffering from sleep paralysis, night sweats and vivid nightmares. It tends to last only 10 minutes or so, but can be longer for small children. It affects 5 - 10% of preschool children.

The Doctor mentions some favourite fairy tales, related to Doctor Who: The Three Little Pigs becomes "The Three Little Sontarans"; The Emperor's New Clothes becomes "The Dalek Emperor's New Clothes"; and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves becomes "Snow White and the Seven Keys to Doomsday" - from the Terrance Dicks Dalek stage play from 1974.

Next time: The Doctor takes a back seat, so we get two Amy's and two Rory's instead. They're visiting a hospital where the staff can kill - but at least they do it with kindness...