In a dolls house inside a bedroom cupboard, peg dolls are menacing the unfortunate people who end up there. The bedroom cupboard belongs to a Tenza boy called George, an empathic alien that creates perception filters and has the ability to literally lock away his fears in the wardrobe. The Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory came to George’s aid but they ended up in the dolls house too, in one of the creepiest episodes in Doctor Who‘s history.

Night Terrors

★★☆☆☆

TX: 03/09/2011

Written by Mark Gatiss      Directed by Richard Clark

A little boy called George is having nightmares and he wants to be saved from the monsters in his bedroom cupboard. The Eleventh Doctor receives a psychic message from George on his psychic paper asking for help, so the TARDIS lands at the council estate where George lives. Amy, Rory and the Doctor begin asking around the flats to find George. Amy and Rory get trapped in an elevator which transports them to a dolls house where they are menaced by creepy peg dolls. The elevator falling leads to Amy and Rory’s disappearance, which is reminiscent of what happens in Paradise Towers, The Beast Below and The Zygon Invasion. The Doctor meets Alex and finds his son George, who is scared of everything! Alex blames the television, but the Doctor realises that George’s nightmares are real… and so are his monsters. The Doctor decides that they need to open the cupboard in George’s bedroom. However, Alex remembers that his wife Claire is sterile and therefore George’s existence is impossible. The Doctor realises that George is a Tenza child, an empathic alien who took on the form of Alex and Claire’s desired child through a perception filter, and has the ability to literally lock away his fears in the wardrobe. The Doctor and Alex are sucked into the wardrobe by the scared George. In the dolls house, the Doctor and Alex are also menaced by scary peg dolls, and find that Amy has been turned into one! The Doctor, Alex and Rory are surrounded by peg dolls and the Doctor begs George to open the cupboard. George does this and the peg dolls stop. Alex is reunited with his son George that he loves. The Doctor, Amy and Rory leave George to live a happy, normal life with Alex and Claire, free of nightmares!