The Twelfth Doctor, Clara Oswald and a young Danny Pink encountered a creature that had evolved to hide in plain sight. The Doctor and Clara first saw the creature in the orphanage where Danny grew up. But later, the Doctor took Clara to the end of the universe with Danny’s descendant Orson Pink. On Orson’s ship, the Listen creature knocked on the door and the Doctor opened it to finally see the face of fear…

Listen

★★★★★

TX: 13/09/2014

Written by Steven Moffat     Directed by Douglas Mackinnon

The Twelfth Doctor is alone in the TARDIS and he ponders the idea of a creature that can hide perfectly. The Doctor hypothesises that such a creature would be impossible to find because it is so good at hiding. Clara Oswald is on a date with Danny Pink when things go awry. Don’t worry Clara, plenty more fish in the sea! Women should be allowed to be as slaggy and as sexually liberated as they want without fear of judgment! Clara leaves and goes back to her flat where the TARDIS is waiting. The Doctor takes Clara in the TARDIS back to an orphanage in 1996 where the young Danny Pink (aka Rupert) grew up. Clara and Rupert hide under his bed when an unknown creature enters the room and sits on the bed. The creature hides under Rupert’s blanket, terrifying Rupert and Clara. The Doctor arrives and tells them both to not be scared and to turn their back on the creature on the bed. Whilst their backs are turned, the creature leaves. Rupert gives Clara a plastic soldier figure, one day Danny Pink will be a soldier. Clara returns to her date with Danny but things go wrong again. A man in a Sanctuary Base 6 spacesuit (The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit, The Waters of Mars, Hide, Kill the Moon, The Power of the Doctor) shows up at the restaurant and beckons Clara back to the TARDIS. In the TARDIS, the Twelfth Doctor reveals that the astronaut is a descendant of Danny Pink from the future. The Doctor says that he found space pioneer Orson Pink stranded on a planet at the end of the universe (Utopia). The Doctor and Clara hear a mysterious knocking from outside (Midnight). The Doctor tells Clara to join Orson in the TARDIS whilst he stays to confront whatever the creature is from outside. Clara watches on the TARDIS scanner as the door opens. Before the Doctor can properly see what the creature is, the gravity fails and he clings on for dear life. Orson rescues the Doctor and Clara activates the TARDIS. The TARDIS lands on Gallifrey in the distant past and Clara finds the Doctor as a child lying in bed. Clara hides under the bed and accidentally grabs the Doctor’s ankle. Clara tells the Doctor to go back to sleep and she gives him a speech about how fear makes companions of us all (An Unearthly Child). Never be cruel, never be cowardly! Never say anything cruel, mean, hurtful, rude or insulting. Capaldi’s Doctor brought major Classic Who vibes because he was the oldest numbered Doctor and most of the classic Doctors were played by middle aged men too.