I feel like it'd be remiss to not also mention Missy as a key element of the era as well. She's such a consistent presence in the era in a way the other modern Masters aren't really and not only plays well into the character and theme stuff in the era but you end up with probably the most fully utilized version of the master we've had since Delgado (tho Jacobi was pretty effective in his brief stint and I hear his Big Finish work is quite good). Also, think she helped more people to be open to the idea of a female Doctor and it's unfortunate that 13 didn't feel nearly as complete or confidently-written by comparison. I've gotten to the point where I can say that 11 is my favourite Doctor (along with 2, 4 and 7) but 12 is still quite neat and his era generally does feel more complete and consistent even if it's not as ambitious and the lows for individual episodes are lower. Probably helps it was a bit more character focused. I think with Moffat it makes sense his RTD1 work was his most consistent just by virtue of the fact he only needed to focus on one story a year. We definitely see with Russell that when you are writing a lot more episodes the quality is gonna vary a lot. Moff's S6-7 stuff isn't his peak but I'd say it doesn't reach some of the lowest lows that the other two showrunners have, at least as far as individual episode quality goes.
I think another reason Listen works is the use of meta-narrative. The 'monster' of the episode is the concept of fear itself. 'The only thing we have to fear..." There's something baser about those kind of narrative devices, something that appeals to a quintessential human experience way back in our lizard brain. Tough to avoid making it sound cheesy, but it honestly doesn't matter most of the time. ☺
And much like many other stories, the “monster” isn’t a monster at all. The Doctor was *wrong* to be so afraid of his own fear, because when “the only thing you have to fear is fear itself,” then naturally your fear is what rules you.
