Why Is This Doctor Who's Most Hated Horror Story? 

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I really wish Doctor Who would do more out there concepts like this again, changing up the filmmaking style was such a breath of fresh air. Granted people keep asking for a musical episode, which I’m not against but would prefer something more akin to this again.

I feel like we need to give some credit to the doctor who audiobook "Dead Air" starring David Tennant. I remember listening to it as a kid and the premise and twist at the end was extremely similar. It was set on one of those old pirate radio stations and involved infected radiowaves rather than a sleep virus, but the audiobook was presented as a recently discovered set of recordings. At the end of that it was revealed to be purposely compiled by the villain to be stumbled upon one day and shared across the world to spread the radio virus. The very last few minutes, you're listening to the doctor about to defeat the guy, and his plan is revealed. The doctor basically says that'll only work if the listener finishes the whole recording and says very pointedly that at this point they should stop listening. I didn't. The audio cuts off rather suddenly and I had nightmares for weeks 😂 If Mark never listened to that book, then it's one hell of a coincidence if you ask me.

An overlooked part of this episode is how good 12 & Clara play off each other, well in my opinion. Good for the series arc leading into Face the Raven

I totally agree with you that Sleep No More did a great job of doing something clever and unique with the found footage format and that explains the lack of a real ending.... but ultimately, there WAS a lack of a real ending and that definitely holds it back in my eyes, intentional or not

imo sleep no more lacked rewatchability. it defo did suffer from using found footage at the height of the found footage popularity, even though the style is the best for the episode, but that honestly carries a lot of the narrative. I agree that the worldbuilding is good, but even when I came back to the episode five years after I'd last seen it I still remembered what came next and for this episode that's a bad thing. it felt very predictable. it certainly suffered from showing the monsters too, as I think for this style of narrative it is much better the less you see. but it's still not that terrible an episode, tbh.

Giving this the same grade as the Eleventh Hour is actually crazy lol. Love the video though!

13:30 'even the doctor sleeps, only when you're not looking' or literally the first special?

While I wasn't particularly big on this episode, I never really understood the hatred for it. It was absolutely an oddball of an episode, and I can see mistaking the presentation as being a gimmick, but I never would've thought of it as worse than a "meh" episode

I watched this video right before rewatching Sleep No More, and somehow I think I just watched a fantastic episode???? like thinking about this meta commentary the whole time greatly enhances the experience

I loved this story. Had no idea it wasn’t popular.

I was late to watching this episode, but was honestly surprised at how disliked it was. I didn’t even know that it was widely disliked until I saw your Defending the Despised on it. I wouldn’t put it in the upper echelons on Dr Who episodes, but it was solidly average at worst, above average at best for me!

Quite liked this one at the time. Between liking this and hating Magicians Apprentice i felt a bit out of step with the rest of the fandom that year. I guess at least we could all agree on Heaven Sent

yay glad to see u see the greatness within! good video - there's not enough support for this episode... i used to hate it, but it has grown on me muchly over time

As soon as you said the Inside No. 9 thing I audibly gasped. Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap. clap, clap. Clap.

There are no sleep monsters. There's no found footage. He explains this at the end. It's an unreliable narrator story designed to carry a signal, and the signal is the monster. The 'found footage' is a clue. Why did you think this episode doesn't have an omniscient camera?

I haven't watched this episode since it aired, and that's not because I disliked it. In the days following this episode, I started to get a growth on my eyelid and it was freaky how it lined up with the episode. The lump turned out to be a viral wart and I got it removed about a year and a half later, but it scared me from watching this episode for a while. I'm no longer freaked out by the incident, so maybe I'll watch it again soon.

Here’s a rap lyric that’s relevant to this episode: ‘I don’t sleep because sleep is the cousin of death’

I like the form but the monster was stupid. Not as bad as Kill the Moon though.

how do we know it isn't already implemented

I don't understand why some people dislike this episode so much. I thought it was great.

It's a decent episode and I never understood the hate. Maybe as a horror fan I enjoyed the exploration of found footage genre. Mark gaitiss is a mid level who writer but I rarely dislike them.

I actually really like this episode.

2 more episodes

I love this episode

I watched this episode tonight about an hour before watching both your vids on the matter and a few things I remember stood out to me. 1. “You’ve got something on you right there” I remember saying out loud that that was unearned and inadequately set up. Just an absolutely dogshit ending. 2. It jumped out at me the way it had an almost Chibnailian black and white morality to it. Doctor says “no, you may not adjust the sleeping experience” and everyone’s just like “oh, I guess that’s right and true” and nobody asks for him to explain what the fuck he’s talking about. As the viewer, I know this is because capitalism would gobble up that extra time but that doesn’t mean the Doctor’s half-baked thought cut the mustard. 3. The villains both in concept and in execution were absolute dogshit. Sleep dust can grow into a monster because you spend LESS time with your eyes closed to accumulate it? How high were you when you wrote this, Mark? Did you do a second draft? 4. The whole “oh, what a brilliant reveal that there were no cameras” is completely undercut by the half a dozen times we cut to an unoccupied corridor with a giant trunk being transported through it with nobody to observe it. If you’re gonna set up this conceit, you need to stick to it and not just suddenly introduce that there were cameras whenever it’s convenient but not acknowledge the exception. Absolutely dogshit premise. F tier episode. Gattis was criminally overemployed when he got to write for the show again. Absolutely infuriating that I will literally never get a chance to write for this show but talentless hacks like Gattis and Chibs get to shit all over this franchise just because they couldn’t be bothered putting the work in or didn’t have the heart to throw out a script with an absolute dogshit premise. Anyway, thanks for reading. Just needed to get that off my chest and it was either this comment in pure rant form or I made my own video… and I lack editing software.

Crunch isn't just a problem at Japanese devs, it's depressingly endemic in the games industry

“Fans”: Doctor Who is too formulaic. Doctor Who: Does the highly experimental Sleep No More. “Fans”: Go back to how it used to be.

Sleep no more is criminally underrated.Maybe some viewers still think it's a children show and were not expected too much horror .

Sleep no more was great I usually can't stand found footage but this was tied into the narrative really well and gave it much more personal paranoia. The ending was brilliant.

I just find it interesting that the idea that "the monster's a bit silly, but that's fine because it's just there for the kids who don't get the deeper meanings that the episode is going for", is brought up for this episode, but not for The Girl Who Died/Woman Who Lived, where it applies equally well

Yeah, this episode was honestly really fun. My favorite part was honestly when the Doctor and Clara made their entrance, since we were bound to the soldiers’ perspective at that point. Imagine: you’re investigating a mysteriously abandoned space station, when you hear some people walking through a corridor, chatting about the place as if it is a Space Restaurant or something.

I think most of the hate comes from the monster design and maybe it is also hard to suspend disbelief for such a thing as sleep dust coming alive. That sort of pulled me out of the immersion personally. Otherwise I liked the story as much as you.

Sleep No More deserves way more respect than it gets.

It was rubbish because it wasn't either a standard story or proper "found footage" it didn't commit to either and fell between two stools, so it failed on both counts. They cheated straight off the bat by everyone having a fully functional camera that could be edited on the fly... Found footage works when it doesn't need to be edited within the bounds of the story. This is edited to merry heaven. The genuinely good Found Footage (Blair Witch, Cloverfield, even the first Paranormal Activity,) is expertly edited so that you don't realise its been edited. Really? It's THAT immersive and well shot? (At that part I started to feel like I was watching one of those "Why everyone else is wrong and The Phantom Menace is actually a work of genius" videos.) This was the episode I most looked forward to that year (apart from the one where I knew Clara would be leaving), as I was eager to see how they would handle the complexities of shooting and editing found footage for a 42-45 minute DW. They just... didn't. It was shot like any other episode, multiple camera set ups, establishing shots, wide shots, close ups, mid shots, tracking shots, action edits... just framed from CCTV and character POVs. If they'd had the balls to actually give the actors cameras, then that would have been something. You get the first clue that it's not going to be genuine FF before the titles play, when Reece Sheersmith announces that he's already edited it for the viewer. And the bloody voice over narration is the nail in the coffin that it isn;t found footage and is a collated, edited, story. It was a Bait and Switch to build up a very mediocre episode. It's no more "Found Footage" than if you get on the bus and find a boxed DVD of Peppa Pig Series 1, on the seat next to you.

This episode was another case of me enjoying Gatiss episodes more than most it seems. I wasn't in the fandom on first watch and it's been surprising at times what episodes weren't generally well received.

I always thought this episode was really good! I felt genuinely disturbed watching it, and found it a cool concept

I kinda like this episode, with the design of the monsters and the genral vibe, it aslo kinda tell the story in the perspective of the people who meet the doctor first time. I found it alright and was surprise that people didnt like it so i kinda wanted to see how it goes.

I love the inclusion of the mr sandman meme variant at 1:08

Honestly even as someone who likes when Doctor Who is experimental and enjoy despised episodes like Love and Monsters; I remember hating this episode on broadcast but I haven’t really watched it again since. Maybe my opinion will have softened.

It certainly was innovative. And disappointing. The monsters were lousy. But it is clearly the ending that made it infamous. You're correct that it weaponizes itself against the viewers. In fact, it goes further and attempts to weaponize viewers against themselves. People hate this episode because it tells them to hate it. For all the highlights of creativity on display, the story foolishly cannibalized itself by suggesting that the audience become evil by enjoying it.

Given the guest star it’s kind of obvious, but it really feels like this one could have been an Inside No 9 episode.

I have to be honest, I love your work and respect your opinions on most of the show but this was an intresting concept that fell flat in excecution and is not a good episode. Eye dust zombies are such a stupid concept for this. The "reveal" of there not being any cameras is telegraphed and, in my opinion, no where near as clever as it thinks it is. The concept of a company stealing sleep for more work is amazingly interesting, but the best they could come up with is eye crud zombies? After watching though your series reviews I feel like your bias for the 12th Doctor is incredible evident here and really sways your grading.

I don't know why it's so hated because I find it really good and creepy. Music is brilliant as well. I never watched any found footage films either so that probably helped

I would personally argue this isnt even the worst horror episode. I think "Listen" is waaaay worse. That episode sucks

I didnt know that this is the first appearence of an openly trans actor in doctor who but im happy that they did it. It still feels kinda wrong putting them into the role of a mindless puppylike robot thats just there to take punches. Doesnt sit right with me.

I don't think I've ever agreed with someone's opinion as much as I have with yours here, every single point I found myself agreeing with. If not for the lake duo and heaven sent, Sleep No More would be my favourite episode in S9.

What I hated about this episode is that nothing was resolved and it was essentially a waste of time. Same problem with the Forest episode in series 8. There was no purpose to the story.

This episode had great potential, through the financial commentary to human rights , the unique camera angles and that ending was spectacular. But something about it was incredibly forgettable though I can’t put my finger finger on it.

My problem with the episode is just that it's kinda boring

Yet another banger of an episode

I could see what they were going for but it didn’t quite land for me, and it's really the only miss of this series. One thing that I did like was the Doctor lampshading the fact that it makes no sense for them to feel the gravity variations aboard the ship: kind of paying out on one of the problems with Kill The Moon.

Things is, I don’t like this episode, but purely on a story level. I do quite like it playing with the formula and presentation in found footage. It should work so well for Doctor Who too. Still, it gets a little bit of respect for that at least.

I really like this story and it was interesting! I remember when I first saw this story on TV, I was watching it in my bedroom at my mom's house at night and let's just say never watch this story alone at night. I will admit I do like the found footage format and I think that worked very well and it makes you feel like that you are on an adventure with The Doctor. I will admit when I say don't watch this story alone at night because the ending of the story just scared me and when I saw the ending, I was like What the Heck! That was scary.

I somewhat liked this episode, it was unique, its one of the few times the Doctor loses, it was pretty creepy but the one thing i hate was the actual monster. The MONSTER IS CRUSTY EYE GUNK!!!! I'm sorry that is disgusting and even for Doctor who, that had alien made from sweets and bubble wrap this was pretty stupid.

This is actually my mom's fave episode of Doctor Who, why is it hated wth

I've flipped on this episode. When I first watched it, this was the only episode I ever thought was so bland and uninteresting that I stopped watching midway through - even the worst episodes usually had something that drove me to at least see how it ended. But on my recent re-watch of all of New Who, I came to the conclusion that yes, it is a really bad episode, everything is hokey and stupid and ridiculous, but it's having so much fun with it that it doesn't matter. I appreciate it in the same way I appreciate bad 80s Who like Timelash or the Horns of Nimon. And for Moffat-era Who, where the lows can get so amazingly low, verging on offensive at times, I can't bring myself to hate this. It's a little shining light of silliness in the middle of one of my least favourite periods of the show (all of Clara's tenure) that reminded me that bad New Who can still be enjoyable instead of dull or infuriating.

Just a very forgettable episode

I watched this for the second time recently and was a bit puzzled. So we find out it’s all fake and part of a show put on by Professor Rasmussen, but what, why and who for? And what, the Doctor works it out and just leaves 🤷‍♀️ it was a bit of a wishy-washy ending. Was it something to do with the Time Lords? As they had a hand in what Ashildr was doing.

I was never against the idea of horror in DW but this episode is just rubbish for me. xD It ends on a cliffhanger like every episode this season and no second episode to resolve. And sorry but the concept of "sleep dust" ist just... I dunno. DW was always silly but this does not click with me in every aspect. I wholeheartedly despise that episode (although not as much as every episode from season 11 to 13) and generally skip it on rewatches.

Don’t know how people could hate this, one of my favorite episodes in the show.

I happen to like this episode! It worked stylistically, and made Mr. Sandman a warning bell. The importance of sleep is emphasized, although the sleep in your eye part was cheesy.

Strangely enough, this is the only Dr Who episode from this season I remember, and it's because of the goofy sandmen but especially the "We don't have helmet cams" twist.

In 2024, this is hated for monsters made of sleep dust, yet Space Babies is totally acceptable.

While I disagree with the B ranking, I do think that the style change was an interesting challenge for Doctor Who to take up. I think that it can be a really interesting tool for sci fi, especially used in the infection way that the episode did. Personally, I think that season 1 of the Strange Case of the Starship Iris did a much better job of utilizing this tool in a really similar way. Maybe it's because it doesn't have the goofy eye gunk monsters in the end? Either way, highly recommend a listen to that podcast. Not only is it just plain good, it also is another example of how found footage can be a powerful tool in sci fi

Fuck, never thaught of this episode as Incide no.9 Unusual format, twist at the end, now we just need to replace intro and new episode is ready

It's just bad but also good but also bad. Idk what it is. It has some weird feeling to it thay I can't put my finger on.

I remember getting excited at the time of the release of Sleep No More as I thought I was going to see the first televised appearance of the Daleks rivals from the Big Finish audios the Eminence.

I love how at the end of the episode, the villain guy just points at the viewer and says "you got something in your eye" and starts laughing, he's so giddy about what he said, and that's so funny to me.

define bland

this is the only episode that really scared me

I dropped off around the start of the 12th doctor's run, this is such a great story using the format of dr who in a great way I'm definitely gonna catch up with the series after this!

"Sleep No More" Traumatised me...

Ive never minded this episode.. Its easy watching, and you get to see more Clara vs the doctor fun.

Nah this episode sucked.

Not gonna lie... that jumpscare with the Sandmen was one of the scariest Who moments for me 😬

I honestly found this episode very watchable. In fact as someone who quite heavily disliked series 9, it's actually one of the more enjoyable episodes of the series for me. I'd probably take it over any episode of Doctor Who that has been released after "Heaven Sent", which was the last episode that I really loved.

Hate it more than Love and Monsters, but better than Orphan 55!

Darth Vader hated this episode.

I think it's great, when you were talking about the most derided Doctor Who episode I thought it was the one with the creatures hiding under the bed with the not Danny Pink spaceman. Bleh.

This episode made my physically ill. I wasn’t able to watch it. I usually enjoy Doctor Who taking on out there concepts, but not when it makes me motion sick.

The cool thing is that it's likely that the Doctor and Clara weren't even there, and none of it actually happened, which makes me happy because the Doctor always wins!

I absolutely love that you throw in wrestling references! Sandman made me pop.

ooo i love this cinematographic breakdown, i definitely have to rewatch it now!!!

only thing i didnt like of this episode was the goosebumps ending.

I actually and truthfully fell asleep watching it.

13:09 you could say it was " an eye-opening moment"

If directed, curated and edited, It's not "found footage". The movie was finished when Rasmussen died. It was conceived and completed with intent to fully document, thus it is actually, LOST MEDIA. Bad story, terrible monsters, shallow characters, generic motivations, lazy direction, unimaginative conclusion... Not scary! So, prime Moffat. A total waste of Reece Shearsmith

Mr. Sandman, man me a sand.

I love this episode.

I feel like people only hate this episode because it's found footage. For me it is one of the best of Series 9. Brilliantly atmospheric and chilling.

I actually really like this episode

I had no idea this was a largely disliked episode and it really surprised me that it was. Its been 4 or so years since I last watched Doctor Who (stopped after series 10) but this was one of the most memorable episodes of series 9 for me even after so long.

2:02 Usually I just go "Oh, okay..." and either skip to the next episode or just go watch something else.

Ugh, this episode. But I won't fault the show experimenting.

I don’t know why people hate this episode. I always it was a “chill before the ramp up” episode. I remember first watching this and being like hey that’s a cool episode I just watched. This is also why I like boom town and love and monsters because they happen towards the end of the series and allow you to just chill with the characters(or just chill in general) before the show rips them away.

Mark Gatiss: *Tries a first person narrative story didn't succeed* A different Mark does it, by the name of Mark Fischbach aka Markiplier: *Does it better* Seriously if you want to see a great first person narrative look for anything Markiplier has done you will see it done so much better!!!