- ‘The Unquiet Dead’
Writer: Mark Gatiss
“The big, bad wolf!”
‘The Unquiet Dead’, Mark Gatiss’ first effort in writing for Doctor Who, contains a compelling story, no doubt. However, it also contains something that Doctor Who often does, particularly in the Davies era, that being the introduction of a historical figure (in this episode, Charles Dickens) in order to provide some scale and weight to the events unfolding. This is the revived series first attempt at this and is something that I have intensely mixed feelings on, but we’ll get to that later.
The premise of ‘The Unquiet Dead’ is the quintessential zombie story, infused with the classic narrative elements of Doctor Who: The dead are rising from their coffins and killing the living. The only hope for rescue lies in a young woman with psychic abilities, and the Doctor, of course.
As the grandfather of modern ghost stories, Charles Dickens makes an appearance in this episode, accompanying the Doctor and Rose in their adventure, and coming to their rescue during its climax.
What really captures you from the off about this episode in the sheer scale and immersion of this episode. Fantastical alien worlds and futuristic technology are the cornerstones of Doctor Who, but one could argue that Davies love affair with the historical side of time travel serves as one of his greatest strengths. It’s all well and good seeing off-world wonders, but an era like the Victorian one, a year like 1869, far from any living memory, would be just as alien to the audience as Gallifrey itself. The streets are bustling with life and movement, the soundscape is bursting with the sounds of horses and carriages, and not a single element breaks this immersion. We really are in 1869.
Charles Dickens’ presence in this story is one of my favourite uses of a historical figure in Doctor Who, mostly because Gatiss’ shows a level of restraint. There’s a fantastic moment where Dickens is leaning against a door, barring it shut, and the Gelth, the mysterious ghostly force bringing the dead back to life, light up the door-knocker, and swarm into the room. It’s a beautifully subtle reference to A Christmas Carol, mirroring the scene where Scrooge sees his deceased business partners face on his own front door, and does what so many other episodes in this vein fail to do: Treat historical figures with intellectual respect and authority. The nod to an iconic moment in literature serves as an intertextual reference to the ghost story that this episode takes inspiration from, paying homage in a respectful manner, but doesn’t become mired in self-congratulation or reference galore. It’s subtle, effective, doesn’t overstay its welcome, and moves along. In my mind, the perfect complement to Dickens work and legacy, which often cannot be said for other episodes in the revived series. For more on this, see my reviews for ‘The Shakespeare Code’ and ‘The Unicorn and the Wasp’ in particular.
Quite infamously, many people believe that this episode could be interpreted as an allegory for immigration, albeit from a highly xenophobic perspective. The parallels are quite apparent, honestly. A strange people beg for help under the guise that their world is uninhabitable until their real intentions are revealed once they have infected the world they wished to travel to, placing the natives in serious danger. However, I think this allegory ignores a large element of the Doctor’s character, which is his never-ending compassion. If the Gelth ask for help, how could the Doctor ever say no? A man scarred by his devastating role in the worst conflict in all the universe, saying no to a vulnerable people who profess to need his help. What kind of doctor says no?
In my eyes, this goes to show the lengths of the Doctor’s compassion and bravery; the Gelth could betray him, and they do, but who is he to pre-suppose that they will? This experience of betrayal, much like all the others before it, cannot shake the Doctor’s unfathomable empathy. This, to me, is the driving force behind ‘The Unquiet Dead’, and how even in the face of permanent death as a consequence for empathy, the Doctor can never fall victim to prejudice or prejudgment. For a man who strives to better the universe in any way he can, this is the best possible attitude to have.
7/10
Joe Porter 