Doctor Who: The Well ★★★★★

“There’s something behind me all the time” – Aliss

Storyline
Some 500,000 years in the future on the planet 67-67, all contact has been lost with the mining colony of Base 15. The Doctor and Belinda assist the band of troopers investigating the scene. The colonists are found dead, either by gunfire or with their bones shattered – all bar one survivor, Aliss. She is the host of a vile, unseen force that the Doctor encountered long ago when 67-67 was called Midnight. Can Aliss be freed? And why has no one heard of Earth or the human race?

First UK broadcast
Saturday 26 April 2025

Cast
The Doctor – Ncuti Gatwa
Belinda Chandra – Varada Sethu
Aliss Fenly – Rose Ayling-Ellis
Shaya Costallion – Caoilfhionn Dunne
Cassio Palin-Paleen – Christopher Chung
Mo Gilliben – Bethany Antonia
Hanno Yeft – Annabel Brook
Kai Sabba – Gaz Choudhry
Callo Rence – Luke Rhodri
Albie Bethick – Gary Pillai
Sal Van Hyten – Frankie Lipman
Albie Bethick – Gary Pillai
Ulric Dazen – Jermaine Dominique
Val Vivo – Amy Tyger
Mrs Flood – Anita Dobson
It Has No Name – Paul Kasey

Crew
Writers – Russell T Davies, Sharma Angel-Walfall
Director – Amanda Brotchie
Music – Murray Gold
Producer – Chris May
Series producer – Vicky Delow
Executive producers – Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner, Jane Tranter, Joel Collins, Phil Collinson

RT review by Patrick Mulkern

Sometimes when Doctor Who echoes itself, it sings. The plunging mineshaft looks like the massive rim into an abyss in The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit (2006), and the spacesuited troopers being picked off by an unseen menace recalls Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead (2008) or, going even further back, Earthshock (1982). Meanwhile, The Well itself is a form of sequel to another highly popular 2008 episode, Midnight – and arguably superior.

This is core Doctor Who when everything comes together: a rattling script, from the moment the Doctor and Belinda are jettisoned into space (Ncuti Gatwa and Varada Sethu have fast become an effective and empathic pair leading the show); and taut direction that keeps up the unrelenting pace, creating unease and jump scares.

The Well also benefits from grim and grimy design on a cinematic scale, an unusually creepy score from Murray Gold, and quick characterisation matched by sharp casting that helps bring short-lived people to life – a forte of Russell T Davies, collaborating here with Sharma Angel-Walfall.

Whether you saw Rose Ayling-Ellis as Frankie in EastEnders between 2020 and 2022, followed her progress to winner of Strictly Come Dancing 2021, or are completely new to her, she delivers an instantly appealing blend of vulnerability and resolve as the sole survivor on planet 67-67. You can’t help but root for her and hope she can free herself of the subliminal horror that lurks behind her at “midnight”.

It's one of those Doctor Who concepts that are really very silly, not to say inexpensive, but also nightmarish and riveting when played with conviction. Ayling-Ellis and everyone else are giving us Aliss in Terrorland.

Read more:

• Episode 1 – The Robot Revolution review
• Episode 2 – Lux

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