Dr Who: Silence in the Library

I appreciate I have been rather silent of late... but it's been half term, so I have a bit of catching up to do.

I know I don't always blog Dr Who episodes, but... ooh, I had to blog this one.

For a start it's by Stephen Moffat who writes all my favourite episodes, but also, it was properly scary this time.

I can remember the very very first thing that ever scared me on television. I was about five years old, so old enough to vaguely understand that not everything I saw on the screen was real, but young enough to be convinced if something was realistic enough that it must be true. Predictably, it was a Dr Who episode which did for me. Can't remember the series, but I think it was Jon Pertwee days. Anyway. The daleks had invaded Earth, like they do. And part of the episode featured a news flash and pictures of the daleks going across Westminster Bridge. It was the news flash that did for me, adding an authenticity to the whole thing which made me miss out on the whole wobbly sets, it's really only the same two actors going round and round in a metal dustbin reality of it all. I was truly truly terrified, and I can remember taking some convincing that the daleks weren't about to pop up in my bedroom...

There is something very satisfying about being scared in the comfort of your own home (or from behind the sofa), so from that point of view, this week's episode was great. I always like my horror films to leave a lot to the imagination (Angel Heart remains the scariest film I have ever seen, mainly because you don't actually SEE anything, but imagine so much) - and The Silence in the Library, worked brilliantly. What was scary here was not just the dark - not just every shadow - any shadow where the eebie jeebie parasitic things live. So you never quite know what to trust, or where the next pirhana like attack is coming from.

But not only was it really creepy (if owing a little too much to the equally brilliant Blink), there was so much going on in this episode, it nearly made my head explode. Who is the little girl with a library in her head? Is the psychiatrist treating her benign or evil? Who is Dr River Song, and how does the Doctor know her? I'm not even convinced she's totally on his side. Is Donna dead? Can she escape from being a head on a stick? Is Proper Dave going to kill them all with his spooky-dark-swarm-inside-his-helmet-which-has-eaten-his-flesh-off-leaving-only-a-skeleton -with-zombielike-strength?

For the first time in a long time on Dr Who I really haven't got a clue how it's going to end. Which given all the injokes about spoilers (dontcha hate them? I know I do. I really regretted finding out online last year that Mr Saxon was in fact the Master.) It's so much more fun when you don't know what's going to happen next. I enjoyed this episode so much I watched it twice, and I had no more clue at the end then I did at the beginning, which was really great.

So roll on next week say I... Even if I do have to watch from behind the sofa.