Doctor Who: The Well: Review

The most secretive episode of the second run of Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor arrives - and with it, plenty of fan expectation.

When the Doctor and Belinda examine an abandoned facility on an alien world, they find themselves stuck and facing terror like they'd never have expected.

To say more about The Well is to spoil the speculation that proved to be correct online. But what is clear about The Well is how cleverly insidious and genuinely upsetting it is in parts after the Doctor and Belinda find themselves stuck on planet wiped out by radiation.

Building a sense of tension throughout, the story seeks to expand on the previous tale and while there's always an argument that explaining away the unexplainable robs it of the mystery, somehow this just manages to stay on the right side of the ledger. It's not as successful as the first admittedly, but thanks to the central performances of Rose Ayling-Ellis as the only survivor found on the planet, and Slow Horses' star Christopher Chung as a belligerent soldier, the story coalesces despite a rush of revelations around the halfway mark.

With further clues about the fate of the Planet Earth as Belinda tries to get home, and an ending that teases more for the future, The Well is a base under siege story that deals in terror and largely achieves it.