In a BBC interview, Rose Ayling-Ellis warns there is no hiding from the deep and mysterious threat of The Well.

“Run… but you can’t hide,” is how she describes the episode.

“She’s a determined mother, desperate to find her daughter,” Ayling-Ellis says of her character, Aliss Fenly in The Well. Emotional, scared, holding it together – but barely. She’s raw and real.”

Aliss is a young mother in a perilous situation. She’s desperate to reunite with her two-year-old daughter. The Doctor is able to communicate in sign language with Aliss, who is deaf. The Troopers communicate with Aliss via holographic subtitles. The Troopers don’t understand sign language and don’t always use their holographic translators, making a tense situation worse with a breakdown in communication and trust.

It wasn’t a glamorous role for Ayling-Ells. She told Scott Mills on BBC Radio 2, “I got painted-on eyebags. I look like a mess. I’ve got greasy hair. Like, I never felt so gross in my whole life, acting for the whole month!”

Co-writer Sharma Angel-Walfall relayed what fans can expect from The Well.

“They can expect to be wowed. There’s an element of fear in there, it’s got that kind of scary, on the edge of your seat kind of vibe. It’s got a lot of heart and warmth and beautiful characters.”

Stranded far in the future, on the tough, brutal, inhospitable Planet 6-7-6-7, the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Belinda (Varada Sethu) team up with a platoon of troopers who have been sent to investigate Colony Base 15 — a mining operation that they’ve lost contact with.

Arriving at the installation they soon discover the colony has only one survivor — Aliss. Something is very wrong — and that something soon reveals itself to be at the heart of the Doctor’s worst nightmares. The TARDIS duo must face absolute terror to discover the truth.

Written by Russell T Davies and Sharma Angel-Walfall and directed by Amanda Brotchie, the 47-minute The Well transmits on Saturday 26 April at 8am on BBC iPlayer and 7:20pm on BBC One in the UK. Those outside of the UK can stream The Well on Disney+ where available simultaneously starting at 3am ET/12am PT. The remaining five episodes of Doctor Who Season Two will transmit on subsequent Saturdays.

Directly after the BBC One broadcast, Steffan Powell goes behind the scenes of The Well in Doctor Who: Unleashed on BBC Three and on the official YouTube channel where available at 8:05pm.