 This two part story is the eleventh, and final, story of Season Thirty Four (New Series 8). It has been written by show runner and head writer Steven Moffat and is the first two-part story since the 2011 Eleventh Doctor story "The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People". It saw the return of the Cybermen and The Master - the Twelfth Doctor's first encounter with both of these foes.
This story guest stars Samuel Anderson, Michelle Gomez, Chris Addison, Jemma Redgrave, Ingrid Oliver and Sanjeev Bhaskar.
Actress Michelle Gomez, who plays the part of Missy, is best known for her roles in the comedy shows Green Wing, The Book Group and Bad Education. Executive Producer Steven Moffat has stated 'I've known Michelle for years, and I'm thrilled to welcome her to Doctor Who. She's everything we need - brilliant, Scottish, and a tiny bit satanic'.
Sanjeev Bhaskar, who plays the part of Colonel Ahmed, is a popular comedian, actor and broadcaster and is best known for his work on the BBC Two sketch show Goodness Gracious Me. Speaking about the role Bhaskar Sanjeev revealed: 'I’m thrilled to have made a small contribution to and now be part of the Doctor Who universe. Another dream box ticked!'. Executive Producer Steven Moffat has stated 'I'm completely thrilled that Sanjeev Bhaskar is coming to the aid of The Doctor. The danger is never deadlier than in a finale episode, and the Time Lord is going to need all the help he can get...
Ingrid Oliver and Jemma Redgrave are both reprising their roles as Osgood and Kate Lethbridge-Stewart that they last played in the 2013 Eleventh Doctor story "The Day of The Doctor".
This story has been directed by Rachel Talalay. This is her first Doctor Who story. Her previous credits include the 1995 movie Tank Girl as well as television shows in both the UK and US, including episodes of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Ally McBeal and Stephen King's Dead Zone.
The read through for both parts of this story took place on the 12th June 2014 with recording beginning on the 16th June. Locations for this story included Cardiff, Pontypool and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
Parts of the recording of "Dark Water" overlapped with the recording of "Death in Heaven". This included the scenes where UNIT surrounds Missy which were shot before the moments showing the Cybermen streaming out of St. Paul’s Cathedral. The main recording for the finale concluded on the 21st July 2014. Even though this is the final story of Season Thirty Four (New Series 8) the preceding story "Forest of the Night" was recorded shortly afterwards.
When filming the climax of episode 1, "Dark Water", where it is revealed that Missy is The Master, Peter Capaldi and Michelle Gomez mouthed their lines to hide the reveal from spectators watching the filming.
While masquerading as The Doctor, to try and convince the Cybermen that she is The Doctor, Clara claims many things from The Doctor's past. These include; Noting that among his family is a non-Gallifreyan daughter created via genetic transfer (see the 2008 Eleventh Doctor story "The Doctor's Daughter"); Clara mentions The Doctor has been married four times. He was married to Elizabeth I, Marilyn Monroe and River Song (see" The Day of The Doctor", "A Christmas Carol" and "The Wedding of River Song"); Clara mentions The Doctor having children and grandchildren, which would presumably include Susan Foreman though she indicates them to be missing, presumed dead. Clara says The Doctor graduated in Glasgow in the wrong century. In the 1967 Second Doctor story "The Moonbase" The Doctor’s companion Polly Wright revealed that he once claimed to have taken his degree in Glasgow in 1888; Clara states that The Doctor is from the constellation of Kasterborous (see "Pyramids of Mars"), was a Prydonian (see "The Deadly Assassin") and that this status was lost when he stole the TARDIS from Gallifrey.
During the scene where Clara claims that she is The Doctor she is heard to say ‘My Prydonian privileges were revoked when I stole a time capsule…’. During his time on Gallifrey, The Doctor belonged to the Prydonian Chapter, one of several chapters on his home planet. According to the villainous Goth, Prydonians were not devious, but ‘simply see a little further ahead than most’.
The reference to a ‘non-Gallifreyan daughter created via genetic transfer ’ is a reference to Jenny from "The Doctor’s Daughter". No indication is given regarding her presumed status.
This is the second time that Clara uses the identity of The Doctor. Previously this occurred in "Flatline" when The Doctor was trapped inside the TARDIS.
Tying in with Clara’s pre-titles claim of ‘I’m The Doctor!’ in the opening credits sequence the credits for Jenna Coleman and Peter Capaldi are switched (with Jenna Coleman's name appearing first) and an image of Clara's eyes replacing those of the Twelfth Doctor. This gives the appearance that Clara is indeed The Doctor, though this is later established as untrue.
This is the first and, to date, only story where the name of the actor playing The Doctor is not the first name to appear in the title sequence. This is also only the second story to feature the face of someone other than The Doctor in the title sequence, the first being the 1996 Eighth Doctor film "Doctor Who: The Movie" which featured the eyes of The Master as he is exterminated by the Daleks.
When The Doctor shows up to meet her two weeks late, Clara says he's improving (see "Into the Dalek").
Kate Lethbridge-Stewart is heard to say that The Doctor is still ‘on the payroll’ (see "Spearhead From Space" and "The Day of The Doctor"). The Doctor seems surprised, possibly because in the 1970 Third Doctor story "Spearhead From Space", when The Brigadier secures The Doctor’s services on behalf of UNIT, he was given a financial incentive but rebuffed the offer: ‘Money? My dear chap, I don’t want money. I’ve got no use for the stuff!’ Instead The Doctor simply wanted facilities to repair his TARDIS… and a car!
The Doctor gives a reason as to why he does not like hugging, something to which he was previously against in his current incarnation (see "Deep Breath" and "Listen").
When Clara is trying to make Danny Pink say something 'only Danny would know', to convince her that he is genuine and not a computer program, she asks him for her birthday. He is replies saying that it is the 23rd November. This date is also Doctor Who’s birthday and the very first story of the show "An Unearthly Child" was broadcast on the 23rd November 1963. Clara's birth date was previously seen on her gravestone in the 2012 Christmas special "The Snowmen".
In Clara's flat, there are numerous post-it notes with references to Clara's travels with The Doctor, including:
In addition there were many post-it notes about Clara telling the truth to Danny ("In the Forest of the Night") and mention of the Hyperscape Body Swap Ticket used to get Clara and the Eleventh Doctor into Doctor Who at the Proms in 2013.
Discounting the sticky note references to the Paternoster Gang, who Clara had also encountered in Season Thirty Three (New Series 7), and one reading 'Impossible Girl' (which was a plot element in "Deep Breath"), the note regarding the Hyperscape Body Swap Ticket is the only element of the Eleventh Doctor era visible on Clara's notes, though the camera does not focus in on all the sticky notes.
There is a black and white photo on Clara's bookshelf of her and her father (see the 2013 Eleventh Doctor story "The Rings of Akhaten").
Clara tries to use a mood patch to put The Doctor to sleep (see the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "Gridlock").
In order to save her life, Clara tells the Cyberman she has important information and if kept, alive, she is a tactical advantage to them. Rose Tyler used a similar argument to save her, Mickey Smith and Rajesh Singh from the Daleks in 2006 Tenth Doctor story "Army of Ghosts/Doomsday". Osgood later tries to use this strategy to save herself from Missy.
This story finally identifies Missy, who was previously mostly seen at the end of previous stories usually interacting with a character who just died and arrived in the Nethersphere, such as the Half-Face Man from "Deep Breath". This is the first time where The Doctor, Clara, and Missy interact directly.
Towards the end of the first episode, Missy reveals her true identity as to be The Master. This climax was removed from all preview copies of the episode and the actors involved recorded their lines in Automated Dialogue Replacement to hide the reveal from spectators.
At a Royal Television Society event, Steven Moffat revealed that a decoy version of Missy's reveal was also shot: 'You know who I am. I’m Missy. Or, if you’d prefer, Random Access Neural Integrator - RANI for short'.
The Master first appeared in 1971 and became a kind of Moriarty to The Doctor’s Sherlock Holmes. Although they are usually (but not always) on opposing sides, the two characters have a grudging respect for each other, possibly best summed up by The Doctor who described The Master as his ‘best enemy’. They were friends on Gallifrey before they both left their home world and perhaps elements of this friendship still linger. In the 20th anniversary special, "The Five Doctors", The Master mused ‘A cosmos without The Doctor scarcely bears thinking about’.
At first Missy responds to The Doctor's question, as to who she is, with ‘I am Missy… Mobile Intelligent Systems Interface’. This is a typical ploy of The Doctor’s old enemy. The Master employed countless disguises during his previous escapades and has masqueraded as a 13th century nobleman, a telephone engineer, a Colonel, a Cambridge professor and, in the 1971 Third Doctor story "The Dæmons", the local vicar in a village called Devil’s End!
This is the first televised story to feature a Time Lord who has changed gender. This practice had, unambiguously, appeared in other mediums and The Doctor previously knew of at least one other Time Lord who changed gender - the Corsair (see "The Doctor's Wife"). The Doctor momentarily thought himself a female upon regeneration due to his long hair in "The End of Time" and was offered an artificially induced female regeneration at the end of his eighth incarnation ("The Night of The Doctor"). Notably, the only times The Doctor has indicated that he may change genders has been when he was about to regenerate or recovering from regeneration, both of which are states in which his rationality is visibly diminished.
This story marks the first use of the term ‘Time Lady’ since the show was revived in 2005.
A female incarnation of The Master was previously mentioned to be among his various incarnations who were captured by the Sild (see the BBC Books' The Past Doctors Stories novel "Harvest of Time").
This story features various references to previous stories featuring The Master. Osgood refers to previous incidents on Earth featuring The Master, including his tenure as Prime Minister in the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords". When boarding the airbase, The Doctor believes that he is going to the Valiant, an airborne aircraft carrier built by The Master in "The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords".
Missy tells The Doctor ‘Nice planet, this. Think I might keep it’. Missy previously told the Half-Face Man that she liked The Doctor's new accent and thought she might keep it (see "Deep Breath").
Missy is heard using the phrase ‘Oh, my giddy aunt…’. This phrase is closely associated with the Second Doctor. When she announces ‘I love the telly here!’ we’re reminded of occasions in the 1972 Third Doctor story "The Sea Devils" and in "The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords" The Master is seen to briefly enjoy watching children's television. Finally, the way she says, ‘Happy birthday, Mr President!’ is a reference to Marilyn Monroe’s famous birthday greeting to President John F Kennedy.
Missy reveals that she was the 'woman in the shop' from whom Clara received The Doctor's phone number for Wi-Fi support ("The Bells of Saint John), as well as being the one that left the hint in a newspaper which led Clara and The Doctor to ending up in the hideout of the Clockwork Droids ("Deep Breath").
Osgood notes that UNIT has files on all ex-Prime Ministers in reference to The Master's previous incursion, commenting ‘she wasn't even the worst’ (see "The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords").
Osgood, UNITs scientist, continues her habit of sporting clothes as a tribute to The Doctor's Tenth and Eleventh incarnations. In "The Day of The Doctor" it was a multi-coloured scarf and now she wears a pair of trainers similar to the Tenth Doctor and a bow tie that brings to mind the Eleventh Doctor’s neckwear. She is also heard to state that ‘Bow ties are cool’, a catchphrase frequently used by the Eleventh Doctor.
During this story The Doctor offers to take Osgood with him as a companion, but Missy kills her before he can make good on this promise. This is not the first time someone was offered the chance to become a companion but died before they could take up the offer. Other untimely invitees have included: Lynda Moss ("Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways"), Madame de Pompadour ("The Girl in the Fireplace"), Astrid Peth ("Voyage of the Damned") and Rita ("The God Complex").The Doctor also offered Jenny, his daughter created via genetic transfer, to become his companion in "The Doctor's Daughter").
Kate Lethbridge-Stewart is UNIT’s Chief Scientific Advisor and the daughter of The Doctor’s old friend, Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart (AKA The Brigadier). She first appeared in the 2012 Eleventh Doctor story "The Power of Three". Like Osgood, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart was last seen during "The Day of The Doctor".
When Kate Lethbridge-Stewart is heard to say to The Doctor on meeting Clara, ‘Clara Oswald? Your assistant?’ The Doctor’s response is a swift, ‘My friend’. It is interesting to contrast The Doctor's reply with his dialogue in "Into the Dalek" where he is heard to say ‘This is Clara, not my assistant. She's… some other word’. Moments later he added she was his ‘carer’ before noting, ‘She cares so I don't have to’.
Kate Lethbridge-Stewart mentions the Valiant, the huge flying aircraft carrier that was designed by The Master. It first appeared in "The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords". A brief glimpse of the Valiant was also seen when it appeared in a flashback during "Into the Dalek".
This story allowed the show to again pay homage to the late Nicholas Courtney, with his character, The Brigadier, appearing as a Cyberman. This was the first televised Doctor Who appearance of The Brigadier since the 1989 Seventh Doctor story "Battlefield". Nicholas Courtney has though appeared in various audios and The Sarah Jane Adventures in the intervening time period.
The Doctor is seen saluting the Cyber-converted Brigadier. He also twice saluted The Brigadier's daughter, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart ("The Power of Three" and "The Day of The Doctor"). This is despite The Doctor hating it when people salute him.
Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor appears for a second time since his regeneration in "The Time of The Doctor" in archive footage from "The Bells of Saint John". He last appeared in "Deep Breath".
This story features the return of Clara’s gran, the woman who tries to comfort her after Danny’s death. Last seen in the 2013 Eleventh Doctor story "The Time of The Doctor" this character is again played by Sheila Reid. Sheila Reid also previously appeared in the 1985 Sixth Doctor story "Vengeance on Varos".
The Doctor continues to refer to Danny Pink as ‘P.E.’. However, by the end of this story he states that he might yet make being a Maths teacher.
We finally learn what Danny Pink's 'bad day' was that forced him out of the army (Kill the Moon").
Danny’s body is kept in the Chaplet Funeral Home. The name of the establishment is a possible nod to the First Doctor’s companion, Dodo Chaplet, who entered the TARDIS at the end of the 1966 First Doctor story "The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve", before deciding to leave during "The War Machines". "The War Machines" was the first Doctor Who story to show an invasion set in contemporary London.
In the 1996 Eighth Doctor film "Doctor Who: The Movie" The Master previously had an assistant named Chang Lee that he also killed, although in that case Chang Lee was resurrected.
Seeing the Cybermen outside St. Paul’s Cathedral evokes memories of the famous scene in the 1968 Second Doctor story "The Invasion" where earlier versions of the Cybermen invaded London and the shots of them outside the cathedral and in the London streets became instantly iconic. The weekend of this story’s first broadcast marks the 46th anniversary of "The Invasion" which began on the 2nd November 1968.
The emergence of the Cybermen from their tombs bears similarities to their awakening on Telos in the 1967 Second Doctor story "The Tomb of the Cybermen". The layout of the Cybermen’s ‘tombs’, as The Doctor calls them in this story, also reflects the look of their tombs as seen in "The Tomb of the Cybermen". In both stories the tombs are simply resting places for the Cybermen who spring back to life following The Doctor’s arrival.
During the first episode human skeletons are seen inside the Cybermen. The Cybus Industries Cyberman guarding the Pandorica under Stonehenge revealed a human skull inside its head when it attacked Amy Pond in the 2010 Eleventh Doctor story "The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang".
The windows on the door to Dr. Chang's office and the logo of 3W itself somewhat resemble the Cybus Industries logo (see the 2006 Tenth Doctor story "Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel"). When the two doors with the logo are placed next to each other they also resemble Cyberman eyes.
The Cyberman head, that Kate Lethbridge-Stewart is seen throwing to the ground, is from the 1968 Second Doctor story "The Invasion" which was UNIT’s debut and featured The Brigadier for the first time.
Missy mentions New York, Paris, Rome, Marrakesh, Brisbane and Glasgow among the locations invaded by the Cybermen.
A news report mentions 'accounts' on file of earlier appearances of the Cybermen. (see "The Invasion" and "Army of Ghosts/Doomsday").
The Master previously worked briefly with the Cybermen before he tricked a group of Cybermen to their demise in the 1983 20th anniversary story "The Five Doctors".
Missy claims that she is giving the Cyberman army to The Doctor as a birthday present.
Missy's Cybermen have a hive mind, like the Cyberiad on the Hedgewick's World of Wonders in the 2013 Eleventh Doctor story "Nightmare in Silver".
Cybermen have converted and housed the deceased before (see "The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang", the Big Finish Productions Sixth Doctor audio story "The Reaping" and the BBC Books Eleventh Doctor novel "Plague of the Cybermen").
The Doctor has previously faced other enemies that used the dead as weapons. This included the Gelth ("The Unquiet Dead"), the Daleks via a nanocloud ("Asylum of the Daleks" and "The Time of The Doctor") and the Hoothi (see Virgin Books' The New Adventures Seventh Doctor novel "Love and War").
The Doctor uses the TARDIS's telepathic interface, using Clara once again to find Danny, as he did in "Listen". ‘Remember we did this before? Plugged you into the TARDIS telepathic interface?’. In "Listen" Clara accidentally took the time machine to Danny’s childhood.
The Doctor it seems keeps five TARDIS keys secreted away in various places around the console room (plus one on his person and another in Clara's possession). Despite The Doctor having the ability to open the TARDIS doors with the snap of his fingers, Clara - in her highly emotional state after Danny Pink's death - indicated a belief that only seven keys exist, and that destroying these keys would render the TARDIS forever inaccessible to The Doctor.
From among the books, in which The Doctor has hidden TARDIS keys, Clara picks up a copy of The Time Traveller's Wife, which influenced the character of River Song and the plot of the 2006 Tenth Doctor story "The Girl in the Fireplace".
Clara is seen throwing seven TARDIS keys into the lava whilst in her dream state. Interestingly a stage play, called Seven Keys to Doomsday, featuring The Doctor and the Daleks, was first performed in 1974.
The Doctor takes a call from Clara using the TARDIS's exterior phone (see "The Bells of Saint John" and "The Time of The Doctor").
The Doctor summons his TARDIS using a TARDIS key (see "Father's Day" and "The Time of The Doctor").
The aircraft playing the role of the UNIT airplane was a Vladivostok Avia Airbus A320 with the registration VP-BEQ.
Missy states that the Gallifrey has returned to its original place, with the coordinates of 10-0-11-00 by 02. Gallifrey was first mentioned in the 1975 Fourth Doctor story "Pyramids of Mars" where it was revealed that this planet is in the Constellation of Kasterborous. In this story Clara is also heard to state this.
At one point Missy is heard to yell ‘Bring out your dead!’. In 1665 ‘searchers’ were paid to find victims of the Great Plague. Many of them would drive their carts through London shouting ‘bring out your dead’. They would then collect the corpses and take them away to a mass burial pit.
Clara attempts to force The Doctor to go back in time and avert Danny's death. This is not the first time he has been asked to do so (see the 1982 Fifth Doctor story "Earthshock" and the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "Father's Day"). Following the death of companion, Adric, Tegan suggested that The Doctor went back to save the young man’s life. The Doctor refused, adding that ‘some laws cannot be broken’.
When The Doctor hands Dr. Chang the psychic paper Dr. Chang questions the amount of swearing on the paper, The Doctor responds with 'I've got a lot of internalised anger'. This is a subtle reference to the character Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It - a role Peter Capaldi is most well known for before he joined Doctor Who.
Upon being asked by The Doctor whether there are stairs in the 3W base, Missy replies that she isn't a Dalek, referring to the Daleks' well known inability to climb stairs in their earlier forms.
When asked about having iPads by Danny, Seb responds by saying that they have Steve Jobs.
It is revealed that the Nethersphere is a ‘Matrix slice’ related to the Time Lord consciousness storage and virtual reality technology. The Matrix storage system first appeared in the 1976 Fourth Doctor story "The Deadly Assassin". It was also seen in the 1986 The Trial of a Time Lord Sixth Doctor story "The Ultimate Foe". Both times it had The Master utilising it.
The portrait of The Brigadier seen inside Boat One appears to show him around the time of events depicted in the 1989 Seventh Doctor story "Battlefield". "Battlefield" was the last appearance of The Brigadier on Doctor Who although he returned, again played by Nicholas Courtney, during the 2008 series of The Sarah Jane Adventures in the two-part story "Enemy of the Bane".
When Missy offers The Doctor control of the Cyber-army, he reflects on his character via flashbacks: The moments featuring the Eleventh Doctor are from "The Bells of Saint John" and the conversion that opens with Clara asking, ‘Who put that advert in the paper?’ comes from the end of "Deep Breath"; Later, during the cemetery scene we see a few seconds of "Into the Dalek" where Rusty the Dalek, sees hatred in The Doctor's soul, when the question is put: ‘Am I a good man?’ and Rusty declares ‘I see into your soul…’; Danny's mocking The Doctor's contempt for soldiers in "The Caretaker" and finally The Doctor claiming that he is not a hero to Robin Hood in "Robot of Sherwood".
When The Doctor confronts Missy on the plane, Missy reveals herself as the woman that had given Clara the TARDIS' phone number under the guise of a tech support call (see "The Bells of Saint John") and that she took steps to keep the two together, such as placing the advertisement in the paper from "Deep Breath".
This story sees the second death of Danny Pink and the deaths of Osgood, Seb and Missy.
The Doctor is declared President of Earth following a UNIT protocol according to which, in the event of full-scale invasion, an Earth president is inducted immediately, with complete authority over every nation state's armies.
Missy adapts the lyrics of Toni Basil’s 1982 song ‘Mickey’ to sing ‘Hey Missy, you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind, Hey Missy’.
Missy descends from the clouds with her umbrella opened. This and her costume mimics that of Mary Poppins.
The Doctor is heard to call the Valiant ‘Cloudbase’. Osgood immediately says it is from Thunderbirds but Colonel Ahmed quickly corrects her with Captain Scarlet leading The Doctor to reference Sylvia Anderson, who worked with her then-husband, Gerry Anderson, on these shows and many more. Both of these cult television programmes were action/adventure series made in the 1960s. In the 2010 Eleventh Doctor story "The Lodger" The Doctor jokingly claimed to be part of International Rescue, the organisation that featured in Thunderbirds.
Kate Lethbridge-Stewart declares herself divorced, mother of two children, a keen gardener and an 'outstanding' bridge player.
This is the first story to show a scene during the end credits. This scene introduces Nick Frost, as Santa Claus, entering the TARDIS and asking what The Doctor would like for Christmas. This is a lead into the 2014’s Doctor Who Christmas Special.
Santa Claus was previously mentioned in the 2010 Christmas special "A Christmas Carol", where The Doctor claims that they have met. To keep this appearance a surprise, Nick Frost was uncredited in Radio Times and on the BBC website.
Santa Claus knocks on the TARDIS' door three times with a rhythm of four, just like Wilfred Mott did when he fulfilled the prophecy, ‘He will knock four times’ in "The End of Time".
This story contains a number of errors. Namely: When Danny is seen walking across the park, his phone rings, which means that Clara is calling him. However, when Clara is shown holding her phone, it displays ‘Danny calling’ which would normally indicate that Danny has called her; The memorial on the street where Danny was hit has the same picture of him twice, one in colour and the other is black and white; In several scenes, the skeletal bodies submerged in the dark water appear to be making direct contact with some objects such as the chairs, which they should not be able to do given that they are inside the Cybermen shells; As Missy drops her hat, someone hugs the Cyberman in front of her and squeezes its arm which makes the rubber costume fold in; When Clara is on the phone with The Doctor, telling him about Danny being a Cyberman, the wide shot shows the chest piece that covers the emotional inhibitor on, even though he had already removed it; When Missy has the side of the plane blown off, her wrist device is still on. When she tells the Cybermen to blow up the plane over Belgium, it's disappeared, but in the next shot, it has returned to her wrist.
This story had scenes removed from the DVD previews that were sent to reviewers, and a media blackout was imposed on any plot details that were not released by the BBC or Steven Moffat. One notable scene removed by the BBC was the revelation of Missy's identity at the end of the first episode.
In the BBC iPlayer version of this story, during the flashback scene featuring Rusty, the subtitles incorrectly credit his lines as being said by Davros.
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(Position = 3 out of 12)
