 This story has been written by Steve Thompson – his first Doctor Who story. Steve Thompson won the Art Council’s Meyer-Whitworth award for new writing for his 2004 play, Damages. For television he has written episodes of ITV’s Whistleblowers. He has also worked with Steven Moffat (Lead Writer and Executive Producer) previously, contributing a script for the second episode of the first series of Steven Moffat’s crime drama, Sherlock.
This story was directed by Jeremy Webb. This may be his first Doctor Who story but Jeremy Webb is no stranger to the words of fantasy - having directed 13 episodes of BBC One’s other popular family drama Merlin His other directing credits include Moving Wallpaper, True Dare Kiss, Grange Hill and Casualty.
Appearing as a Captain Avery is Hugh Bonneville whose previous credits include the part of Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, in the smash-hit ITV1 period drama Downton Abbey. He has also appeared in The Silence, Poirot: Murder on the Orient Express, Lost in Austen and Five Days. Hugh Bonneville has also previously played the part of Sir Sidney Herbert and Tzar Nicholas the 1st in the Big Finish Productions Seventh Doctor audio story "The Angel of Scutari".
Hugh Bonneville has revealed that he is a long term fan of Doctor Who: ‘When I was a boy that music and Jon Pertwee's Doctor had me peeking out from behind the sofa every Saturday night. All these years later I am thrilled to be appearing in the new series. Although the Pirate's fears and demons are different to those of the young lad who watched through his fingers, they are no less vivid and terrifying; this new adventure is not for the faint-hearted’.
The Siren, which haunts the pirate ship, is played by Lily Cole. Although best known as a model, Lily Cole has appeared in several high profile movies including The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009), Rage (2009) and St. Trinian's (2007).
For centuries, sea-farers have told tales of beautiful females, luring ships and sailors to their doom. Indeed, sirens, as these creatures are often called, have been a part of Greek mythology for aeons, as much a part of the ancient Greek story-telling tradition as gods or monsters. In many legends sirens are winged figures, able to rise from the ocean, enchant... and kill!
As this story was pirate-themed the production team wanted to fit in as many elements from pirate fiction into it, including treasure, mutinies, a stowaway boy, walking the plank, storms and sword fights. However, the production team deliberately avoided certain clichés associated with pirate adventures. For that reason, not a single wooden leg can be glimpsed nor parrot heard squawking in the background, and the only eye-patch is not one worn by Captain Avery or his crew...
When Captain Avery first meets The Doctor he makes him walk the plank. Many believe this practice is a myth created by Hollywood, but historical literature records several verifiable instances of the punishment which can be traced back to at least the 17th century.
The black flag bearing the skull and crossbones is one of the most obvious icons of piracy but the motif first appeared in 1700, which is after this story is set. French pirate Emanuel Wynne is said to be the first to raise that famous ensign. The origins of its name – ‘The Jolly Roger’ - are uncertain. Some scholars suggest it is perhaps a corruption of ‘joli rouge’, a French phrase meaning ‘pretty red’ and itself a reference to earlier blood-coloured flags favoured by pirates.
In Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson, the ‘black spot’ was a circular piece of card presented to those found guilty of a perceived wrong-doing. For pirates, receiving the black spot was a terrible blow as it would often mean the recipient would be deposed from their position of power and possibly even killed.
The location work for this story was shot in Cornwall, using a real sailing ship. The sailing ship, called the Fancy, that was used in this story was Pheonix of Dell Quay - a 122 foot 12-sail brigantine that was built in 1927. This vessel has become a seasoned film and television star having featured in Hornblower, Frenchman’s Creek, Moll Flanders and Ridley Scott’s 1492: Conquest of Paradise.
While The Pirates of the Caribbean films have been mainly filmed in the Grenadines and the Bahamas the location footage of this Doctor Who story was filmed in Charlestown in Cornwall. Charlestown has been used for many dramas in the past, including for parts of Pirates of the Caribbean. The interior scenes were shot in Wales and Michael Pickwoad designed the Fancy’s rooms. Michael Pickwoad has revealed that he has harboured a lifelong interest in ships of this type and so the job proved a welcome one for him!
Karen Gillan has stated that shooting this story was one of her favourite memories of the new series, in part due to the action sequences she was called to perform. In the early fight scene it is Karen Gillan - and not a stunt person - who is fighting off the attacking pirates!
The scene where Rory is thrown into the sea was performed by a stunt double – despite him being willing to perform this stunt himself.
The scenes in which the Siren appeared on the ship were done by using a harness to simulate her flying. Because Lily Cole was wearing a green dress and makeup, the conventional greenscreen was replaced by bluescreens in the studio.
This is not the first time The Doctor has faced pirates. Both the Second Doctor and the Fourth Doctor fought futuristic pirates in the 1969 story "The Space Pirates" and the 1978 story "The Pirate Planet". While the Fifth Doctor spent time on a spacecraft that was modelled on an old pirate ship in the 1983 story "Enlightenment".
During this story Amy recalls The Doctor’s death that we witnessed in the "The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon".
Neither The Doctor or Rory seem to have observed her yet, but Amy again sees the ‘Eye Patch Lady’. This mysterious figure, played by Frances Barber, appears for the second time. Similar to her first appearance in "The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon", she appears to be looking through the other side of a small sliding window in a door despite the fact that the window is actually in the solid timbers of the ship and disappears when it is closed.
At one point The Doctor references Sigmund Feud - the Austrian neurologist famed as the father of psychoanalysis.
At one point Captain Avery describes Amy as a doxy. The word ‘doxy’ is slang word used as a derogatory term for a woman. It is thought the phrase originally meant ‘beggar’ but by William Shakespeare’s day (the Bard uses the word in A Winter's Tale) a ‘doxy’ implied a woman of low virtue.
Captain Avery can be seen as one in a long line of humans The Doctor has met whose greed has been their undoing. In the 1976 Fourth Doctor story "The Seeds of Doom" The Doctor is heard describing greed as the most dangerous impulse in the universe.
Another Captain Avery is mentioned in the 1966 First Doctor story "The Smugglers".
As with this story, Earth-born diseases were the bane of the aliens in the classic science fiction novel The War of the Worlds written by H. G. Wells.
At the end of this story there is a brief recap of the unresolved plot points from "The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon", showing Amy and Rory’s concern over the future Doctor’s death and The Doctor again using the TARDIS scanner to perform a pregnancy test on Amy, resulting in the TARDIS seemingly confused as to whether Amy Pond is pregnant or not.
This story, the second of Season Thirty Two (New Series 6), was originally planned to be the sixth story of this season but the order was changed during the production process. Three stories were swapped around. "The Doctor's Wife" became the third story of the season instead of second while "What Are Little Boy's Made Of?" became the sixth story instead of third. This was because it was felt that Mark Gatiss’ story was too dark.
A prequel to this story was released by the BBC on the 1 May 2011. It was the second out of three prequels, the first being for "The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon".
Following on after this story, on BBC3, was the third chapter of the sixth series of Doctor Who Confidential. Titled "Ship Ahoy!" it was presented by Russell Tovey and looked into the making of this story.
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The Firsts:
The first Doctor Who story to be written by Steve Thompson.
The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Jeremy Webb.
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(Position = 13 out of 13)
(Position = 227 out of 241)
