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 "The Day of The Doctor" is the Fiftieth Anniversary Special and stars, alongside Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman; David Tennant, Billie Piper, screen legend John Hurt and Joanna Page. Also appearing (but uncredited) are Tom Baker (The Fourth Doctor) and Peter Capaldi (The Twelfth Doctor).
This story was written by Steven Moffat; directed by Nick Hurran ("Asylum of the Daleks" and "The Angels Take Manhattan") and the Executive Producers were Steven Moffat and BBC Wales' Head of Drama, Faith Penhale.
This story has been described by series producer Marcus Wilson as a 'love letter to the fans' and by the controller of BBC One, Danny Cohen, as an 'event drama'.
At an official press launch Matt Smith is reported as saying, of his first experience of the script, 'I read it and I clapped at the end. I think it's hilarious, it's epic and it's vast. It manages to pay homage to everything - and look forward'.
This special features the return of the Daleks as well as the return, after a wait of 38 years, the Zygons. Aside from flashbacks these malevolent shape-shifting aliens have only appeared once before, threatening Earth in the 1975 Fourth Doctor story "Terror of the Zygons".
Despite the fact that the Zygons have had just one previous television appearance they remain a popular enemy and in the 2010 story "The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang", they were amongst the massed aliens said to be gathering above Stonehenge. Later, in "The Power of Three", we learnt that the Zygons had one of their ships under the Savoy Hotel in 1890 and apparently replaced half the staff with imposters! Appart from their one and only appearance they have appeared in books and audio stories.
Although David Tennant returned to his role of the Tenth Doctor, previous incarnations of The Doctors did not take part. The Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy confirmed that they had not heard anything about taking part. He added that he thought the old Doctors should feature in the special, since 'the fans are desperate for it. All of us want to do it, just for the fans - because that's what they want. But we've heard nothing. Tom Baker's heard nothing, Colin Baker, Peter Davison, Paul McGann... none of us have heard anything'.
The BBC did confirm that one other old Doctor, Christopher Eccleston, who played the Ninth Doctor, was initially approached to reprise his role but after careful thought he decided not to be in the story.
Steven Moffat, told the US magazine Entertainment Weekly, 'It is important you don't turn it into a fanfest. We can't make this all about looking backwards. It's actually got to be the start of a new story'.
Also appearing in this story is Billie Piper playing the part of an interface for a device called The Moment, a Gallifreyan super weapon. This Interface is in the guise of former companion Rose Tyler. Billie Piper is though credited as playing the part of Rose Tyler.
Billie Piper has not portrayed the part of Rose Tyler as a regular companion since the 2006 Tenth Doctor story "Army of Ghosts/Doomsday", although she reprised her role in various stories in Season Thirty (New Series 4) and she appeared briefly in the 2009/2010 story "The End of Time".
Jenna Louise Coleman plays companion Clara Oswald. This is the first time she is credited on the show simply as Jenna Coleman, dropping the Louise part of her name seen in previous stories.
John Hurt plays the part of the War Doctor, a 'forgotten' past incarnation of The Doctor, that exists between The Doctor's Eighth and Ninth incarnations; he was regenerated from the Eighth Doctor to be more suited to fight in the Time War as revealed in the prequel ("The Night of The Doctor"). He was introduced to the show at the end of the Season Thirty Three (New Series 7) finale "The Name of The Doctor".
Despite being referred to as the ‘War Doctor’ the BBC iPlayer notes credited John Hurt's character as 'the Other Doctor'.
Gavin & Stacey and The Syndicatestar Jemma Redgrave previously appeared in the 2012 story "The Power of Three" playing the part of Kate Stewart, daughter of the legendary Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart (aka The Brigadier). The part of Kate Stewart was originally played by Beverley Cressman in the direct-to-video spin-offs, "Downtime" and "Dæmos Rising".
The part of Queen Elizabeth I is played by Joanna Page. Joanna Page is the third actress to play the part of Queen Elizabeth I on Doctor Who, following Vivienne Bennet ("The Chase") and Angela Pleasence ("The Shakespeare Code").
Also appearing is Ingrid Oliver (Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging, Watson & Oliver and Biffovision) playing the part of Osgood.
Once again Nicholas Briggs provides the voice of the Daleks. He also provides the voice of the Zygons.
Excluding flashbacks and archived footage David Tennant has not appeared in the show since his final regular appearance as the Tenth Doctor in the 2009/2010 story "The End of Time".
William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston and Peter Capaldi all appear in the special as their respective Doctors, mainly through the use of archive footage and voice doubles. Only Peter Capaldi was filmed specifically for the special, in his first official (though uncredited) appearance as the Twelfth Doctor. John Guilor provided the voice of the First Doctor.
At the end of this story Tom Baker (who is better known for playing the Fourth Doctor between 1974 and 1981) is seen playing an enigmatic character known as The Curator. However, the end credits only credit Tom Baker as The Doctor and it is left ambiguous as to whether or not The Curator is a future incarnation of The Doctor.
This story also included the surprise debut of Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor.
Christopher Eccleston decided against returning for the regeneration, just as Colin Baker previously did for "Time and The Rani". A hint of the actor's face - primarily his eyes - are inserted digitally into the sequence.
This story opens with a title sequence that is very similar to that used in the very first story and a theme arrangement used during the First Doctor's era. The title sequence was though modified slightly to include the BBC logo and was slightly shortened.
This story's first few seconds are in black and white, just like the first episode of the 1985 story "The Two Doctors" - the previous full length televised multi-Doctor story.
This story contains a number of references to previous stories. Echoing the opening of the very first story, "An Unearthly Child", a policeman is shown walking past the sign for I.M. Foreman, the scrap merchant in whose yard the TARDIS was located. Coal Hill School was The Doctor's granddaughter Susan's school when they were on Earth in 1963, also featured in both the original story and the 1988 Fifth Doctor story "Remembrance of the Daleks".
A sign outside the school shows that Ian Chesterton (formerly one of the First Doctor's original three companions and a science teacher at the school) is chairman of the school's Board of Governors. This sign also shows that a W. Coburn is the headmaster.
As Clara leaves the school a clock can be seen to display the time as 17:16, the broadcast time of "An Unearthly Child" - the very first Doctor Who story.
The Eleventh Doctor gets to wear a fez again. His fixation with fezzes began in the 2010 story "The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang" and it reappeared in the 2010 Christmas special story "A Christmas Carol" and then again in the 2011 story "The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon" and the 2013 story "The Bells of Saint John".
This story re-wrote the backstory on Doctor Who, as rather than destroying Gallifrey, The Doctors were able to save it instead.
The Moment device was originally mentioned in "The End of Time", but not explored in depth. Here, it takes the form of Bad Wolf, a seemingly omnipotent being created by Rose Tyler when she absorbed the Time Vortex in the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways".
The Tenth Doctor's wedding with Elizabeth I is shown and the Eleventh Doctor makes references to the Tenth Doctor's and Elizabeth I's sexual relations (see "The Shakespeare Code", "The End of Time", "The Beast Below", "Amy's Choice" and "The Wedding of River Song"). Presumably, the fact he indicates no intention of returning to his new wife is what results in her antagonism towards him when they meet in "The Shakespeare Code".
The Eleventh Doctor refers to his fate on Trenzalore (see "The Wedding of River Song and "The Name of The Doctor").
The Tenth Doctor, upon hearing of Trenzalore, says they need to take a different direction and that 'I don't want to go'. The Eleventh Doctor then commented to Clara that 'He always says that'. These were the last words the Tenth Doctor said before his regeneration in "The End of Time". The Tenth Doctor also mentioned the Fall of Arcadia in "Doomsday".
The Doctor's age once gain is mentioned. While confronting a rabbit in Elizabethan England, which he briefly believes to be a Zygon in disguise, the Tenth Doctor says that he is 904 years old.
When asked how old he is by the War Doctor, the Eleventh Doctor says that he doesn't know and has lost track, settling on 'Twelve hundred and something, I think, unless I'm lying'. He goes on to say that he is so old he couldn't remember if he was lying about his age.
The TARDIS has landed in Trafalgar Square once before, in the 1966 story "The Daleks' Master Plan", (in the episode titled "Volcano").
A motorbike was previously ridden into the TARDIS in the 1996 television film "Doctor Who: The Movie". The Tenth Doctor was also seen riding a moped out of the TARDIS in the 2006 story "The Idiot's Lantern".
It is revealed that the Zygon's homeworld was destroyed during the first part of the Last Great Time War.
The Tenth Doctor uses a machine to track down the Zygon. It is similar to the timey-wimey detector that he used in the 2007 story "Blink". This one though is designed to detect shapeshifters.
The Tenth Doctor previously encountered the Zygons in the Lake District in September 1909 in the BBC Books' Tenth Doctor novel "Sting of the Zygons". The Eleventh Doctor encountered them when he took Amy Pond and Rory Williams on an anniversary trip to the Savoy Hotel in 1890 ("The Power of Three").
Since the Zygons are shapeshifting creatures, it could be said that, apart from Aiden Cook and Paul Kasey, Jemma Redgrave, Joanna Page, Ingrid Oliver and Jonjo O'Neil are also portraying them.
This is the first on-screen appearance of the Daleks not to feature those of the New Dalek Paradigm in the Steven Moffat era.
The War Doctor gripes at his future incarnations for brandishing their Sonic Screwdrivers as if they were water pistols. The Tenth Doctor actually used a water pistol against the Pyroviles in the 2008 story "The Fires of Pompeii".
When surrounded by Queen Elizabeth I's soldiers, the War Doctor asks the Tenth Doctor and the Eleventh Doctor if they were going to 'assemble a cabinet at them>'. The phrase 'build a cabinet' was previously used by River Song in relation to the sonic screwdriver ("The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon"), and the statement 'build some shelves' was similarly used by Captain Jack Harkness in the 2009 story "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances". Ironically the three Doctors later used their screwdrivers offensively to blast a Dalek back with a force field, destroying it.
While The Doctor is entranced by a fez, the painting that Clara stops to admire in the Under Gallery shows the latest variant of the Cybermen that was first seen in "Nightmare in Silver".
The Eleventh Doctor calls to Clara through a wormhole, referring to her as the 'Wicked Witch of the Well'. Hila Tacorien was previously referred to by this name, in the 2013 story "Hide", due to the wormhole in Caliburn House.
The UNIT dating controversy, regarding whether the Third Doctor era stories took place in the 1970s or 1980s, is referenced in dialogue by Kate Stewart, when she is heard asking for one of her fathers files and says it may be filed under 'the '70s or '80s depending on the dating protocol used'.
Kate's father, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, a central character in the Third Doctor's era, originally appearing in the 1968 Second Doctor story "The Invasion" and making his last appearance in the 1989 Seventh Doctor story "Battefield", is also referenced. An image of The Brigadier is seen alongside images of various companions of The Doctor.
The Black Archive of UNIT is visited (see The Sarah Jane Adventures story "Enemy of the Bane" and the comic strip "Don't Step on the Grass").
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The Firsts:
The first appearance of the Twelth Doctor as played by Peter Capaldi.
The first time Jenna Louise Coleman is just credited as Jenna Coleman.
The first appearance of Billie Piper (as Rose Tyler) since she appeared briefly in the 2009/2010 story "The End of Time".
The first time all The Doctors of all previous and current regenerations come together.
BBC Wales VFX's first involvement in the show providing the visual effects.
Milk's first involvement in the show providing the visual effects.
The first appearance of a Zygon, in the revived television series, and for 38 years - since the 1975 Fourth Doctor story "Terror of the Zygons".
The first appearance of the Daleks not to feature those of the New Dalek Paradigm in the Steven Moffat era.
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