 "Mummy on the Orient Express" is the eighth story of Season Thirty Four (New Series 8) and has been written by Jamie Mathieson, directed by Paul Wilmshurst and guest stars Frank Skinner, David Bamber, Daisy Beaumont, Janet Henfrey and Christopher Villiers.
Room 101 host Frank Skinner plays Perkins. He is a diehard Doctor Who fan who made a cameo appearance in the 50th anniversary special "The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot", that was directed by Peter Davison, and the Eighth Doctor audio drama "Dark Eyes 2". When news came through of his casting in "Mummy on the Orient Express", he declared; ‘I love this show. I subscribe to Doctor Who Magazine, I've got a TARDIS ringtone, a five-foot cardboard Dalek in my bedroom, and when I got the call saying they wanted me to read for the part, I was in the back of my tour bus watching episode three of "The Sensorites". I am beyond excited'.
In January 2013 Frank Skinner appeared as a guest on BBC One's The Graham Norton Show alongside Billie Piper (who played companion Rose Tyler), where he revealed, 'I said to my manager, "Do you think you could get me a part in Doctor Who! I don't mean a big part... I'll be a monster. I'll be a lunar rock! But I really would love to be able to say to my grandchildren I was in Doctor Who." And he said, "I'm sure it won't be a problem". So he got in touch, and he got an email back that said, "I'm really happy to hear that that's a thing that Frank would like to do". And somehow the end of the email seemed to have been cut off!'.
Executive Producer Steven Moffat has revealed 'It's no secret that Frank's been pitching vigorously to get into Doctor Who for a while. He's been volunteering to be "third monster on the left" as long as I've been in this job. But now, in Jamie Mathieson's sparkling script, we finally have a part that can showcase all of Frank's famous wit and charm. Hopefully he'll get out of my garden now'.
Christopher Villiers, who plays Professor Moorhouse, played the part of Hugh Fitzwilliam in the 1983 Fifth Doctor story "The King’s Demons".
David Bamber, who plays Captain Quell, previous credits include Pride and Prejudice, Rome, Psychoville and the Steven Moffat-scripted sitcom Chalk.
Daisy Beaumont, who plays Maisie, has been seen recently as Debs Mason in the sitcom You, Me & Them.
Janet Henfrey, who plays Mrs Pitt, played the memorable role of Miss Hardaker in the 1989 Seventh Doctor story "The Curse of Fenric".
Jamie Hill, who played the part of The Foretold, appeared as a Silent at the Royal Albert Hall in the 2013 Doctor Who Prom.
The singer seen and heard near the start of this story is played by Grammy-winner Foxes (her real name is Louisa Rose Allen).
Writer Jamie Mathieson is no stranger to science-fiction and fantasy having written four episodes of BBC Three's Being Human along with three episodes of its spin-off series Becoming Human. He also wrote for the Dirk Gently television series, based on Douglas Adams' series of novels, and the script for the 2009 film Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel.
Jamie Mathieson was approached to write the story while crafting another script for Steven Moffat. He was given the title, chosen by Steven Moffat, which immediately led Jamie Mathieson to images of 'Agatha Christie, Victoriana and lots of luxury'. Frank Skinner's character was based on a friend of his, Perkins, a 'train buff' from whom he acquired information about the Orient Express.
Director Paul Wilmshurst's extensive credits include Silent Witness, Law and Order: Da Vinci's Demons and several episodes of the action drama Strikeback.
The read through for this story took place on the 1st May 2014. With shooting starting on the 20th May and finishing on the 10th June 2014.
This was a very studio-heavy story and the only locations used were for the moments involving Danny Pink and the scenes on the planet seen towards the end of the story. The latter was shot in Limpert Bay in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.
The original idea for the script had far more content - with the Orient Express visiting the Seven Wonders of the Universe - but, in recognition of the time constraints, this was removed.
Two scenes were also deleted from the final edit due to timing reasons. The first scene featured The Doctor protesting against superstition after seeing that people had lit a candle near the scroll and were leaving trinkets and money near it as if it was a shrine. The second scene revealed that Maisie was present near the campfire on the beach in the end, explaining that when The Doctor implanted Maisie's pain and trauma into himself, he took them away from her for good.
The idea of a murder-mystery set aboard the Orient Express echoes elements of Murder on the Orient Express, the detective novel first published in 1934, written by Agatha Christie, whom the Tenth Doctor encountered in the 2008 story "The Unicorn and the Wasp".
Once again, The Doctor's respiratory bypass system allows him to handle lack of Oxygen, considerably better than humans (see the 1975 Fourth Doctor story "The Ark in Space", the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "Smith and Jones" and the 2011 Christmas special "The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe").
When The Doctor is soliloquizing about possible danger on the train and about what The Foretold death reminds him of, he imitates the Fourth Doctor's voice for part of the conversation.
The Doctor wears a bow tie in a fashion identical to the ones he used during his first incarnation.
The Doctor is seen again using his psychic paper.
The Doctor manipulates Clara like The Seventh Doctor manipulated Ace in "The Curse of Fenric" and the last scene is almost identical to the last scene of that story, making himself seem deceitful.
It is revealed that it has been three weeks since Clara stormed out of the TARDIS after the incident on the Moon in "Kill the Moon".
When The Doctor tells Clara about the mysterious force that lured him to the train, he confides, ‘Well, he has tried to entice me here before. Free tickets. Mysterious summons. He even phoned the TARDIS once…’ - a reference to an event that took place in the 2010 Eleventh Doctor story "The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang". Following the wedding of Amy Pond and Rory Williams, at the end of that story, the Eleventh Doctor received a phone call in the TARDIS and although we did not catch the ensuing conversation we did hear The Doctor say ‘An Egyptian goddess loose on the Orient Express, in space?’ and moments later we here him tell the caller ‘We’re on our way!’ before setting course with the newlywed couple aboard the TARDIS.
The Doctor mentions how hard it is for someone to acquire the TARDIS telephone number (see "Time Heist").
The question ‘Are you my mummy?’ is most closely associated with the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances" which was posed by the reanimated Jamie as he tried to find his mother in war torn London. The Tenth Doctor quoted the line when he briefly wore a gas mask - itself a visual reference to Jamie - in the 2008 story "The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky", putting the question to the un-amused Colonel Mace.
This is not the first time an apparent mummy has featured in Doctor Who. In the 1975 Fourth Doctor story "Pyramids of Mars" The Doctor battled deadly robots that were disguised as mummies and the Eleventh Doctor faced a mummy-like monster in the 2013 story "The Rings of Akhaten".
The Doctor is seen offering a jelly baby to Professor Moorhouse during their discussion about The Foretold. The Doctor’s fondness for jelly babies stretches back to 1967 when the Second Doctor enjoyed one in "The Dominators". He offered The Brigadier a jelly baby in the 1972/73 Tenth Anniversary story "The Three Doctors" and the Fourth Doctor was forever dipping into a bag of the sweets or offering them to others, often as a distraction technique. In the 1996 Eighth Doctor film "Doctor Who: The Movie" we saw the Seventh Doctor helping himself to a bowlful of jelly babies in the TARDIS, shortly before regenerating, and the Eighth Doctor used them to confuse a policeman and a security guard when he was in San Francisco in 1999. The Master also offered Lucy Saxon a jelly baby in the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords".
Professor Moorhouse explains his interest in alien mythology by claiming that human myths are 'dusty' and 'fictitious', presumably unaware that he was speaking to Merlin himself.
When The Doctor is heard to say ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend’ he is quoting one of the world’s oldest proverbs. The earliest known use of the expression (although not in English) is found in a Sanskrit treatise on statecraft that originated circa the 4th century BC.
Clara’s incoming call alert image for The Doctor appears to be a picture of a stick insect with a top hat! This brings to mind her words in "Listen", when she tells The Doctor, 'People don’t need to be scared by a grey-haired stick insect, but here you are. Sit down, shut up!'.
At one point The Doctor and Clara toast their ‘last hurrah’. The phrase was coined by the American writer, Edwin O'Connor (1918 - 1968) in his 1956 novel, The Last Hurrah. In his work the expression refers to a last moment of glory before a definite end.
Queen's song Don't Stop Me Now is heard being performed on the train by Foxes. A Full version of this song, along with video footage from this season, was made available on the BBC's Doctor Who website.
The Doctor reveals that half of the guests aboard the Orient Express are holograms, specifically 'hard-light' holograms. This a reference to the sci-fi comedy, Red Dwarf, where the holographic character Arnold Rimmer, that was played by Chris Barrie, advanced to a hard-light mode, allowing him to interact with solid matter.
The Doctor mentions receiving free tickets for the Orient Express a long time ago.
The Seventh Doctor previously encountered trains that travel through space (see Virgin Books' The New Adventures novel "Transit").
The Doctor previously visited space-travelling reproductions of 20th century Earth means of transportation - most recently the Titanic in the 2007 Christmas special "Voyage of the Damned".
Melanie Bush travelled on a space-faring bus, modelled on a 20th century version, in the 1987 Seventh Doctor story "Delta and the Bannermen".
This story marks the fifth story of this season not to feature Missy after "Robot of Sherwood", "Listen", "Time Heist" and "Kill the Moon".
This story was broadcast at 20:35 - so making it the latest transmission time.
Executive Producer Brian Minchin expressed early on to writer Jamie Mathieson that the mummy might force the story to be broadcast at a later time as the BBC judged it to be too scary. Brian Minchin also repeatedly tried to have the mummy shown in the trailer, but the BBC would not allow it.
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The Firsts:
The first televised Doctor Who story to be written by Jamie Mathieson.
The first story to be broadcast after 20:30.
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(Position = 1 out of 12)
