Doctor Who - The Television Stories

Doctor Who - The Stories

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Blink

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Episodes

Audience
Appreciation

Archives

Notes

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Story Images

Quote of
the Story

Release
Information

In Print

Photo
Gallery

Synopsis

It Moved!

In an old, abandoned house, the Weeping Angels wait. Only The Doctor can stop them, but he’s lost in time.

Source: BBC DVD

General Information

Season:	Twenty Nine (New Series 3)
Production Code:	3-10
Story Number:	186 (New Series: 30)
Episode Number:	734 (New Series: 38)
Number of Episodes:	1
Percentage of Episodes Held:	100%
Working Titles:	"Sally Sparrow and the Weeping Angels"
Production Dates:	November 2006 - January 2007
Broadcast Date:	09 June 2007
Colour Status:	Colour
Studio:	BBC Wales (Upper Boat, Pontypridd)
Location:	Cardiff Bay, Caerphilly Miners' Hospital, Field Park Road (Newport), Pontcanna and other locations in Newport (including Fields House).

Writer:

Steven Moffat

Director:

Hettie MacDonald

Producer:

Phil Collinson

Executive Producers:

Julie Gardner and Russell T Davies

Script Editor:

Helen Raynor

Editor:

Jamie McCoan

Production Executive:

Julie Scott

Production Manager:

Debbi Slater

Production Designer:

Edward Thomas

Director of Photography:

Ernie Vincze BSC

Casting Director:

Andy Pryor CDG

Costume Designer:

Ray Holman

Make-Up Designer:

Emma Bailey

Cameraman:

Stephen Andrews (Assistant)

Visual Effects:

The Mill

Special Effects:

Any Effects

Prosthetics:

Millennium FX

Stunt Co-ordinators:

Crispin Layfield and Glenn Marks

Incidental Music:

Murray Gold

Special Sounds (SFX Editor):

Paul Jefferies

Sound Recordist:

Ray Parker

Sound Supervisor:

Paul McFadden

Sound Editor:

Doug Sinclair

Music Performed By:

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Title Music:

Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Murray Gold

Number of Doctors:

The Doctor:

David Tennant (The Tenth Doctor)

Number of Companions: 1The Companion: Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones) Additional Cast: Carey Mulligan (Sally Sparrow), Lucy Gaskill (Kathy Nightingale), Finlay Robertson (Larry Nightingale), Richard Cant (Malcolm Wainwright), Michael Obiora (Billy Shipton), Louis Mahoney (Old Billy), Thomas Nelstrop (Ben Wainwright), Ian Boldsworth (Banto), Ray Sawyer (Desk Sergeant)Setting: London (2007), Hull (1920), London (1969) and London (2008) Villain: The Weeping Angels

The Episodes

No.	Episodes	Broadcast (UK)	Duration	Viewers (Millions)	In Archive
734	Blink	09 June 2007	43'38"	6.6	Yes

Total Duration

44 Minutes

Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions)

6.6

Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2007)	93.11% (Position = 1 out of 10)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009)	91.61% (Position = 2 out of 200)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)	91.87% (Position = 2 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023)	Position = 1 out of 36

Archives

This story exists and is held in the BBC's Film and Videotape Library.

Notes

"Blink" is based on a story that Steven Moffat wrote for The Doctor Who Annual 2006 – "What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow".

Although The Doctor only appears briefly in this story, in the early years of Doctor Who there were episodes where he didn't appear at all! The Doctor is entirely absent from "The Keys of Marinus" (parts 3 and 4), "Mission to the Unknown" and "The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve" (parts 2 and 3).

In addition to the Weeping Angels, The Doctor has encountered a number of other creatures which are nearly as old as the universe itself. These include the Racnoss ("The Runaway Bride"), the Carrionites ("The Shakespeare Code"), and Fenric ("The Curse of Fenric"). Not one of them has been friendly.

On average, it takes between 300-400 milliseconds to blink. Depending on the circumstances, a human blinks between 3 and 30 times a minute. If confronted by a Weeping Angel, the time endured without blinking can be increased significantly.

Many DVDs, including a large number of the Doctor Who releases, have 'Easter Eggs' on them. However, The Doctor's message to Sally hasn't featured on any of them. Yet.

One humorous sequence edited out of this story would have formed part of the pre-credits teaser. After Sally discovered the message behind the wallpaper, writer Steven Moffat had requested the sound of cliched horror movie music. This would turn out to be Sally's mobile phone ringtone, and it was actually Kathy calling her friend from a pub. Also cut was Larry's admission in the epilogue that he regularly checks to ensure that the Weeping Angels are still petrified.

The end of this story contains a trailer for the next story "Utopia".

Following on immediately after this story, on BBC3, was the tenth chapter of the third series of Doctor Who Confidential, "Do You Remember The First Time?" presented by Anthony Head.

This story was voted, by readers of the Doctor Who Magazine as the best television story broadcast in 2007. In the Doctor Who Magazine 'Mighty 200' poll in 2009 this story was voted as the second best story.

This story won the 2008 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.

First and Last

The Firsts:

The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Hettie MacDonald.

Emma Bailey's first involvement in the show as Makeup Artist.

Ray Holman's first involvement in the show as Costume Designer.

The first appearance of The Weeping Angels.

Story Images

Show Text

A Weeping Angel

The Doctor's Message

Sally Sparrow and Kathy Nightingale

Reciving Post from the Past

A Weeping Angel

Sally Sparrow

The Doctor's Video Message

It Moved!

Trapped in the Past

Don't Blink!

Sally and Larry Trapped

Meeting The Doctor and Martha

Quote of the Story

'People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a non-liner, non-subjective viewpoint, it’s more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff.'

The Doctor

Release Information

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Code Number	Cover Art	Remarks
DVD	Human Nature - The Family of Blood - Blink	July 2007	BBCDVD 2383	Photo-montage
DVD	The Complete Third Series (Standard Version)	November 2007	BBCDVD 2579	Photo-montage	Boxed set containing all 11 stories
DVD	The Complete Third Series (Amazon Version)	November 2007	BBCDVD 2579	Photo-montage	Boxed set containing all 11 stories
DVD	The Complete Third Series (Woolworths Version)	November 2007	BBCDVD 2579	Photo-montage	Boxed set containing all 11 stories
CD	Original Television Soundtrack - Series 3	November 2007	SILCD1250	Photo-montage	Music by Murray Gold
DVD	Series 1 - 4 Box Set	October 2009	BBCDVD 3058		Boxed set containing all 43 stories on 23 Discs
Blu-Ray	The Complete Series 1-7 Box Set (Limited Edition)	December 2013	BBCBD 0242	Photo-montage	Limited Edition Blu-Ray boxed set containing all Series 1-7 stories at full 1080p high definition
DVD	The Complete Third Series (2014 Re-release)	August 2014	BBCDVD 3967	Photo-montage	Boxed set containing all 11 stories
DVD	The Complete David Tennant Years Box Set	November 2014	BBCDVD 4000	Photo-montage	Boxed set containing all 37 stories on 26 Discs
Blu-Ray	The Complete Third Series Box Set	August 2015	BBCBD 0263	Photo-montage	Blu-Ray boxed set containing 11 stories
Blu-Ray	The Complete Third Series Box Set (Limited Edition Steelbook)	May 2018	BBCBD 0436	Photo-montage	Limited Edition Blu-Ray Steelbook boxed set containing 11 stories
Blu-Ray	Series 1 - 4 & Specials Blu-Ray Collection	November 2023	BBCBD 0582	Photo-montage	Boxed set containing all Ninth and Tenth Doctor stories upscaled to high definition

In Print

No Book Release

Doctor Who Magazine - Preview	Issue 383 (Released: June 2007)
Doctor Who Magazine - Article	Issue 384 (Released: July 2007)
Doctor Who Magazine - After Image	Issue 385 (Released: August 2007)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team	Issue 464 (Released: October 2013)
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction	Issue 570 (Released: December 2021)
Doctor Who DVD Files	Volume 19 (Released: September 2009)

Photo Gallery

The Doctor and Companion

The Tenth Doctor

Martha Jones

On Release

DVD Cover

VIDEO

DVD Box Set
(Standard Version)

VIDEO

DVD Box Set
(Amazon Version)

VIDEO

DVD Box Set
(Woolworths Version)

VIDEO

Original Television Soundtrack Cover

AUDIO

Series 1-4 DVD Box Set

VIDEO

Complete Series 1-7 Ltd Edition Blu-Ray Box Set

VIDEO

Complete Series DVD Box Set<BR>(2014 Re-release)

Complete Series DVD Box Set
(2014 Re-release)

VIDEO

Complete David Tennant Years DVD Box Set

VIDEO

Complete Series Blu-Ray Box Set

VIDEO

Complete Series Blu-Ray Limited Edition Steelbook Box Set

VIDEO

Series 1 - 4 & Specials Blu-Ray Collection Cover

VIDEO

Magazines

Doctor Who Magazine - Preview: Issue 383

Doctor Who Magazine - Article: Issue 384

Doctor Who Magazine - After Image: Issue 385

Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 464

Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 570

Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 19

Who's Who

Who Me

Episodes of the
Tenth Doctor

Season 29 (New Series 3)

References

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