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The Curse of the Black Spot
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Matt Smith
The Curse of the Black Spot
Eleventh Doctor Logo


Synopsis


Aboard the Pirate Ship
Aboard the Pirate Ship
 A pirate galleon sails the high seas with a skeleton crew. Captain Avery has witnessed a thousand deaths. He has no tears left to cry. But his crew keeps disappearing. One drop of blood is all it takes, before the black spot appears... and then a siren comes calling.

 There’s something in the cargo hold. It’s big, blue and possibly very dangerous. "Yo-ho-ho", declares one of the stowaways, a man with a bow tie and a bit of a chin. "Or does nobody actually say that?". Five minutes later, he’s walking the plank, but he may have been the pirates’ only hope of rescue from the curse of the black spot…



General Information

Season: Thirty Two (New Series 6)
Production Code: 6-9
Story Number: 215 (New Series: 59)
Episode Number:773 (New Series: 77)
Number of Episodes: 1
Percentage of Episodes Held:100%
Production Dates: January - February 2011 (Block 4B)
Broadcast Date: 07 May 2011
Colour Status: HD Colour
Studio: BBC Wales (Upper Boat, Pontypridd)
Location: Fillcare Ltd (Talbot Green, Wales); The Phoenix (Charlestown, Cornwall).
Writer:Steve Thompson
Director:Jeremy Webb
Producer:Marcus Wilson
Executive Producers:Beth Willis, Piers Wenger and Steven Moffat
Associate Producer:Denise Paul
Script Executive:Lindsey Alford
Script Editor:Caroline Henry
Editor:Simon Reglar
Production Executive:Julie Scott
Production Manager:Steffan Morris
Production Assistant:Charlie Coombes
Production Designer:Michael Pickwoad
Director of Photography:Dale McCready
Casting Director:Andy Pryor CDG
Line Producer:Diana Barton
Costume Designer:Barbara Kidd
Make-Up Designer:Barbara Southcott
Cameramen:Matthew Lepper (Assistant), Simon Ridge (Assistant), Svetlana Miko (Assistant) and Joe Russell (Operator)
Visual Effects:The Mill
Special Effects:Real SFX
Prosthetics:Millennium FX
Stunt Co-ordinator:Crispin Layfield
Stunt Performers:Gordon Seed and Stephanie Carey
Incidental Music:Murray Gold
Special Sounds (SFX Editor):Paul Jefferies
Sound Recordist:Bryn Thomas
Music Orchestrated By:Ben Foster
Music Conducted By:Ben Foster
Music Performed By:The BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Music Recorded By:Gerry O'Riordan
Music Mixed By:Jake Jackson
Title Sequence:Frame Store
Title Music:Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Murray Gold
Number of Doctors: 1
The Doctor: Matt Smith (The Eleventh Doctor)
Number of Companions: 2The Companions: Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) and Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams) Additional Cast: Hugh Bonneville (Henry Avery), Oscar Lloyd (Toby Avery), Lee Ross (The Boatswain), Michael Begley (Mulligan), Tony Lucken (De Florres), Chris Jarman (Dancer), Carl McCrystal (McGrath), Lily Cole (Sea Siren)Setting: The Fancy, Earth (17th century) and a parallel universe Villain:Siren

The Episodes

No. Episodes Broadcast
(UK)
Duration Viewers
(Millions)
In Archive
773The Curse of the Black Spot07 May 201144'48"7.9Yes

Total Duration 45 Minutes


Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions) 7.9
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2011)60.80%  (Position = 13 out of 13)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)55.17% Lower (Position = 227 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023) Position = 37 out of 39


Archives


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



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Notes


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.



First and Last

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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The Plot

WARNING: May Contain SpoilersHide Text
Captain Avery
Captain Avery

The Doctor, after receiving a distress call, materialises the TARDIS in the hold of a 17th-century pirate ship stranded in the middle of the ocean due to the lack of wind. Its captain, Captain Henry Avery, and what is left of his crew, fear a seductive siren-like creature that marks those injured with a black spot on the palm of their hands, then appears and apparently kills them - but leaving no trace of its victim.

After being accused of being stowaways, The Doctor is forced to walk the plank while Rory is held captive and Amy is placed back in the hold. There she discovers a cutlass and a pirate outfit.

Just as The Doctor is about to fall into the sea Amy starts to tussle with the crew. But in the swordfight, a pirate and Rory both receive cuts from Amy’s cutlass. When a black mark appears on their hands they start to act strangely. Then the siren appears from the water and the injured pirate is seduced into touching the siren. When he does he disintegrates in a cloud of smoke.

Walking the Plank
Walking the Plank

To prevent Rory ending up the same way The Doctor orders everyone inside the ship, believing them to be safe away from open water, but the siren appears through seeped water and takes another crew member when he becomes injured by a leech in the water.

The Doctor, Amy, Rory, Captain Avery and the remaining crew then secure themselves in the ship’s magazine where it is dry. There, they discover Captain Avery’s son, Toby, who had stowed away aboard the ship, unaware that his father is a pirate, and so of his illicit deeds. Though uninjured Toby has come down with a fever and it is discovered that he shares a similar black mark on his palm.

Amy is Captured
Amy is Captured

The Doctor and Captain Avery, after a brief conflict over who is in charge, leave the others to try to bring the TARDIS to them. While they are gone the remaining pirates start to fight amongst themselves so creating more victims for the siren.

Meanwhile The Doctor and Captain Avery make it safely inside the TARDIS. But The Doctor finds that his time machine is acting haphazardly and they are forced to evacuate it before the TARDIS dematerialises to an unknown location. As they return to the others, The Doctor realises that the siren is using reflections to appear to them, such as that created by still water or the shiny metal and gems of the treasure acquired by the pirates. Realising the others are in danger they race back to warn the others. On there way they discover that a mutiny is taking place - but Captain Avery puts a stop to it resulting in the last of the pirates succumbing to the siren. The Doctor then starts to destroy any reflective surface on the ship and he insists that all of Avery’s treasure is thrown overboard.

A storm then begins, and Captain Avery has Amy, Rory, and The Doctor help him to hoist the sails to allow them to leave. However, in the chaos, Toby, while trying to bring his father his coat, drops a polished crown from it. The siren then emerges from it and Toby disintegrates when the small boy comes into contact with the siren. Then as the storm rages Rory is hit by a yardarm and falls into the ocean. Amy attempts to jump in after him but is stopped by The Doctor who rationalises that the siren has shown intelligence and will likely get to Rory before he drowns. The Doctor convinces Amy and Captain Avery to prick themselves to allow the siren to take them as well so they can negotiate with it.

Amy to the Rescue
Amy to the Rescue

They soon find themselves aboard an alien spaceship, its crew long dead from exposure to an Earth virus. The Doctor surmises the spaceship, the source of the distress signal, is trapped at the same time-space coordinates as Captain Avery’s ship. Furthermore, the siren uses mirror-like portals to travel between the two ships.

As they explore further they discover a room where all of Captain Avery’s men, including Toby and Rory, are in medical care, along with the TARDIS. As deduced by The Doctor they were taken by the siren, the black spot being a tissue sample for reference. However, when they try to rescue Rory, the siren appears and turns violent on them. The Doctor realises the siren is a medical program, seeking to heal the injured crew.

The Doctor and Amy manage to convince the siren to turn Rory over to their care, while Captain Avery decides to stay with his son and his crew in the spaceship. He is unable to go back to England himself while the spaceship will care for his crew. The pirates therefore start to explore the stars in the spaceship.

Using Rory’s nursing knowledge, Amy and The Doctor are able to revive Rory after he is removed from the life support. As they continue their journey in the TARDIS, Amy confides to Rory that they still cannot talk to The Doctor about his future death, while The Doctor secretly carries out another pregnancy scan on Amy. But like before the results prove inconclusive.

 
Swashbuckling Amy
Swashbuckling Amy
The Black Spot
The Black Spot
All At Sea
All At Sea
The Doctor and Captain Avery
The Doctor and Captain Avery
 
Something in the Water
Something in the Water
The Siren
The Siren
The Siren Attacks
The Siren Attacks
The Doctor with The Siren
The Doctor with The Siren




Quote of the Story


 'Okay. Groovy. So not just pirates today we've managed to bagsy a ship where there's a demon popping in.'

The Doctor



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Release Information

FormatTitleRelease Date (UK)Code NumberCover ArtRemarks
Video
DVD
Series 6 Part 1: - Episodes 1-7July 2011BBCDVD 3428Photo-montage
Video
Blu-Ray
Series 6 Part 1: - Episodes 1-7July 2011BBCBD 0151Photo-montage
Video
DVD
The Complete Sixth Series Box SetNovember 2011BBCDVD 3430Photo-montageDVD boxed set containing all 12 stories
Video
Blu-Ray
The Complete Sixth Series Box SetNovember 2011BBCBD 0153Photo-montageBlu-Ray boxed set containing all 12 stories
Video
DVD
The Complete Sixth Series Box Set (Limited Edition)November 2011BBCDVD 3564Photo-montageLimited Edition DVD boxed set containing all 12 stories
Video
Blu-Ray
The Complete Sixth Series Box Set (Limited Edition)November 2011BBCBD 0193Photo-montageLimited Edition Blu-Ray boxed set containing all 12 stories
Audio
CD
Original Television Soundtrack - Series 6December 2011Photo-montageMusic by Murray Gold
Video
Blu-Ray
The Complete Series 1-7 Box Set (Limited Edition)December 2013BBCBD 0242Photo-montageLimited Edition Blu-Ray boxed set containing all Series 1-7 stories at full 1080p high definition
Video
DVD
The Complete Sixth Series (2014 Re-release)August 2014BBCDVD 3970Photo-montageBoxed set containing all 12 stories
Video
Blu-Ray
The Complete Sixth Series Box Set (Limited Edition Steelbook)August 2020BBCBD 0505Photo-montageLimited Edition Blu-Ray Steelbook boxed set containing 12 stories


In Print

No Book Release
Doctor Who Magazine - PreviewIssue 434 (Released: June 2011)
Doctor Who Magazine - ReviewIssue 435 (Released: June 2011)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time TeamIssue 511 (Released: May 2017)
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of FictionIssue 588 (Released: April 2023)

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Photo Gallery


The Doctor and Companions

 
Matt Smith
The Eleventh Doctor

   

Karen Gillan
Amy Pond
 
Arthur Darvill
Rory Williams
   




On Release

DVD Cover
DVD Cover

BBC
VIDEO
Blu-Ray Cover
Blu-Ray Cover

BBC
VIDEO
Complete Series DVD Box Set
Complete Series DVD Box Set

BBC
VIDEO
Complete Series Blu-Ray Box Set
Complete Series Blu-Ray Box Set

BBC
VIDEO
   
Ltd Edition DVD Box Set
Ltd Edition DVD Box Set

BBC
VIDEO
Ltd Edition Blu-Ray Box Set
Ltd Edition Blu-Ray Box Set

BBC
VIDEO
Original Television Soundtrack Cover
Original Television Soundtrack Cover

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

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

BBC
VIDEO
Complete Series Blu-Ray Limited Edition Steelbook Box Set
Complete Series Blu-Ray Limited Edition Steelbook Box Set

BBC
VIDEO



Magazines

Doctor Who Magazine - Preview: Issue 434
Doctor Who Magazine - Preview: Issue 434

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - Review: Issue 435
Doctor Who Magazine - Review: Issue 435

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 511
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 511

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 588
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 588

Marvel Comics
   


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