 This story is the fifth story of Season Thirty Four (New Series 8). It has been written by Stephen Thompson and Steven Moffat, and was directed by Douglas Mackinnon. It stars Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman with Keeley Hawes guest starring.
Keeley Hawes is well known for her starring roles in several high-profile BBC dramas including Detective Inspector Lindsay Denton in the recent second series of Line of Duty (where she received rave reviews), Lady Agnes Holland in Upstairs Downstairs, Detective Inspector Alex Drake in 1980s-set Ashes to Ashes, and Zoe Reynolds in Spooks. In this story Keeley Hawes plays a villainous banker with a dark secret.
Keeley Hawes, who is credited as playing the part of Ms Delphox, is not credited as playing Madame Karabraxos, presumably as she appeared mostly as Ms Delphox. Also appearing uncredited in this story are: Samuel Anderson, as Danny Pink, and Kevan Brighting as the vault's security voice.
This story also stars Jonathan Bailey and Pippa Bennett-Warner. Jonathan Bailey's previous credits include: Five Children and It (2004), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), Leonardo (2011), Groove High (2012) and Broadchurch (2013-2015). While Pippa-Bennett Warner's previous credits include: Come Fly With Me (2010), Spirit Children (2011), Pickman's Model (2012) and The Smoke (2014) and Death in Paradise (2014).
The Teller is played by Ross Mullan who previously played a Silent in the 2013 Eleventh Doctor story "The Time of The Doctor".
This story is set around a time travel-based bank robbery and it has been revealed that Steven Moffat had thought of the concept some years earlier before handing it over to Steve Thompson when he found a way to utilise it.
This is Steve Thompson's third Doctor Who story, following 2013’s "Journey to the Centre" of the TARDIS and 2011’s pirate adventure "The Curse of the Black Spot". Steve Thompson also provided scripts for BBC1’s Sherlock such as The Blind Banker, series two finale The Reichenbach Fall and The Sign of Three which was broadcast in January 2014.
Steve Thompson borrowed concepts from the 'classic heist movie', adapting them for science fiction. The Teller came from this notion as 'the ultimate CCTV system' alongside Psi and Saibra as the motley crew, endowed with specialist skills. Steve Thompson also made a different approach to his 'monster'. In "The Curse of the Black Spot", he found that a CGI monster used up the entire special effects budget. For "Time Heist" prosthetics were used leaving room for CGI to create the alien worlds.
Written before the Twelfth Doctor was cast, Steve Thompson expressed delight at being able to write for this new Doctor, scripting him, per Peter Capaldi's description, as being 'less user-friendly'.
This is the third story directed by Douglas Mackinnon for Season Thirty Four (New Series 8) - the previous two stories being "Listen" and "Flatline". Douglas Mackinnon also previously directed the 2008 Tenth Doctor story "The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky" and the Eleventh Doctor stories "The Power of Three" in 2012 and "Cold War" in 2013. In addition Douglas MacKinnon's work, on the second series of the crime thriller Line of Duty, has been highly acclaimed.
Speaking about the premise for this story, Douglas Mackinnon revealed 'What we wanted to do was a heist movie for Doctor Who. I've watched virtually every heist movie there's ever been, and it incorporates things into it, but because it's Doctor Who, time travel is involved'.
The read through for this story took place on the 11th February 2014. Filming started on the 3rd March and finished three weeks later on the 24th March.
Filming locations for this story include Cardiff’s Oval Basin and took place at George Street in Bridgend on the 5th March 2014, and in Roald Dahl Plass, Cardiff Bay on 13rd March 2014. Filming continued at the Hadyn Ellis Building, part of Cardiff University, on the 18th March 2014, and at the nearby Bute Park the next day. Scenes were also filmed at the Uskmouth Power Station, previously a location for the 2011 Christmas Special "The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe" and "Into the Dalek".
Reports during recording revealed that Peter Capaldi had suffered a head injury while climbing a tree to film this story. However, a BBC spokesperson responded by stating that the apparent gash was actually makeup applied for filming.
Media coverage of filming made note of a new monster that was spotted on set, with some calling it Doctor Who's 'strangest monster yet'.
The Doctor, when telling The Teller about his memories, alludes to the Fourth Doctor and the Eleventh Doctor (or Second Doctor) by their scarf and bowties respectively. Unlike the Eleventh Doctor, who considered them to be 'cool', the Twelfth Doctor thought that they were 'embarrassing'.
The Doctor makes a remark that implies some ongoing degree of self-hatred (see the 2010 Eleventh Doctor story "Amy's Choice").
The Doctor is heard to call Clara his 'boss', but unlike his previous self he does so sarcastically (see 2013 Eleventh Doctor story "The Crimson Horror").
Psi and Saibra are identify as human variants: augmented human and mutant human respectively.
This is the third story of this season not to feature Missy, the first was "Robot of Sherwood" and the second was "Listen".
A bank staffed by clones of its owner was encountered by The Doctor's former companion Bernice Summerfield, who like The Doctor, came there to steal something (see the Big Finish Productions' Bernice Summerfield audio story "Glory Days").
The Doctor is heard to note that Clara got his phone number from 'a woman in a shop', connecting with the events of the 2013 Eleventh Doctor story "The Bells of Saint John" and this season's "Deep Breath". He also notes that very few people actually have his number.
Evidently The Doctor still has not got around to rerouting the external phone through the console (see "The Time of The Doctor").
It is revealed that The TARDIS cannot be piloted properly in the wake of a solar storm. This is not the first time a solar storm has created problems for The Doctor. In "The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People" a solar storm animated the Gangers, in effect giving them enough autonomy to launch a revolt.
The Doctor is heard to suggest the Satanic Nebula, the Laguna of Lost Stars, and Brighton as possible places to visit, 'Or we could go to Brighton…'. If The Doctor suggests a trip to Brighton - watch out! When the Fourth Doctor tried to take Leela to this holiday resort on the South coast they ended up miles away facing a Rutan invasion in a lighthouse (see the 1977 Fourth Doctor story "Horror of Fang Rock"). Later, when he attempted to attend the opening of the Brighton Pavilion he got the place right but the TARDIS materialised in the wrong time. The visit however, still ended in disaster when K9 was blown up whilst taking a dip on Brighton beach (see "The Leisure Hive").
This is not the first time memory worms have appeared in the show. We first saw one of these strange creatures in the 2012 Christmas Special, "The Snowmen". Like in that story coming into contact with one wipes away chunks of memory but apparently leaves the ‘victim’ otherwise unharmed.
The Doctor's statement 'You agreed to rob the most impregnable bank in history…' could suggest that he has got over his antipathy towards that adjective! In the 1970 Fourth Doctor story "Robot" The Doctor is heard telling The Brigadier that he ‘Never cared much for the word impregnable. Sounds a bit too much like unsinkable’. When his old friend asked what was wrong with ‘unsinkable’, he replied, ‘Nothing, as the iceberg said to the Titanic…’.
The Doctor mentions an encounter with Cesare Borgia, the Italian nobleman, politician and cardinal born in Rome in the 1470s. He was the brother of the notorious Lucrezia Borgia and widely regarded as a capable general and statesman, ultimately undone by his reliance on his father - Pope Alexander VI. At one point Cesare employed The Doctor’s old friend Leonardo da Vinci as a military architect and engineer and it’s possible that this is when their paths crossed.
When Psi attempts to gain The Teller’s attention, so as to lure The Teller away from Clara, we hear him state that ‘every famous burglar in history is hiding in this bank right now in one body!’. We also see a stream of villains, each individual appearing very briefly. These include several aliens who have previously featured in the show such as a Sensorite (from the 1964 First Doctor story "The Sensorites"), a member of the Slitheen family, the Gunslinger (from the 2012 Eleventh Doctor story "A Town Called Mercy", an Ice Warrior and a Terileptil (from the 1982 Fifth Doctor story "The Visitation"). Although the Terileptils have not had a major appearance since their debut story they were mentioned more recently in the 2010 Eleventh Doctor story "The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang" and "The Time of The Doctor".
Other aliens seen in Psi’s rapid rogues gallery include a Weevil and James Marsters, as Captain John Hart, (see the Torchwood stories "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" and "Exit Wounds"). This marks the first on-screen reference to a Torchwood character in Doctor Who since "The End of Time".
We also glimpse what appears to be Androvax - a ruthless ‘body snatcher’ seen in two of The Sarah Jane Adventures stories: "Prisoner of the Judoon" and "The Vault of Secrets" - and The Trickster, who also appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures. Although never seen in Doctor Who, this mysterious menace was referenced by The Doctor in the 2008 Tenth Doctor story "Turn Left".
Abslom Daak, from the Doctor Who comics is also seen. The inclusion of Abslom Daak is one of the few examples of a television story referencing a character who originated outside of the television story itself.
The device that can restore Psi’s memory is called a Neophyte Circuit. The word neophyte comes from the Greek neophutos with neo meaning ‘new’ and phutos meaning ‘planted’. It is therefore an appropriately named circuit as it allows Psi’s memories to be newly planted in his consciousness.
In the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways" The Doctor previously saw an atomic disintegrator which was actually a teleporter.
An Egyptian sarcophagus is seen in the private vault (see also "Pyramids of Mars").
This story shares the same pre-opening theme sting with "Robot of Sherwood" which, interestingly, is from Season Twenty Seven (New Series 1) to Season Thirty (New Series 4).
This story was one of five scripts leaked online after being sent for translation to a BBC Worldwide server in Miami. A rough cut of the story was also leaked on the 21st August 2014 following the leaks of the first three episodes of the season ("Deep Breath", "Into the Dalek" and "Robot of Sherwood"). It was followed shortly by the leak of the fourth episode "Listen".
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(Position = 7 out of 12)
