Doctor Who series 7

This article is about the 2012–2013 series. For the 1970 season, see Doctor Who (season 7).

Doctor Who series 7
Series 7
File:New Doctor Who Titles (2012).png Title screen as seen in "Asylum of the Daleks". Each episode in series 7 features a unique version of the series' logo, the first mimicking the Daleks' distinctive bodywork.
No. of episodes	15
Release
Original network	BBC One BBC One HD
Original release	1 September 2012 – Spring 2013
Series chronology

In autumn 2012 the seventh series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who was being broadcast concurrently on BBC One in the United Kingdom, BBC America in the United States, and on Space in Canada, and also on ABC in Australia, with each episode released a week after its UK and North American release. The first episode was transmitted on 1 September 2012. Six episodes were scheduled for broadcast in 2012, including the 2012 Christmas special, with the remaining eight episodes in 2013.

This is the third series to feature Matt Smith as the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor, an alien Time Lord who travels through time and space in his TARDIS, which appears to be a British police box on the outside. In the first five episodes he is joined by his companions Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and her husband Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill). Following the Christmas special he is joined by his new companion, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman.

List of episodes

See also: List of Doctor Who serials

Story No.	Episode	Title	Directed by	Written by	UK viewers (million)	AI	Original air date	Production code
225	—	"The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe"	Farren Blackburn	Steven Moffat	10.77	84	25 December 2011 (2011-12-25)	—
The Doctor crash lands on Earth in 1938. He is helped back to the TARDIS by Madge Arwell (Claire Skinner), and promises to repay her for her kindness. Three years later, Madge's husband Reg (Alexander Armstrong) has disappeared while piloting an Avro Lancaster bomber in the Second World War, but as it is so close to Christmas she keeps it a secret from her two children, Lily (Holly Earl) and Cyril (Maurice Cole). The three evacuate London to stay at a house in Dorset, of which the Doctor masquerades as the caretaker. Cyril is lured through a large glowing present beneath the tree, which is in fact a portal to a winter planet the Doctor had planned to take the family to. Looking for Cyril, the Doctor and Lily and later Madge enter the box; Madge encounters miners, who plan to harvest the trees on the planet by melting them with acid rain. Meanwhile, Lily and the Doctor have followed Cyril's tracks to a tower where humanoid wooden creatures are trying to put a crown on Cyril, which will allow the souls of the trees to escape. When Madge arrives she is deemed "strong" enough to pilot the top of the tower to safety. When they land, Reg is alive as he had followed the light from the tower and landed safely. The Doctor turns down Christmas dinner with the family and instead visits his former companions and in-laws Amy and Rory, two years after he last saw them.
226	1	"Asylum of the Daleks"	Nick Hurran	Steven Moffat	8.33	89	1 September 2012 (2012-09-01)	3.1
The Doctor, Amy, and Rory are kidnapped by the Daleks, who explain that a planet they use as an asylum for mad Daleks must be destroyed, but to do that its force-field must be disabled. The field has already been ruptured due to the crash-landing of a precocious young woman, Oswin Oswald (Jenna-Louise Coleman) one year previously. The Daleks provide the three with bracelets to protect them against the planet's defense system, which will convert any visitors into Dalek puppets. Although they are guided by Oswin, who has hacked into the planet's systems, the converted remains of Oswin's crew steal Amy's bracelet. The Doctor goes to find Oswin, as she claims to be able to disable the planet's force-field, and Oswin hacks into the Dalek psychic link and erases all memory of the Doctor from the Daleks who had started to advance on him. The Doctor discovers that Oswin has herself been fully converted into a Dalek, yet she still believes herself to be human. She ultimately realises the truth of her situation, but lowers the force-field and the Doctor, Amy, and Rory escape via teleporter before the planet is destroyed by Daleks. The Doctor returns to the Dalek Parliament to find they have no memory of him due to Oswin's interference. NOTE: Surprise early appearance of Jenna-Louise Coleman.
227	2	"Dinosaurs on a Spaceship"	Saul Metzstein	Chris Chibnall	7.57	87	8 September 2012 (2012-09-08)	3.2
The Doctor attempts to prevent the destruction of an unmanned spaceship with a cargo of dinosaurs alongside Rory's father, Brian (Mark Williams), Queen Nefertiti (Riann Steele), and big-game hunter John Riddell (Rupert Graves). The Doctor and his companions discover that the ship is a Silurian ark designed to carry the reptilian humanoids to a new planet along with flora and fauna from their time period. The Doctor, Rory, and Brian are escorted by two robots to a human called Solomon who was injured in a raptor attack. Solomon, who had boarded the spaceship and killed its Silurian inhabitants in order to sell the dinosaurs on board, threatens the Doctor into repairing his legs and into giving him Queen Nefertiti after seeing her value. Missiles are fired from Earth to stop the ship from crashing into it. The Doctor disables Solomon's robots and rescues Nefertiti before he tricks the missiles into targeting Solomon's ship and detaching it from the Silurian ark, whereupon the missiles destroy his ship, killing Solomon. Meanwhile, Rory and Brian pilot the ark away from the Earth. With this done, Brian has gained a sense of adventure; he now travels the world. The Doctor, in the meantime, has taken the dinosaurs to their new home, Siluria.
228	3	"A Town Called Mercy"	Saul Metzstein	Toby Whithouse	8.42	85	15 September 2012 (2012-09-15)	3.3
The Doctor accidentally lands in a town in the American West c. 1870 where he discovers an alien, Jex, acting as the town's doctor, who is being sought by the Gunslinger, a cyborg. The Doctor discovers Jex was a scientist who experimented on volunteers to create cyborgs to fight in a war on his home planet; the Gunslinger is seeking revenge for what was done to him. To prevent the deaths of the townsfolk, he then offers Jex to the Gunslinger, but Amy talks him out of this. However, while the Doctor still believes Jex must answer for his crimes, when the town marshal sacrifices himself to protect Jex from a blast fired by the Gunslinger, he has a change of heart. Seeing that the Gunslinger can track Jex by his facial mark, the Doctor creates a distraction by having the townsfolk paint the mark on their faces and run about; Jex can reach his spaceship and escape with this occurring. However, when it would appear the Gunslinger would follow Jex and involve others in his vendetta again, Jex commits suicide by blowing up this spaceship. Without a purpose now that his vendetta has been completed and because he is nothing more than a weapon of war, the Gunslinger prepares to self-destruct. However, the Doctor talks him out of it and makes him the new marshal of Mercy.
229	4	"The Power of Three"	Douglas Mackinnon	Chris Chibnall	7.67	87	22 September 2012 (2012-09-22)	3.4
Amy and Rory begin to wonder whether they should choose between normal life and "Doctor Life"; when they go away with him, they become a part of his life, but the Doctor hasn't been around long enough to be a part of theirs. However, this all changes when several black cubes appear all over the world. Because they are inactive and pose no threat, the Doctor begins going insane with boredom; he goes away for a while, leaving UNIT in charge of keeping an eye on the cubes. An entire year goes by and the cubes suddenly begin activating random features before stopping the hearts of one third of humanity. The Doctor eventually tracks the cubes to the Shakri, the self-proclaimed "pest-controllers" of the universe; they are eliminating humanity before they can colonise in space, believing them to be an infestation. The Doctor reverses the electric pulse used to stop people's hearts and brings back those who were killed by it, blowing up the Shakri ship. At Brian's urging, the Doctor takes Amy and Rory back as full-time companions. NOTE: Appearance of the Brigadier's daughter, Kate Stewart.
230	5	"The Angels Take Manhattan"	Nick Hurran	Steven Moffat	7.82	88	29 September 2012 (2012-09-29)	3.5
Amy and Rory's final episode takes place in New York City and features the Weeping Angels. The Doctor takes Amy and Rory to Central Park. While the Doctor is reading Amy a novel about a character called Melody Malone, Rory is taken by a Weeping Angel on his way back from getting coffee. In 1938 New York City, Rory meets River Song, posing as a private investigator and, as the Doctor discovers, the author of his Melody Malone novel. The Doctor and Amy use the novel to break their way into a time-locked 1938 and find Rory, while he and River investigate the Angels' takeover of Manhattan. At the Winter Quay hotel, they find an aged Rory on his deathbed, confirming Rory's fate. The Angels created the hotel in order to keep their victims and maintain a constant source of potential energy on which to feed. To escape his fate, Rory and Amy jump off the top of the building to their deaths, creating a paradox which erases the Angels and their hotel. Waking up in a graveyard with the TARDIS, all seems well until Rory is transported by a surviving Angel. Rescuing him with another paradox would rip New York City apart. As the Doctor begs Amy to come back into the TARDIS, she bids a tearful farewell as she allows the Angel send her back to Rory, creating a fixed point in time. Later, the devastated Doctor reads an afterword by Amy in the novel, telling him all is well and asking him not to be alone, as well as requesting he visit young Amelia Pond as she waits for him in the garden.
231	6	Episode 6 (Christmas special)	Saul Metzstein	Steven Moffat	TBA	TBA	25 December 2012	3.6
This episode will introduce the new companion played by Jenna-Louise Coleman, with guest stars Tom Ward, and Richard E. Grant as the villain. It will be set in Victorian times.
232	7	Episode 7	Colm McCarthy	Steven Moffat	TBA	TBA	Early 2013	3.7
233	8	Episode 8	Farren Blackburn	Neil Cross	TBA	TBA	2013	3.8
234	9	Episode 9	Douglas Mackinnon	Mark Gatiss	TBA	TBA	2013	3.9
235	10	Episode 10	Jamie Payne	Neil Cross	TBA	TBA	2013	3.10
236	11	Episode 11	Mat King	Stephen Thompson	TBA	TBA	2013	3.11
237	12	Episode 12	Saul Metzstein	Mark Gatiss	TBA	TBA	2013	3.12
238	13	Episode 13	Stephen Woolfenden	Neil Gaiman	TBA	TBA	2013	3.13
239	14	Episode 14	TBD	Steven Moffat	TBA	TBA	2013	3.14

Supplemental episodes

Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Production code
"Good as Gold"	TBA	Children of Ashdene School	24 May 2012 (2012-05-24)	—
Amy reminds the Doctor he needs to have an adventure once in a while, the Doctor complies and sets the TARDIS to its "adventure setting". After a series of malfunctions, the ship lands in the middle of the London 2012 Olympic Games, where they are visited by a panicked Olympic runner, who claims he is being chased. His pursuer is revealed as a Weeping Angel, who is seeking to seize the Olympic Flame and rob the planet of the good will and spirit it symbolises. The Doctor vanquishes the Angel with the sonic screwdriver, and the runner resumes his mission. Before he leaves, he gives the Doctor his gold medal. As the Doctor prepares to embark on another adventure with Amy, the Weeping Angel begins to reform.
Pond Life	Saul Metzstein	Chris Chibnall	27–31 August 2012 (online) 1 September 2012 (BBC Red Button Service)	—
Five part mini-adventure premiering on the BBC's Doctor Who website. An omnibus version was shown on 1 September 2012 on the BBC Red Button service. Amy and Rory's life is seen throughout the year after the Doctor reunited with them at Christmas. Several times, they receive the Doctor's calls, learning of many ridiculous things he's up to. Other times, he shows up at the wrong time due to the TARDIS malfunctioning. He even accidentally leaves an Ood with them for a short while. When the Doctor calls again, he finds no one is home; he deletes his call. Unknown to him, Amy has kicked Rory out and is wishing the Doctor will come.
"P.S."	N/A	Chris Chibnall	12 October 2012 (online)	—
A mini episode, depicted in simple drawings, of a letter from Rory to his father Brian explaining that they will never see each other again.

Casting

The seventh series is the third starring Matt Smith as the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor. Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill, who portray Amy Pond and Rory Williams respectively, departed the programme in the fifth episode. The circumstances in which the pair leave was a mutual decision from Gillan and showrunner Steven Moffat. The actress previously stated that she did not want to make return cameos to the show.

On 21 March 2012, it was announced that Jenna-Louise Coleman would replace Gillan and Darvill as the next companion. She auditioned for the role in secrecy, pretending it was for something called Men on Waves, an anagram for "Woman Seven". Moffat chose her for the role because she worked the best alongside Smith and could talk faster than him. He stated that her character will be different from previous companions, though he is attempting to keep the details of her character a secret until she debuts in the Christmas special. In "Asylum of the Daleks", Coleman appears as the character Oswin Oswald, a secret which was kept from the public before transmission.

Guest stars include David Gyasi, Rupert Graves, David Bradley, Riann Steele as Queen Nefertiti in Episode 2, Ben Browder, Adrian Scarborough, Garrick Hagon, Steven Berkoff, Ruthie Henshall, Jemma Redgrave, Michael McShane. Dougray Scott, Jessica Raine, David Warner, Liam Cunningham cast in episode 11, and Rachael Stirling and her mother Dame Diana Rigg in episode 10. Mark Williams will appear in the second and fourth episodes as Rory's father. Alex Kingston will return to the series as her character River Song for Amy and Rory's final episode. Richard E. Grant and Tom Ward have been cast in the 2012 Christmas special, together with young actor Cameron Strefford playing a younger version of a character played by a well-known actor.

Production

Matt Smith during filming of the fifth episode in Central Park, New York.

The BBC commissioned the fourteen-episode seventh series on 8 June 2011. "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" was executive produced by Steven Moffat, Piers Wenger and Caroline Skinner. Beth Willis left the BBC and stepped down as executive producer after series 6 and Wenger also departed following the Christmas special, leaving Moffat and Skinner as executive producers for series 7. Production of Doctor Who relocated to the new Roath Lock studios in Cardiff midway through production of the series on 12 March 2012; the first episode to be filmed there is the Christmas special in Block Four, with the debut of Coleman's character; however it was reported that a later episode written by Neil Cross was the first Coleman filmed. Moffat has stated that the introduction of the new companion will "[reboot] the show a little bit" and "make you look at the Doctor differently".

Moffat has stated that the seventh series will be the opposite of the arc-driven nature of the sixth, consisting of mainly stand-alone stories. This was inspired by fan reactions to the title of "Let's Kill Hitler" when it was revealed at the end of "A Good Man Goes to War" with no plot details; he told the writers of the seventh series to "slut it up" with "big, huge, mad ideas" and "write it like a movie poster". Toby Whithouse, writer of the Wild West-themed third episode, stated that each episode would have more of a specific genre, and his was developed from a one-line pitch from Moffat. The stand-alone nature will mean that there are no two-part episodes or series-long story arcs. According to Dan Martin of The Guardian, Moffat stated that the goal of the series is "compressed storytelling"; Martin remarked that "Asylum of the Daleks" told more than some of the four-parters in the classic series.

In keeping with the blockbuster theme, the title sequence features a different look to the titles and logo in the title sequence to reflect the concept of the episode. The Time Vortex in the title sequence has also been tinted blue and green. The logo for "Asylum of the Dalek" mimics a Daleks distinct bodywork; the logo for "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" mimics a dinosaurs skin and scales; the logo for "A Town Called Mercy" mimics a western-type wooden plank; the logo for "The Power of Three" has many cubes; and the logo for "The Angels Take Manhattan" mimics the top of the Statue of Liberty.

The seventh series began shooting on 20 February 2012. Episodes 2 and 3 were the first to enter production, directed by Saul Metzstein. Much of the Wild West episode was filmed in March 2012 in the desert area of Almería, Spain, an area which contains Wild-West style streets that have been used in the making of many Western-set films. Filming the episode in Spain was cheaper than constructing a set in the UK. The fifth episode, Amy and Rory's last, was filmed in Central Park in New York City in April 2012, as well as at Cardiff University and a cemetery in Llanelli. The fourth episode was then filmed next; the only episode in the third block of production. Doctor Who Magazine reported that the Christmas special would be produced by itself in Block Four. In late May 2012, Coleman was spotted at a manor in the Vale of Glamorgan, filming what was reported to be the Christmas special. However, Neil Cross's episode, reportedly the first Coleman shot, was partially filmed in Margam Country Park, South Wales around the same time; and it was reported that the manor location was also for that episode, and that Moffat was still writing the Christmas special. The Christmas special began filming the week of 6 August.

Promotion

Smith, Gillan, Darvill, Moffat, and Skinner all promoted the series at the official Doctor Who convention in Cardiff in March 2012. At the convention the first trailer for the series premiered. Three promotional images of Smith and Coleman were released on 8 June, 11 June, and 13 June. New footage was shown at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con International on 15 July, consisting of clips from the second and third episodes. The second trailer for the series aired on the BBC on 2 August, as part of the coverage of the London Olympics. The 90-second trailer and a promotional image were first be made available online the morning of 2 August. "Asylum of the Daleks" was screened at BFI Southbank on 14 August, and at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival during 23–25 August. On 25 August it was also screened in New York City. Following the BFI screening, around twenty high-resolution images from the first five episodes were released on the BBC's Doctor Who website. A teaser trailer for "Asylum of the Daleks" was released on 18 August 2012, with a longer version released on 25 August. On 29 August at midnight, the BBC released poster-style artwork for episodes 2-5.

In the week leading up to the premiere, a five part mini-adventure was released serially from 27 to 31 August, with an omnibus version shown on the BBC Red Button service on 1 September. Entitled Pond Life and written by Chris Chibnall, it served as a prequel to the opening adventure by exploring what Amy and Rory were up to and the effects of the Doctor on their lives.

The 2012 Children in Need appeal will feature a special prequel and trailer to the 2012 Chistmas special.

Broadcast

The Doctor Who official Twitter account announced in March 2012 that it was planned that six episodes will be shown in 2012, including a Christmas Special, to be followed by eight in 2013. In July 2012, Smith stated that it would start in August, but Moffat later confirmed it was September. Part of the reason the show was moved to the autumn was because Moffat felt the darker nights suited the atmosphere of the programme, as well as the classic series originally airing in the autumn. He stated that the decision to split the series up originally came from the BBC, but he was open to anything that "shakes [the series] up" and making the audience wait would make it seem like an "event piece".

The first episode was broadcast on 1 September 2012 on BBC One in the United Kingdom, to be followed by the second and third episodes on the 8 September and 15 September 2012, respectively.

International broadcast

The series premiered on 1 September 2012 on BBC America in the United States, and on Space in Canada. Within minutes of the first episode's UK ending, it was released onto the ABC iView service at 5:10am on 2 September 2012. It premiered 8 September 2012 on ABC1 in Australia, and on 13 September 2012 in New Zealand on Prime TV.

DVD and Blu-ray releases

See also: List of Doctor Who DVD and Blu-ray releases

The first part of this series containing episodes 1-5 is planned be released on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK on 12 November 2012

External links

• Official website