Deep Breath (Doctor Who)

242 – "Deep Breath"
Doctor Who episode
Cast
Doctor Peter Capaldi (Twelfth Doctor) Matt Smith (Eleventh Doctor)
Companion Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald)
Guest Neve McIntosh – Madame Vastra Catrin Stewart – Jenny Flint Dan Starkey – Strax Peter Ferdinando – Half-Face Man Paul Hickey – Inspector Gregson Tony Way – Alf Maggie Service – Elsie Brian Miller – Barney Ellis George – Courtney Mark Kempner – Cabbie Graham Duff – Waiter Peter Hannah – Policeman Paul Kasey – Footman Michelle Gomez – Missy
Production
Directed by	Ben Wheatley
Written by	Steven Moffat
Script editor	Derek Ritchie
Produced by	Nikki Wilson
Executive producer(s)	Steven Moffat Brian Minchin
Music by	Murray Gold
Series	Series 8
Running time	76 minutes
First broadcast	23 August 2014 (2014-08-23)
Chronology
← Preceded by "The Time of the Doctor" Followed by → "Into the Dalek"

"Deep Breath" is the first episode of the eighth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, scheduled to be broadcast on BBC One and released in cinemas on 23 August 2014. It was written by showrunner and executive producer Steven Moffat and directed by Ben Wheatley.

The episode stars Peter Capaldi in his first full episode as the Twelfth Doctor, alongside Jenna Coleman as his companion Clara Oswald. It also features Neve McIntosh, Catrin Stewart, and Dan Starkey reprising their roles as Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint, and Strax. Capaldi's predecessor, Matt Smith, also makes a cameo appearance.

Plot

In Victorian London, the Pasternoster Gang, comprising of Silurian Madame Vastra, her human maid and wife Jenny, and Sontaran butler Strax, are summoned by the police force when a dinosaur suddenly materialises outside the House of Parliament. Vastra observes that the dinosaur has something stuck in its throat, and moments later it spits out the TARDIS onto the banks of the Thames. The Pasternoster Gang announce that they will deal with the dinosaur, before heading down to the TARDIS, only for the Doctor to emerge, closely followed by a confused Clara Oswald. As the Doctor deliriously begins speaking to the dinosaur, and struggles to remember who the people around him are, Clara explains that the Doctor has just regenerated. Overwhelmed, he collapses, and the Pasternoster Gang take him and Clara back to their residence.

Vastra manages to trick the Doctor into sleeping, while she confronts Clara on her prejudiced attitude to his changed face. Clara admits that she is struggling to adapt to the new Doctor, due to his stark difference to the old one. The Doctor awakens and heads down to the river, hearing the dinosaur's pleas for help due to its loneliness. However, as he arrives, closely followed by his concerned friends, the dinosaur bursts into flames. Angry and seeking answers, the Doctor discovers that this is not the first case of spontaneous combustion in London recently, and after spotting a seemingly unfazed man across the river, he jumps into the Thames to begin investigating. Clara is convinced to return home with the Pasternoster Gang.

The next morning, the Doctor is roaming the back streets for answers, and questions how his body chooses a new face when regenerating. He steals a man's coat, and finds something in a discarded newspaper. Back at Vastra's house, Clara reads the same newspaper, and discovers a message left for her, 'The Impossible Girl', pointing her towards a restaurant across London. Believing this to be from the Doctor, she heads there, and meets him there. He reveals he didn't leave the message, but before they have time to contemplate who did, they realise that the restaurant is full of robots, who stop them from leaving. They are then entrapped in their seats and lowered into a lair, where they find the man they saw at the river sat in a chair. Escaping via the sonic screwdriver, the Doctor and Clara realise that the man is a cyborg, but instead of the conventional human turning themselves into a robot, he is a robot turning himself into a human, and using body parts, taken from the victims of 'spontaneous combustion' across London, including the dinosaur.

The robots begin to wake up, and, although the Doctor manages to escape, Clara is trapped inside, believing the Doctor has left her to die. Although she nearly escapes by holding her breath so the robots do not realise she is human, she collapses from spending too long without air and is caught by their leader. He questions her on the Doctor's whereabouts, only for him to reappear, revealing he has been disguised as a robot since his apparent departure. The Pasternoster Gang suddenly arrive and, along with Clara, begin fighting off the robots, while the Doctor chases their leader up into the main restaurant.

The restaurant is carried up into the air by a hot air ballon made of human skin, with the Doctor and the lead robot inside. The Doctor realises that the robots are similar to the one he faced in "The Girl in the Fireplace", but from another ship. He also recognised that their leader has become more human than robot, as seen by his desire to find 'paradise' by flying into the sky. He forces the robot to look at London from above, and tells it that either it is going to kill itself or he will have to murder it to protect the human race. Just as the robots close in on Clara and the Pasternoster Gang, the lead robot is seen falling through the sky, and is impailed on the top of Big Ben. Its 'death' shuts down the rest of the robots.

The Doctor vanishes, leaving Clara fearing she will be stranded in Victorian London. However, Vastra reveals that, as she is the person who knows the Doctor best, she knows he will return for her, and sure enough he does. He agrees to return her home when she tells him she does not know who he is any longer, but when they land, Clara's phone begins ringing. Taking the call outside, she is shocked to hear the Eleventh Doctor, phoning her from his final moments on Trenzalore (as seen in 'The Time of the Doctor'). He tells her that the new Doctor needs her more than ever, and she agrees to help him adjust to his new body. The Twelfth Doctor, remembering the conversation, asks her whether she will help him, and she agrees to go with him for coffee.

The robot leader awakens in a beautiful garden, and meets Missy, a mysterious woman who claims to know the Doctor very well. She tells it that it has reached paradise at last.

Continuity

• The Twelfth Doctor often reflects that he finds the current situation of robots harvesting human organs to repair a ship to be naggingly familiar having first encountered it in The Girl in the Fireplace, but his addled brain is unable to make the connection even when he notes that the ship- the SS Marie Antoinette- is the sister ship to the SS Madame De Pompadour.
• The Doctor mentions that he used to have a scarf, but adds that he now considers that ridiculous. A scarf was the recognizing item of the Fourth Doctor throughout his era.
• The Doctor mentions Amy, making reference to her legs. This is a reference to The Impossible Astronaut.
• After gaining a new regeneration cycle and regaining his youth in The Time of the Doctor, the Eleventh Doctor took the time to phone Clara in the future before he regenerates; reassuring her about his new incarnation still being him and that he needs her help as he gets used to his new body, he also complains once he finds out from Clara that not only is his new incarnation older but that he also has grey hair.
• While performing a physical examination of Clara, Strax makes an observation on her thorax as did Linx with Sarah Jane Smith in The Time Warrior as well as Commander Skorr to Martha Jones in The Sontaran Stratagem.
• The Doctor wonders who gave Clara the phone number of the TARDIS. She got it in The Bells of Saint John.
• The Doctor is sure he has already seen his new face before. Caecilius from The Fires of Pompeii look exactly like him.
• In his confusion, the Doctor thinks Clara is the regeneration of Handles, the Doctor's Cyberman-head companion from The Time of the Doctor.

Production

Filming

Shooting for the episode took place at the Maltings in Cardiff on 7 January 2014, and later at Mount Stuart Square on the 13th. Scenes were also filmed on Queen Street on the 28th.

Promotion

Steven Moffat has announced to the fans that this episode is going to be a "big introduction" for Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor. He says that there will be "plenty of action and nonsense and jeopardy, as there ever is in Doctor Who."

On 11 August 2014 a 30 second trailer for the episode was released on Twitter.

Broadcast and reception

Pre-broadcast leak

On 6 July 2014, the scripts for the first five episodes of the series (including "Deep Breath") were inadvertently leaked online from BBC Worldwide's Latin America headquarters, prompting a plea from BBC Worldwide to keep the storylines of the five episodes secret. Also leaked was a black-and-white rough cut of "Deep Breath", missing most of the visual effects but otherwise mostly complete. The BBC blamed the leak on the fact that the files had been stored on a publicly accessible server in its new Miami-based headquarters. Steven Moffat, speaking at the London Film and Comic Con, called the leak "horrible, miserable and upsetting".

Television

The episode was set to be simulcast worldwide on 23 August 2014.

Cinemas

The episode had its world premiere in Cardiff on 7 August 2014 as part of the series 8 world tour. As part of the tour, advance screenings are also scheduled to be held in London on 7 August, Seoul on 9 August and Sydney on 12 August. As with "The Day of the Doctor", "Deep Breath" will receive a worldwide cinema release at participating cinemas on 23 August 2014. The episode will receive a midnight screening in 12 cities across the United States on August 23, and then will be shown in 550 cinemas on the 25th. The cinema screenings of the episode will be accompanied by a five minute prequel.

Reception

Critical Reception

Upon airing, "Deep Breath" received highly positive reviews from British TV critics, with many praising Moffat's script, the introduction and stylisation of the new Doctor, and the performances of Capaldi and Coleman.

The Guardian praised the episode, labelling Capaldi's performance as "intimidating, bold and unsettling", and praising Ben Wheatley's direction in the episode's tenser moments, calling it "the stuff of true terror and wonderment". The Mirror also praised the episode, though criticizing Matt Smith's cameo. However, they ultimately labelled the episode "impeccable" and stating that Capaldi "has all the hallmarks of a great Doctor". The Telegraph also heavily praised Capaldi's performance, saying that he "crackles with fierce intelligence". They also labelled Moffat's writing as "smart", and stated that Coleman gave a "spirited performance". They ultimately awarded the episode 4/5 stars.

Home media

"Deep Breath" will receive a standalone DVD and Blu-ray release in the United Kingdom on 8 September 2014, the United States on 9 September, and Australia on 10 September. Thereafter, it will be released in the Complete Eighth Series DVD and Blu-ray boxset in the United Kingdom on 17 November 2014, and Australia on 19 November.

External links

• "Deep Breath" at the BBC Doctor Who homepage
• Template:Brief
• "Deep Breath" at IMDb