Night and the Doctor

Night and the Doctor was the umbrella title for a series of five mini-episodes of Doctor Who released as part of the complete series 6 home video release. Included in the anthological series were Bad Night, Good Night, First Night, Last Night and Up All Night. According to Doctor Who Confidential: The Night's Tale, the first four episodes were directed by Richard Senior.

All but Up All Night are written by Steven Moffat; Up All Night is written by Tom MacRae but is erroneously credited to Moffat on screen; a correction is printed in the booklet that accompanied the Series 6 box set.

Episodes

Bad Night

Amy wakes to answer the TARDIS phone to discover the Doctor has been busy while she and Rory were asleep. The Doctor is having an adventure with her daughter.

Good Night

Amy finally gets to ask the Doctor the question that has been plaguing her since TV: Space: how can she remember two distinct histories of her life since the universe was rebooted in TV: The Big Bang? The Doctor in part answers her question by giving her a chance to do a good deed for herself when she was a child.

First Night

The Doctor arrives at Stormcage to pick up River Song on the evening of her imprisonment on twelve-thousand consecutive life sentences. It's their "first date", but his plans are complicated when a future version of River turns up.

Last Night

With no fewer than three River Songs from different times roaming the TARDIS, the Doctor has to avoid contaminating the timeline. Along the way, he encounters a future version of himself en route to their final outing (as described in TV: Forest of the Dead). The Doctor sends the second River away by activating her vortex manipulator and the third River leaves with her Doctor, but not before revealing this will be the last time his wife will see the Eleventh Doctor. After they leave, the Doctor heads off on his adventure with the correct River.

Up All Night

This mini-episode is unconnected to the other four and is in fact a prelude to TV: Closing Time, focusing on Craig Owens and his family the night before the events of the episode.

Cast

• The Doctor – Matt Smith (all but Up All Night)
• Amy Pond – Karen Gillan (Bad Night and Good Night)
• Rory Williams – Arthur Darvill (Bad Night)
• River Song – Alex Kingston (First Night and Last Night)
• Craig Owens – James Corden (Up All Night)
• Sophie – Daisy Haggard (Up All Night)

Crew

To be added

References

"Silence in the Library" was referenced in Last Night when future Doctor spoke to past Doctor talking about the Singing Towers and how when they first met River Song and she told his 10th incarnation about it being their last date.

Story notes

• None of the episodes have the usual opening credits sequence. Instead a version of the series logo is shown on screen with no music accompaniment. The only on-screen credit is a writer credit for each episode; there are no closing credits. The episode title and writer credit are superimposed over the opening scene of each mini-episode -- the first time this has been done for a Doctor Who story, not counting the 1996 TV movie, since the 1960s.
• None of the episodes feature the Eleventh Doctor in his usual clothing. He wears formal evening wear. (TV: The Big Bang, Let's Kill Hitler)

Continuity

• The question Amy raises in Good Night harks back to the question she tried to ask the Doctor in TV: Space.
• The two Eleventh Doctors discuss The Library (TV: Forest of the Dead) and it is suggested the future Eleventh Doctor is about to experience River's final outing with him.
• Up All Night takes place shortly before TV: Closing Time.

Home video releases

DVD releases

• Night and the Doctor was released in the Series 6 DVD box set, in November 2011, along with the rest of the series.

Blu-ray releases

• Night and the Doctor was also released on Blu-ray as part of the Series 6 box set released in November 2011.