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{{real world}}{{title|''{{PAGENAME}}''}}
{{title dab away}}
{{Infobox NewTV
{{real world}}
| story name      = The Girl Who Waited
{{ImageLinkTV}}
| image          = [[file:Vlcsnap-2011-09-13-15h41m59s232.png|250px]]
{{Infobox Story SMW
| number         = [[Series 6 (Doctor Who)|Series 6]]
|image              = TwoAmys GirlWhoWaited.jpg
| story number   = 220
|series            = [[Doctor Who television stories|''Doctor Who'' television stories]]
| doctor         = [[Eleventh Doctor]]
|season number     = Series 6 (Doctor Who 2005)
| companions     = [[Amy Pond]]<br>[[Rory Williams]]
|series episode number = 10
| enemy           = [[Handbot]]s  
|story number       = 221
| setting         = [[Apalapucia]]  
|doctor             = Eleventh Doctor
| writer         = [[Tom MacRae]]
|companions         = [[Amy Pond|Amy]], [[Rory Williams|Rory]]
| director       = [[Nick Hurran]]
|featuring          = [[Amy Pond (The Girl Who Waited)|Amy]]
| producer       = [[Marcus Wilson]]
|enemy             = [[Handbot]]s
| confidential   = [[What Dreams May Come]]
|setting           = {{il|[[Two Streams Facility]]|[[The Doctor's TARDIS|The TARDIS]]}}
| broadcast date = [[10th September]] [[2011]]
|writer             = Tom MacRae
| format         = 1x 45 minutes episode
|director           = [[Nick Hurran]]
| production code = 6.10
|producer           = [[Marcus Wilson]]
| previous story  = [[Night Terrors]]
|confidential       = What Dreams May Come (CON episode)
| next story     = [[The God Complex]]}}{{TV stub}}
|broadcast date     = 10 September 2011
'''''{{PAGENAME}}''''' was the tenth episode in the [[Series 6 (Doctor Who)|sixth series]] of ''[[Doctor Who]]''. The moral choice at the centre of the story made it a character study of the relationship between [[Amy Pond|Amy]] and [[Rory Williams|Rory]].
|network            = BBC One
|format             = 1x45 minute episode
|production code   = 2.10
|prev              = Night Terrors (TV story)
|next               = The God Complex (TV story)
|made prev          = The Curse of the Black Spot (TV story)
|made next          = The God Complex (TV story)
|trailer            = Doctor Who The Girl Who Waited NEW Trailer
|trailer2          = Exclusive DW The Girl Who Waited Intro
|clip              = Exclusive Doctor Who Sneak Peek The Girl Who Waited
|bts                = Birth of 'Old Amy' {{uc:exclusive dw}} Insider, Ep 10
}}
'''''The Girl Who Waited''''' was the tenth episode of [[Series 6 (Doctor Who 2005)|series 6]] of ''[[Doctor Who]]''.
 
The moral choice at the centre of the story made it a character study of the relationship between Amy and Rory. The Eleventh Doctor's recklessness toward travelling across history would also be brought into question, and how he chose to lie in the face of a grim outcome.


== Synopsis ==
== Synopsis ==
Amy is trapped in a quarantine facility for victims of an alien plague on [[Apalapucia]] – a plague that can kill the Doctor in a day. The Doctor can use the TARDIS to smash through time and break in, but then Rory is on his own. He must find Amy and bring her back to the TARDIS before the alien doctors can administer their deadly medicine. Rory is about to encounter a very different side to his wife. Can he rescue Amy before she is killed by kindness?<ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/tv/2011/wk37/sat.shtml#sat_doctor</ref>
The [[Eleventh Doctor]], [[Rory Williams]] and [[Amy Pond]] land on Apalapucia in the middle of a [[Chen-7|plague]]. Amy is left behind, and the Doctor and Rory must save her...but [[time]] for Amy is running at a different speed.


== Plot ==
== Plot ==
[[Eleventh Doctor|The Doctor]] takes [[Rory Williams|Rory]] and [[Amy Pond|Amy]] to the planet [[Apalapucia]], supposedly a top holiday destination, but they arrive in a clinically white room, its only exit a door with two buttons. As Amy steps back into [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] to collect her phone, the Doctor and Rory pass through the door using one of the buttons to find a white room with a giant 'magnifying glass'. Amy follows but uses the other button. She finds a similar room, but no sign of the others.
The [[Eleventh Doctor]] brings [[Amy Pond|Amy]] and [[Rory Williams|Rory]] to the resort planet of [[Apalapucia]], one of the top holiday destinations in the [[universe]]. Though he promises views of "sunsets, spires, and soaring [[silver]] colonnades", they step out of [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] to a clinically white room possessing only an exit door with two buttons, labelled "Green Anchor" and "Red Waterfall". While Amy steps back into the TARDIS to retrieve her [[mobile phone]], the Doctor and Rory use the door — pressing the "Green Anchor" button — and enter another room, which holds a table on which rests a large [[magnifying glass]]. When Amy steps back into the corridor, she also uses the door — pressing the "Red Waterfall" button — and finds herself in a similar-looking room, though Rory and the Doctor are not present.
 
[[File:Doctor Who 6x10 The Girl Who Waited 065.jpg|thumb|left|The Doctor and Rory are terrified by the virus.]]
The Doctor activates the [[time glass]] and sees Amy. A [[Handbot]] enters the room, though, and welcomes the Doctor and Rory to the [[Two Streams Facility]], a "kindness facility" for victims of [[Chen-7]], the so-called "one-day plague" (once the host is infected, they die in a day) which affects [[Binary vascular system|two-hearted races]] — including native [[Apalapucian]]s ‎and [[Time Lord]]s.


The Doctor realizes that Amy hasn't joined them. He discovers that she has ended up in a second, faster time stream, but he is able to talk with her through the glass scope. A week has already passed for her. The Doctor and Rory soon find [[Handbot|a faceless, white robot]], who explains they are in the Two Streams "kindness facility", helping to deal with a plague, [[Chen-7]], that affects only races [[Binary vascular system|with two hearts]]. This includes the native [[Apalapucian]]s and [[Time Lord]]s. The robot, and others like it, do not recognize the two as alien life forms, and tries to inject them with 'medicine' that would kill them. The Doctor warns Amy, and tells her to wait. He will rescue her. Rory and he race back to the TARDIS with the glass scope, using it to lock onto Amy's time stream to effect her rescue. The Doctor, forced to stay in the TARDIS for fear of the Chen-7 virus, gives Rory his sonic screwdriver, the glass scope, and a set of glasses that allows the Doctor to see, hear, and communicate with him, guiding him to find Amy.
As the Doctor and Rory are held at bay by the robot, Amy appears to fast-forward within the glass; when the Doctor finally stabilises it, she angrily informs him that it has been a week since they last spoke. From this, the Doctor is able to [[deduce]] that Amy has wound up in a faster [[time stream]] which they cannot access; their only means of communicating with her is through the glass. The Handbot informs them that the other time streams are synced for visits, so those not affected by the Chen-7 [[virus]] are able to watch the entire lives of their quarantined loved ones, as opposed to being limited to the viewing of one day on their deathbed. This is meant as a kindness for the patient and loved ones, as the virus that kills in a day instead takes several years to kill. When Rory exits the Green Anchor room and steps into the Red Waterfall room to find Amy, she is not there.


Rory explores more of the facility, but soon is set on by more robots. He is saved by a much older Amy, a fugitive who has hidden from the complex's sensors for close to four decades. The Doctor has locked onto her time stream at the wrong point. He tries to get Rory to convince the older Amy to help locate the younger one but the older Amy is bitter, having waited for rescue as the Doctor instructed growing ever more resentful in the time being. She has been alone for exactly thirty-six years, three months and four days, save for the complex's computer [[Interface|interface]], and a disarmed robot she calls [[Rory (Handbot)|Rory]]. Despite Rory and the Doctor's assurances that rescuing Amy in the past will prevent the older Amy from suffering, she refuses to help, knowing that saving the younger version of herself would mean she never existed. Rory angrily blames the Doctor, saying that he should take more care when traveling to avoid situations such as these, to which The Doctor sternly states that that is not the way he does things, causing Rory to storm off, angrily throwing his glasses onto the facility floor. Hearing a faint transmission emminating from the broken glasses, The Doctor detects signals from the younger Amy nearby, and Rory finds her through the glass scope, weeping. Rory sets the scope to allow the older Amy to speak to her younger self, but the older Amy repeats that she has experienced this before. Hearing her future self warn about the time streams convinced her to wait for rescue, Rory manages to convince the older Amy to change her mind. Realising that time can be altered if you are aware of the future timeline, as Amy is, the older Amy decides to help, but demands that the Doctor take her too. The Doctor says this is a difficult but not impossible action and agrees. As Rory reroutes a control panel that maintains the facility's time streams, the Doctor helps the two Amys synchronize their thoughts, letting the two exist at the same time.
The Doctor removes the magnifying glass from the table, but accidentally activates an alarm in the process. He orders Amy to go into the facility and seek a hiding place where she might wait for him to find her. Before he leaves, he warns her to not let the Handbots administer any [[medicine]] to her, because she possesses only one [[heart]], and is immune to Chen-7. The Handbots' "kindness" is medicine meant for a different species and will kill her. Before departing, Amy asks Rory to save her. The Doctor and Rory return to the TARDIS, where the Doctor uses the magnifying glass to lock onto Amy's time stream. Because the Doctor is at risk of becoming infected with Chen-7 (which prevents [[regeneration]]), he cannot go into the facility; therefore, he sends Rory in his place, though they are in constant communication through a pair of [[glasses]] wired with a [[camera]]. The Doctor insists that it is very difficult to break through a time wall, but sends the TARDIS off on course regardless.


With these changes, the Doctor's glasses fail. Rory and both Amys must race through groups of the robots to get to the TARDIS and safety. As they near its location, the older Amy falls back to protect the other two. Younger Amy runs into a robot and is sedated. As older Amy covers him, Rory takes younger Amy into the TARDIS. Just before older Amy manages to reach the TARDIS doors, The Doctor slams the door behind him.
Meanwhile, Amy has arrived in the Two Streams lobby, where she is met by a holographic receptionist informing her of all the "entertainment zones" within the facility that she now has access to as a resident. She is also introduced to the [[Interface]], who claims to be Amy's guide within the facility. As Amy strolls along a promenade looking for somewhere to hide and wait for the Doctor, she is met by a series of Handbots, all of whom attempt to inject her with "kindness". She seeks shelter from the pursuing Handbots within a vent system in a maintenance room. The smoke from the vent prevents the Handbots from detecting her, and she manages to escape.


The Doctor tells Rory that it is impossible for both Amys to exist in the same time stream. Rory must choose which Amy he wants. The older Amy and he bid a tearful farewell from behind the shut TARDIS door as older Amy tells Rory that she is giving the younger Amy her days with Rory as a gift, and that he should move on without her. The older Amy then asks the interface to show her a holographic projection of Earth, her home, as she reflects on the time she fell in love with Rory, and is finally taken by the robots. Later, the Doctor and Rory have resolved their issues with each other and Rory asks if the Doctor knew all along that two Amy's would never work, The Doctor simply states that he promised to save Amy and he has. Rory, now grateful for the Doctor's actions, walks over to Amy. She wakes and asks for her older self. Neither the Doctor nor Rory can answer her.
She arrives in another white room with a console in the centre and empty doorways surrounding it. This is the gate, and the console buttons control various doorways which lead to the entertainment zones. Amy chooses a majestic garden, which the Interface informs her is the perfect replica of [[Shill Governor]]'s mansion on Shallana. Amy asks the Interface about the vent system she hid in earlier. The vent channels the exhaust fumes from the temporal engines, which hold the multiple time streams in place. Amy [[deduce]]s from this that the engines interfere with the Handbots' sensors and wonders where the temporal engines are located. The Interface points her in the right direction, and, as Amy prepares to leave in search of them, two Handbots materialise around her. Utilising the sleep sensors on their hands, she presses them together, deactivating both and escaping once more. Arriving at the temporal engines room, Amy scrawls a message for the Doctor and Rory on the door: "Doctor, I'm waiting."


==Cast==
Meanwhile, Rory and the Doctor have landed in Amy's time stream, and Rory is exploring the art gallery when he is confronted by a warrior wearing makeshift armour — made from a dismantled Handbot — and bearing a katana. The warrior lunges at him with the sword raised. With Rory cornered, it whispers that it waited for him. As it steps away, it removes the helmet shielding its face to reveal that it is, in fact, [[Amy Pond (The Girl Who Waited)|Amy — though she is much older than before]]. The Doctor, who is able to see Amy through Rory's glasses, realises that he landed the TARDIS much later in Amy's [[time stream]] than he had initially anticipated.
*[[Eleventh Doctor|The Doctor]] - [[Matt Smith]]
*[[Amy Pond]] - [[Karen Gillan]]
*[[Rory Williams]] - [[Arthur Darvill]]
*[[Check-in girl]] - [[Josie Taylor]]
*[[Interface]] (voice) - [[Imelda Staunton]]
*[[Handbot]]s (voice) - [[Stephen Bracken-Keogh]]<ref>Credited in ''Radio Times'', but not on-screen.</ref>


==Crew==
Amy takes out a Handbot that has snuck up behind Rory, rewiring its black box with her "[[sonic probe]]" — which she has constructed during her time in the facility — to shield her presence from the other Handbots. Rory questions why Amy is still in the facility when she is clearly much older, and she bitterly replies that it's because they didn't save her as they'd promised. She has been living in the facility for thirty-six years, and during that time, she has come to hate the Doctor more than she's ever hated anyone in her life.
 
Amy leaves the room, closely followed by Rory, who suggests that they could return the TARDIS to the right time stream and stop Amy's wait from happening; however, the Doctor admits that this is Amy's time stream, so they can't leave. They return to the temporal engines room to find [[Rory (Handbot)|a Handbot that Amy has literally disarmed and named Rory]]; it is her sole companion, though she refers to it as a pet. She continues to berate the Doctor, claiming that all she had for thirty-six years was cold hard reality, and her life is hell. The Doctor asks to speak to the Interface, insisting that he will put everything right. Since the Interface cannot be activated inside the engine room, Amy takes Rory to the garden. The Interface shows the Doctor where the regulator valve is held, and the Doctor asks Rory to speak to Amy so they can run over "technical specifications". With the information he gets from her, the Doctor realises that he can set the time streams right by using the temporal engines to fold the two points of Amy's timeline together. However, Amy angrily rejects this plan to save her past self.
 
They return to the temporal engines room, with the Doctor pleading for Amy to agree to the plan. She continues to resist, knowing that helping her past self will mean the past thirty-six years of her life never happened and she would cease to exist. Instead, she asks for the Doctor and Rory to take her with them, leaving the younger Amy behind to live out the next thirty-six years in solitude. Rory, who is angry at the Doctor for causing so much trouble, angrily throws the glasses to the ground; the feedback on them allows the Doctor to hear the present Amy crying in her own point on the timeline within the engine room. Rory uses the time glass to view the younger Amy and forces the older Amy to confront her own past.
 
As the older Amy and her past self communicate, the older Amy bitterly begins to remember the real reason she was never rescued: it wasn't because Rory and the Doctor left her behind, but because her future self refused to help them when it mattered. The two Amys begin to discuss Rory and how he's always been in love with her — going so far as to pretend to be in a rock band when they were in school — and how she needs to be saved for Rory. After this conversation, the older Amy informs Rory that she is going to "pull time apart" for him, but that she will only help if the Doctor agrees to let her travel in the TARDIS alongside her past self. The Doctor reluctantly admits that the TARDIS could sustain the paradox. Through a hijacking of the regulator valves and by insisting that both Amys concentrate on a powerful memory — which turns out to be their first kiss with Rory while dancing the [[Macarena]] — the Doctor is able to pull the younger Amy into her future self's point in the time stream.
 
They set off through the facility for the room where the Doctor waits in the TARDIS; however, because of the massive [[paradox]], the TARDIS is malfunctioning. As a result, the group only has eight minutes to get back to it. The older Amy bothers the younger Amy by flirting with Rory. Once the group reaches the art gallery, they find themselves surrounded by Handbots, which the older Amy agrees to fight off while Rory and her past self run ahead to the TARDIS. However, the younger Amy is put to sleep by one of the Handbots, and although Rory quickly deactivates it by smashing the Mona Lisa over its head, she remains unconscious, and he must carry her to the TARDIS. Inside, the Doctor insists that she's just been given a sedative and that she will be fine. Rushing back to the doors, the Doctor spots the older Amy, who begins running towards him. As he shouts that he's sorry, he closes the door, trapping her outside. Rory protests, but the Doctor explains that he lied earlier. There can never be two Amys in the TARDIS, so Rory must choose which Amy he wants to bring along.
 
Through the door, the older Amy tells Rory that, if he loves her, he shouldn't let her in. Seeing Rory carry the younger Amy to the TARDIS made her realise just how much he truly loves her, and that she'd forgotten how much she loved "being Amy Pond in the TARDIS with Rory Williams." Rory re-locks the door, apologising to her. He is clearly devastated.
 
The older Amy turns away from the TARDIS to see that she has been surrounded by an army of Handbots, all of whom tell her not to be alarmed because "this is a kindness." She calls for the Interface resignedly and asks to see Earth. When the [[hologram]] appears, she asks the Interface if she ever told her about a boy she met there, "who pretended to be in a band." The Handbots step through the hologram, dissolving it, and put Amy to sleep by touching her neck. As they prepare to inject her, the sound of the TARDIS engines is heard, as the older Amy is erased from existence.
 
Rory and the Doctor wait in the TARDIS, waiting for Amy to wake up. Rory questions whether or not the Doctor always knew that saving both Amys wasn't possible, but he dodges answering, insisting that he promised to save her and he did. Rory accepts this. When Amy awakes, she asks after her older self. The Doctor can offer only a grave look, before leaving.
 
== Cast ==
* [[Eleventh Doctor|The Doctor]] - [[Matt Smith]]
* [[Amy Pond]] - [[Karen Gillan]]
* [[Rory Williams|Rory]] - [[Arthur Darvill]]
* [[Check-in girl]] - [[Josie Taylor]]
* [[Interface (The Girl Who Waited)|Voice of Interface]] - [[Imelda Staunton]]
 
=== Uncredited Cast ===
 
* Voice of the [[Handbot]]s - [[Stephen Bracken-Keogh]]
* [[Handbot]]s - [[Barbara Fadden]], [[Naomi Berners]], [[Louise Bowen]], [[Astrid Hall]], [[Nathalie Cuzner]]
 
== Crew ==
{{wales crew
{{wales crew
|1stAD=William Hartley
|1stAD=William Hartley
|2ndAD=Heddi-Joy Taylor-Welch
|2ndAD=Heddi-Joy Taylor-Welch
|3rdAD=Janine H Jones
|3rdAD=Jay Harley{{!}}Janine H Jones <nowiki>[Jay Harley]</nowiki>
|AD=Danielle Richards
|AD=Danielle Richards
|AD2=
|AD2=
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|ArtDeptProdManager=
|ArtDeptProdManager=
|AssociateDesigner=
|AssociateDesigner=
|ProductionBuyer=Ben Morris
|ProductionBuyer=Ben Morris (crew){{!}}Ben Morris
|DecoratorBuyer=Kate Wilson
|DecoratorBuyer=Kate Wilson (crew)
|SetDecorator=Julian Luxton
|SetDecorator=Julian Luxton
|PropsBuyer=Adrian Anscombe
|PropsBuyer=Adrian Anscombe
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|AssistantPropsMaster=
|AssistantPropsMaster=
|DressingChargehand=
|DressingChargehand=
|PropsChargehand=Rhys Jones
|PropsChargehand=Rhys Jones (props)
|PropsStoreman=
|PropsStoreman=
|DressingProps=Tom Belton
|DressingProps=Tom Belton
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|AsstEditor=Becky Trotman
|AsstEditor=Becky Trotman
|AsstEditor2=
|AsstEditor2=
|VFXProducer=Beewan Athwal
|VFXEditor=Cat Gregory
|VFXEditor=Cat Gregory
|VFXCoOrdinator=
|VFXCoOrdinator=
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|RightsExecutive=
|RightsExecutive=
|FinanceManager=
|FinanceManager=
|VisualFXProducer=Beewan Athwal
|VisualFXProducer2=
|VisualFXSupervisor=
|VisualFXSupervisor2=
|Thanks=
|Thanks=
|Thanks2=
|Thanks2=
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|SpecialThanks=
|SpecialThanks=
|ConductedAndOrchestratedBy=Ben Foster
|ConductedAndOrchestratedBy=Ben Foster
|Vocals=
|Vocals=  
|CounterTenor=
|CounterTenor=
|RecordedBy=Gerry O'Riordan
|RecordedBy=Gerry O'Riordan
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|SpecialEffects=Real SFX
|SpecialEffects=Real SFX
|Prosthetics=Millennium FX
|Prosthetics=Millennium FX
|HandbotDesign=Robert Allsop & Associates
|HandbotDesign=Robert Allsopp & Associates
|Music=Murray Gold
|Music=Murray Gold
|Music2=
|Music2=
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|DedicatedTo=<!--This exact credit never actually used as of April 2010; left for future use-->
|DedicatedTo=<!--This exact credit never actually used as of April 2010; left for future use-->
|InMemoryOf=
|InMemoryOf=
|Note=
|Note=[[Jay Harley]] was credited under their [[T:ACTOR#Crediting trans people|deadname]] as [[3rd assistant director]].
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== References ==
== Worldbuilding ==
* [[Twitter]] and a [[Disneyland]] on the planet [[Clom]] are mentioned
=== Communications technology ===
* The title, '''''The Girl Who Waited''''' references the Doctor's nickname of Amy, given because she waited for him for so long when they first met. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Eleventh Hour]]'', ''[[The Big Bang]]'')
* The Doctor mentions [[Twitter]].
* A [[time glass]] can be used to communicate between streams in a zone using multiple time stream compression engines.
 
=== The Doctor ===
* The Doctor is willing to accept blame for the TARDIS landing too late in Amy's timestream.
* The Doctor lies to the Amys about their chances of existing at the same time, and in the end locks out the older Amy as she runs for the TARDIS, condemning her to erasure.
* The Doctor gives Rory a pair of glasses from his [[The Doctor's toolbag|bag]].
 
=== Locations ===
* [[Clom]] is mentioned as being a location of a future [[Disneyland]].
 
=== TARDIS ===
* [[The Doctor's TARDIS]] apparently has a [[karaoke]] bar and a collection of [[DVD]]s.
* The Doctor again mentions jettisoning parts of the TARDIS for power.


===TARDIS===
=== Temporal theory ===
* [[The Doctor's TARDIS]] apparently has a karaoke bar and a collection of DVDs.
* Older Amy mentions destiny, causality, and the [[causal nexus|nexus of time]].
* When old Amy puts her hand up on the glass of the TARDIS door, her hand can also be seen on the glass from the inside. This is the first time on screen that this effect has been seen, indicating the TARDIS door windows are not opaque but translucent.


===The Doctor===
=== Planets ===
* The Doctor is still willing to accept blame for the TARDIS landing too late in Amy's timestream, even though [[DW]]: ''[[The Doctor's Wife]]'' established that such misdirections were often the result of the TARDIS herself making a decision as to whether the Doctor would land.
* The Doctor mentions the [[Planet of the Coffee Shops]], saying it was voted the number one place to visit for an intergalactic traveller. Apalapucia was voted number two.


== Story notes ==
== Story notes ==
*The episode's original title was '''''The Visitors' Room'''''. This changed to '''''The Visiting Hour''''' and later, the one-word title, '''''Kindness'''''. Despite many reports to the contrary, there was no late change to the adventure's title and at no point was it ever called '''''The Green Anchor'''''.
* Working titles for this episode included ''The Visitors' Room, The Visiting Room'' and ''Kindness.''
*The cast list for this episode is the shortest of any full length episode of modern ''[[Doctor Who]]''.
* The title references the Doctor's nickname of Amy, given because she waited for him for so long after they first met. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Eleventh Hour (TV story)|The Eleventh Hour]]'', ''[[The Big Bang (TV story)|The Big Bang]]'')
* The cast list for this episode was, until ''[[Heaven Sent (TV story)|Heaven Sent]]'', the shortest of any full-length episode of modern ''[[Doctor Who]]''. Considering the classic series, it was second only to ''[[The Edge of Destruction (TV story)|The Edge of Destruction]]'' for fewest cast members.
* When the Doctor looks for the glasses, a small tape player looking device activates on the TARDIS console and a variation of the [[Doctor Who theme|original theme arrangement]] made by [[Delia Derbyshire]] can be heard, playing sped-up, in reverse, and deepened in pitch (the specific version used was made in August of 1963, and has been included on several album releases. This version is identical to the '67 variant, but lacking the bassline echo, EQ, and electronic spangles).
* The lobby where Amy first encounters the Interface is identical to the lobby of the [[New New York Hospital]] seen in [[TV]]: ''[[New Earth (TV story)|New Earth]]''.
* [[Matt Smith]] and [[Imelda Staunton]] would both appear in ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crown_(TV_series) The Crown].'' Smith as [[Prince Philip|Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh]] and Staunton as [[Elizabeth II]].
* [[Tom MacRae]] decided to attempt a narrative in the tradition of [[Steven Moffat]]'s own time-bending stories He also wanted to focus on Amy, and write an adventure specifically designed for her, as opposed to one which was suitable for any companion.
* [[Tom MacRae]] was proud of the finished script, calling it his "most accomplished piece of plotting ever".
* [[Beth Willis]] insisted that Amy's speech about how Rory was the most beautiful man she had ever met make it into the final version.
* [[Tom MacRae]] was pleased that he had the opportunity to do whatever he wanted with the script, whereas ''[[Rise of the Cybermen (TV story)|Rise of the Cybermen]]/[[The Age of Steel (TV story)|The Age of Steel]]'' had limited plot opportunities and put him in the "second seat" as a writer,
* [[Tom MacRae]] enjoyed exploring Amy and Rory's characters and their past, as the Doctor was "always to a certain extent mythic" which limited what could be explored with his character.
* Over the course of the writing process, the script came to focus almost exclusively on the Doctor, Amy and Rory while eliminating some secondary characters who were used to set up the premise. In particular, this allowed [[Tom MacRae]] to introduce the aged version of Amy much sooner than had originally been the case. The result was more of a character piece, whereas the emphasis had originally been on the prison break elements.
* [[Tom MacRae]] first envisaged the Handbots as cloaked entities whose hands emerged from the folds of their robes. Later they became more explicitly robotic, although MacRae intended for them to wear various uniforms and, disquietingly, have actual human hands.
* In one draft of the script, the scene near the end in which Rory and the two Amys race to the TARDIS did not include Rory in person; he was watching the scene from the lens. It also included a sequence that featured a Handbot's hand being cut and continuing to walk by itself.
* With this being a lower-budget episode, [[Tom MacRae]] wrote for the sets to be entirely white, and described the sets as "big white boxes". He was pleased with the way it turned out, feeling that the all-white added a "really interesting visual sense to it".
* The episode swapped places with ''[[The God Complex (TV story)|The God Complex]]'' and was made opposite ''[[Closing Time (TV story)|Closing Time]].'' [[Tom MacRae]] accordingly revised his scenario to add the stipulation that the Chen-7 virus only affected beings with two hearts. This meant that the Doctor could be confined to the TARDIS for most of the adventure, whereas originally he had accompanied Rory into the Two Streams Facility. The Doctor's exchanges with Rory and Amy would now be delivered via Rory's spectacles, so that [[Matt Smith]] would only be needed for a couple of days' filming.
* The episode formed Block Six of season six (albeit labelled “Block Five”) along with [[The God Complex (TV story)|''The God Complex'']].
* [[Tom MacRae]] and [[Nick Hurran]] had previously collaborated on the ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonekickers Bonekickers]'' episode "The Lines of War".
* There was considerable discussion about the aged version of Amy, and whether she would be played by [[Karen Gillan]] or an older actress. Gillan herself was keen to tackle the role, and [[Steven Moffat]] concluded that audiences would be less sympathetic towards the character if she were portrayed by somebody else.
* This was the first onset appearance of the Eleventh Doctor's new coat, although ''[[Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)|Let's Kill Hitler]]'' aired first. Its introduction was part of a plan to evolve the Doctor's appearance throughout [[Matt Smith]]'s tenure.
* [[Karen Gillan]] developed different body-language, vocal range and attitude for the older Amy, whose character has changed after being left behind and in danger. To achieve this, Gillan studied with a voice coach and movement coach. Gillan also wore padding which affected her movement, and stated she spent "hours in make-up".
* The scenes in the mansion grounds were originally written for a forest environment.
* Originally, when Amy entered the check-in area, she learned that it was a replica of the Mayfield Avanti Spaceport. She later asked Interface for a picture of the real spaceport, which helped her deduce the location of the temporal engines by noticing that there was an extra door in the simulation.
* The episode originally closed with the Doctor ruminating that he couldn't keep upending Amy and Rory's life; this would have foreshadowed the end of ''[[The God Complex (TV story)|The God Complex]]'', in which the Doctor returned his companions to Earth. The biggest change was to the sequence of events at the heart of the episode.
* As scripted, Rory encountered the older Amy before the young Amy was shown entering the gardens. Consequently, the depiction of Amy venturing towards the temporal engines and leaving a note for the Doctor in lipstick was meant to explain the outcome that viewers had already witnessed. The final version instead presented events in a more chronological order.


=== Ratings ===
=== Ratings ===
*UK Overnight: 6.0 million
* UK Overnight: 6.0 Million
 
* UK Final: 7.6 Million<ref>[http://guide.doctorwhonews.net/info.php?detail=ratings&type=date Doctor Who Ratings - UK final]</ref>
=== Myths ===
The episode was going to be called ''The Green Anchor''. ''This was proven false and was also denied by the writer. ''However, the Green Anchor button was a key element in the beginning of the episode.


=== Production errors ===
=== Production errors ===
*When Rory holds up the magnifying glass to Amy's lipstick message, the Doctor's view of Rory's vision comes at an impossible angle for Rory to see through his glasses.{{Discontinuity}}
{{Discontinuity}}
* When Rory holds up the magnifying glass to Amy's lipstick message, the Doctor's view of Rory's vision comes at an angle impossible for Rory to see through his glasses, and you can see Rory at the very end of the frame.
* Old Amy talks to Rory about his face when he carried Young Amy to the TARDIS, even though Rory's back was turned to her when he carried Amy.


== Continuity ==
== Continuity ==
*[[Clom]] is mentioned as being a location of a future [[Disneyland]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[Love & Monsters]]'', ''[[The Stolen Earth]]'')
* Rory mentions the Doctor's [[fez]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Big Bang (TV story)|The Big Bang]]'')
*Rory mentions the Doctor's [[fez]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Big Bang (TV story)|The Big Bang]]'')
* Amy previously saw past/future versions of herself. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Hungry Earth (TV story)|The Hungry Earth]]''/''[[Cold Blood (TV story)|Cold Blood]]'', ''[[The Big Bang (TV story)|The Big Bang]]'', ''[[Space (TV story)|Space]]''/''[[Time (TV story)|Time]]'')
*Amy previously saw past/future versions of herself in [[DW]]: ''[[The Hungry Earth]]''/''[[Cold Blood]]'', ''[[The Big Bang]]'', and ''[[Space (TV story)|Space]]''/''[[Time (TV story)|Time]].''
* [[The Doctor's sonic screwdriver]] was previously referred to as a sonic probe by the [[Dalek]]s. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doomsday (TV story)|Doomsday]]'')
*The [[Sonic screwdriver]] was previously referred to as a sonic probe by the [[Daleks]] in [[DW]]: ''[[Doomsday]]''.
* The TARDIS previously was only able to sustain a paradox through the rebuilding of its [[time rotor]] into a [[paradox machine]] by {{Simm}}. ([[TV]]: ''[[Last of the Time Lords (TV story)|Last of the Time Lords]]'')
*The TARDIS previously was only able to sustain a paradox through the rebuilding of its time rotor into a [[Paradox machine|paradox machine]] by [[The Master]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Last of the Time Lords]]'')
* The Doctor says that the TARDIS "hates" the massive paradox created by the two incarnations of Amy interacting. That the TARDIS has emotions and a personality is referenced by the Doctor on multiple occasions ([[TV]]: ''[[The Ribos Operation (TV story)|The Ribos Operation]]'', ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]'', ''[[Utopia (TV story)|Utopia]]'') and verified by statements of the soul of [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] herself in [[Idris]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor's Wife (TV story)|The Doctor's Wife]]'')
*A replica of the [[Mona Lisa]], made of canvas or paper rather than the solid wooden panel the originals were painted on, is shown. The famous painting (which in reality is somewhat smaller than the one shown here) was previously featured in [[DW]]: ''[[City of Death]]'' and [[SJA]]: ''[[Mona Lisa's Revenge]]''.
* A replica of the [[Mona Lisa]] is shown. ([[TV]]: ''[[City of Death (TV story)|City of Death]]'', [[TV]]: ''[[Mona Lisa's Revenge (TV story)|Mona Lisa's Revenge]]'')
*This episode continues the theme of Rory and Amy being separated from one another for unnaturally long periods of time. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Big Bang]]'', ''[[The Doctor's Wife]]'', ''[[Day of the Moon]]'', ''[[A Good Man Goes to War]]'')
* Rory and Amy are once again separated from one another for unnaturally long periods of time. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Big Bang (TV story)|The Big Bang]]'', ''[[The Doctor's Wife (TV story)|The Doctor's Wife]]'')
*The glasses which the Doctor gives to Rory are somewhat similar to the [[Eye-5]] contact lenses used by [[Torchwood]].
* Rory makes a life and death choice for the two versions of Amy. Previously, Amy has had a life and death choice between the Doctor and Rory. ([[TV]]: ''[[Amy's Choice (TV story)|Amy's Choice]]'') Later, Rory and Amy together will make a choice to defeat the [[Weeping Angel]]s. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]]'')
* Amy puts on glasses that belong to the Doctor. The optometrist would later leave her a message, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Power of Three (TV story)|The Power of Three]]'') and eventually, Amy would have her own reading glasses, which she gives to the Doctor. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]]'')
* Rory chastises the Doctor for not picking up a history book and reading about the future of places he visits. However, the Doctor may not be willing to do this because he knows that history becomes a [[fixed point]] in time once it is read. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]]'') He has also ended up in situations where although he is aware of the history concerning a time and place, he does not know the circumstances of what caused an event to happen and how easily time can be manipulated into a disastrous outcome. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Fires of Pompeii (TV story)|The Fires of Pompeii]]'', ''[[The Waters of Mars (TV story)|The Waters of Mars]]'')
* Like Rory, another male companion, [[Steven Taylor]] had an attachment to [[Anne Chaplet]], who was going to be unavoidably killed in her current circumstances, and wanted to save her. However, the [[First Doctor]] could not alter the event in time without great consequences, and lied to his companion and the woman to make them think she could be saved. He was finally forced to abandon Chaplet and let her perish like the older Amy, making Steven equally as angry as Rory. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Massacre (TV story)|The Massacre]]'')
* The Doctor tells Rory he will be unable to regenerate if he contracts Chen-7: "no regeneration". He reveals more explicitly at a later point in his life that this is because he has already exhausted his regeneration cycle. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of the Doctor (TV story)|The Time of the Doctor]]'')


== Home video releases ==
== Home video releases ==
[[File:Series6.2DVD.jpg|thumb]]This episode will be released on DVD and Blu-ray shortly after the airing of episode thirteen.<ref>http://doctorwhotv.co.uk/series-6-dvd-releases-15635.htm</ref>
[[File:Series6.2DVD.jpg|thumb|Series 6, part 2 DVD cover]]
 
=== DVD & Blu-ray releases ===
 
* ''The Girl Who Waited'' was released in Series 6 Part Two on DVD and Blu-Ray in region 1/A on [[8 November (releases)|8 November]] [[2011 (releases)|2011]], in region 2/B on [[10 October (releases)|10 October]] 2011 and in region 4/B on [[3 November (releases)|3 November]] 2011.
* The episode was later released in the Complete Sixth Series boxset on both DVD and Blu-ray, in region 1/A on [[22 November (releases)|22 November]] 2011, in region 2/B on [[21 November (releases)|21 November]] 2011 and in region 4/B on [[1 December (releases)|1 December]] 2011.
 
=== Digital releases ===
 
* In the United Kingdom, this story is available on [[BBC iPlayer]].
 
== External links ==
* {{locguide|girlwhowaited|The Girl Who Waited}}
{{dwrefguide|who_tv65.htm|The Girl Who Waited}}


==External links==
== Footnotes ==
''to be added''
==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}
{{DWTV}}
{{DWTV}}
{{TitleSort}}
{{TitleSort}}
[[Category:Eleventh Doctor television stories]]
 
[[Category:Doctor Who (2005) television stories]]
[[Category:2011 television stories]]
[[Category:2011 television stories]]
[[Category:Series 6 (Doctor Who) stories]]
[[Category:Stories set in alternate timelines]]
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[[he:הנערה שחיכתה (סיפור טלוויזיה)]]
[[ro:The Girl Who Waited]]
[[ru:Девочка, которая ждала]]

Latest revision as of 11:05, 4 September 2024

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The Girl Who Waited was the tenth episode of series 6 of Doctor Who.

The moral choice at the centre of the story made it a character study of the relationship between Amy and Rory. The Eleventh Doctor's recklessness toward travelling across history would also be brought into question, and how he chose to lie in the face of a grim outcome.

Synopsis[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Eleventh Doctor, Rory Williams and Amy Pond land on Apalapucia in the middle of a plague. Amy is left behind, and the Doctor and Rory must save her...but time for Amy is running at a different speed.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Eleventh Doctor brings Amy and Rory to the resort planet of Apalapucia, one of the top holiday destinations in the universe. Though he promises views of "sunsets, spires, and soaring silver colonnades", they step out of the TARDIS to a clinically white room possessing only an exit door with two buttons, labelled "Green Anchor" and "Red Waterfall". While Amy steps back into the TARDIS to retrieve her mobile phone, the Doctor and Rory use the door — pressing the "Green Anchor" button — and enter another room, which holds a table on which rests a large magnifying glass. When Amy steps back into the corridor, she also uses the door — pressing the "Red Waterfall" button — and finds herself in a similar-looking room, though Rory and the Doctor are not present.

The Doctor and Rory are terrified by the virus.

The Doctor activates the time glass and sees Amy. A Handbot enters the room, though, and welcomes the Doctor and Rory to the Two Streams Facility, a "kindness facility" for victims of Chen-7, the so-called "one-day plague" (once the host is infected, they die in a day) which affects two-hearted races — including native Apalapucians ‎and Time Lords.

As the Doctor and Rory are held at bay by the robot, Amy appears to fast-forward within the glass; when the Doctor finally stabilises it, she angrily informs him that it has been a week since they last spoke. From this, the Doctor is able to deduce that Amy has wound up in a faster time stream which they cannot access; their only means of communicating with her is through the glass. The Handbot informs them that the other time streams are synced for visits, so those not affected by the Chen-7 virus are able to watch the entire lives of their quarantined loved ones, as opposed to being limited to the viewing of one day on their deathbed. This is meant as a kindness for the patient and loved ones, as the virus that kills in a day instead takes several years to kill. When Rory exits the Green Anchor room and steps into the Red Waterfall room to find Amy, she is not there.

The Doctor removes the magnifying glass from the table, but accidentally activates an alarm in the process. He orders Amy to go into the facility and seek a hiding place where she might wait for him to find her. Before he leaves, he warns her to not let the Handbots administer any medicine to her, because she possesses only one heart, and is immune to Chen-7. The Handbots' "kindness" is medicine meant for a different species and will kill her. Before departing, Amy asks Rory to save her. The Doctor and Rory return to the TARDIS, where the Doctor uses the magnifying glass to lock onto Amy's time stream. Because the Doctor is at risk of becoming infected with Chen-7 (which prevents regeneration), he cannot go into the facility; therefore, he sends Rory in his place, though they are in constant communication through a pair of glasses wired with a camera. The Doctor insists that it is very difficult to break through a time wall, but sends the TARDIS off on course regardless.

Meanwhile, Amy has arrived in the Two Streams lobby, where she is met by a holographic receptionist informing her of all the "entertainment zones" within the facility that she now has access to as a resident. She is also introduced to the Interface, who claims to be Amy's guide within the facility. As Amy strolls along a promenade looking for somewhere to hide and wait for the Doctor, she is met by a series of Handbots, all of whom attempt to inject her with "kindness". She seeks shelter from the pursuing Handbots within a vent system in a maintenance room. The smoke from the vent prevents the Handbots from detecting her, and she manages to escape.

She arrives in another white room with a console in the centre and empty doorways surrounding it. This is the gate, and the console buttons control various doorways which lead to the entertainment zones. Amy chooses a majestic garden, which the Interface informs her is the perfect replica of Shill Governor's mansion on Shallana. Amy asks the Interface about the vent system she hid in earlier. The vent channels the exhaust fumes from the temporal engines, which hold the multiple time streams in place. Amy deduces from this that the engines interfere with the Handbots' sensors and wonders where the temporal engines are located. The Interface points her in the right direction, and, as Amy prepares to leave in search of them, two Handbots materialise around her. Utilising the sleep sensors on their hands, she presses them together, deactivating both and escaping once more. Arriving at the temporal engines room, Amy scrawls a message for the Doctor and Rory on the door: "Doctor, I'm waiting."

Meanwhile, Rory and the Doctor have landed in Amy's time stream, and Rory is exploring the art gallery when he is confronted by a warrior wearing makeshift armour — made from a dismantled Handbot — and bearing a katana. The warrior lunges at him with the sword raised. With Rory cornered, it whispers that it waited for him. As it steps away, it removes the helmet shielding its face to reveal that it is, in fact, Amy — though she is much older than before. The Doctor, who is able to see Amy through Rory's glasses, realises that he landed the TARDIS much later in Amy's time stream than he had initially anticipated.

Amy takes out a Handbot that has snuck up behind Rory, rewiring its black box with her "sonic probe" — which she has constructed during her time in the facility — to shield her presence from the other Handbots. Rory questions why Amy is still in the facility when she is clearly much older, and she bitterly replies that it's because they didn't save her as they'd promised. She has been living in the facility for thirty-six years, and during that time, she has come to hate the Doctor more than she's ever hated anyone in her life.

Amy leaves the room, closely followed by Rory, who suggests that they could return the TARDIS to the right time stream and stop Amy's wait from happening; however, the Doctor admits that this is Amy's time stream, so they can't leave. They return to the temporal engines room to find a Handbot that Amy has literally disarmed and named Rory; it is her sole companion, though she refers to it as a pet. She continues to berate the Doctor, claiming that all she had for thirty-six years was cold hard reality, and her life is hell. The Doctor asks to speak to the Interface, insisting that he will put everything right. Since the Interface cannot be activated inside the engine room, Amy takes Rory to the garden. The Interface shows the Doctor where the regulator valve is held, and the Doctor asks Rory to speak to Amy so they can run over "technical specifications". With the information he gets from her, the Doctor realises that he can set the time streams right by using the temporal engines to fold the two points of Amy's timeline together. However, Amy angrily rejects this plan to save her past self.

They return to the temporal engines room, with the Doctor pleading for Amy to agree to the plan. She continues to resist, knowing that helping her past self will mean the past thirty-six years of her life never happened and she would cease to exist. Instead, she asks for the Doctor and Rory to take her with them, leaving the younger Amy behind to live out the next thirty-six years in solitude. Rory, who is angry at the Doctor for causing so much trouble, angrily throws the glasses to the ground; the feedback on them allows the Doctor to hear the present Amy crying in her own point on the timeline within the engine room. Rory uses the time glass to view the younger Amy and forces the older Amy to confront her own past.

As the older Amy and her past self communicate, the older Amy bitterly begins to remember the real reason she was never rescued: it wasn't because Rory and the Doctor left her behind, but because her future self refused to help them when it mattered. The two Amys begin to discuss Rory and how he's always been in love with her — going so far as to pretend to be in a rock band when they were in school — and how she needs to be saved for Rory. After this conversation, the older Amy informs Rory that she is going to "pull time apart" for him, but that she will only help if the Doctor agrees to let her travel in the TARDIS alongside her past self. The Doctor reluctantly admits that the TARDIS could sustain the paradox. Through a hijacking of the regulator valves and by insisting that both Amys concentrate on a powerful memory — which turns out to be their first kiss with Rory while dancing the Macarena — the Doctor is able to pull the younger Amy into her future self's point in the time stream.

They set off through the facility for the room where the Doctor waits in the TARDIS; however, because of the massive paradox, the TARDIS is malfunctioning. As a result, the group only has eight minutes to get back to it. The older Amy bothers the younger Amy by flirting with Rory. Once the group reaches the art gallery, they find themselves surrounded by Handbots, which the older Amy agrees to fight off while Rory and her past self run ahead to the TARDIS. However, the younger Amy is put to sleep by one of the Handbots, and although Rory quickly deactivates it by smashing the Mona Lisa over its head, she remains unconscious, and he must carry her to the TARDIS. Inside, the Doctor insists that she's just been given a sedative and that she will be fine. Rushing back to the doors, the Doctor spots the older Amy, who begins running towards him. As he shouts that he's sorry, he closes the door, trapping her outside. Rory protests, but the Doctor explains that he lied earlier. There can never be two Amys in the TARDIS, so Rory must choose which Amy he wants to bring along.

Through the door, the older Amy tells Rory that, if he loves her, he shouldn't let her in. Seeing Rory carry the younger Amy to the TARDIS made her realise just how much he truly loves her, and that she'd forgotten how much she loved "being Amy Pond in the TARDIS with Rory Williams." Rory re-locks the door, apologising to her. He is clearly devastated.

The older Amy turns away from the TARDIS to see that she has been surrounded by an army of Handbots, all of whom tell her not to be alarmed because "this is a kindness." She calls for the Interface resignedly and asks to see Earth. When the hologram appears, she asks the Interface if she ever told her about a boy she met there, "who pretended to be in a band." The Handbots step through the hologram, dissolving it, and put Amy to sleep by touching her neck. As they prepare to inject her, the sound of the TARDIS engines is heard, as the older Amy is erased from existence.

Rory and the Doctor wait in the TARDIS, waiting for Amy to wake up. Rory questions whether or not the Doctor always knew that saving both Amys wasn't possible, but he dodges answering, insisting that he promised to save her and he did. Rory accepts this. When Amy awakes, she asks after her older self. The Doctor can offer only a grave look, before leaving.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Uncredited Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

General production staff

Script department

Camera and lighting department

Art department

Costume department

Make-up and prosthetics

Movement

Casting

General post-production staff

Special and visual effects

Sound



Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.
          

Jay Harley was credited under their deadname as 3rd assistant director.


Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Communications technology[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Doctor mentions Twitter.
  • A time glass can be used to communicate between streams in a zone using multiple time stream compression engines.

The Doctor[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Doctor is willing to accept blame for the TARDIS landing too late in Amy's timestream.
  • The Doctor lies to the Amys about their chances of existing at the same time, and in the end locks out the older Amy as she runs for the TARDIS, condemning her to erasure.
  • The Doctor gives Rory a pair of glasses from his bag.

Locations[[edit] | [edit source]]

TARDIS[[edit] | [edit source]]

Temporal theory[[edit] | [edit source]]

Planets[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Doctor mentions the Planet of the Coffee Shops, saying it was voted the number one place to visit for an intergalactic traveller. Apalapucia was voted number two.

Story notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Working titles for this episode included The Visitors' Room, The Visiting Room and Kindness.
  • The title references the Doctor's nickname of Amy, given because she waited for him for so long after they first met. (TV: The Eleventh Hour, The Big Bang)
  • The cast list for this episode was, until Heaven Sent, the shortest of any full-length episode of modern Doctor Who. Considering the classic series, it was second only to The Edge of Destruction for fewest cast members.
  • When the Doctor looks for the glasses, a small tape player looking device activates on the TARDIS console and a variation of the original theme arrangement made by Delia Derbyshire can be heard, playing sped-up, in reverse, and deepened in pitch (the specific version used was made in August of 1963, and has been included on several album releases. This version is identical to the '67 variant, but lacking the bassline echo, EQ, and electronic spangles).
  • The lobby where Amy first encounters the Interface is identical to the lobby of the New New York Hospital seen in TV: New Earth.
  • Matt Smith and Imelda Staunton would both appear in The Crown. Smith as Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Staunton as Elizabeth II.
  • Tom MacRae decided to attempt a narrative in the tradition of Steven Moffat's own time-bending stories He also wanted to focus on Amy, and write an adventure specifically designed for her, as opposed to one which was suitable for any companion.
  • Tom MacRae was proud of the finished script, calling it his "most accomplished piece of plotting ever".
  • Beth Willis insisted that Amy's speech about how Rory was the most beautiful man she had ever met make it into the final version.
  • Tom MacRae was pleased that he had the opportunity to do whatever he wanted with the script, whereas Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel had limited plot opportunities and put him in the "second seat" as a writer,
  • Tom MacRae enjoyed exploring Amy and Rory's characters and their past, as the Doctor was "always to a certain extent mythic" which limited what could be explored with his character.
  • Over the course of the writing process, the script came to focus almost exclusively on the Doctor, Amy and Rory while eliminating some secondary characters who were used to set up the premise. In particular, this allowed Tom MacRae to introduce the aged version of Amy much sooner than had originally been the case. The result was more of a character piece, whereas the emphasis had originally been on the prison break elements.
  • Tom MacRae first envisaged the Handbots as cloaked entities whose hands emerged from the folds of their robes. Later they became more explicitly robotic, although MacRae intended for them to wear various uniforms and, disquietingly, have actual human hands.
  • In one draft of the script, the scene near the end in which Rory and the two Amys race to the TARDIS did not include Rory in person; he was watching the scene from the lens. It also included a sequence that featured a Handbot's hand being cut and continuing to walk by itself.
  • With this being a lower-budget episode, Tom MacRae wrote for the sets to be entirely white, and described the sets as "big white boxes". He was pleased with the way it turned out, feeling that the all-white added a "really interesting visual sense to it".
  • The episode swapped places with The God Complex and was made opposite Closing Time. Tom MacRae accordingly revised his scenario to add the stipulation that the Chen-7 virus only affected beings with two hearts. This meant that the Doctor could be confined to the TARDIS for most of the adventure, whereas originally he had accompanied Rory into the Two Streams Facility. The Doctor's exchanges with Rory and Amy would now be delivered via Rory's spectacles, so that Matt Smith would only be needed for a couple of days' filming.
  • The episode formed Block Six of season six (albeit labelled “Block Five”) along with The God Complex.
  • Tom MacRae and Nick Hurran had previously collaborated on the Bonekickers episode "The Lines of War".
  • There was considerable discussion about the aged version of Amy, and whether she would be played by Karen Gillan or an older actress. Gillan herself was keen to tackle the role, and Steven Moffat concluded that audiences would be less sympathetic towards the character if she were portrayed by somebody else.
  • This was the first onset appearance of the Eleventh Doctor's new coat, although Let's Kill Hitler aired first. Its introduction was part of a plan to evolve the Doctor's appearance throughout Matt Smith's tenure.
  • Karen Gillan developed different body-language, vocal range and attitude for the older Amy, whose character has changed after being left behind and in danger. To achieve this, Gillan studied with a voice coach and movement coach. Gillan also wore padding which affected her movement, and stated she spent "hours in make-up".
  • The scenes in the mansion grounds were originally written for a forest environment.
  • Originally, when Amy entered the check-in area, she learned that it was a replica of the Mayfield Avanti Spaceport. She later asked Interface for a picture of the real spaceport, which helped her deduce the location of the temporal engines by noticing that there was an extra door in the simulation.
  • The episode originally closed with the Doctor ruminating that he couldn't keep upending Amy and Rory's life; this would have foreshadowed the end of The God Complex, in which the Doctor returned his companions to Earth. The biggest change was to the sequence of events at the heart of the episode.
  • As scripted, Rory encountered the older Amy before the young Amy was shown entering the gardens. Consequently, the depiction of Amy venturing towards the temporal engines and leaving a note for the Doctor in lipstick was meant to explain the outcome that viewers had already witnessed. The final version instead presented events in a more chronological order.

Ratings[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • UK Overnight: 6.0 Million
  • UK Final: 7.6 Million[1]

Production errors[[edit] | [edit source]]

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
  • When Rory holds up the magnifying glass to Amy's lipstick message, the Doctor's view of Rory's vision comes at an angle impossible for Rory to see through his glasses, and you can see Rory at the very end of the frame.
  • Old Amy talks to Rory about his face when he carried Young Amy to the TARDIS, even though Rory's back was turned to her when he carried Amy.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

Home video releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

Series 6, part 2 DVD cover

DVD & Blu-ray releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Girl Who Waited was released in Series 6 Part Two on DVD and Blu-Ray in region 1/A on 8 November 2011, in region 2/B on 10 October 2011 and in region 4/B on 3 November 2011.
  • The episode was later released in the Complete Sixth Series boxset on both DVD and Blu-ray, in region 1/A on 22 November 2011, in region 2/B on 21 November 2011 and in region 4/B on 1 December 2011.

Digital releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • In the United Kingdom, this story is available on BBC iPlayer.

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ Doctor Who Ratings - UK final
v • e
Doctor Who television stories
 
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Season 1: 1963-1964
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Season 4: 1966
 
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Seasons 12-18: Tom Baker
Season 12: 1974-1975
Season 13: 1975-1976
Season 14: 1976-1977
Season 15: 1977-1978
Season 16: 1978-1979
Season 17: 1979-1980
Season 18: 1980-1981
 
Seasons 19-21: Peter Davison
Season 19: 1982
Season 20: 1983
Children in Need 1983
Season 21: 1984
 
Seasons 21-23: Colin Baker
Season 21: 1984
Season 22: 1985
Season 23: 1986
 
Seasons 24-26: Sylvester McCoy
Season 24: 1987
Season 25: 1988-1989
Season 26: 1989
 
TV Movie & 2013 specials: Paul McGann
TV Movie: 1996
Specials: 2013
Minisodes
 
Series 1: Christopher Eccleston
Series 1: 2005
Regular episodes
 
Series 2-4: David Tennant
Series 2: 2005-2006
Minisode
Christmas Special
Regular episodes
Series 3: 2006-2007
Christmas Special
Regular episodes
Animated special
Series 4: 2007-2010
Minisode
Christmas Special
Regular episodes
Minisodes
Animated special
Seasonal specials
 
Series 5-2013 specials: Matt Smith
Series 5: 2010
Regular episodes
Series 6: 2010-2011
Christmas Special
Minisodes
Regular episodes
(Part 1: Apr 2011)
Regular episodes
(Part 2: Aug 2011)
Minisode
Series 7: 2011-2013
Christmas Special
Minisodes
Regular episodes
(Part 1: 2012)
Minisode
Christmas Special
Regular episodes
(Part 2: 2013)
Specials: 2013
 
Series 8-10: Peter Capaldi
Series 8: 2014
Regular episodes
Series 9: 2014-2015
Christmas Special
Minisode
Regular episodes
Christmas Special
Series 10: 2016-2017
Christmas Special
Regular episodes
Christmas Special
 
Series 11-13: Jodie Whittaker
Series 11: 2018-2019
Regular episodes
New Year Special
Series 12: 2020-2021
Regular episodes
New Year Special
Series 13: 2021
Minisodes
Regular episodes
Seasonal specials
 
60th Anniversary Specials: David Tennant
Specials: 2023
Minisodes
60th Anniversary Specials
 
Season 1 (2023)-present: Ncuti Gatwa
Season 1: 2023-2024
Christmas Special
Regular episodes
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