Series 7 (Doctor Who 2005)

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File:DWlogo-2012.jpg

The title card of the first episode of Series 7, Asylum of the Daleks.

Series 7 of Doctor Who, sometimes known as Season 33 to avoid confusion with the original Season 7, will air on BBC One between 2012 and 2013. Like Series 6, it will be split into two parts. The BBC first announced the new series, which will contain fourteen episodes, on the official Doctor Who site on 8 June 2011.

Series 7 began its run on 1 September 2012 with five regular, stand-alone episodes and a Christmas Special. These will be followed by the remaining eight episodes in 2013.

Overview

Series 7 has been described at being a series of "movies" squeezed into forty five minutes, although The Snowmen was sixty minutes. The first half is about the Doctor deleting himself from the Universe to hide himself from the deadly Silence, who attempted to assassinate him in Series 6 to stop him from answering the Question. During this time, the Doctor regularly visits Amy Pond and Rory Williams and also meets his grandfather-in-law Brian Williams. The Doctor meets his wife, River Song, in the final episode of the first half of the series, which involved the Weeping Angels who separated him from Amy and Rory forever, although River has implied that she and the Doctor will meet again in the future. The Doctor still has not told River his true name, which River was revealed to know in Forest of the Dead.

Also, a mysterious woman named Clara Oswin Oswald has appeared to the Doctor twice in three different lives, first in Asylum of the Daleks, then in The Snowmen, and then again in The Bells of Saint John. She died in the first two episodes, but the Doctor realised that both incarnations of her were the same woman and believed there was another version of her somewhere in the Universe. He went searching for her third incarnation, intending to take her as his companion. He found her in The Bells of Saint John. The reason behind these multiple Claras will be the Story Arc of this series.

Cast

The Eleventh Doctor, played by Matt Smith, will not be leaving; he will stay all Series 7.

Karen Gillan, who played Amy Pond, and Arthur Darvill, who played Amy's husband Rory Williams, returned for the first five episodes, departing in The Angels Take Manhattan, which also featured River Song, played by Alex Kingston.

The 2012 Christmas Special saw the introduction of Clara Oswald, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman. Coleman had previously played Oswin Oswald in Asylum of the Daleks earlier that year. She returned once more in The Bells of Saint John, playing a third version of Clara, who became the Doctor's newest companion.

Primary cast

• The Eleventh Doctor - Matt Smith

Secondary cast

• Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
• Rory Williams - Arthur Darvill
• Clara Oswald - Jenna-Louise Coleman
• Jenny Flint - Catrin Stewart
• Madame Vastra - Neve McIntosh
• Strax - Dan Starkey

Guest cast

• Madge Arwell - Claire Skinner
• Cyril Arwell - Maurice Cole
• Lily Arwell - Holly Earl
• Oswin Oswald - Jenna-Louise Coleman
• Queen Nefertiti - Riann Steele
• Brian Williams - Mark Williams
• Solomon - David Bradley
• John Riddell - Rupert Graves
• Kahler-Jex - Adrian Scarborough
• The Gunslinger - Andrew Brooke
• Isaac - Ben Browder
• Kate Stewart - Jemma Redgrave
• River Song - Alex Kingston
• Voice of the Great Intelligence - Ian McKellen
• Dr Simeon, Great Intelligence - Richard E. Grant
• Latimer - Tom Ward
• Miss Kizlet - Celia Imrie
• Merry - Emilia Jones
• Captain Zhukov - Liam Cunningham
• Professor Grisenko - David Warner
• Skaldak - Spencer Wilding, Nicholas Briggs (voice)
• Alec Palmer - Dougray Scott
• Emma Grayling - Jessica Raine
• Edmund - Brendan Patricks
• Porridge - Warwick Davis
• TBA - Diana Rigg
• TBA - Rachael Stirling
• TBA - Tamzin Outhwaite
• TBA - Jason Watkins

Production

Crew

Producers

Before the airing of Series 7, it was announced that both Beth Willis and Piers Wenger would step down as executive producers. Willis' last credit was on The Wedding of River Song; however, Piers Wenger stayed for one episode longer, and produced The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe.

A new executive producer named Caroline Skinner joined Steven Moffat to produce The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe onwards, but it was announced before the broadcast of the spring half of Series 7 that she was departing the show after just one season and would be replaced by BBC Wales Head of Drama, Faith Penhale.

Writers

Head writer Steven Moffat will write seven episodes. He has written the 2011 Christmas special, episodes one and five in the autumn run, the Children in Need mini-episode, and the 2012 Christmas special. He will also write episodes six and thirteen for the spring run.

Chris Chibnall and Toby Whithouse, who had both written episodes for multiple previous series of Doctor Who, returned to contribute scripts for the Autumn run. Chibnall wrote episodes two and four, while Whithouse wrote episode three.

Mark Gatiss is also returning. He is writing two episodes, which are episodes eight and eleven.

Another returning writer is Steve Thompson, who will write episode ten.

Fantasy author Neil Gaiman (who previously wrote The Doctor's Wife), will write episode twelve, which will feature the Cybermen.

Luther creator Neil Cross is set to write two episodes for the second half of the series, making his Doctor Who debut. He will write episodes seven and nine.

Directors

Returning director Nick Hurran directed episodes one and five. Douglas Mackinnon, another returning director directed episode four and will also direct episode eight.

New director Farren Blackburn directed the 2011 Christmas special. She will also direct episode seven.

Saul Metzstein, another director new to Doctor Who, directed episodes two and three. He directed the 2012 Christmas special and will direct episodes eleven and thirteen.

A handful of new directors will direct one episode each in the spring half of the series. These are: Colm McCarthy, Jamie Payne, Mat King and Stephen Wolfenden, who will direct episodes six, nine, ten and twelve representatively.

Filming

Filming for series 7 began on 20 February 2012.

Episode three was filmed in Spain.

Filming for episode five saw the crew return to America. This time, they were filming in New York.

Television stories

Webcast

Episode Number	Title	Writer	Director	Notes
N/A	Prequel (The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe)

Christmas special

Episode Number	Title	Writer	Director	Notes
N/A	The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe	Steven Moffat	Farren Blackburn

Mini-episodes

Episode Number	Title	Writer	Director	Notes
N/A	Good as Gold	The Children of Ashdene School		Reappearance of a Weeping Angel.

Regular series

Webcast

Episode Number	Title	Writer	Director	Notes
N/A	Pond Life	Chris Chibnall	Saul Metzstein	Reappearance of the Sontarans and an Ood.

Autumn half

Episode Number	Title	Writer	Director	Notes
1	Asylum of the Daleks	Steven Moffat	Nick Hurran	Reappearance of the Daleks. First introduction and death of Clara Oswin Oswald.
2	Dinosaurs on a Spaceship	Chris Chibnall	Saul Metzstein	Reappearance of the Silurians. First appearance of Brian Williams.
3	A Town Called Mercy	Toby Whithouse	Saul Metzstein
4	The Power of Three	Chris Chibnall	Douglas Mackinnon	Reappearance of UNIT, Kate Stewart and Brian Williams.
5	The Angels Take Manhattan	Steven Moffat	Nick Hurran	Reappearance of the Weeping Angels and River Song. Final appearances of Amy Pond and Rory Williams.

Mini-episodes

Episode Number	Title	Writer	Director	Notes
N/A	The Great Detective	Steven Moffat		Prequel to The Snowmen. Reappearance of Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint, and Strax.

Webcasts

Episode Number	Title	Writer	Director	Notes
N/A	Vastra Investigates	Steven Moffat		Prequel to The Snowmen.

Christmas special

Episode Number	Title	Writer	Director	Notes
N/A	The Snowmen	Steven Moffat	Saul Metzstein	Reintroduction of the Great Intelligence. Second introduction and death of Clara Oswin Oswald

Webcasts

Episode Number	Title	Writer	Director	Notes
N/A	The Bells of Saint John: A Prequel	Steven Moffat
N/A	The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later	Steven Moffat

Spring half

The remaining eight episodes of Series 7 will begin airing on 30 March, 2013.

Episode Number	Title	Writer	Director	Notes
6	The Bells of Saint John	Steven Moffat	Colm McCarthy	Reappearance of the Great Intelligence. Reappearance of UNIT. Third introduction of Clara Oswin Oswald.
7	The Rings of Akhaten	Neil Cross	Farren Blackburn
8	Cold War	Mark Gatiss	Douglas Mackinnon	Return of the Ice Warriors.
9	Hide	Neil Cross	Jamie Payne
10	Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS	Steve Thompson	Mat King
11	The Crimson Horror	Mark Gatiss	Saul Metzstein
12	Nightmare in Silver	Neil Gaiman	Stephen Wolfenden	Return of the Cybermen.
13	TBA	Steven Moffat	Saul Metzstein

Episode notes

• There will be no two-parters in this series.
• In an interview with SFX, Steven Moffat gave teasers on the episodes leading up to the 50th anniversary, including the second half of series 7. Episodes will include: a Doctor Who take on a modern urban thriller, a base-under-siege story, a brand new, alien planet which he said they have gone 'all out' on and a ghost story.
• The series finale will be seriously "fan-boy pleasing".
• The series finale will also reveal the Doctor's biggest secret.
• Coincidentally, all televised episodes in this series so far feature their names, or a slight rearrangement of words, either in the script or written on-screen.
  • Asylum of the Daleks: Darla says, "Have you heard of the Dalek Asylum?"
  • Dinosaurs on a Spaceship: The Doctor screams it out in delight upon first view of the dinosaurs.
  • A Town Called Mercy: Isaac states, "We called this town Mercy for a reason."
  • The Power of Three: Amy says this in an afterword, as an explanation of what "cubed" really means.
  • The Angels Take Manhattan: This is the title of one of the chapters in Melody Malone: Private Detective in Old New York Town.
  • The Snowmen: This is said multiple times in the episode, including when the Doctor tells Clara to stop thinking about the snowmen and when he was talking to the Great Intelligence.
  • The Bells of Saint John: The Abbot says, "The bells of Saint John are ringing!"
  • The Rings of Akhaten: The Doctor welcomes Clara to "the rings of Akhaten."

Aliens and enemies

• Daleks
• Dalek puppets
• Dalek Prime Minister
• Solomon
• Robot 1 and Robot 2
• Dinosaurs
• Silurians
• Kahler-Tek
• Kahler-Jex
• Shakri
• Weeping Angels
• Great Intelligence
• Walter Simeon
• Snowmen
• Spoonheads
• Miss Kizlet
• The Mummy
• Vigil
• Old God
• Ice Warriors
• Cybermen

Notes

• Steven Moffat has teased that he has created a new 'monster' which he claims 'will' scare viewers.
• Moffat also revealed that there will be "a mummy of sorts and some zombie creatures as well."
• Neil Gaiman has claimed that he has made the Cybermen scary again.

Adaptations and merchandising

Home media

DVD

Episode name	Number and duration of episodes	R2 release date	R4 release date	R1 release date
Doctor Who: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe	1 × 60 min.	16 January 2012	1 March 2012	14 February 2012
Doctor Who: Series 7, Part 1 Asylum of the Daleks Dinosaurs on a Spaceship A Town Called Mercy The Power of Three The Angels Take Manhattan	1 x 50 min. 4 × 45 min.	29 October 2012	14 November 2012	13 November 2012
Doctor Who: Series 7, Part 2 The Snowmen The Bells of Saint John The Rings of Akhaten Cold War Hide Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS The Crimson Horror Nighmare in Silver Episode Thirteen	1 x 60 min. 8 x 45 min.	20 May 2013	TBA	TBA
Doctor Who: The Complete Series Seven

Rumours

• In an interview with SFX, Caroline Skinner hinted at the return of the Zygons.