Nightmare in Silver (TV story)

Nightmare in Silver
Doctor:	Eleventh Doctor
Companion(s):	Clara
Featuring:	Angie, Artie
Main enemy:	Cybermen Cybermites
Main setting:	Hedgewick's World of Wonders
Key crew
Writer:	Neil Gaiman
Director:	Stephen Woolfenden
Producer:	Marcus Wilson
Release details
Story number:	237
Premiere broadcast:	11 May 2013
Premiere network:	BBC One
Format:	1x45 minute episode
Production code:	3.12
Doctor Who television stories
← Previous	The Crimson Horror
Production order
← Previous	The Rings of Akhaten

Nightmare in Silver was the twelfth regular episode of the seventh series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales.

Synopsis

Hedgewick's World of Wonders: the perfect theme park day out. And ground zero for a deadly silver resurrection.

Plot

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - Matt Smith
• Clara - Jenna-Louise Coleman
• Angie - Eve De Leon Allen
• Artie - Kassius Carey Johnson
• Webley - Jason Watkins
• Porridge - Warwick Davis
• Captain - Tamzin Outhwaite
• Beauty - Eloise Joseph
• Brains - Will Merrick
• Ha-Ha - Calvin Dean
• Missy - Zahra Ahmadi
• Cyberman - Aidan Cook
• Voice of the Cybermen - Nicholas Briggs

References

Alien Species

• The head of a Uvodni and upper body of a Blowfish can be seen on display inside the room housing the chessboard.

Incarnations

• Whilst under possession by the Cyber-Planner, the Doctor mimics the Ninth Doctor's accent and catchphrase of "Fantastic", as well as the Tenth Doctor's of "Allons-y".
• During the taking over of the Cybermite, the Doctor let them see the regeneration power, by showing him his previous incarnations.

Games

• The game of chess was invented by the Time Lords.

Cultural references from the real world

• Porridge is inside an undefeated "automated" chess player. This is very similar to real-world the Turk, who was too exhibited as an undefeatable chess-playing machine, but was actually controlled by a man inside.

Story notes

• The episode's title, Nightmare in Silver, is reminiscent of Silver Nemesis, in that, in both cases, the "Silver" is referring to Cybermen.
• A working title for the episode was The Last Cyberman.
• The Cyber-Doctor answers to Clara's question of "More Cybermen?" with "They're waking from their tomb right now." which is a possible reference to the television story TV: Tomb of the Cybermen.
• When the Doctor lets the Cyber-Doctor access his memories on regeneration, his previous ten incarnations are seen. Each image of an incarnation is taken from photograph stills used as promotional material during the respective actors' tenures.

Ratings

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Filming locations

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Production errors

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.

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Continuity

• The Doctor can play chess. (TV: The Androids of Tara, TV: The Wedding of River Song). Also, the Time Lords inventing chess was a query first considered by the Second Doctor. (PROSE: Dreams of Empire)
• This is not the Doctor's first encounter with a Cyberman purported to be an automated game-playing machine. When the Eighth Doctor encountered the Silver Turk, a Cyberman, it too attacked its 'controllers'. (AUDIO: The Silver Turk)
• The Doctor mentions the Cybermen's weakness to gold (TV: Silver Nemesis) and cleaning fluid (TV: The Moonbase)
• A dummy from The God Complex and aliens from The Rings of Akhaten can be seen in the background.
• Two Impact suits can be seen. (TV: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe)
• The Doctor says the children are under his protection. (TV: The Bells of Saint John).
• Angie and Artie Maitland travel in the TARDIS, as they had previously blackmailed Clara into taking them along. (TV: The Crimson Horror)
• The Tenth Doctor's regeneration is seen. (TV: The End of Time).
• An Uvodni head is also on display (TV: Warriors of Kudlak).
• Another alien on display is a Chameleon. (TV: The Faceless Ones and PROSE: Face Value).
• Two Cybermite spy on the group on the shoulder of what seems to be a Blowfish.
• The Doctor previously visited an amusement park "controlled" by aliens. (TV: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy)
• Clara's mobile phone has no service, indicating that the Doctor didn't give her a superphone, as he had with every one of his regular companions since his ninth incarnation. (TV: The End of the World, 42, The Doctor's Daughter, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship)
• The Doctor says to the Cybermite, 'Hardly a cybermat'. (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen, TV: The Wheel in Space, TV: Revenge of the Cybermen, TV: Closing Time)
• The Doctor echoes a quote from his former companion Rory Williams when confronted by Clara aiming a gun at him. "Don't shoot, I'm nice!"
• The Doctor's defeat of the Cyber-Planner, distracting him with a bluff about an alleged checkmate to drain his power, is the same stratagem he used against Fenric in his seventh incarnation. (TV: The Curse of Fenric)
• The Doctor refers to an enemy as "beautiful." (TV: Tooth and Claw, The God Complex)

Home video releases

to be added

External links

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References