The Witch's Familiar (TV story)

The Witch's Familiar
Doctor:	Twelfth Doctor
Companion(s):	Clara
Main enemy:	Davros, Daleks
Main setting:	Skaro
Key crew
Writer:	Steven Moffat
Director:	Hettie MacDonald
Producer:	Peter Bennett
Release details
Story number:	253b
Premiere broadcast:	26 September 2015
Premiere network:	BBC One
Format:	1x48 minute episode
Official trailer
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Behind the scenes video
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Doctor Who television stories
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Production order
← Previous	The Magician's Apprentice
Next →	TBA

The Witch's Familiar was the second episode of the ninth series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales. It probed the reason why the Doctor had fled from Gallifrey and gave a needed explanation as to why Skaro had returned after it was shown to be destroyed in Remembrance of the Daleks, as the Daleks were said to have remade the planet anew. It also divulged how Missy had escaped her death in Death in Heaven through the use of a device to teleport away nanoseconds before she was shot by a cyber-converted Brigadier, which made it appear that she had been disintegrated.

This story was further notable for exploring several new narratives with Davros. It was the first time he was shown outside of his chair, and this revealed that he has no legs at all and both his spinal column and defunct left arm are a combination of robotic Dalek technology hooked into the machine. The episode also shows Davros turn off his eyestalk bulb and open his own eyes for the first time in all his appearances, and toyed with the possibility of him dying an indisputable death as well as him possibly regretting his actions.

In that same respect, the mechanics of a Dalek were given an in-depth look, showing how they control their casing functions, the weaponry and how their capacity for speech is filtered and conditions them so they must not utter anything which betrays their basic functions of hatred, as well as giving a rational explanation for why they repeatedly shout, "Exterminate!" in the bulk majority of their appearances.

In addition, having given the young Davros his sonic screwdriver and it wearing out with age, the Doctor decided against carrying around another screwdriver and instead revealed that he now has a pair of sonic sunglasses.

Synopsis

As he's trapped in a terrifying Dalek city, the Doctor is without his sonic, and without his TARDIS and is all on his own.

Can the Doctor resist his greatest temptation, and will he show his greatest enemy compassion?

Plot

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - Peter Capaldi
• Clara - Jenna Coleman
• Missy - Michelle Gomez
• Colony Sarff - Jami Reid-Quarrell
• Davros - Julian Bleach
• Boy - Joey Price
• Voice of the Daleks - Nicholas Briggs
• Daleks - Barnaby Edwards, Nicholas Pegg

Crew

Executive Producers   Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin

Written by Steven Moffat	Produced by Peter Bennett	Directed by Hettie MacDonald	Director of Photography Ali Asad	Production Designer Michael Pickwoad	Visual Effects Milk
Make-up Designer Barbara Southcott	Casting Director Andy Pryor CDG	Music Murray Gold	Costume Designer Ray Holman	Edited by Selina MacArthur	Special Effects Real SFX
Original theme music by Ron Grainer  •  Titles by BBC Wales Graphics  •  With thanks to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Sur-Film Production & Services S.L  •  Conducted and orchestrated by Ben Foster  •  Music mixed by Jake Jackson  •  Music recorded by Gerry O'Riordan   Daleks created by Terry Nation  •  Davros created by Terry Nation

General production staff Head of Production - Gordon Ronald Line Producer - Tracie Simpson Production Manager - Adam Knopf Location Manager - Iwan Roberts Unit Manager - Iestyn Hampson-Jones Production Co-ordinator - Sandra Cosfeld Production Assistants - Sion Crowle, Jamie Shaw Production Secretary - Hannah Jones Unit Drivers - Sean Evans, Kyle Davies Unit Medic - Glyn Evans Production Accountant - Ceredig Parry Assistant Accountant - Justine Wooff Script department Script Editor - David P Davis Script Executive - Lindsey Alford Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - Dan Mumford 2nd Assistant Director - James DeHaviland 3rd Assistant Director - Danielle Richards Assistant Directors - Gareth Jones, Chris Thomas Script Supervisor - Nicki Coles Camera Operator - Mark McQuoid 2nd Camera Operator - Steve Rees Focus Pullers - Jonathan Vidgen, Matthew Lepper Grip - John Robinson Assistant Grip - Sean Cronin Camera Assistants - Cai Thompson, Scott Waller Gaffer - Mark Hutchings Best Boy - Andrew Gardiner Electricians - Andrew Williams, Bob Milton, Gareth Sheldon, Gawain Nash, Matt Wilson	Art department Supervising Art Directors - Tristan Peatfield, Dafydd Shurmer Art Department Accountant - Bethan Griffiths Production Buyer - Sarah Frere Set Decorator - Adrian Anscombe Prop Buyers - May Johnson, Vicki Male, Rosy Pearce Storyboard Artist - Mike Collins Concept Artist - Chris Lees Graphic Artist - Matthew Clark Motion Graphics - Tom Munday Standby Props - Liam Collins, Ian Davies Standby Carpenter - Paul Jones Prop Hands - Scott Howe, Nigel Magni, Matt Watts Standby Art Director - Julia Challis Rigging - Shadow Scaffolding Head Scenic Artist - Clive Clarke Scenic Painters - Steve Nelms, Matt Weston, Paul Murray Storeman - Jamie Southcott Prop Master - Paul Smith Props Chargehand - Kyle Belmont Props Driver - Gareth Fox Props Makers - Alan Hardy, Jamie Thomas Construction Manager - Terry Horle Construction Chargehands - Dean Tucker, John Sinnott Construction Driver - Jonathan Tylke Practical Electricians - Christian Davies, Austin Curtis Draughtperson - Kartik Nagar Carpenters - Tim Burke, Lawrie Ferry, Matt Ferry, Chris Daniels, Julian Tucker, George Rees, Dan Berrow, Keith Richards, Campbell Fraser Title Concept - Billy Hanshaw Costume department Costume Supervisor - Simon Marks Assistant Costume Designer - Georgie Sayer Costume Assistants - Andie Mear, Ian Fowler, Jenny Tindle	Make-up and prosthetics Make-up Supervisor - Sara Anghard Make-up Artists - Megan Bowes, James Spinks Movement Stunt Co-ordinators - Crispin Layfield, Gordon Seed, Lucy Allen Stunt Performers - Sarah Lochlan, Belinda McGinley, David Grant, Nicholas Daines Casting Casting Associate - Alice Purser General post-production staff Post-production Supervisor - Samantha Price Assistant Editors - Becky Trotman, Steven Waltham On-line Editor - Geraint Pari Huws Special and visual effects VFX Editor - Dan Rawlings Special Creature Effects & Prosthetics - Millenium FX Colourist - Gareth Spensley Sound Sound Recordist - Deian Llŷr Humphreys Dubbing Mixer - Tim Ricketts Sound Maintenance Engineers - Tam Shoring, Christopher Goding Dialogue Editor - Darran Clement ADR Editor - Matthew Cox Sound Effects Editor - Paul Jefferies Effects Editor - Harry Barnes Foley Editor - Jamie Talbutt Foley Artist - Julie Ankerson

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.

References

• Daleks are incapable of saying anything that contradicts the parameters of their existence.
• Daleks are genetically designed to never die even as their bodies degenerate.
• Daleks channel their emotions of hate to fire their weaponry, and repeat the word "exterminate" in order to reload their guns.
• When teasing the Dalek she and Clara captured, Missy taunts it in a Texan accent.
• Missy claims she had a daughter.
• Missy has a pendant made of a dark star alloy, able to breach the Dalek case, which the Doctor gave to her when they were in Gallifrey.

Story notes

• Missy is seen in a sewer. Previously, in the Doctor Who spoof The Curse of Fatal Death also written by Steven Moffat, an incompetent version of the Master was shown falling into an absurdly vast sewer three times and taking three hundred and twelve years to climb out each time.
• A dying Davros telling the Doctor that he wants to look at him with his own eyes is very similar to a scene in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi when Anakin Skywalker says he wants to look at his son Luke with his own eyes as he is dying, and, like Davros, has been hooked up to mechanical apparatuses after suffering crippling injuries, including a mask over his face as part of his Sith identity as Darth Vader.
• On 27 September (releases), the day after the episode's broadcast, the two-part opener was broadcast on BBC One and BBC One HD as one single feature-length episode.

Ratings

• BBC One: 3.7m
• BBC America: to be added

Filming locations

• Tenerife

Production errors

to be added

Continuity

• The Doctor donates some regenerative energy to heal an injured associate. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan)
• Clara, trapped inside a Dalek, tries to identify herself to the Doctor, but actually says "I am a Dalek". A previous version of herself was locked inside a casing for so long it conditioned her to say only things that a Dalek would speak. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
• The Doctor is surprised to know that the Daleks know the word "mercy". (TV: The Big Bang)
• Davros asks the Doctor if he himself is a "good man". He also tells the Doctor that he's "not a good Doctor". (TV: Into the Dalek)
• Davros ponders over the idea of "to hold in your hand," something precious. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)
• Davros is in possession of the Doctor's confession dial and his sonic sunglasses. (WC: Prologue, TV: The Magician's Apprentice)
• Davros utters the phrase "No! This cannot be correct!" upon learning that the Doctor has tricked him. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
• The Doctor reveals that he has replaced his traditional sonic screwdriver with a pair of sonic sunglasses. The sunglasses were seen in the previous episode. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice)
• This is not the first time the Doctor has gone for an extended period of time without his sonic screwdriver. (TV: The Visitation et.al., TV: Doctor Who)
• The TARDIS' apparent destruction is revealed to be the work of the Hostile Action Displacement System in action. (TV: The Krotons, Cold War)
• The Doctor tells Davros that Gallifrey is alive and somewhere in the universe, and that he saved it. (TV: The Day of the Doctor, The Time of the Doctor)
• During the Doctor's first visit to Skaro, another companion of his (Ian Chesterton) disguised inside a Dalek case. (TV: "The Escape")
• The Fourth Doctor and the First Doctor momentarily appear in a flashback told by Missy.
• Missy tells Clara Oswald that a previous incarnation of the Doctor once fell into a nest of vampire monkeys (COMIC: Tooth and Claw) after escaping death.

Home video releases

DVD releases

to be added

Blu-ray releases

to be added

External links

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