The Doctor Falls (TV story)

The Doctor Falls
Doctor:	Twelfth Doctor
Companion(s):	Bill, Nardole
Featuring:	Missy, First Doctor
Main enemy:	Cybermen, The Saxon Master
Main setting:	Mondasian colony ship: Floor 1056 and Floor 507
Key crew
Writer:	Steven Moffat
Director:	Rachel Talalay
Producer:	Peter Bennett
Release details
Story number:	275b
Premiere broadcast:	1 July 2017
Premiere network:	BBC One
Format:	1x60 minute episode
Doctor Who television stories
← Previous	World Enough and Time

The Doctor Falls, written by Steven Moffat, was the twelfth and final episode of the tenth series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales. It featured the departures of both Bill Potts and Nardole, and the apparent death of Missy after ensuring the end of her predecessor. Expanding on the Twelfth Doctor's regeneration teased in the previous episode, it saw him mortally wounded in battle against the Cybermen. The regeneration would be postponed, however, as the Doctor refused to change.

Finally, it featured the surprise return of the First Doctor now portrayed by David Bradley, whom had previously portrayed William Hartnell in the docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time.

Synopsis

to be added

Plot

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - Peter Capaldi
• Bill - Pearl Mackie
• Nardole - Matt Lucas
• Missy - Michelle Gomez
• The Saxon Master - John Simm
• Hazran - Samantha Spiro
• Alit - Briana Shann
• Gazron - Rosie Boore
• Rexhill - Simon Coombs
• Heather - Stephanie Hyam
• Voice of the Cybermen - Nicholas Briggs

And David Bradley as The Doctor

Crew

to be added

References

to be added

Story notes

• This marks David Bradley's first appearance as the First Doctor in a canon DWU television story. Bradley previously portrayed a fictionalised version of William Hartnell, the original actor to portray the First Doctor, in the non-DWU docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time, in which Bradley reenacted scenes from several First Doctor serials.

Ratings

to be added

Filming locations

to be added

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.

to be added

Continuity

• The Doctor recalls last seeing Missy's predecessor heading to Gallifrey. (TV: The End of Time)
• The Doctor notes the Cybermen have risen from Mondas (AUDIO: Spare Parts, TV: The Tenth Planet) to Telos, (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen) Earth, (TV: Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel) Planet 14 (TV: The Invasion) and Marinus. (COMIC: The World Shapers)
• The Doctor recounts his various victories over the Cybermen: on Telos where he sealed them into their ice tombs, (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen) Voga, (TV: Revenge of the Cybermen), Canary Wharf (TV: Army of Ghosts/Doomsday) and Planet 14. (COMIC: The World Shapers, TV: The Invasion)
• The Doctor reminds Bill how she remembered the truth during the reign of the Monks. (TV: The Lie of the Land)
• Bill is reunited with Heather in the form of sentient oil. (TV: The Pilot)
• Missy uses her sonic umbrella. (TV: World Enough and Time)
• The Master uses a modified Laser screwdriver. (TV: Last of the Timelords)
• The Doctor has a brief recall of all of his past companions from his ninth incarnation onwards, just before his body attempts to regenerate. The Fifth Doctor similarly had this occur to him. Likewise, the last face he sees is the Master's. (TV: The Caves of Androzani). The Fourth Doctor had also had a similar thing happen, and he also saw the Master's face. (TV:Logopolis.
• As he begins regenerating, the Doctor says "I don't want to go", the exact same words his tenth incarnation said before regenerating. (TV: The End of Time) He also reiterates the last lines of his eleventh incarnation. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)
• The Doctor resists regenerating. He has previously done this. (TV: The End of Time)
• It was revealed Heather gave her tears to track Bill, explaining how Bill was still able to cry despite being a Cyberman. (TV: World Enough and Time)
• The Doctor meets his original self. He has met this version of himself numerous times. (TV: The Two Doctors, The Five Doctors, The Day of the Doctor)

Home video releases

DVD releases

to be added

Blu-ray releases

to be added

Digital releases

to be added

External links

• Official The Doctor Falls page on the Doctor Who website