Spyfall (TV story): Difference between revisions

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== Home video releases ==
== Home video releases ==


=== DVD and Blu-Ray ===
=== DVD and Blu-ray releases ===
This story was released on DVD and Blu-ray as part of the Complete Series 12 boxset.
 
* This story was released as part of the Complete Twelfth Series boxset on DVD and Blu-ray in region 1/A on [[9 June (releases)|9 June]] [[2020 (releases)|2020]], in region 2/B on [[4 May (releases)|4 May]] 2020 and in region 4/B on [[3 June (releases)|3 June]] 2020.


=== Digital releases ===
=== Digital releases ===
In the United Kingdom, this story is available on [[BBC iPlayer]] in two parts as broadcast.
 
* In the United Kingdom, this story is available on [[BBC iPlayer]] in two parts as broadcast.


== External links ==
== External links ==

Revision as of 23:20, 19 December 2023

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Spyfall was the two-part opening story to series 12 of Doctor Who. It saw the Thirteenth Doctor and company team up with MI6, and re-introduced the Master, now in a new incarnation played by Sacha Dhawan.

The Doctor's home planet Gallifrey also made a return, having not been seen since the Twelfth Doctor ran away once more in Hell Bent, with the Capitol now in ruins and the Time Lords implied dead at the Master's hand. In an ongoing story arc, the Master reveals that he has uncovered a secret about the Time Lords' history, connected to the Timeless Child. Additionally, the Doctor is shown a flashback of the Remnants on Desolation and a vision of a young girl by a tall structure on a planet with a purple sky.

The two-parter also saw three classic series features making a return: the Master's Tissue Compression Eliminator, The Master's TARDIS, and Time Lord telepathic contact, which the Doctor and the Master once again use to communicate via psychic link.

The story further introduced a new wall-breaking aspect to the Time Vortex. Now, when the TARDIS breaks into Gallifrey's "time bubble", the vortex changes from its normal appearance in purple to resemble an orange ball of flaming fire.

Synopsis

The security of the entire world is at stake, so the head of MI6, C, enlists the Thirteenth Doctor and her team to investigate former agent spy Daniel Barton to see if he's been turned against them. Meanwhile, an alien threat that can pass through walls, even those of the TARDIS, known as the Kasaavin is wiping out spy organisations all over the planet. Can former MI6 agent "O" help them, or is he not who he claims to be?

Having been separated from her friends, the Doctor must figure out a way of stopping the Kasaavin and a familiar foe before their plan is put into action. Can she reach her friends and save the world with only a sonic screwdriver to help her?

Plot

Part One

In various locations around the world, a sniper, a spy on a plane, and an American operative are attacked by unknown creatures appearing out of the walls. In Sheffield, Yorkshire, Ryan Sinclair plays basketball with his friends. After a missed shot, Ryan and his friend Tibo have a chat, talking about his absence due to his TARDIS travels - all of which have been blamed on different illnesses. They stop talking as they see a car parked in front of them and men in black suits standing by.

At their flat, Sonya pesters Yasmin Khan for Ryan's phone number while Yaz is packing. Najia is annoyed at that this is the third secondment Yaz been selected for during her probation period, although Yaz feigns being proud. Outside the Hallamshire Police station, Ramesh Sunder, Yaz's superior officer, does not approve either. He asks if she is on undercover work but is interrupted by two men in suits requesting Yaz.

At his doctor's office, Graham O'Brien rolls up his sleeve. His doctor notes how the time has flown since his procedure four years ago. He asks some routine questions then offers condolences on his wife. Graham mentions that he is travelling, then leaves the office and sees a parked car with two men in black suits.

At a garage, the Thirteenth Doctor has her TARDIS upon a car lift, performing engineering works on its underside. She leaves a group voice message to her "fam" on her mobile phone, saying they are late. She hangs up and turns to see three parked cars and six men in dark grey suits, one of them approaching her. She greets them, noting they are "rocking the ominous look". The man says her friends are in the car, so the Doctor goes with them.

With the companions in the back seat and the Doctor in the passenger seat, the man drives them somewhere, guided by SatNav. Suddenly, the SatNav starts to corrupt, then a red beam shoots from it, vapourising the driver. The car stops in the middle of the road and the doors lock by themselves. The Doctor tries to use her sonic screwdriver but the SatNav starts up again, noting that in five seconds, they will die. The car then starts up again, driving in reverse while the Doctor tries to stop it. The Doctor eventually grabs the rearview mirror and uses it to reflect a beam to the SatNav, destroying it. The car stops just before falling off the end of the road. A man that is known only as "C" starts talking over the car's speaker and convinces the Doctor to come to MI6 in London.

The team arrives at MI6 with the TARDIS in tow. C greets them at the top of the stairs but mistakenly addresses Graham as the Doctor. When his assistant Franklin corrects him, he notes "I read the files, the Doctor is a man." The Doctor replies that she has "had an upgrade". C announces that he is authorised by "every security agency around the globe" to ask for the Doctor's help.

C tells the team that intelligence officers of all nationalities around the globe have been attacked, potentially by aliens. Leading the team into a room, the passenger attacked from the Tokyo flight is present, alone on a hospital bed. C reveals that the passenger's DNA has been rewritten to no longer be human. The Doctor states that this is beyond any human technology. Hearing so, C formally recruits the Doctor to help save the planet.

In his office, C provides Team TARDIS with briefcases of spy equipment. He reveals that all of the assassinated agents were working leads related to Daniel Barton, the founder of VOR, a modern tech company that is more powerful than most nations. The Doctor says she will need C's best man, but he replies that he fired him, as alien issues are not MI6's area. Irritated, the Doctor sends the former agent who she is acquainted with a voicemail to reveal his location, receiving an image of a fish in reply. C warns that Barton used to work for him but is likely now a double or triple agent. Before he can explain further, an unseen sniper kills C and starts shooting at the team. They flee to the TARDIS as the alien figures start phasing through the office walls.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor analyses the steganography of the fish picture and determines the agent's location is the Australian Outback. A figure starts to phase through the TARDIS doors but fails when the Doctor engages the engines. Unable to get a reading, the Doctor decides the team should split up. She and Graham go to Australia to meet the former agent, while Yaz and Ryan go to VOR. Along with the spy equipment they got from C, the Doctor also gives Yaz and Ryan a bioscanner disguised as a digital audio recorder and sends them off, telling them to trust no-one.

In San Francisco, Ryan hacks Barton's diary to arrange a meeting with him. Yaz and Ryan enter VOR headquarters, pretending to be a journalist called Sofia and her photographer Logan Jackson, and are greeted inside by Barton and his assistant. The group heads to Barton's office.

Meanwhile, the TARDIS materialises in the Great Victoria Desert. Former MI6 agent "O" and two Australian Secret Service agents, Seesay and Browning, greet the Doctor and Graham. Inside O's house, he and the Doctor discuss the situation, and Graham reveals O's security setup. O states he is cautious, believing the threat will follow the Doctor to him.

In Barton's office, he confesses he only granted Yaz the interview because they are Brits and his mum reads their paper. Yaz uses the bioscanner discreetly while Barton electronically verifies Yaz and Ryan's false identities. With Barton's approval, Yaz proceeds with the interview, while Ryan photographs Barton and duplicates his security badge. However, Barton's phone buzzes and he cuts the interview short; before leaving, he invites Yaz and Ryan to his house for his birthday party the next day as an apology. Despite Ryan's insistence on snooping around, Yaz is worried because her scan indicates Barton has only 93% human DNA.

At O's house that night, something starts tripping the movement sensors. Seesay and Browning insist on staying outside to protect them as a luminescent figure appears. Suddenly, a large group materialises and they attack the two secret service agents, leaving nothing left. They begin surrounding the house, only for O's security field to take out all but one. As the last one enters the house, a glass cage lands upon it and the creature is electrocuted, keeping it inside. It finally speaks to the Doctor, revealing itself to be from "far beyond your understanding" and is ready to take over the universe.

That night at VOR HQ, Yaz and Ryan wait until Barton has left and they use his copied security pass to access his office. As Yaz copies all his computer's files, Barton re-enters the building and the two are forced to hide behind a sofa. Although Barton only enters for his bag, he tells them to "show yourselves", only for two more of the glowing figures to arrive. They discuss continuing their project before Barton leaves. Just as Yaz and Ryan prepare to depart as well, another glowing figure attacks Yaz, making her disappear. Ryan has no choice but to flee.

Yaz wakes up in an alien landscape, surrounded by giant stalks, finding herself entirely alone. As the Doctor notices the aliens are fighting back, more appear inside VOR HQ as Ryan leaves. Yaz is attacked by a bright light and suddenly appears inside the creature's cage at O's house, just as Ryan phones the Doctor. She goes to pick him up and they regroup.

The next morning, Ryan comforts a shaken Yaz. Meanwhile, O quizzes Graham over what little he knows of the Doctor. O offers to share his findings before the Doctor orders them to discuss the situation. The Doctor discovers some alien code hidden the deepest recess of Barton's system and finds it is in an almost unknown language. Inside, the Doctor attempts to decrypt the image, eventually revealing itself as the creatures' locations across the Earth. However, the image of Earth replicates and O suggests tracking down the spymaster - in this case, Barton. The Doctor decides to hack his party's guest list and head there with O in the TARDIS.

Joined by O, the group lands in a vineyard in dinner jackets to investigate Barton. However, as they enter, Barton receives footage of Yaz and Ryan's spy work. The group attempt to mingle. After being confronted by the Doctor, Barton denies all accusations put to him and angrily leaves in his car.

The Doctor, Graham, and Yaz pursue Barton on motorbikes, with Ryan and O as passengers. Driving through the vineyard, Barton shoots at them, but they miss as Barton escapes to his private jet. The group hides in the hangar and plan to jump on with him.

Leaping aboard the jet, O admits he was never a good runner. The Doctor knows he's lying, as he was a champion sprinter at school. Dropping the act, O admits he isn't who he is claiming to be while the Doctor and her companions find his house flying parallel to the plane. O admits he has been the spymaster all along - specifically, "the spy... Master" revealing himself to have been the Doctor's old friend and enemy all along having been in control of Barton and the aliens the whole time. Gleefully the Master tells the Doctor that he ambushed and killed the real O on his first day at MI6 using tissue compression and stole his identity to hide on Earth and infiltrate the organisation. Barton disappears from the pilot seat, leaving a bomb in his place that is immune to the sonic.

Before leaving, the Master summons two of the aliens just as the device detonates, shattering the nose of the plane and sending it into a nosedive. The Master says to the Doctor that "everything that you think you know is a lie", grins at her saying “gotcha”, then the aliens teleport him away. Suddenly, two of them do the same to the Doctor, with her reappearing in the same environment Yaz was in earlier. The others are left helpless in the falling plane, hurtling towards the ground.

Part Two

The Doctor wakes up to find herself in the alien's dimension, where she reminds herself to not panic. On the crashing plane, Graham, Yaz, and Ryan are panicking, but Ryan spots a series of plaques underneath the seats with his name on and arrows to grab his attention. They lead him to a seat containing a sheet titled "How to Land a Plane Without a Cockpit" and he decides to try it out. Meanwhile, the Doctor discovers a young woman wearing early 19th-century clothes in the alien realm with her, but she appears calm about the situation.

In the plane, the instructions lead to Ryan plugging his phone into an under-floor cable, at which point the Doctor appears on the overhead screens. She tells them that they are not going to die and an app titled "Piloting Made Easy" has been installed on Ryan's phone. With the simple controls, they use it to successfully level out the plane.

The woman in the alien dimension names herself as Ada and reveals that she believes to be inside her imagination while she is paralysed in real life, and has visited the location many times before. Eventually, light gathers around her and one of the glowing aliens appears and Ada uses it to offer a way out to the Doctor. The two hold hands and they vanish. Meanwhile, the plane automatically returns to its programmed flight pattern and the group wait to see where it will land.

In the Master's TARDIS (still in the form of his Australian hut) the Master video calls Barton about the success of their plan. However, Barton is notified of the plane returning to normal. Frustrated, the Master promises to find the Doctor while Barton works on her friends.

The Doctor and Ava land back in Ava's time - a science convention 1834 London. The Doctor brushes off her appearance as "the Marvellous Apparating Man", before correcting herself. She promises to find her fam any way she can. The rest of the group have landed in Essex and decide, via Barton's hacked diary, to visit his keynote speech in London the next night, but without him realising they are still alive. Barton starts trying to track them down.

The Doctor attempts to explain herself and her situation to Ava, before the Master arrives in Victorian clothes, using his Tissue Compression Eliminator to kill innocent bystanders. The Doctor makes herself known to stop the chaos and he forces her to kneel before him. The Master inadvertently reveals that he knows almost nothing of the creatures except their general interests and their name - the Kasaavin. The Master attempts to bring the Doctor "news from home" but Ada shoots him in the arm with a steam machine gun and the two escape, although with no TARDIS to help them.

In 2020, the Doctor's friends attempt to formulate a plan as Barton phones all of them at once. He reveals he has tracked down all their personal information and has revoked their freedom of movement, just as their faces appear on an advertising screen, marking them as wanted for hijacking. Barton dares them to go off-grid, so Ryan stomps on all their phones and they run.

Ada leads the Doctor to a colleague's house who the Doctor realises is famous polymath Charles Babbage, and therefore, Ada is Ada Lovelace, one of the first-ever computer scientists, although she is calling herself Ada Gordon at this time. Babbage points them to a statue called the Silver Lady that Barton and the Master later owned and the Doctor realises it has projected the Kasaavin to Ada since she was young as part of their plan to place spies, not on multiple Earths, but multiple periods of Earth. She sonics the statue and a Kasaavin appears, hoping to use it to return to the 21st century, but Ada grabs her hand and they disappear together.

That night, Graham, Yaz, and Ryan rest in a disused building site as they try to do what the Doctor would do in this situation. Although they admit they do not know as much about the Doctor as they wish, they also realise they still own some spy gadgets to defend themselves with, just as a group of Kasaavin appear. The Doctor and Ada appear in the middle of a bombing raid, and a nearby woman reveals they have landed in 1943 Paris at night during the German occupation in World War II. The group hide together as the Master arrives in German army uniform. Back on the building site, the three become surrounded by Kasaavin, though Graham attempts to fend them off with his laser shoe.

Somewhere else, in an empty hangar, Barton appears with the Silver Lady in front of an older woman tied to a chair. She is revealed to be his mother and that he wanted to see her on "the last day." As the statue activates, the Kasaavin surround her, filling her with energy as she screams. In Paris, German soldiers enter the woman's apartment as the Doctor and Ada hide under the floorboards. Finding nothing, the Master leaves and the Doctor realises the other woman is Noor Inayat Khan, the first female radio operator to be placed behind enemy lines. The Doctor realises she has been placed here due to Ada coming through the teleport with her and sighs at the enormity of the task at hand.

In 2020, Yaz uses a phone box to call home and convince them she is OK. However, the call is being tracked by VOR and they are quickly surrounded by armed men. Despite this, Graham threatens them with his shoe, revealing it all to be a plan, and they steal the men's phones and escape in their car. Elsewhere, the Doctor taps out a four-beat Morse code signal to the Master and the two make telepathic contact. They promise to meet up alone.

At the top of the Eiffel Tower, the Doctor and the Master talk. The Master explains he is using a perception filter to fit the Nazis' Aryan stereotype, and that it was he who hijacked the MI6 car and killed C. The Master reveals that he did not bring the Kasaavin to Earth, but were already there as spies. He just "suggested a better plan." Yaz discovers Barton's mother, dead in the hangar, and Barton relays a video message to the trio, calling them "two steps behind" as he has been tested on by the Kasaavin and is about to roll out his plan worldwide.

Noor sends a Morse message back to London before her and Ada take a mobile phone the Doctor has given them to find something out of place. They eventually stumble upon the Master's TARDIS, still in its hut form, and phone the Doctor. She does not answer but instead activates her sonic screwdriver. The Master reveals he is simply using Barton and the Kasaavin as part of his plan to destroy the human race before dispensing of his allies. He also states he recently visited Gallifrey and it has been burned to the ground, but he is interrupted by the arrival of Nazi troops, with Noor having outed him as a double agent and the Doctor jamming his perception filter. She leaves as he is turned upon by the soldiers and enters his TARDIS with Ada and Noor, realising the Kasaavin have been tracking people who worked in the development of computers, starting with Ada.

In an auditorium, Barton gives his speech, thanking the public for giving all their details to him. He sends them all a text - "Humanity is over. You have three minutes to prepare." He explains that humans are no longer the most efficient things on Earth, but they do make perfect hard drives. As the Silver Lady starts moving and summoning dozens of Kasaavin, everyone's phones activate and Barton prepares to wipe most of humanity's DNA for use as data storage. Graham and Ryan's spy gadgets do not affect the Silver Lady and the Master arrives, having had to live through 77 years of Earth history as his TARDIS was stolen. However, the Silver Lady suddenly stops and Barton storms off into hiding.

Suddenly, the Doctor enters the hangar with Ada and Noor, revealing she knew Barton would go on to own the statue and re-engineered it so it would shut down upon a mass Kasaavin gathering. The Doctor tells the Kasaavin to leave and plays them her sonic's audio recording of the Master's plan to double-cross them. Furious, the aliens hound upon the Master and he is teleported to their dimension, screaming the Doctor's name. Meanwhile, the Doctor promises to explain everything to her friends and drop Ada and Noor back home but first has to create the materials on the plane that saved the gang's lives. She uses the Master's TARDIS to place everything in the plane as it is being built then gets her ship back from the vineyard.

First, the Doctor drops off Noor. After promising her the fascists will never win as long as people like her are there, the Doctor wipes her memory and bids her "bonne chance" as she passes out. Next, it is Ada's turn, although she is desperate to keep travelling. Despite begging to not have her memory wiped, the Doctor goes through with it and she wishes her sweet dreams as she leaves.

Alone, the Doctor travels to Gallifrey. The entire Capital is destroyed and still burning. Mortified, the Doctor can barely move. Back inside the TARDIS, a geo-activated holographic message from the Master plays, revealing that he did the damage, furious that "the whole existence of our species [was] built on the lie of the Timeless Child." The Doctor remembers the Remnants telling her that name and sees a brief vision of a young girl stood by a tower. The Master says the vision is hidden in all Gallifreyans but refuses to say more.

Five adventures later and the Doctor is still deep in thought about the Master's words. The group round on her for not being open about her life and she quickly tells them about where she came from, why she travels, and her relationship with the Master. When Yaz asks if they can visit Gallifrey, she sombrely replies, "another time."

Cast

Crew

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


South Africa crew
General production staff

Art department

 Camera and lighting department


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.
          

Because this site places both episodes of Spyfall into one single article, it is slightly more difficult to properly represent the crew in the above framework. Episodes 1 and 2 did not share the same credits.  Most notably, Part One was directed by Jamie Magnus Stone, while Part Two was instead directed by Lee Haven Jones. As a result, these episodes belonged to two different production blocks. Rebecca Trotman edited both episodes, but was joined by Tom Chapman, who shared the credit with her for Part Two. Catherine Goldschmidt was the director of photography on Part One, and Ed Moore continued this work in Part Two.
Dan Mumford was 1st AD on Part One, while Part Two credited Barry Phillips in his stead. Aina Sabaté-Giralt was script supervisor on Part One, and Nicki Coles served this role in Part Two's production. Nick Murray was art director for Part One, followed by Joseph Wynne in Part Two, and Anwen Haf was standby art director in Part One, while Cerys Lewis did Part Two. Cerys Lewis serves as standby props person in Part One, instead. The role of set decorator was split between Chris House, in Part One, and Joelle Rumbelow, who worked on Part Two. Martin Broadbent, as set dresser, was only credited for Part One; Atiff Tahir and John Thomas, in the same role, only for Part Two. Darren Fereday, concept artist, worked on Part One, and Louis Knight received this credit for Part Two. Benjamin Davis and György Simán were graphic designers on Part One and Two, respectively. Jenny Tindle was a costume assistant only on Part One, and Ian Fowler held this title only for Part Two. Amy Riley was Part One's make-up supervisor, but one of Part Two's make-up artists, under returning supervisor Emma Cowen. Megan Bowes was a make-up artist credited only on Part One. 

Meanwhile, the South Africa crew, in its entirety, played a role in principal photography only for Part One. All credited stunt performers, other than Paul Bailey and Andrew Burford, only received credit with Part One. Agatha Jackson is only seen, alongside Scott, as production assistant, when the credits roll on Spyfall: Part One. Helen Searle received credit for cast payroll only in Part Two. Joshua Montoro-Bailes served as a camera assistant only on Part One. Steffan Allen was listed as grip assistant only on Part Two. Dave Hobbs and Kristian Tucker, carpenters, were only credited for Part Two. BBC Wales Graphics was billed as providing additional VFX for Part Two, joining Ben Pickles, who received this credit on both episodes. Alec Roberts is said in Part Two to only have "orchestrated", rather than "orchestrated and conducted". Kiran Marshall joined Howard Bargroff (credited on both) as dubbing mixer on Part Two's post-production team. Martin Joinson's services as aviation consultant were only called upon for Part Two.  In addition to the above, Andy Gardiner is erroneously credited as "Andy Gardine" in Spyfall: Part Two, while John Sinnott is credited as "John Sinnot", in Part Two as well.


Worldbuilding

Locations

TARDIS

Individuals

Illness and injuries

Foods and beverages

Technology

Games and sports

  • Ryan, Tibo and their friends play basketball.
  • Daniel Barton's birthday party has roulette, Poker, Blackjack, dice etc.
  • Barton says his birthday party is Casino-theme and not Whodunnit.
  • "O" was a champion sprinter. The Master is not good at sprinting.

Companies and organisations

Popular culture

Notes

  • This was the first multi-part television story to be given one overarching title since 2009-10's The End of Time, and only the second such story in the BBC Wales era. Interestingly, both stories aired in part on New Year's Day, and both featured the Master; in fact, Part One of Spyfall was broadcast on the 10th anniversary of 1 January 2010's The End of Time: Part Two. Each aired on the first day of their respective decade, according to one outlook on the bounds of such a measurement, which this wiki follows.
  • This is the first story in the show's history to have its parts air four days apart rather than a whole week. 1 January and 5 January 2020, respectively. It is also the first time two Doctor Who episodes have been shown the same week since The Twin Dilemma Parts Three and Four in March 1985.
Terrance Dicks "Masterful" dedication.
  • The first part of this story was dedicated to the memory of the "Masterful" Terrance Dicks. Dicks was script editor for the Master's debut story, Terror of the Autons.
  • This story's title is a play on the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall. According to one news source, the story also pays homage to Casino Royale, the first novel in the James Bond series, which was centred on gambling and aristocracy.[2] The concept of MI6 members being known by a single letter, namely "C" and "O", is similar to "M" and "Q" from the James Bond franchise, introduced in the original novels by Ian Fleming. Additionally, the car-bound attack on the Doctor en route to MI6, with a dead driver and a hostile vehicle, echoes a similar set piece from the film, Live and Let Die.
  • Part One marks the first episode since Twice Upon a Time to include a "cold opening". Part Two, however, used a re-cap of Part One rather than a new scene. "Cold openings" would be a fluctuating on/off feature in Series 12.
  • Part Two is the first "follow-up" episode of Doctor Who to feature a re-cap with an opening voiceover: "Previously on Doctor Who...", read by Thirteenth Doctor actor Jodie Whittaker, similarly to how Broadchurch, which was also written by Chibnall, would use a voiceover to re-cap the previous episode. The prior norm for televised Doctor Who, and indeed its televised spin-offs, was the use of an on-screen caption which typically read "Previously", which would be the norm from the series finale, The Timeless Children, onwards. This formula was, however, previously used by Big Finish Productions in the recap to Neverland which opened Zagreus. In that case, the voiceover was provided by Don Warrington, who voiced Rassilon in both stories.
  • Similar to The Return of Doctor Mysterio and its predecessor, Part One of this story aired exactly one year after the preceding episode.
  • This story marked the first time a villain has been capable of physically breaking through the sealed TARDIS doors.
  • This is the first multi-part television story to have more than one credited director since Planet of Giants in 1964.
  • This story was originally going to be a single episode. In this version, the opening would have featured Yaz getting her appraisal, Ryan passing his NVQ, and Graham performing a duet with a young Elvis Presley. Additionally, O would not have been the Master and the unnamed aliens would have been mining human DNA, eventually turning against Barton by the Doctor's convincing, who in turn tells her about the Timeless Child. (DWM 570 supplement)
  • Part Two was originally planned to include Barton having half of his DNA rewritten and escaping to Switzerland. Barton would have held Yaz's family hostage, the Doctor and Ada would have visited war-torn Paris through a séance, and the Doctor's friends would have tried to evade Barton by getting a lift from an old woman who vigorously stuck to the speed limit. (DWM 570 supplement)
  • Part Two was originally going to feature a scene in which Noor Inayat Khan is captured as an enemy spy and executed by the Nazis. It ended up being cut.[3]
  • This story features Stephen Fry as the benign-tempered head of MI6, referred to as simply "C". Fry had portrayed previously a head of the British secret services always referred to as "Control" in a notorious series of sketches from the anthology comedy series A Bit of Fry and Laurie, making Spyfall a near-crossover between these sketches and the Doctor Who universe.
  • Spyfall is the third consecutive time in which the second season opener for its respective Doctor is a two-part story, following The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon and The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar.
  • Part Two aired on Mandip Gill's birthday.

Myths and rumours

  • Daniel Barton was speculated to be a new incarnation of the Master. This was proven false, though O was revealed be the Master.

Ratings

  • Part One - 4.88 million (BBC overnight)[4]
  • Part Two - 4.65 million (BBC overnight)[5]
  • Part One - 6.89 million (BBC overall)[6]
  • Part Two - 6.07 million (BBC overall)[6]

Filming locations

(All DWM 570 supplement)

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.
  • Andrew Piper, who plays an inventor in Part Two, is credited as "Andrew Pipe" in the episode's end credits.
  • While hiding under the floorboards, Ada recognises the Master from his voice, but in that scene he did not speak.

Continuity

Home video releases

DVD and Blu-ray releases

  • This story was released as part of the Complete Twelfth Series boxset on DVD and Blu-ray in region 1/A on 9 June 2020, in region 2/B on 4 May 2020 and in region 4/B on 3 June 2020.

Digital releases

  • In the United Kingdom, this story is available on BBC iPlayer in two parts as broadcast.

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Dhawan is credited in Part One as "O", and in Part Two, as "The Master".
  2. ↑ Laford, Andrea (27 December 2018). Doctor Who Spyfall: new images and information. CultBox. Retrieved on 1 January 2020.
  3. ↑ https://cultbox.co.uk/news/spyfall-part-2-behind-the-scenes
  4. ↑ Ratings - Radio Times
  5. ↑ Ratings - Doctor Who News
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Spyfall - Official Ratings
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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
v • e
Spy Master stories
Television
Prose
Comics
Substantial appearances only; see a full list of appearances here
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