The Doctor Falls (TV story)

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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.

The story featured several connections to the 1966 serial The Tenth Planet, including a story featuring humans from Mondas and featured appearances by the Cybermen from said planet. More surprisingly, it featured the surprise return of the First Doctor, now portrayed by David Bradley (who had previously portrayed William Hartnell in the docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time).

Synopsis

Plot

The episode opens to a group of farmers on Floor 0507 facing against the prototypes from Floor 1056, shooting them down by night to then restrain on wooden crosses by day. A school child is out in the field one morning when a shuttlepod blasts through the ground. From the rubble, a Cyberman walks out carrying an unconscious Doctor.

Sometime earlier, The Doctor awakes on top of the hospital, soon recalling how he was subdued by Missy and the Master. The Doctor, now restrained in a wheelchair, watches the two incarnations of the Master taunt him on the many deaths the Doctor has had and wanting to find out new ways to kill him. The Master and Missy dance and flirt with each other and gloat of their plan of the Cybermen converting all the humans on the ship. However the Master is stunned to find that the Cybermen are heading towards the building that they are perched on. The Doctor explains while he was knocked down by Missy, he altered the signal to focus on the Time Lords present and brags that he is the only one who has ever been able to stop so many Cybermen at once. Missy knocks the Master out and frees the Doctor from his restraints. The Doctor starts wondering which side she is on.

Nardole, who had commandeered a shuttlecraft, lands near the roof to help escape, but the Doctor is electrified by a Cyberman before he boards. Missy and the Master try to convince Nardole to abandon the Doctor, but Bill prevents the shuttle from leaving until they rescue him.

They escape to a higher floor on the ship, where time moves slower. They find themselves on solar farm, where some of the humans and a large number of children protect themselves from the early Cybermen prototypes from Operation Exodus. The Doctor to recover, but he shows early signs of regeneration which he keeps from Bill. Bill finds that though she thinks she is human, she is still a Mondasian Cyberman in appearance, created by a perception filter, according to the Doctor. She sheds a tear when she realises the humans are frightened of her, and the Doctor wipes it away, noting it unusual.

Missy discovers a camouflaged lift in the nearby forest, which she suggests they can escape to the bridge, but when she calls it, it brings up an advanced Cyberman from the lower floor, which they quickly destroy. The Doctor warns that through the Cybernet, they will now have much more time to plan, and they must prepare for a battle. While Nardole discovers that the floor below this one has many fuel pipes that he can detonate as weaponry against the Cybermen, the Doctor finds a conduit to another solar on a higher floor that can be used to evacuate the children, knowing this is a fight they will likely lose. The Master and Missy decide to leave and plan to find the Master's TARDIS at the lowest floor, despite the Doctor's request to stay and help. At the lift, Missy betrays the Master and fatally stabs him, forcing his next regeneration. She announces she will return to help the Doctor, but when she turns her back, he fires his laser screwdriver at full blast, also fatally wounding her and disabling her regeneration. They both laugh as they die.

An initial wave of Cybermen arrive, but using Nardole's tricks with the explosives, they are able to make the humans appear more powerful, forcing the Cybermen to retreat and develop a new plan, giving the humans more time. Against Nardole's protests, the Doctor sends him to help evacuate the children, intending to stay alone to fight the Cybermen. Bill also insists on staying with the Doctor. With all the humans evacuated, the Doctor ignites all the pipes below the floor, engulfing it all in a wave of destruction. All the Cybermen are killed, but the Doctor is severally wounded. Bill, still as a Cyberman, comes to mourn the Doctor's body, but suddenly she finds herself out of the Cyberman suit, seemingly human, thanks to Heather ("The Pilot") who found her by her tear and restored her to by like she is now. They take to the Doctor's body to the TARDIS, and Heather, as the Pilot, directs the TARDIS to a new location, while offering Bill to live out a different life, and Bill accepts.

The TARDIS lands on a snowy planet. The Doctor, struggling to hold back his regeneration, steps outside and hears a voice addressing him, that of the First Doctor.

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



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

  • Nardole pilots a shuttle labelled SL-16.

Story notes

Ratings

to be added

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.

to be added

Continuity

Home video releases

DVD releases

to be added

Blu-ray releases

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Digital releases

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External links