The Haunting of Villa Diodati (TV story)

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The Haunting of Villa Diodati was the eighth episode of series 12 of Doctor Who.

It offered an alternate account of the conception of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley to that of the audio story Mary's Story featuring the Eighth Doctor, though with the story acknowledging that what it was depicting was the result of history becoming unusually flexible around that night.

The episode featured the return of the Cybermen, in their first television appearance since 2017's The Doctor Falls and their first encounter with the Thirteenth Doctor. Specifically, the story properly introduced the Lone Cyberman, as well as its motivations, after he had been mentioned by Jack Harkness in Fugitive of the Judoon.

Synopsis

The Doctor and her companions visit Mary Shelley on the fateful night in 1816 when she creates Frankenstein but all is not as it seems. The rooms of Villa Diodati keep shifting around and ghosts are stalking the halls. And the group soon remember a familiar warning: "Beware the Lone Cyberman. Do not let it have what it wants". But why is Percy Shelley not where he should be according to history?

Plot

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Cast

Crew

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References

Locations

The Doctor

Individuals

Languages

Culture

Food and beverages

Technology

  • The Doctor attempts to use her psychic paper to pass herself off as someone else, but finds that the paper is blank and might need a blow dry.
  • The Doctor scans the villa with her sonic screwdriver.
  • Polidori want to fetch his pistol for a duel with Ryan.
  • The Doctor realises the villa has a perception filter all around it.
  • The Cyberman's wrist blaster is broken.
  • The Doctor notes that the Cyberman still doesn't have an emotional inhibitor yet.
  • The Lone Cyberman uses a lightning strike to recharge itself.
  • The Cyberman reveals that it is looking for the Cyberium.
  • The Cyberium is an AI containing all the knowledge and complete history of all Cybermen, that fused itself to Shelley's cerebral cortex.
  • The Lone Cyberman signals for his ship to come.
  • The Doctor and her friends take off to stop the Cyber-Army from being built.
  • The Lone Cyberman makes a time hop.

Story notes

Ratings

  • 3.86 million (BBC overnight)[3]

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

Home video releases

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External links

Footnotes