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Death in Heaven (TV story)

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Death in Heaven was the twelfth and final episode of the eighth series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales. It saw the death of Danny Pink and the departure of Clara Oswald as a companion, as well as revealing it was Missy who had given Clara the TARDIS phone's number.

It also allowed Doctor Who to again pay homage to Nicholas Courtney, with his character, the Brigadier, appearing as a Cyberman. This was the first appearance by the character since Battlefield.

Plot

The episode starts with a Cyberman detecting Clara before she explains that she is a target of strategic value and says that Clara Oswald is a cover story, all lies, and that she is the Doctor. Outside of St Paul's, Missy advertises the Cybermen as big metal men and charges the public one pound for a picture with them. She reveals that the same thing is happening globally. An undercover Osgood offers to take a picture, and after seizing Missy's weapon, UNIT officers reveal themselves from the crowd. The Cybermen use their rocket boots to escape. The roof of St Paul's opens and more fly out.

Missy reveals that there are ninety-one Cybermen, and Osgood finds that this is the number of areas of significant population densities in the British Isles, meaning one Cyberman for every town and city in the world. One Cyberman detonates itself above St Paul's, creating a dark cloud and deploying Cyber-pollen.

Meanwhile in the Nethersphere, all the lights go out and Seb reveals to Danny that they all might be going home and that you have to think of the Nethersphere as a data-cloud for storing recently deceased minds and that their bodies have been upgraded while they were "dead". 

Back at St Paul's both Missy and the Doctor are sedated and the Doctor just manages to whisper to Osgood, "Guard the graveyards". Kate Lethbridge Stewart states that the first protocol has been implemented as the cloud made by the Cyberman starts to rain in the graveyards. The water seeps out and makes the sewers and gutters overflow. The water gets into Chaplet Funeral Home and animates the newly converted Cybermen within. One of these is revealed to be Danny Pink who clutches the sheet of paper with his information on it. 

Meanwhile, the Doctor wakes up in a UNIT aircraft hanger with the TARDIS as Kate informs him that protocols are in place and his co-operation is to be ensured. The Doctor asks for Clara and Kate says that he just has to give the order, as soon as he is on the plane his word is literally law. The plane is revealed to be "Boat One". Kate tells someone on the phone that the President is aboard and when the Doctor comments on the uselessness of Americans, Colonel Ahmed reveals that the President of the United States was not being referred to; instead they were talking about the newly inaugurarated President of Earth, commander in chief of all armies on the planet with complete authority in every nation - the Doctor himself.

Back in St Paul's, Clara displays an incredible knowledge of the Doctor, trying to convince the Cybermen that she is him. She even offered to reveal his true name, however another Cyberman arrives telling the other three both the lie and its cause. He looks down when she says that she is an incredible liar. He then knocks her unconscious and kills the other three who realise that he is not under cyber-control. He is revealed to be Danny.

As Missy wakes up, the Doctor asks her why she is alive and she states that he saved her, with Gallifrey being collateral damage. She then reveals that she knows where it is but refuses to give him this information. As he leaves the Doctor reminds her of all those times she wanted to rule the world and calls it a piece of cake. Osgood quickly guesses who Missy is and brings the Cyber-clouds to the doctors attention, specifically the fact that they have expanded and now cover all land-masses. In response, the Doctor offers her a position in the TARDIS. It is revealed that Cybermen have been climbing out of graves the world over. 

When, Clara wakes up, she finds herself in a graveyard just as Cybermen start climbing out of their graves. 

On Boat One, a council discusses the graves, finding that though only a handful of Cybermen had come out yet, many more were hatching. The Doctor realises that the entire point of the 3W organisation was to learn how to Cyber-convert the dead. 

Meanwhile all the Cybermen in the graveyard that Clara is in are fully out as they wander aimlessly. 

On board Boat One the Doctor notes that these new Cybermen are not attacking since they are newborns. Kate reveals that they had been investigating 3W for a while, before they got a tip-off from a woman with a Scottish accent. The Doctor reveals that Missy has been uploading minds in the Nethersphere for as long as humanity has had a concept of an after life.

While this is happening, Missy attempts to gain Osgood's attention by singing a version of "Hey, Moshi" replacing moshi with Missy. She whispers a secret in her ear in a distinctly Scottish accent - "I'm going to kill you in a minute." She refers to this as her secret girl plan. She starts a countdown from ten, while mocking human lifespans, revealing that she had already escaped her restraints. She then kills her guards and Osgood before thanking her for being 'yummy'. She presses a button on her bracelet which causes a horde of flying Cybermen to attack the plane. 

In the graveyard, Clara finds the one that brought her there and says that he is the one man that she would never lie to and at this point he tries to shoot her but cannot. Instead he takes his mask off and reveals himself to be a highly mutilated Danny, who asks her to turn on his emotion inhibitor. 

Meanwhile, back on Boat One, Missy prompts the Doctor to ask her about her plan, promising that the will be surprised. She claims that by investigating those that die to save him she has realised that he wants to know that he is like her. The TARDIS phone begins ringing and Missy reveals that she was the one who gave Clara the TARDIS phone number.

The Doctor answers the TARDIS phone; Clara has called to tell him about Danny. He warns her not to turn on the inhibitor, because Danny will revert to a Cyberman and kill her if she does. Meanwhile, the Cybermen are breaking into Boat One and taking crew members. Clara begins to hit switches around Danny's power core, hoping to find the inhibitor switch.

On Boat One, Kate has alerted other organisations of their situation and rushes into the room, saying that the plane is going down. Missy turns her attention to her and says that she likes Kate before blowing out a section of the wall, sucking her out of the plane. She orders the Cybermen to destroy the plane and teleports away, leaving the 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

  • Missy mentions New York, Paris, Rome, Marrakech, Brisbane and Glasgow among the locations invaded by the Cybermen.
  • The Doctor is elected President of the Earth following a UNIT protocol according to which, in the event of full-scale invasion, an Earth president is inducted immediately, with complete authority over every nation state's armies. However, this is in slight error as there fifteen countries without a standing army.

Cultural references from the real world

  • Missy adapts the lyrics of Toni Basil’s 1982 song Mickey to sing, “Hey Missy, you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind…”
  • Missy does an impression of Marilyn Monroe singing, Happy Birthday, Mr President.
  • The Doctor calls Valiant "Cloudbase" - the fan nickname for it. Osgood immediately says its from "Thunderbirds" but Colonel Ahmed quickly corrects her with "Captain Scarlet". In addition, the Doctor claims he and Sylvia Anderson, wife of Gerry Anderson the creator of both shows, shared at least one dance together.
  • The Doctor mocks Colonel Ahmed about being a Man Scout.

Individuals

  • The story is set during the Doctor's birthday, unknown to him until Missy underlines it.
  • According to Clara Oswald, the Doctor's children and grandchildren are missing and assumed dead.
  • Danny’s body was being stored at the Chaplet Funeral Home, this is a possible reference to Dodo Chaplet who was a companion of the First Doctor.
  • Kate Stewart declares herself divorced, mother of two children, a "keen" gardener, and an "outstanding" bridge player.

Story notes

  • This is the first and only episode where the name of the actor playing the Doctor is not the first name to appear in the title sequence (Jenna Coleman appears first).
    • This is also the first and only episode to feature the face of someone other than the Doctor appear in the title sequence.
  • Clara's ruse to the Cybermen of being the Doctor in the pre-opening teaser was followed by a one-off modification to the title sequence, with the eyes of the Twelfth Doctor being replaced by those of Clara's.
  • This is the first episode to show a scene mid-end credits.
  • This is the first season finale to lead directly into the following Christmas Special since Last of the Time Lords.
  • This is the second time in series 8 and since Matt Smith left Doctor Who in The Time of the Doctor that the Eleventh Doctor is seen, although unlike Deep Breath which was an actual scene, this was a flashback.

Ratings

to be added

Filming locations

Production errors

to be added

Continuity

Home video releases

DVD releases

Doctor Who Series 8 Boxset

Blu-ray releases

Doctor Who Series 8 Blu-ray Boxset

External links

to be added

Footnotes

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