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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 second death of Danny Pink and the deaths of Osgood and Seb. It also shows the apparent death of The Master.

It revealed that Missy had been the "woman in the shop" who gave Clara the TARDIS phone number in The Bells of Saint John and the one who had provided the advertisement that drew the Doctor and Clara together again in Deep Breath.

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 televised Doctor Who appearance by the character since Battlefield. He had appeared in audios and The Sarah Jane Adventures in the intervening time period.

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 Cathedral, 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 inaugurated 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 Doctor's 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, Mickey" replacing Mickey 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 both gave Clara the TARDIS phone number, and placed the advert in the Victorian newspaper.

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.

Boat One explodes and the Doctor is thrown clear of the debris. Seb and Missy watch on from the Nethersphere, remarking on how boring his death will be. Using his key to summon the TARDIS, the Doctor manages to catch and enter his ship before reaching the ground. Seb is excited over the turn of events, to which Missy replies that Seb is merely an AI. Seb continues to be enthusiastic before Missy promptly destroys him. The Doctor materializes in the graveyard and warns Clara that if she deletes Danny's emotions, he will kill her. He denies that he will, and the Doctor says that the difference between himself and Missy is emotion. He tries to get Danny to tell him what the cloud will do, but Danny says he isn't fully integrated into the Cyber hivemind and cannot see, mocking the Doctor.

Clara takes the Doctor's sonic screwdriver and enables Danny's emotional inhibitor. He tells the Doctor that the cloud will convert all of humanity into Cybermen.

Missy then teleports into the graveyard, demonstrating her full control of the Cybermen now assembled. She then gives the Doctor a bracelet, allowing him the same control, as a birthday gift - "It's lucky one of us remembers," she notes - and says that he can save everyone he wants to save and right all the wrongs in the universe.

He refuses control of the army, demanding to know why she is doing this. Missy says she wants to show him that they are not so different, and that she needs her friend back. The Doctor says that he is not a good man, nor a bad man, nor a hero, nor a president, nor an officer (as Danny had described him). He says that he is "an idiot, with a box and a screwdriver, passing through, helping out, learning".

He says he does not need an army, and throws the bracelet to Danny, who puts it on and assumes control of the Cybermen. He promises Clara that she will "sleep safe tonight" before flying into the cloud with the rest of the Cybermen and destroying it, himself and the other Cybermen.

In the graveyard, Missy recites the coordinates of Gallifrey. She says it is in its original location. Clara threatens to kill Missy with her own weapon; the Doctor takes it from her and prepares to do it himself to spare Clara. Before he can, however, a blast from behind them hits her.

A Cyberman is behind them. It lowers its weapon and points toward another section of the graveyard; Clara sees Kate Stewart lying there, still alive, muttering about her father.

The Doctor, now understanding, turns back to the Cyberman, who he realises is Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, and remarks, "The Earth's darkest hour. Where else would you be?" before saluting him — Kate had previously remarked that her father's greatest wish was to receive a salute from the Doctor. The Cyberman Brigadier then flies up into the sky.

Two weeks later, Clara awakes in the middle of the night to find a portal to the Nethersphere in her hallway. Danny speaks through it, saying that his bracelet allows one trip to or from the Nethersphere — he then sends the young boy he killed through, telling her to find his parents. He says is sorry and the portal closes, leaving the boy in the hallway.

The Doctor meets Clara in a restaurant, the latter remarking that he is two weeks late. He notes she is wearing the bracelet and assumes Danny has returned from the Nethersphere; she tries to tell him he hasn't, but he thinks she is trying to say that she can't travel in the TARDIS anymore.

He says that it is fine, and that he has found Gallifrey exactly where Missy said it was, and that, "for once, she wasn't lying". In fact, he traveled to the coordinates and found nothing but empty space. Closing the TARDIS door, he entered a fit of rage and attacked the console before sinking to the floor and weeping for his lost home planet.

Clara asks what he will do now; he says that Gallifrey can be a good place and that he will try to make it one. He says it's a long commute and Clara and Danny mightn't be able to make it.

They leave with a hug. Clara asks why he doesn't like hugging and he says, "Hugging's just a way to hide your face." As he enters his TARDIS, Clara says he made her feel special when they travelled together and thanks him for it. He thanks her "for exactly the same" and dematerialises the TARDIS.

In a mid-credits scene, the Doctor is alone in his TARDIS when he hears someone knocking at the door, telling him that it can't end like this and that neither Clara nor the Doctor is "okay". The voice turns out to be that of Santa Claus, who enters the TARDIS and asked the Doctor what he wants for Christmas.

Cast

Uncredited

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, Marrakesh, Brisbane and Glasgow among the locations invaded by the Cybermen.
  • The Doctor is declared President of 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.

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 descends from the clouds with her umbrella opened. That and her costume mimics another British character, Mary Poppins.
  • 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. However, exactly how old the Doctor is now is never revealed.
  • According to Clara Oswald, the Doctor's children and grandchildren are missing and assumed dead. However the status of Jenny is left ambiguous as she is referenced in the present tense and not specified as being deceased.
  • Also according to Clara, all four of the Doctor's wives are deceased.
  • Danny’s body was being stored at the Chaplet Funeral Home, which 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.
  • The Radio Times programme listing was a accompanied by a small colour head-and-shoulders photograph of Missy holding her weapon in her outstretched hand as the Doctor looks on, with the accompanying caption "Doctor Who / 8.00 p.m. Who are you? The Doctor is disturbed by the mysterious Missy in the series finale".
  • To keep the appearance of Santa Claus a surprise, Nick Frost was uncredited in Radio Times and on the BBC website.
  • This is the first episode to show a scene mid-end credits.
  • This is the first series 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.
  • At the end of the episode the Doctor finally accepts Danny was a maths teacher and calls him by his actual name.

Ratings

to be added

Filming locations

Production errors

  • In the BBC iPlayer version of this episode, during the flashback scene featuring Rusty, the subtitles incorrectly credit his lines as being said by Davros. This is possibly because it was wide fan-theory that these words, first appearing in a Series 8 trailer, belonged to Davros.

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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