The Bells of Saint John (TV story)

The Bells of Saint John
Doctor:	Eleventh Doctor
Companion(s):	Clara
Main enemy:	Miss Kizlet, Great Intelligence
Main setting:	London, 2013
Key crew
Writer:	Steven Moffat
Director:	Colm McCarthy
Producer:	Denise Paul
Release details
Story number:	231
Premiere broadcast:	30 March 2013
Format:	1x45
Production code:	3.6
Doctor Who television stories
← Previous	The Snowmen

The Bells of Saint John was the sixth episode of the seventh series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales. It introduced a new companion to the show, although she had, in different forms, previously appeared in both TV: Asylum of the Daleks and The Snowmen. It also reintroduced the Great Intelligence, who had last appeared in TV: The Snowmen.

Synopsis

London, 2013. "Danger. This is a warning. A warning to the whole world. You're looking for Wi-Fi. Sometimes you see something, a bit like this. Don't click it. Do not click it. Once you've clicked it, they're in your computer. They can see you. If they can see you, they might choose you. And if they do... you die."

When Clara Oswald has problems with her Internet, she's given a telephone number: the number of "the best." When the Eleventh Doctor answers at the other end, Clara is pulled into a life of adventure and mystery. But danger is lurking in the signals, picking off minds and imprisoning them. "It's like immortality, only fatal." But can the Doctor save Clara before... "I don't know where I am."

Plot

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - Matt Smith
• Clara Oswald - Jenna-Louise Coleman
• Miss Kizlet – Celia Imrie
• Mahler – Robert Whitlock
• Alexei - Dan Li
• Nabile – Manpreet Bachu
• Paul – Sean Knopp
• The Abbot – James Greene
• George – Geff Francis
• Angie – Eve de Leon Allen
• Artie – Kassius Carey Johnson
• Little Girl – Danielle Eames
• Barista – Fred Pearson
• Waitress – Jade Anouka
• Newsreader – Olivia Hill
• Child Reading with Comic – Isabella Blake-Thomas
• Man with Chips – Matthew Earley
• Pilot – Antony Edridge
• Great Intelligence - Richard E. Grant

Crew

Executive Producers   Caroline Skinner and Steven Moffat

General production staff Production Executive - Julie Scott Script Producer - Denise Paul Line Producer - Des Hughes Production Manager - Phillipa Cole Location Manager - Iwan Roberts Location Assistant - Iestyn Hampson-Jones Unit Manager - Monty Till Production Co-ordinator - Claire Hildred Assistant Production Co-ordinator - Gabriella Ricci Production Assistants - Rachel Vipond, Samantha Price Production Secretary - Sandra Cosfeld Production Accountant - Jeff Dunnn A/Production Accountant - Rhys Evans Script department Assistant Script Editor - John Phillips Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - Nick Brown 2nd Assistant Director - Heddi-Joy Taylor-Welch 3rd Assistant Director - Delmi Thomas Assistant Directors - Danielle Richards, Garth Jones Script Supervisor - Steve Walker Camera Operator - Joe Russell Focus Pullers - James Scott, Julius Ogden Grip - Gary Norman Assistant Grip - Owen Charnley Camera Assistants - Meg De Koning, Sam Smithard, Evelina Norgren Gaffer - Mark Hutchings Best Boy - Stephen Slocombe Electricians - Bob Milton, Nick Powell, Gafin Riley, Gareth Sheldon	Art department Supervising Art Director - Paul Spriggs Art Director - Amy Pickwoad Assistant Art Director - Richard Hardy Art Department Co-ordinator - Donna Shakesheff Production Buyers - Adrian Greenwood, Holly Thurman Petty Cash Buyer - Florence Tasker Set Decorator - Joelle Rumbelow Set Dressers - Austin J Curtis, Jayne Davies Storyboard Artist - Andrew Wildman Graphic Artist - Christina Tom Graphic Designer - Chris Lees Standby Props - Helen Atherton, Rob Brandon Standby Carpenter - Will Pope Prop Hand - Jamie Southcott Standby Art Director - Nandie Narishkin Standby Rigger - Bryan Griffiths Props Master - Paul Smith Props Chargehand - Ian Griffin Dressing Props - Paul Barnett, Mike Elkins, Jamie Farrell Props Driver - Gareth Fox Props Makers - Penny Howarth, Alan Hardy Construction Manager - Terry Horle Construction Chargehand - Dean Tucker Practical Electrician - Christian Davies Scenic Artist - John Pinkerton Graphics - Peter Anderson Studio Costume department Costume Supervisor - Carly Griffith Assistant Costume Designer - Fraser Purfit Costume Assistants - Katarina Cappellazzi, Florence Chow, Gemma Evans	Make-up and prosthetics Make-up Artists - Katie Lee, Elin Rhiannon, Vivienne Simpson Prosthetics - Millennium FX Movement Stunt Co-ordinators - Crispin Layfield, Gordon Seed, Jo McLaren Stunt Performer - Annabel Canaven Casting Casting Associate - Alice Purser General post-production staff Post-production Supervisor - Nerys Davies Assistant Editor - Becky Trotman On-line Editor - Geraint Pari Huws Special and visual effects Additional VFX - BBC Wales Visual Effects VFX Editor - Joel Skinner Colourist - Mick Vincent Sound Sound Recordist - Deian Llŷr Humphreys Dubbing Mixer - Tim Ricketts Sound Maintenance Engineers - Ross Adams, Chris Goding Dialogue Editor - Darran Clement ADR Editor - Matthew Cox Supervising Sound Editor - Paul McFadden Sound Effects Editor - Paul Jefferies Sound Editor - Doug Sinclair Foley Editor - Jamie Talbutt

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

Buildings

• The London Shard is Miss Kizlet's base.

Communication technology

• Clara jokes about Twitter.
• Everyone at the base was on Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr, and they all posted their locations.
• Peoples' voices could be heard on the radio, on televisions, and on the internet.

TARDIS

• Clara calls the TARDIS a "snog box."
• There's a garage in the TARDIS.

Time Lords

• The Doctor claims that Time Lords have 27 brains. He then admits that he was exaggerating.

Vehicles

• The Doctor owns an anti-gravity motorbike, which he states he rode in a motor race during the Anti-Grav Olympics in 2074, when he came last in the competition.
• The Doctor claims to have just invented the quadracycle.

Story notes

• This story takes a lot of the directing tropes of the BBC television series Sherlock, a show written and created by Doctor Who show runner Steven Moffat and writers Mark Gatiss and Steve Thompson. A prime example of this is formulas and words appearing on-screen.
• The title of this episode is a reference to the phone incorporated into the TARDIS police box disguise, and to the "St. John's Ambulance" logo on the door of this version of the TARDIS. The "Bells" part is referring to the police box phone ringing.
• As is routine for post-2005 Doctor Who, a "NEXT TIME" trailer for the next episode is shown at the end of the episode.
• George, Artie, and Angie's household Wi-Fi network is named "Maitland_Family."

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.

• During the motorcycle scene, a crew member and camera can be seen reflected in the Doctor's helmet.
• When Clara is entering the the Doctor's TARDIS, her mug shakes several times, which would cause it to spill, yet it doesn't. Later, on the airplane, she starts to take a sip but is pulled away by the Doctor, and it still doesn't spill. However, when she returns to the TARDIS, she takes a sip, proving once and for all that it wasn't empty and that it should have spilled several times.
• When the Doctor and Clara are talking after she wakes up, he sets the laptop on the ground and the monitor is upright, however, after the camera switches back to him from Clara, the screen is bent back.
• While in the airplane, you can't see the city below through the open windows.
• When the TARDIS has travelled to the airplane, just before the Doctor gets out, a scene change is visible and the wall position changes.

Continuity

• This isn't the first time that the Doctor has encountered an alien whose plan was to upload humans to a popular technology. Previously, the Tenth Doctor encountered the Wire, who extracted the faces of humans. Both times, the victims were trapped in screens. (TV: The Idiot's Lantern)
• Another striking similarity to TV: The Idiot's Lantern is the use of the motorbike: in both stories the Doctor rides it with his current companion through the streets of London and subsequently he rides it on his own after he loses the companion girl. In TV: The Idiot's Lantern the companion was Rose Tyler, who begins to enquire on her own before being captured by the Wire while Clara is captured after a few moments and then the Doctor rides alone).
• The Doctor rides a motorbike out of the TARDIS. Previously, a motorbike drove into the TARDIS, turned around, and drove back out. (TV: Doctor Who)
• The Doctor mentions that the TARDIS's telephone should not work. (TV: The Empty Child)
• The Doctor can't fly an airplane. He'd previously claimed that he was due for a lesson in flying a bi-plane in 1911. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut) He clearly never attended that lesson.
• The Doctor mentions that Angie, one of the children Clara babysits, went to stay over at Nina's. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
• After saving Clara from being downloaded, the Doctor sends a message to her attempted captors stating that she's "under my protection." (TV: The Christmas Invasion, The Eleventh Hour)
• Summer Falls, a book that Clara owns, was written by Amelia Williams. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan)
• The Doctor once again wears Amy's reading glasses. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan, The Snowmen)
• Miss Kizlet's client is revealed to be the Great Intelligence, which still has Walter Simeon's image, despite it being over a century since it first took his form. (TV: The Snowmen)
• The Doctor mentions having two hearts. (TV: The Shakespeare Code, The Doctor's Daughter, The Power of Three, et al.)
• The Doctor briefly dons a fez, but gives it to a young boy standing outside the TARDIS. (TV: The Big Bang, A Christmas Carol)

Home video releases

to be added

External links

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