The Day of the Doctor (TV story)

	Eleventh Doctor
	Clara
	Tenth Doctor War Doctor
	Zygons Daleks
	21st century London, England, 1562 Gallifrey, the Time War
	Steven Moffat
	Nick Hurran
	Marcus Wilson
	239
	23 November 2013
	BBC One
	1x75-minute special
Doctor Who television stories
← Previous	The Name of the Doctor

The Day of the Doctor was the fiftieth anniversary special of Doctor Who. The episode featured the return of David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, and the appearance of John Hurt as a previously unknown incarnation of the Doctor; The War Doctor. The special also included a surprise cameo from an elderly Tom Baker, the former Fourth Doctor, deliberately keeping the nature of his role ambiguous as either the Doctor or someone else entirely - The Curator.

Synopsis

The Doctors embark on their greatest adventure in this 50th anniversary special. In 2013, something terrible is awakening in London's National Gallery; in 1562, a murderous plot is afoot in Elizabethan England; and somewhere in space an ancient battle reaches its devastating conclusion. All of reality is at stake as the Doctor's own dangerous past comes back to haunt him.

Plot

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - Matt Smith
• The Doctor - David Tennant
• The Doctor - Christopher Eccleston
• The Doctor - John Hurt
• The Doctor - Paul McGann
• The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
• The Doctor - Colin Baker
• The Doctor - Peter Davison
• The Doctor/The Curator - Tom Baker
• The Doctor - Jon Pertwee
• The Doctor - Patrick Troughton
• The Doctor - William Hartnell
• Clara - Jenna Coleman
• Bad Wolf Rose/The Moment - Billie Piper
• Tom - Tristan Beint
• Kate Stewart - Jemma Redgrave
• Osgood - Ingrid Oliver
• Time Lord soldier - Chris Finch
• Androgar - Peter de Jersey
• The General - Ken Bones
• Arcadia father - Philip Buck
• Time Lord - Sophie Morgan-Price
• Elizabeth I - Joanna Page
• Lord Bentham - Orlando James
• McGillop - Jonjo O'Neill
• Atkins - Tom Keller
• Zygons - Aidan Cook, Paul Kasey
• Voice of the Daleks & Zygons - Nicholas Briggs
• Dalek 1 - Barnaby Edwards
• Dalek 2 - Nicholas Pegg
• Voice over artist - John Guilor
• The Doctor - Peter Capaldi (uncredited)

Crew

• Writer - Steven Moffat

References

• The Zygon homeworld was destroyed during the first part of the Last Great Time War.
• Jack Harkness's vortex manipulator was saved in the Black Archive of the UNIT. It later ended up in the possession of the Eleventh Doctor and Clara Oswald.

Story notes

• The story uses the original opening sequence, modified to include a BBC logo.
• With the regeneration of the War Doctor into the Ninth Doctor, every incarnation of the Doctor up to his current life has been depicted onscreen.
• This episode marks the sixth televised Multi-Doctor story, not counting the times he meet his past or future self in the same regeneration.
• Two specially recorded scenes were shown before the special in its showing in cinemas. The first featured Dan Starkey as Commander Strax, accompanied by his Sontaran clone batch, lecturing the viewers on cinema etiquette. The second featured Matt Smith and David Tennant as the Eleventh and Tenth Doctors instructing viewers to put on their 3D glasses.

Production errors

• As Osgood receives a call from the Eleventh Doctor, for Kate Stewart, she is heard talking on the phone but is seen running with the phone held out from her body.

Continuity

• Clara is now a teacher at Coal Hill School. A sign shows that Ian Chesterton is chairman of the school's Board of Governors. The sign for the I.M. Foreman Junkyard is still in existence next to the school. (TV: An Unearthly Child)
• The Tenth Doctor's wedding with Elizabeth I is shown (TV: The Shakespeare Code, The End of Time, The Beast Below). Presumably, the fact he indicates no intention of returning to his new wife is what results in her antagonism towards him when they next meet. (TV: The Shakespeare Code)
• The Eleventh Doctor refers to his fate on Trenzalore. (TV: The Wedding of River Song, The Name of the Doctor)
• The Tenth Doctor, when returning to his own timeline, tells the Eleventh Doctor that he is glad his "future is in good hands." These are the exact same words the First Doctor says to the Fifth Doctor upon the former's departure. (TV: The Five Doctors)
• The Tenth Doctor, upon hearing of Trenzalore, says they need to take a different direction as "I don't want to go." His successor notes that "He always says that.", being his last words before his regeneration. (TV: The End of Time)
• When the War Doctor enters the Tenth Doctors TARDIS he says he really 'let it go', the Eleventh comments that this was his grunge phase. When the Eleventh Doctor enters the Tenth Doctors TARDIS Console Room he loads his own 'desktop' changing the TARDIS design, The Tenth declares he doesn't like it. Both of these reference the Second Doctor when he saw the Third Doctor's TARDIS (TV: The Three Doctors), and the Eleventh Doctor when visited Craig Owens in his new home. (TV: Closing Time) The TARDIS told the doctor that she archived past and future versions of the console room in The Doctor's Wife (TV story). While changing the theme the Console Room briefly features a hybrid of the Tenth Doctors Console Room and the original TARDIS roundal design, the War Doctors TARDIS is later seen using this theme during the envelopment of Gallifrey.
• This is the first televised appearance of the Zygons since TV: Terror of the Zygons.
• Prior to regenerating, the War Doctor comments that his body is "wearing a bit thin", repeating the line spoken by the First Doctor immediately prior to his regeneration into the Second Doctor. (TV: The Tenth Planet)
• The Black Archive of UNIT appears. (TV: Enemy of the Bane, COMIC: Don't Step on the Grass)
• A pair of red heels identical to the ones River wore on the Byzantium are seen in the Black Archive. (TV: The Time of Angels)
• This is the first time all the Doctors of all regenerations come together.
• The Tenth Doctor asks the Eleventh where he's going and the Eleventh Doctor replies, "Spoilers." (TV: Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead et al.)
• The Tenth Doctor uses his timey-wimey detector. (TV: Blink)
• The Eleventh Doctor calls to Clara through a wormhole, referring to her as the "Wicked Witch of the Well." Hila Tacorien was previously referred to by this name due to the wormhole in Caliburn House. (TV: Hide)
• Kate Stewart asks for one of her fathers files, she says it may be filed under the 70's or the 80's referencing the UNIT dating ambiguity.
• Clara had not previously visited the Black Vault however she was surprised to find she had previously been vetted and granted access, a flash of memory of Rory in the Black Vault implies that one of her time seeded incarnations was present during the events of The Power of Three (TV story).

Footnotes