Mummy on the Orient Express (TV story)

Mummy on the Orient Express
Doctor:	Twelfth Doctor
Companion(s):	Clara
Main enemy:	Foretold, Gus
Main setting:	Orient Express
Key crew
Writer:	Jamie Mathieson
Director:	Paul Wilmshurst
Producer:	Peter Bennett
Release details
Story number:	248
Premiere broadcast:	11 October 2014
Premiere network:	BBC One
Format:	1x45 minute episode
Production code:	4.8
Doctor Who television stories
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Next →	TBA

Mummy on the Orient Express was the eighth episode of the eighth series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales.

Writer Jamie Mathieson was approached to write the story while crafting another script for Steven Moffat. He was given the the title, chosen by Moffat, which immediately led Mathieson to images of "Agatha Christie, Victoriana, lots of luxury". Frank Skinner's character was based on a friend of his, Perkins, a "train buff" from whom he acquired information about the Orient Express.

The original idea for the script had far more content, with the Express visiting the "Seven Wonders of the Universe", but, in recognition of the time constraints, this was removed.

Brian Minchin expressed early on to Mathieson that the Mummy might force the episode to be broadcast at a later time as the BBC judged it to be too scary. Minchin had repeatedly tried to have it shown in the series trailer, but the corporation would not allow it. (DWM 478)

Synopsis

As the Doctor takes Clara for a final trip aboard the Orient Express, they find it has a supernatural passenger...

Plot

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Cast

• The Doctor - Peter Capaldi
• Clara - Jenna Coleman
• Danny Pink - Samuel Anderson
• Perkins - Frank Skinner
• Captain Quell - David Bamber
• Gus - John Sessions
• Maisie - Daisy Beaumont
• Prof Moorhouse - Christopher Villiers
• Mrs. Pitt - Janet Henfrey
• Singer - Foxes
• Foretold - Jamie Hill

Crew

Executive Producers   Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin

General production staff Production Executive - Julie Scott Line Producer - Tracie Simpson Production Manager - Simon Morris Location Manager - Iestyn Hampson-Jones Unit Manager - Nick Clark Production Co-ordinator - Adam Knopf Assistant Production Co-ordinator - Sandra Cosfeld Production Assistant - Matthew Jones Production Accountant - Jeff Dunn First Assistant Accountant - Bethan Griffiths Script department Script Editor - David P Davis Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - Scott Bates 2nd Assistant Director - James Dehaviland 3rd Assistant Director - Danielle Richards Assistant Directors - Gareth Jones, Chris Thomas Script Supervisor - Steve Walker Camera Operator - Martin Stephens Focus Pullers - Jonathan Vidgen, Matthew Waving Grip - John Robinson Assistant Grip - Sean Cronin Camera Assistants - Cai Thompson, Katy Kardasz, Gathin Wiliams	Art department Concept Artist - Chris Lees Graphic Artist - Christina Tom Standby Props - Liam Collins, Matt Ireland Standby Carpenter - Paul Jones Standby Rigger - Bryan Griffiths Store Person - Jamie Southcott Props Master - Paul Smith Props Chargehand - Kyle Belmont Dressing Props - Jayne Davies, Mike Elkins Props Driver - Gareth Fox Props Makers - Alan Hardy, Jamie Thomas Construction Manager - Terry Horle Construction Chargehand - Dean Tucker Practical Electrician - Christian Davies Graphics - BBC Wales Graphics Draughtsman - Kartik Nagar Costume department	Make-up and prosthetics Prosthetics - Millennium FX Movement Stunt Co-ordinators - Crispin Layfield, Gordon Seed General post-production staff Post-production Supervisor - Nerys Davies Post-production Co-ordinator - Samantha Price Assistant Editors - Katrina Aust, Carmen Sanchez Roberts On-line Editor - Geraint Pari Huws Special and visual effects VFX Editor - Joel Skinner Colourist - Gareth Spensley Sound Sound Recordist - Deian Llŷr Humphreys Dubbing Mixer - Tim Ricketts Sound Maintenance Engineers - Tam Shoring, Christopher Goding Dialogue Editor - Darran Clement ADR Editor - Matthew Cox Foley Editor - Jamie Talbutt

		Make-up Designer - Claire Pritchard-Jones

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

• Queen's song "Don't Stop Me Now" is performed on the train.

The Doctor

• The Doctor wears a bow tie, but in a fashion identical to the ones he used during his first incarnation.
• The Doctor keeps jelly babies in a case about his person.
• The Doctor uses psychic paper.
• The Doctor mentions receiving free tickets for the Orient Express a long time ago.

Story notes

• This episode marks the fifth story of Series 8 not to feature Missy after Robot of Sherwood, Listen, Time Heist and Kill the Moon.
• This isn't the first story inspired by a tale from Agatha Christie. (TV: The Robots of Death). The Doctor met Agatha Christie herself in TV: The Unicorn and the Wasp.
• Half of the guests aboard the Orient Express are revealed by the Doctor to be holograms, specifically 'hard-light' holograms. This a reference to the sci-fi comedy, Red Dwarf, where the holographic character Arnold Rimmer advanced to a hard-light mode, allowing him to interact with solid matter.

Ratings

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Filming locations

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Production errors

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Continuity

• Following the wedding of Amy Pond and Rory Williams, the Eleventh Doctor received a call informing him that an Egyptian goddess was loose on the Orient Express in space. He indicates that this was just another trap by Gus. (TV: The Big Bang)
• The Seventh Doctor previously encountered trains that travel through space. (PROSE: Transit)
• The Doctor previously visited space-travelling reproductions of 20th century Earth means of transportation, most recently the Titanic. (TV: Delta and the Bannermen, TV: Voyage of the Damned)
• The Doctor asks the Foretold "Are you my mummy?" in remembrance of The Empty Child's Jamie, an allusion that he previously made in The Poison Sky.
• Once again, the Doctor's respiratory bypass system allows him to handle lack of Oxygen, considerably better than humans. (TV: The Ark in Space, TV Smith and Jones, TV: The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe)
• The Doctor previously encountered mummies, most recently in the Pyramid of the Rings of Akhaten. (TV: Pyramids of Mars, PROSE: The Sands of Time, COMIC: The Curse of the Scarab, TV: The Rings of Akhaten)
• This is the second time a monster favours victims who possess ailments, just as the Siren did in The Curse of the Black Spot (TV: The Curse of the Black Spot)
• It has been three weeks since Clara stormed out of the TARDIS after the incident on the Moon in 2049. (TV: Kill the Moon)
• The Doctor mentions how hard it is for someone to acquire the TARDIS telephone number. (TV: Time Heist)
• When the Doctor was talking to himself about what the Foretold death reminds him of, he puts on an accent of the Fourth Doctor. He also offers Perkins a jelly baby, just like the Fourth Doctor. (TV: Robot et. al.)

Home video releases

DVD releases

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Blu-ray releases

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External links

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