Friend from the Future (TV story)
Friend from the Future was a short promo teaser broadcast during Match of the Day and later released online in 2016, which introduced the character of Bill Potts to the world. While this was made before the filming of The Pilot, which introduced Bill to the show proper, some elements were re-used and re-purposed for that episode.
Synopsis
The Daleks are following the Twelfth Doctor and Bill through a corridor. Will they get out alive?
Plot
The Twelfth Doctor and Bill Potts are running from Daleks. They hide behind a wall, and Bill repeatedly questions the Doctor as to what a Dalek is. He hurriedly explains to her. Then he receives a notification via the psychic paper and insists that they need to go back to the TARDIS, convinced that the future, specifically 2017, needs them. As they leave their hideout, a Dalek shoots at them and states that it detected humanoids.
As they turn around a text hits the screen that says "Introducing Pearl Mackie asBill".
Cast
- The Doctor - Peter Capaldi
- Bill - Pearl Mackie
- Voice of the Daleks - Nicholas Briggs[source needed]
Crew
- Writer - Steven Moffat[source needed]
- Director - Lawrence Gough[1]
- Designer - Michael Pickwoad[1]
- Costume designer - Hayley Nebauer[1]
- Producer - Peter Bennett[1]
- Executive producers - Steven Moffat, Brian Minchin[1]
References
Species
- Bill mentions the Daleks' standard weapons and their standard catchphrase.
- The Doctor tells Bill what a Dalek is.
Science
- The Doctor pulls out his psychic paper.
Story notes
- The promo teaser was shot on 13 April 2016 in a matter of three hours.[1]
- The BBC promoted it as "an exclusive scene from a future episode".[2]
- The scene presented was the filmed version of Pearl Mackie's audition.[3]
- The trailer was originally intended to just be an introduction to Bill Potts, but Moffat tried make it a part of the final product of the first series 10 episode TV: The Pilot. In a BBC post-interview, Moffat noted that ultimately this did not work because by the relevant part of the episode, Bill has already been properly introduced and the focus on her character at that point "didn't work". Thus, almost all of the scene was deleted from the final version of the episode. Moffat still noted that he made it clear when the short was meant to take place so that the fans interested in timelines could know "where it fits," and that "[they] could all sleep at night now."
- The first few seconds are re-used footage from TV: Into the Dalek.
- As becomes clear from the first episode of Series 10, Bill and the Doctor are in a Dalek-Movellan war zone, where they have fled to free themselves from some sentient oil, who was pursuing Bill through time and space. The Dalek confronting the Doctor and Bill at the end of the clip is retconned in the episode to be the sentient oil disguised as a Dalek. This required to change the Dalek's "humanoids detected" remark into something compatible with the nature and objectives of the sentient oil.
Ratings
to be added
Filming locations
to be added
Production errors
- On the text 'Introducing Pearl Mackie as Bill', the words 'as' and 'Bill' are far too close together, making it appear to say 'Introducing Pearl Mackie asBill'.
