Legend of the Sea Devils (TV story)

Legend of the Sea Devils
Doctor:	Thirteenth Doctor
Companion(s):	Yaz, Dan
Featuring:	Madam Ching
Main enemy:	Marsissus
Main setting:	China, 1807
Key crew
Writers:	Ella Road, Chris Chibnall
Director:	Haolu Wang
Producer:	Nikki Wilson
Release details
Story number:	299
Premiere broadcast:	17 April 2022
Premiere network:	BBC One
Format:	1x50 minute episode
Official trailer
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Memorable moment
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Behind the scenes video
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Doctor Who television stories
← Previous	Eve of the Daleks
Easter Specials
← Previous	Planet of the Dead

Legend of the Sea Devils was the 2022 Doctor Who Easter Special. This episode introduced the Sea Devils into the BBC Wales revival series, last seen on television in 1984's Warriors of the Deep.

Unlike the 2010 redesign of the Sea Devils' sister species, the Silurians, in The Hungry Earth, these returning enemies remained largely faithful to their original designs, with CGI augmentations mostly allowing for a greater variety of expressions. It was one of current two Easter specials.

Synopsis

When the legendary pirate queen Zheng Yi Sao, alias "Madam Ching", awakens an antediluvian Sea Devil extremist, the Doctor's TARDIS is pulled off-course and Team TARDIS must try to work together with the historical rogue to save the entire Earth from global flood. But amidst the high-stakes, high-sea adventure, it soon becomes clear the stakes for everyone involved — even the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz — are much more personal than a legendary sunken treasure, or even the all-important Keystone...

Plot

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - Jodie Whittaker
• Yasmin Khan - Mandip Gill
• Dan Lewis - John Bishop
• Ying Ki - Marlowe Chan-Reeves
• Madam Ching - Crystal Yu
• Chief Sea Devil - Craige Els
• Ji-Hun - Arthur Lee
• Ying Wai - David K.S. Tse
• Sea Devils - Jon Davey, Simon Carew, Chester Durrant, Richard Price, Mickey Lewis, Andrew Cross

Uncredited cast

• Lei Bao - TBA
• Diane - Nadia Albina

Crew

Executive Producers   Chris Chibnall and Matt Strevens

Co-executive producer   Nikki Wilson

Written by Ella Road & Chris Chibnall	Produced by Nikki Wilson	Directed by Haolu Wang	Director of Photography Mark Waters	Production Designer Dafydd Shurmer	Visual Effects DNEG
Make-up Designer Emma Cowen	Casting Director Andy Pryor CDG	Music Segun Akinola	Costume Design & Creature Design Ray Holman	Edited by Tom White	Special Effects Real SFX
Original theme music by Ron Grainer  •  Title sequence by Ben Pickles  Music conducted by Alastair King  •  Orchestrated by Alec Roberts  •  Recorded by Olga FitzRoy  •  Mixed by Goetz Botzenhardt   Sea Devils created by Malcolm Hulke

General production staff Head of Production - Charlotte Bloxham Executive Producer for the BBC - Ben Irving Production Executive - Tracie Simpson Line Producer - Steffan Morris Associate Producer - Sheena Bucktowonsing Production Manager - Delmi Thomas Supervising Location Manager - Iwan Roberts Location Manager - Gareth Roberts Location Assistant - Tom Chalkley Unit Manager - Kyle Yates Production Co-ordinator - Sandra Cosfeld Assistant Production Co-ordinator - Ellie Simmons Production Secretary - Sam Milletti Executive Assistant - Caroline Cook Production Office Runner - Ellie Hilton Unit Drivers - Paul Watkins, Jolyon Davey, Steve Darwent Unit Medics - Glyn Evans, Andy Jones Business Affairs - Roger Leatham, Elaine Evans, Kyle Parsons, Steve Robson Production Accountant - Rhys Evans Assistant Accountants - Kate Barber-Williams, Marta Toczko, Elise Betts Cast Payroll Accountant - Helen Searle Contracts Booker - Leanne Bowcott Crew Payroll Accountant - Bethan Wray Covid Assistants - Joseph Fletcher, Lloyd Di Mauro Covid Testing Schedulers - Etty Stanley, Leila Arada Script department Script Editors - Caroline Buckley, Rebecca Roughan Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Directors - Christopher J Thomas, Elaine Mackenzie 2nd Assistant Director - Lauren Pate 3rd Assistant Director - Jennifer Day Assistant Directors - Jac Lewis, Laura Thompson, Tom May Script Supervisors - Abdoulie Mboob, Amanda Lean Camera Operator - Mark McQuoid ACO Camera Trainees - Adam Clewes, Olga Walus Focus Pullers - Jonathan Vidgen, Matt Hillier Key Grip - John Robinson Assistant Grips - Matt Clark, Marc Marshall Camera Assistants - Nic Yates, Evangeline Davies Gaffer - Mark Hutchings Rigging Gaffer - Andy Gardiner Best Boy - Gareth Sheldon Electricians - Gawain Nash, Stuart Gale, Matthew Hutchings, Rhodri Moses, Owen Hashimi	Art department Supervising Art Director - Ifan Lewis Construction Art Director - Julia Jones Art Department Assistant - Laura Honeybun Art Department Co-ordinator - Hannah Miller Production Buyer - Billie Blue Williams Petty Cash Buyer - Sally Sharp Set Decorator - Vicki Male Action Props Buyer - Milannah Faith Summers Concept Artist - Chris Phillips Graphic Designer - Stephen Fielding Trainee Graphic Designer - Lois Drage Standby Props - Ryan Milton, Robert Alexander Prop Hands - Dewi Thomas, John Thomas, Liv Cheung, Tom Major, Jodie Gibson Standby Art Director - Cerys Lewis Rigging - Shadow Scaffolding Standby Rigger - Alex Herbert Scenic Painters - Alison Drane, Rachel Willsher, Alex Morgan, Ana Marlene Ribeiro HOD Painter - Scenic Steve Painter - Mark Reece Storeman - Lucy Hookings Prop Master - Paul Aitken Props Chargehand - Trystan Howell Props Driver - Paul Carmichael Construction Manager - David Hobbs Construction Assistant - Matthew Pike Workshop Manager - Mark Hill Workshop Assistant - Chris Slocombe Construction Chargehands - Dean Tucker, Jonathan Tylke Construction Driver - Darren Bousie CNC Programmer - Kristian TuckerStandbyCarpenter=Colm Garrett Plasterer - Jason Tylke Practical Electricians - Rob Hearne, Matthew Dunford Draughtspersons - Lauren Harper, James Dyer Trainee Draughtsperson - Rachel Ellis Carpenters - Chris Daniels, Campbell Fraser, Matt Gronow, Charlie Wright, Marcus Scholl, Ben McDonald, Dafydd Llewelyn Jones, Mike Venables, Gemma Spence, Simon Pothecary, David Warner Costume department Costume Supervisor - Grace Brooks Assistant Costume Designer - Simon Marks Costume Cutter/Maker - Brighde Penn Creature Costume Maker - Robert Allsopp & Associates Costume Assistants - Ian Fowler, Jenny Tindle, Michelle McGrath Costume Trainee - Yiwen Lin	Make-up and prosthetics Make-up Supervisor - Amy Riley Make-up Artists - Angharad Walsh, Diana McDonald, India Jones Junior Make-up Artist - Nikki Salih Movement Stunt Co-ordinators - Crispin Layfield, Belinda McGinley, Derek Lea, Andy Godbold, Stephanie Carey Movement Coach - Paul Kasey Stunt Performers - Anna Benton, Donovan Louis, Isky Fay, James Pavey, Louis Samms, Robert Pavey, Rob Jarman, Tom Hatt, Varpu Kronholm Casting Casting Associate - Ri McDaid-Wren Casting Assistant - Ray Böhm General post-production staff Post-production Producer - Ceres Doyle Post-production Supervisor - Liv Duffin Assistant Editors - Brooke Taylor Michael, Joseph Keirle On-line Editor - Christine Kelly Special and visual effects Additional VFX - Martyn Western, Rory Williams, Zodiak VFX, Ben Pickles VFX Editor - Emily Lawrence Assistant VFX Editor - Jacob Percival Colourist - Gareth Spensley Head Model Maker - Lee Radford Model Makers - Penny Howarth, Lee Price Sound Sound Recordist - Deian Llŷr Humphreys AMPS Dubbing Mixers - Natasha Haycocks, Howard Bargroff Sound Maintenance Engineers - Christopher Goding, Joe Malone Sound Designer - Harry Barnes Dialogue Editor - Darran Clement ADR Editor - Matthew Cox Foley - Bang Post Production

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

TARDIS

• While underwater, the Doctor reinforces the oxygen bubble with an aquashield.

History

• Zheng Yi Sao is after the lost treasure of Ji-Hun, known as the keystone. Ji-Hun gave the keystone to Lei Bao, whose family handed it down the generations.
  • The keystone is a plutonic crystal created by the Sea Devils.

Technology

• Dan has an app on his mobile phone for identifying the constellations in the night sky.
• The Sea Devils have a geomagnograph for measuring the current flow underwater, and a current regulator for controlling the flow.
• The Sea Devils also employ orbital electron stripping to keep their sea creature base airtight, and algae to keep the microclimate under check.
• The Sea Devils use hexo-toxic poisoning as a weapon.

Popular culture

• The Doctor says Stephen King films, like history, are "never like the books".
• The Doctor makes reference to Pimp My Ride, saying that the Sea Devils "really pimped [Ji-Hun's] ride". Yaz reminds her that this is an anachronism.

Story notes

• This was the second Easter Special in Doctor Who history, following 2009's Planet of the Dead.
• This was the first episode of the Chibnall era that played the 'Coming Soon' trailer before the end credits. This is also the first episode of the Chibnall era not to include the Doctor Who theme over the 'Coming Soon' trailer; a special rendition of the Thirteenth Doctor's theme by Segun Akinola was played instead.
• This was the first episode since Revolution of the Daleks to included the old BBC logo in the title sequence.
• This episode was the first time that Chris Chibnall had his executive producer credit above Matt Strevens' credit. The entire Chibnall era, Matt Strevens was credited above Chris Chibnall as executive producer.
• With overnight ratings of 2.2 million, this story is officially the story with the lowest on the day viewing figures in the history of the show, undertaking the previous record holder, Battlefield in 1989.
• Legend of the Sea Devils was also the shortest Doctor Who special up to that point, with a running time of 48 minutes (the average length of a regular episode).
• The sets for this episode were particularly ambitious and included a full sized pirate ship. Executive producer Matt Strevens said that they were "probably" the biggest sets that had ever been made for the show while Mandip Gill said they were the biggest sets she's ever worked on.
• John Friedlander is credited as originally designing the Sea Devils from the story The Sea Devils and Warriors of the Deep.

Ratings

• Overnights: 2.2 million
• Consolidated: TBA

Filming locations

to be added

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.

• The end credits misspelt Malcolm Hulke's name as "Malcom Hulke".

Rumours

• The Sea Devils' pet sea creature was a Myrka. This was proven false.
• The Master was going to appear at the end of the episode as a cliffhanger. This was proven false.

Continuity

• The Doctor mentions that she's dealt with the Sea Devils "once or twice" in the future. (TV: The Sea Devils, Warriors of the Deep)
• The TARDIS is able to sustain being underwater with the doors open without hurting its occupants, (TV: Listen, PROSE: Dark Horizons) due to its oxygen bubble. (TV: The Runaway Bride, The Beast Below, Oxygen)
• Yaz encounters the Sea Devils for the first time, although another account posits that she has already encountered them once before. (COMIC: Alternating Current)
• The Doctor gets angry at Ji-Hun for killing an enemy unnecessarily. (TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians, The Christmas Invasion)
• The Doctor shouts "Geronimo" again when swinging across the pirate ships, just like the Eleventh Doctor. (TV: The End of Time)
• Yaz and Dan recall their earlier conversation regarding Yaz's romantic feelings for the Doctor. (TV: Eve of the Daleks)
• The Doctor acknowledges her wife. (TV: The Wedding of River Song et al.)
• Dan gets back in touch with Diane. (TV: The Vanquishers)
• Dan claims he is "forty two". For this to be true, he is seemingly discounting the four years he was trapped in the past with Yaz. Indeed, he nearly says "six" before quickly saying "two" in its place. (TV: The Vanquishers)

Home video releases

DVD releases

to be added

Blu-ray releases

to be added

Digital releases

to be added

External links

• Official Legend of the Sea Devils page on the Doctor Who website