Series 8 Doctor Who

**Series 8** of *Doctor Who* ran between 23 August 2014 and 8 November 2014. It starred Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor and Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald. The series opened with *Deep Breath* and concluded with *Death in Heaven*.

## Overview

It consisted of eleven stories and twelve episodes. The series saw the debut of Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor. Capaldi was announced in a live television special, *Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor*, on 4 August 2013.name="capaldi">Template:Cite web</ref> The previous Doctor, Matt Smith, announced he was leaving on 1 June of the same year.Template:Cite web

Filming began on 6 January 2014,Template:Cite web and ended on 7 August of the same year. name="BBCRW">Interview with Steven Moffat on BBC Radio Wales, 7 August 2014: recording of the event can be found here Series 8 was the first series since series 5 in 2010 to be broadcast straight with no series split halfway through it, and the first series of the revival not to consist of 13 episodes (excluding Christmas and other specials), instead running for 12.

The new Doctor was joined by Series 7, Part 2's companion, Clara Oswald, as played by Jenna Coleman, in her first full series. name="coleman">Template:Cite web

Samuel Anderson joined the cast as a new recurring character, Danny Pink, a fellow teacher at Coal Hill School. name="anderson">Template:Cite web Although initially reported by media as being a new companion for the Doctor, in fact the character never actually took on an official companion role during the course of the season.

The Paternoster Gang returned, name="paternoster">Template:Cite webname="paternoster2">Template:Cite webeach using a sonic device designed in a *Blue Peter* competition in the series. Template:Cite web Kate Stewart, Osgood name="Osgood" /> and UNIT also appeared.name="UNIT">Template:Cite web

This series also saw the return of the Master, now in a female incarnation known as Missy, played by Michelle Gomez, which was the first time a Time Lord had been portrayed in two distinct genders. The overarching story elements revolve around characters who have died in the episode being greeted to 'Heaven,' by Template:Gomez, where the heaven is revealed to be a data cloud to store the minds of the deceased, as Missy upgrades the bodies into Cybermen before manipulating the minds to delete their emotions and put them into their old cyber-upgraded bodies as an army. This is a plan to lure the Doctor into a trap so she can get her 'friend back.'

## Cast

* The Doctor - Peter Capaldi
* Clara Oswald - Jenna Coleman
* Danny Pink - Samuel Anderson, Remi Gooding
* Template:Gomez - Michelle Gomez

### Recurring

* Eleventh Doctor - Matt Smith
* Madame Vastra - Neve McIntosh
* Strax - Dan Starkey
* Jenny Flint - Catrin Stewart
* Inspector Gregson - Paul Hickey
* Courtney Woods - Ellis George
* Rusty - Nicholas Briggs
* Fleming - Bradley Ford
* Mr. Armitage - Nigel Betts
* Daleks - operated by Barnaby Edwards and voiced by Nicholas Briggs
* Seb - Chris Addison
* Rigsy - Joivan Wade
* Clara Oswald's gran - Sheila Reid
* Cybermen - Jeremiah Krage and voiced by Nicholas Briggs
* Osgoodname="Osgood">The story features Osgood from Operation Double but it is not clear whether that is the human or the Zygon.- Ingrid Oliver
* Kate Lethbridge-Stewart - Jemma Redgrave
* Santa Claus - Nick Frost

### Guest

* Half-Face Man - Peter Ferdinando
* Journey Blue - Zawe Ashton
* Colonel Morgan Blue - Michael Smiley
* Gretchen Carlisle - Laura Dos Santos
* Ross - Ben Crompton
* Robin Hood - Tom Riley
* Sheriff of Nottingham - Ben Miller
* Alan-a-Dale - Ian Hallard
* Friar Tuck - Trevor Cooper
* Little John - Rusty Goffe
* Will Scarlett - Joseph Kennedy
* Maid Marian - Sabrina Bartlett
* Reg - Robert Goodman
* Ms. Delphox - Keeley Hawes
* Psi - Jonathan Bailey
* Saibra - Pippa Bennett-Warner
* The Teller - Ross Mullan
* Skovox Blitzer - Jimmy Vee
* Adrian Davies - Edward Harrison
* Lundvik - Hermione Norris
* Duke - Tony Osoba
* Henry - Phil Nice
* McKean - Christopher Dane
* Captain Quell - David Bamber
* Perkins - Frank Skinner
* Prof Emile Moorhouse - Christopher Villiers
* Maisie Pitt - Daisy Beaumont
* Gus - John Sessions
* Fenton - Christopher Fairbank
* PC Forrest - Jessica Hayles
* Roscoe - John Cummins
* Maebh Arden - Abigail Eames
* Samson - Jaydon Harris-Wallace
* Bradley - Ashley Foster
* Ruby - Harley Bird
* Dr. Chang - Andrew Leung
* Colonel Ahmed - Sanjeev Bhaskar
* Boy - Antonio Bourouphael

## Production

The first read-through for series 8 was held on 17 December 2013.Template:Cite web This was an unusually long lead time, as actual filming for the first episodes of series 8 did not commence until 6 January 2014, with Capaldi filming his first scenes the next day. In a break from what was done with Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and Matt Smith and several Classic era Doctors, the first episode filmed by Capaldi was also to be the first episode to be broadcast.Template:Cite web

### Crew

#### Producers

Series 8 was co-executive produced by Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin. (DWM 460) Series 7's producer, Caroline Skinner, officially stepped down on 13 March 2013,  and Minchin was announced as her replacement on 30 April. Template:Cite web

#### Writers

Steven Moffat penned both the series opener, episode 4, and the two-part series finale, as well as co-writing on episodes 2, 5 and 6. Phil Ford wrote episode 2, Mark Gatiss wrote episode 3, Steve Thompson's script is for episode 5, and Gareth Roberts wrote episode 6 of the series. Three new writers joined the series: Peter Harness (episode 7), Jamie Mathieson (episodes 8 and 9) and Frank Cottrell Boyce (episode 10). All three of these new writers returned for further episodes, in later series.

#### Directors

Ben Wheatley directed episodes one and two. Paul Murphy directed episodes 3 and 6, Douglas Mackinnon directed episodes 4, 5 and 9, Paul Wilmshurst directed episodes 7 and 8, Sheree Folkson directed episode 10, and Rachel Talalay directed the two-part finale.

## Television stories

### Episode notes

* This is the first series of the revived series that does not consist of 13 episodes (excluding Christmas and other specials).
* This is the first series since Series 5 to be broadcast straight with no split.
* *Deep Breath*, *Into the Dalek*, *The Caretaker*, *Flatline* and *In the Forest of the Night* all feature the appearance of a mysterious character known only as "Missy". This is analogous to the early appearances of Madame Kovarian in Series 6 and is the overall arc for the series. In *Dark Water*, Missy is revealed to be a female incarnation of the Master.
* This is the first series since Series 5 to end with a two-part story and the first since Series 6 to have an officially-designated two-parter.
* Two episodes experienced censorship issues during the series. BBC Entertainment serving SouthEast Asia announced it was required to delete a brief sequence from the region's broadcasts of *Deep Breath* showing Vastra and Jenny transferring oxygen by way of a kiss due to some jurisdictions prohibiting the depiction of same-sex kissing. On 4th September 2014, BBC One announced that a brief sequence in *Robot of Sherwood* was to be deleted from its broadcast on 6th September out of concern that it might offend viewers in the wake of the recent execution of two Western journalists by terrorists.Template:Cite web
* This is the first full Doctor Who series in Australia to be rated M (for mature audiences) Australia's Classification website (Doctor Who Series 8)

This rating had previously been given to *The Waters of Mars* (before being reclassified the family-friendly rating of PG), the TV Movie, *Attack of the Cybermen* & *The Ambassadors of Death*. It would also later be given to Series 9 on release.

* This series is the first series since Series 3 not to feature River Song.
* Counting *The Day of the Doctor* as part of Series 7, this is the first series in which the 9th and 10th Doctor TARDIS interior does not appear.
* The title sequence of *Death in Heaven* has Jenna Coleman credited before Peter Capaldi and Clara's eyes appear instead of the Doctor's, thus marking the first time for a companion both being credited before the main incarnation of the Doctor in the episode and replacing the Doctor's face in the opening credits.
* This series is the only series during Steven Moffat's time as showrunner to not include a story written by Toby Whithouse.

## Aliens and enemies

* Half-Face Man
* Clockwork Droids
* Daleks
* Dalek antibodies
* The Sheriff of Nottingham
* Robot Knights
* Being (possibly)
* Ms. Delphox
* Madame Karabraxos
* The Teller
* Skovox Blitzer
* Spider germs
* Giant bat-chicken
* Foretold
* Gus
* Boneless
* Seb
* Template:Gomez
* Cybermen

## Stories set during this series

### Novels

* *The Blood Cell*
* *Silhouette*
* *The Crawling Terror*

### Comic books

* *Four Doctors* (before *Dark Water*)
* *The Fractures* (before *Dark Water*)

## Adaptations and merchandising

### Home media

#### DVD / Blu-ray

 Doctor Who: The Complete Eighth Series*Deep Breath**Into the Dalek**Robot of Sherwood**Listen**Time Heist**The Caretaker**Kill the Moon**Mummy on the Orient Express**Flatline**In the Forest of the Night**Dark Water* / *Death in Heaven* | 1 × 76 min.10 × 45 min.1 x 60 min.
 Doctor Who: Series Eight, Part One (DVD Exclusive)
*Deep Breath**Into the Dalek**Robot of Sherwood**Listen**Time Heist**The Caretaker*
5 x 45 min.
 Doctor Who: Series Eight, Part Two (DVD Exclusive)
*Kill the Moon**Mummy on the Orient Express**Flatline**In the Forest of the Night**Dark Water* / *Death in Heaven*
1 x 60 min.
2016

## Footnotes

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1. ↑ Template:Cite web
2. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Osgood`