Series 7 (Doctor Who)

Series 7 of Doctor Who ran from 6 December 2011 to 24 September 2013. It starred Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond, Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams and Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald. The regular series was preceded by The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, opened with Asylum of the Daleks and concluded with The Name of the Doctor, with the gap between parts one and two of the series being bridged by The Snowmen.

Overview
It consisted of fifteen stories and episodes. This series was broadcast on BBC One between 2012 and 2013, and, like Series 6, it was split into two parts. The BBC first announced the new series, which contained fourteen episodes, on the official Doctor Who site on 8 June 2011 It was followed by a series of 2013 specials, in honour of the programme's 50th anniversary. This was the last full series with Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor.

Series 7 has been described as being a series of "movies" squeezed into forty-five minutes, although The Snowmen was sixty minutes. The first half is about the Doctor deleting himself from the universe to hide from the deadly Silence, who attempted to assassinate him in series 6 to stop him from answering the Question. During this time, the Doctor regularly visits Amy Pond and Rory Williams and also meets his grandfather-in-law Brian Williams. The Doctor meets his wife, River Song, in the final episode of the first half of the series, which involved the Weeping Angels who separated him from Amy and Rory forever.

As established in The Name of the Doctor, in Asylum of the Daleks and The Snowmen and many other encounters with the Doctor before, echoes of Clara Oswald were sent through time with the purpose of saving the Doctor, dying in at least the lives in Asylum and The Snowmen. The Doctor, not knowing who Clara was, realised that both incarnations of her were the same woman and believed there would be more versions of her somewhere in the universe. He found and travelled with the original Clara from 2013, determined to solve the mystery of the "impossible girl". To save the Doctor from having his victories undone by the Great Intelligence, Clara followed the Intelligence into the wound of the Doctor's timeline from his tomb on Trenzalore, sacrificing herself to save the Doctor many times over, influencing the outcomes of his many battles, and even making sure he stole the right TARDIS from Gallifrey when he originally left.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Clara Oswald - Jenna Coleman, Sophie Downham
 * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
 * Rory Williams - Arthur Darvill
 * Madge Arwell - Claire Skinner

Recurring

 * Daleks - operated by Barnaby Edwards, Nicholas Pegg and voiced by Nicholas Briggs
 * Brian Williams - Mark Williams
 * Kate Stewart - Jemma Redgrave
 * River Song - Alex Kingston
 * Jenny Flint - Catrin Stewart
 * Madame Vastra - Neve McIntosh
 * Strax - Dan Starkey
 * The Great Intelligence - Richard E Grant and additionally voiced by Ian McKellen
 * Ellie Oswald - Nicola Sian
 * Angie Maitland - Eve De Leon Allen
 * Artie Maitland - Kassius Carey Johnson
 * Dave Oswald - Michael Dixon
 * Cybermen - Aidan Cook and voiced by Nicholas Briggs
 * The Doctor - John Hurt

Guest

 * Lily Arwell - Holly Earl
 * Solomon - David Bradley
 * Kahler-Tek - Andrew Brooke
 * Shakri - Steven Berkoff
 * Captain Latimer - Tom Ward
 * Dr Walter Simeon - Richard E Grant, Cameron Strefford
 * Miss Kizlet - Celia Imrie
 * Newsreader – Olivia Hill
 * Merry - Emilia Jones
 * Mummy - Aidan Cook
 * Captain Zhukov - Liam Cunningham
 * Professor Grisenko - David Warner
 * Lieutenant Stepashin – Tobias Menzies
 * Skaldak - Spencer Wilding and voiced by Nicholas Briggs
 * Alec Palmer - Dougray Scott
 * Emma Grayling - Jessica Raine
 * Gregor Van Baalen - Ashley Walters
 * Bram Van Baalen - Mark Oliver
 * Tricky Van Baalen - Jahvel Hall
 * Winifred Gillyflower - Diana Rigg
 * Ada Gillyflower - Rachael Stirling
 * Webley - Jason Watkins
 * Ludens Nimrod Kendrick Cord Longstaff XLI - Warwick Davis

Producers
Before the airing of series 7, it was announced that both Beth Willis and Piers Wenger would step down as executive producers. Willis' last credit was on The Wedding of River Song; however, Piers Wenger stayed for one episode longer, and produced The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe.

A new executive producer named Caroline Skinner joined Steven Moffat to produce The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe onwards, but it was announced before the broadcast of the spring half of series 7 that she was departing the show after just one season and would be replaced by BBC Wales Head of Drama, Faith Penhale.

Writers
Head writer Steven Moffat wrote seven episodes. He has written the 2011 Christmas special, episodes one and five in the autumn run, the Children in Need mini-episode, the 2012 Christmas special, episodes six and thirteen of the spring run, and the 50th anniversary special.

Chris Chibnall and Toby Whithouse, who had both written episodes for multiple previous series of Doctor Who, returned to contribute scripts for the Autumn run. Chibnall wrote episodes two and four, while Whithouse wrote episode three.

Mark Gatiss also returned, writing episodes eight and eleven.

Another returning writer was Steve Thompson, who wrote episode ten.

Fantasy author Neil Gaiman (who previously wrote The Doctor's Wife), wrote episode twelve.

Luther creator Neil Cross made his Doctor Who debut with episode seven, as well as writing episode nine.

Directors
Returning director Nick Hurran directed episodes one and five. Douglas Mackinnon, another returning director directed episodes four and eight.

New director Farren Blackburn directed the 2011 Christmas special, as well as episode seven.

Saul Metzstein, another director new to Doctor Who, directed episodes two, three, eleven, thirteen and the 2012 Christmas special.

A handful of new directors directed one episode each in the spring half of the series. These are: Colm McCarthy, Jamie Payne, Mat King and Stephen Woolfenden, who directed episodes six, nine, ten and twelve respectively.

Filming
Filming for series 7 began on 20 February 2012. Episode three was filmed in Spain, as were some scenes for episode one. Filming for episode five saw the crew return to America. This time, they were filming in New York. Filming for The Snowmen began 6 August.

Spring half
The remaining eight episodes of series 7 began airing on 30 March, 2013.

DVD Box Set Mini-episodes
These three mini-episodes were released on the series 7 DVD boxset.

Episode notes

 * This is the first series in the BBC Wales era of Doctor Who not to begin in the spring. In fact, the show would not see a spring series premiere again until Series 10.
 * The BBC justified the decision to split the series into two blocks starting in the fall by citing Steven Moffat's commitments to Sherlock as well as the upcoming 50th anniversary. Steven Moffat disputed this, insisting that Sherlock had nothing to do with the decision.
 * This is the first series to have special "movie" posters made featuring titles, cast and credits.
 * For the first time in Doctor Who, this series had no two-parters in it. Asylum of the Daleks through The Angels Take Manhattan form a loose story arc involving Amy and Rory, whereas the mystery of Clara is a background arc contained in the remaining episodes of the season.
 * Series 7 stands as one of only three seasons in Doctor Who history in which each story of the season has consisted of the same number of episodes - with this series consisting entirely of one parters - the others being Season 18, with entirely four-part serials, and Series 11, with one-parters. If the unfinished Shada is discounted, then this number is raised to four, with Season 17 also entirely consisting of four-part serials.
 * During Series 7, Matt Smith appeared as the Doctor in a spoof titled One Born Every Minute, aired on 15 March 2013 as part of the annual Comic Relief appeal.
 * The series had two opening sequences. From Asylum of the Daleks to The Angels Take Manhattan, the opening sequence was the one used starting from The Eleventh Hour. From The Snowmen, a different opening sequence was used and was used for the rest of Matt Smith's tenure.

Aliens and enemies

 * Daleks
 * Dalek puppets
 * Dalek Prime Minister
 * Nanogene
 * Solomon
 * Robot 1 and Robot 2
 * Dinosaurs
 * Silurians
 * Kahler-Tek
 * Kahler-Jex
 * Orderlies
 * Shakri
 * Weeping Angels
 * Great Intelligence
 * Walter Simeon
 * Snowmen
 * Spoonheads
 * Miss Kizlet
 * Rezh Baphix
 * Merry Gejelh
 * Dor'een
 * Pan-Babylonians
 * Lugaleracush
 * Lucanians
 * Hooloovoo
 * Terraberserker
 * Ultramancer
 * Citizen from the City State of Binding Light
 * Energy-based aliens
 * Four-eyed aliens
 * The Mummy
 * Vigil
 * Old God
 * Ice Warrior
 * The Crooked Man
 * Time zombies
 * Winifred Gillyflower
 * Mr Sweet
 * Cybermen
 * Cybermites
 * Whisper Men

Webcasts

 * Prequel to The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe

Novels

 * Dark Horizons
 * Terrible Lizards
 * Horror of the Space Snakes
 * Extra Time
 * The Water Thief
 * The Angel's Kiss: A Melody Malone Mystery
 * Devil in the Smoke: An Adventure for the Great Detective
 * The Silurian Gift
 * Plague of the Cybermen
 * The Dalek Generation
 * Shroud of Sorrow

Audiobooks

 * The Empty House
 * Sleepers in the Dust
 * Snake Bite

Audio Drama

 * Thin Time (Eleventh Doctor's involvement)
 * Regeneration Impossible (Eleventh Doctor's involvement)
 * The Inheritance
 * The House of Masks
 * The End

Webcasts

 * Pond Life
 * Prequel to Asylum of the Daleks
 * The Making of the Gunslinger
 * The Great Detective
 * Vastra Investigates: A Christmas Prequel
 * The Bells of Saint John: A Prequel
 * She Said, He Said: A Prequel