Flatline (TV story)

Flatline was the ninth episode of the eighth series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales. For scheduling reasons, it was a "Doctor-lite" episode.

Flatline was Jamie Mathieson's first script for the show. Two years before writing it, he had pitched his ideas for a story to Steven Moffat, but was unsuccessful. When he again met with the executive producer, he showed him four ideas for episodes, complete with his own illustrations, aided by his background in art college. Taking an interest in the monster he had created for what would become Flatline, Moffat asked Mathieson to produce a story outline and he got the job to script the episode.

It was only after writing several drafts that he was told the episode would need to lock the Doctor away in a single location, as Peter Capaldi’s scenes for the episode needed to be filmed quickly to bide by the production schedule.

Mathieson decided to write a script where the Doctor was "in the dark". For this to be successful, he had to create a unknown quantity to feature as his alien enemy. Much like his next creation, the Foretold, he elected to have no dialogue for the aggressors, allowing  something about them to remain "unknowable". (DWM 479)

Synopsis
In a council estate, Clara takes charge as beings from another dimension threaten the Earth...

Plot
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Cast

 * The Doctor - Peter Capaldi
 * Clara - Jenna Coleman
 * Danny Pink - Samuel Anderson
 * Roscoe – John Cummins
 * PC Forrest – Jessica Hayles
 * Rigsy – Jovian Wade
 * Fenton – Christopher Fairbank
 * Al – Matt Bardock
 * George – Raj Bajaj
 * Bill – James Quinn
 * Missy – Michelle Gomez

Story notes
This episode marks the fourth story of Series 8 to feature Missy,also this episode marks the first story for which she is credited for a cameo role and the first story to credit her since Deep Breath.

Ratings
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Filming locations
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Production errors
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Continuity

 * On Logopolis in 1981, the Doctor's TARDIS was reduced in size after interfered with the Logopolitan's Block Transfer Computation. (TV: Logopolis)

DVD releases
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Blu-ray releases
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