In the Forest of the Night (TV story)

 was the 10th episode of the eighth series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales.

Synopsis
While on a trip to a London museum, Clara Oswald, Danny Pink and his Coal Hill School pupils wake to find themselves in a forest that has engulfed the planet. The Twelfth Doctor must contend with the animals that roam this new habitat and the threat of a devastating solar flare...

Plot
A little girl is running through a forest, when she comes across the TARDIS and knocks on the door. The Doctor opens the door, and the little girl explains that something told her to look for a doctor. Taking the girl inside, the Doctor goes on about how he's having trouble with the TARDIS not landing where he wants to be. After a takeoff attempt, a GPS voice says the Doctor has arrived at his destination, London; he argues that it's wrong. However, the little girl tells him that the device is not wrong, she takes him outside and points up, explaining they are in Trafalgar Square. The Doctor is left surprised by this, as a pullaway shows all of London's wild trees filling every open area possible.

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Cast

 * The Doctor - Peter Capaldi
 * Clara - Jenna Coleman
 * Danny - Samuel Anderson
 * Maebh - Abigail Eames
 * Samson - Jayden Harris-Wallace
 * Bradley - Ashley Foster
 * Ruby - Harley Bird
 * Missy - Michelle Gomez
 * Maebh's mum - Siwan Morris
 * George - Harry Dickman
 * Minister - James Weber Brown
 * Neighbour - Michelle Asante
 * Emergency services officer - Curtis Flowers
 * Jenny Hill – Herself
 * Paris reporter - Kate Tydman
 * Accra reporter - Nana Amoo-Gottfried
 * Little boy - William Wright-Neblett
 * Annabel - Eloise Barnes

Real world

 * When the Doctor and Clara speak over the phone about the forest, the Doctor compares the new forest to New Forest, only newer. Ironically, New Forest would also have been covered by these trees.


 * The fairytales Sleeping Beauty and Hansel and Gretel are mentioned. Clara mentions Sleeping Beauty when she asks Danny whether a forest really can grow on one night or if they have been sleeping for years like the character of this tale. She later alludes to the gingerbread house from Hansel and Gretel while looking for Maebh with the Twelfth Doctor. Maebh was also chased by a wolf while wearing a red hooded coat.


 * A reporter adressed the fact that the Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (COBR) had been in agreement to take action during the massive forest-crisis.


 * When Danny asked the Doctor how a forest can grow on one night, the Doctor responded "Exactly what they said about the ice age".


 * The kids from Coal Hill School ask twice if they can take "Selfies".


 * The Doctor compares the power of forgetting to wars and births.

Music

 * Danny Pink and the class from Coal Hill sing the song "Everywhere We Go" by Dave Benson Phillips.

Communication

 * When the Doctor mentions that the sonic screwdriver has no effect on wood, Maebh says that the trees can communicate between one another, if only just a little. A bit sarcastic, the Doctor asks Maebh if she thinks the trees communicate by some form of tree-Facebook.

Events from the real world

 * The Doctor theories that the Tunguska and Curuçá events are evidence of the protection of Earth by trees.

The TARDIS

 * The Doctor has installed GPS in the TARDIS. It acts like any other GPS, but is probably made to contain all space and time. The voice was female.

Story notes

 * This episode is one example of Doctor Who (as a television show) being referenced in the show itself, with a bus in one shot advertising Series 8 of Doctor Who. A previous example would be in Remembrance of the Daleks which was set on the same day that Doctor Who premiered, with a television in the background saying "And now for a new science fiction adventure, Doc-" before cutting out. However, the advertisement is only visible for a brief second.
 * The "bus" seen in the background of the forest is actually a cardboard cutout, due to difficulties that would be faced in order to manoveur a real bus into a place of dense foliage.

Ratings
In the Forest of the Night posted an overnight viewing figure of 5.03 million.

Filming locations

 * National Museum in Cardiff
 * Forest Fawr Woods
 * Heythorp Zoological Gardens in Chipping Norton
 * several residential areas in Cardiff

Production errors
When Clara picks up Maebh's pink phone, she is also holding her own white phone. She is holding her white phone in her left hand and Maebh's pink phone in her right hand. Then in one shot, the pink is in her left and the white is in her right. It later returns back to normal in the following shots.

Continuity

 * The Doctor compares the solar flare to the one that hit the Bank of Karabraxos. (TV: Time Heist)
 * In the future, massive solar flares would lead to the exodus of human race from Earth. (TV: The Ark, The Ark in Space , The Beast Below; COMIC: The Keep) It would also undergo a solar flare when it was relocated by the Time Lords. (TV: The Mysterious Planet)
 * The Doctor quotes Clara's remarks about his involvement with Earth. (TV: Kill the Moon)
 * The Doctor reminds Clara that the future can be changed despite her having witnessed it alongside him. (TV: Kill the Moon)
 * The sonic screwdriver is ineffective where wood is concerned. (TV: Silence in the Library)
 * The Doctor refers to Danny as "PE". (TV: The Caretaker, Flatline)
 * Danny discovers that Clara wasn't telling him the truth about her relationship with the Doctor. (TV: Flatline)
 * The Doctor tells Clara that the forest will be forgotten. The Seventh Doctor previously noted humanity's "capacity for self-deception". (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
 * A human is once again in telepathic contact with tree-based intelligent life forms. (TV: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe)
 * One of the Coal Hill students says "Timey Wimey" while planning out a speech for the planet Earth inhabitants. This was a common expression to difficult time-related stuff by the Tenth (TV: Blink et.al.) and Eleventh Doctor. (TV: The Eleventh Hour et.al.) (possible explanation could be that the (Twelfth) Doctor used it)

DVD releases
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Blu-ray releases
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