Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror (TV story)

Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror was the fourth episode of series 12 of Doctor Who.

Synopsis
New York City, the turn of the 20th century. For Nikola Tesla, his grand ideas for revolutionising electricity and communication are proving to be a hard sell to the public. His business rival, Thomas Edison, may not want him to succeed, but surely even he cannot be behind the sudden appearance of hostile alien scavengers? The Thirteenth Doctor and her friends are about to find out.

Plot
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Cast

 * The Doctor - Jodie Whittaker
 * Graham O'Brien - Bradley Walsh
 * Ryan Sinclair - Tosin Cole
 * Yasmin Khan - Mandip Gill
 * Nikola Tesla - Goran Višnjić
 * Thomas Edison - Robert Glenister
 * Queen Skithra - Anjli Mohindra
 * Dorothy Skerrit - Haley McGee
 * Harold Green - Paul Kasey
 * Bill Tallow - Robin Guiver
 * Mr Sorensson - Erick Hayden
 * Mr Brady - Russell Bentley
 * Mr Martin - Brian Caspe
 * Foreman - Shaun Mason

Crew
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History

 * The Doctor notes that, at this point in the history of New York City, Times Square and the Empire State Building do not yet exist. Central Park, however, "has been around for ages".
 * Nikola Tesla invented the shadowgraph, the automaton, and the radio. He also coined and thought up the idea of remote control.

Technology

 * Tesla discovers an Orb of Thassor.
 * The Skithra use a Silurian blaster.
 * The Skithra Queen has a Venusian spaceship with a Klendov warp drive and a Dullirian resonator.

Locations

 * Wardenclyffe is located on Long Island.

Species

 * The Doctor calls the Thassor "one of the ancient races".

Story notes

 * The official synopsis dates this story to 1903, however, this date is not given in the episode. In fact, the Thirteenth Doctor describes Nikola Tesla as "an inventor from 1900" when questioning why the Skithra sought him out. As, historically, the tower at Wardenclyffe was completed in 1902, it is likely that the story is set in 1903 and the reference to 1900 was intended as an approximation. Indeed, a newspaper image is briefly seen in the episode that dates Tesla's discovery of the transmission from "Mars", some months earlier, to 1903.
 * The letter from J.P. Morgan refusing to fund Tesla was historically received on July 14, 1903. According to reports, that night Wardenclyffe tower "came alive shooting off bright flashes lighting up the night sky", which does seem to confirm the story as happening at that time.
 * Robert Glenister, who plays Thomas Edison, previously appeared as Salateen in the 1984 serial The Caves of Androzani, making him one of the select few actors to have appeared in both incarnations of the programme.
 * Anjli Mohindra, who plays Queen Skithra, was a member of the main cast in the spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures. She played Rani Chandra from 2008 to 2011. This is Mohindra's first appearance in televised Doctor Who.
 * Bradley Walsh and Anjli Mohindra have worked together before on the Sarah Jane Adventures serial The Day of the Clown. In that story, Walsh played the story's antagonist, Elijah Spellman. This story sees their roles reversed with Walsh now playing a companion and Mohindra playing the villain. Mohindra said that, despite the fact that she and Walsh had worked together before, he did not recognise her due to her excessive make-up. She initially believed he was only joking with her but it was only when he asked to see a picture of her so he could say hello to her if he passed her in the street that she realised he was being serious.
 * Although newspapers in the real world did cast reports on both Tesla's and Edison's views, the newspaper used in the episode, New York Bugle, was never a real world paper, nor were the headlines Tesla: I Heard Message From Mars and Edison: Shut Down Tesla. The closest possible real world connections would be newspapers New York Herald and New York Times, both active at the time.

Ratings

 * 4.04 million (BBC overnight)

Filming locations
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Production errors
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Continuity

 * Nikola Tesla previously aided the Seventh Doctor and Melanie Bush in defeating the Vardans. (AUDIO: Maker of Demons)
 * The Doctor tells Nikola that she created her sonic screwdriver using spoons. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth)
 * The Doctor notes to her companions that the Empire State Building has yet to be constructed. In November 1930, the Tenth Doctor found that the Cult of Skaro had manipulated the construction of the building for their own purposes. (TV: Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks)
 * The Doctor has a tool box. (TV: Earthshock, et al.)
 * Team TARDIS visit Wardenclyffe. (PROSE: Wardenclyffe)

Home video releases
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