Hell Bent (TV story)

 was the twelfth episode of the ninth series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales.

It was the final regular appearance of Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald. Although Clara met her demise in Face the Raven, the Doctor arranged for time to be frozen around her so that Clara would remain conscious of everything happening around her, leaving her alive but no longer affected by physical qualities such as breathing, heartbeat or even ageing.

It featured the return of the Time Lords for the first time since The Time of the Doctor. Among them was Rassilon, now in a new incarnation after his previous one was last seen being attacked by in The End of Time, who was banished from Gallifrey along with the High Council after losing the allegiance of his race for his cruelty to the Doctor and his role as one of the driving forces of the Last Great Time War and deposed as Lord President, with the Doctor briefly assuming it in his place. Also returning was the General, who regenerated and was revealed to be a usually-female Time Lady who had assumed a male incarnation, marking the first instance of an on-screen regeneration where a Time Lord changed genders, as well as being a rare on-screen instance of a Time Lord also changing skin colour.

Ohila and the Sisterhood of Karn also reappeared, wherein Ohila was hinted to have a greater personal history with the Doctor that may have gone back to his earlier days. Ashildr made another appearance as well, having persisted to the final moments of time. She eventually ended up in possession of a TARDIS which the Doctor stole, and began travelling with Clara, who was not ready to return to Gallifrey and face her end.

Hell Bent ended up being full circle for both the Doctor and Clara. For the Doctor, he was once again running away in his TARDIS. For Clara, she was now time-travelling again, aboard a stolen TARDIS with an original control room layout similar to the one which the First Doctor stole, with Ashildr, another long-lived being, as her companion. They were unable to get the chameleon circuit on this TARDIS working properly, leaving its exterior stuck in the form of an American diner which the Doctor had visited in The Impossible Astronaut.

This story depicted the Doctor reaching his limit, seeing him break his own moral codes, step away from being the Doctor and unleash his fury on the Time Lords in an attempt to save his companion's life, which came with the price of losing his memories of Clara as atonement for what he had done. Additionally, several facts about his past before fleeing Gallifrey and prophecies of the Hybrid were revealed, though who or what the Hybrid was remained uncertain.

The story also saw the return of the sonic screwdriver, with the Doctor's TARDIS once again gifting him with a brand new model.

Synopsis
After being tortured for billions of years within his own confession dial, the Doctor has been pushed to the brink of madness. Returning to Gallifrey, he must face his own people, the Time Lords, but how far will he go in his quest for vengeance? Does he have another confession?

Plot
The Doctor walks into a diner, and is greeted by a waitress, Clara. Having no money, he tells her he can play his guitar. As he starts to play her a song, he begins his story.

Walking through the desert-like plains of Gallifrey, the Doctor arrives at an old barn, and climbs up into its loft. A woman walks in on him, saying that he shouldn't be there; however, once their eyes meet, she recognises him, and warns him that "they" will kill him. In the chamber of the High Council, Rassilon wonders why the Doctor hasn't arrived yet. To Rassilon's annoyance, Ohila and some of the Sisterhood of Karn arrive and advise to try appealing to the Doctor to get his attention. Rassilon sends a soldier named Gastron to retrieve him.

In the meantime, the Doctor is trying to enjoy a bowl of soup, with a small crowd of Gallifreyans watching him in awe. Gastron arrives in a military craft, asking that the Doctor drop his weapons. Instead of going with Gastron, the Doctor walks up and drags his heel through the sand, drawing a line. Gastron reports this to Rassilon, who tries numerous different approaches to get the Doctor's attention - he sends respectful soldiers, the High Council, and even the War Council. Finally, Rassilon himself arrives with his personal guard; the Doctor only responds with a simple "Get off my planet". Rassilon does not take kindly to the Doctor's words, demanding he be brought with them. However, the tables turn when the soldiers and even the General turn their backs on him. Rassilon prepares to kill the Doctor by removing his regenerations when reinforcements the Doctor sent for arrive; the General repeats the Doctor's order to leave the planet. Rassilon is then banished, with the Doctor stating that the High Council that served him will soon be following.

Now once more the Lord President of Gallifrey, the Doctor demands to know why he was imprisoned within his own confession dial. The General explains that all Matrix predictions foresaw the birth of a Hybrid of both Time Lord and Dalek races. The Doctor tells them that he cannot talk to them; he needs Clara. They take him to the extraction room, where they pull Clara out of her timeline one second right before her death; she arrives on Gallifrey, confused. The Doctor explains that she's been frozen in that one moment of time they took her from, so even she doesn't have a pulse or need to breathe. Once the General explains why they saved her, the Doctor reveals it was all a ruse to save Clara. After asking what regeneration the General is on, the Doctor wishes him luck before shooting him with his own gun. As the Doctor and Clara flee, Gastron checks on the General, who has regenerated into a female; she is quite glad to have returned to her original gender, which is free of male ego.

The Doctor takes Clara to the Cloisters, an area located below Gallifrey's capital; it is guarded by Wraiths, which only attack if they attempt to leave. Many enemies attempted to steal information from Gallifrey during the Cloister Wars, and were imprisoned within the vines. There is a secret door they can use to escape; the wraiths use projections of enemies who attacked to attempt scaring them into retreating, to no avail. The General and Ohila arrive via the elevator, attempting to reason with the Doctor; they reveal that the Doctor refused to answer about the Hybrid for four and a half billion years, something that shocks Clara as he has gone so far just for her. She distracts the General and Ohila while the Doctor escapes through a secret tunnel; he proceeds to steal another TARDIS and flees Gallifrey with Clara.

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor asks Clara what she thinks of the original design for the control rooms; she's not too fond of it. The Doctor takes them to the end of the universe, hoping that Clara's biology will restart now that there's nothing that can be damaged by his actions. However, nothing happens. Hearing a knock, the Doctor tells Clara that Me is out there; he leaves the TARDIS to find Me sitting in a chair next to a fireplace. The Doctor reminds Me that he told her the universe would be small when he's angry at her; he tells her to "go to Hell, which is about five minutes away." Me then asks about the Hybrid, which the Doctor thought was her human with Mire medical technology inside; Me speculates it might refer to the Doctor and theorizes that the Doctor might be half-human. However, the Doctor brushes her off, asking if it matters. Me then reveals her true theory: she thinks it's the Doctor and Clara - true companions who will go to extremes for the sake of each other. The Doctor takes out a device which will wipe Clara's memories of him.

Clara watches on the monitor, coming to learn that the Doctor plans to erase all memory of himself from her, then drop her off somewhere to live her life. When the Doctor and Me enter the TARDIS, Clara argues with him; however, they both agree to take a fifty-fifty chance to have one of their memories wiped at random. They both touch the device, and press the button. It turns out the Doctor is the one to lose his memories. He collapses in pain to the floor. Before losing his memories, he gives out advice, from "never be cruel or cowardly", to the more bizarre "never eat pears". He asks Clara for one last smile before he blacks out.

Back in the present, the Doctor continues talking to Clara; he doesn't remember what she looked like, but remembers their adventures. Looking around the diner, he suddenly recalls having been to it with River, Amy and Rory when he faked his death in his previous incarnation. Clara smiles and walks into the back room, which is revealed to the console room for the TARDIS she stole from him. The diner vanishes, leaving the Doctor astounded as he realizes he was talking to Clara; he sees she left his own TARDIS, which still has Rigsy's graffiti memorial for her. The Doctor boards his TARDIS and takes off, watching a new sonic screwdriver emerge from the console and launch into the air and catching it.

In Clara's TARDIS, Me tells her the Chameleon circuit is broken, but she is unconcerned, saying that she likes it. Clara asks Me whether the Time Lords can return her to her place and time of death, to which Me responds with the affirmative. Me asks Clara where will she go now, she replies "Gallifrey, the long way around": she isn't going back to face her death just yet. Their TARDIS passes the Doctor mid-travel in the void of space.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Peter Capaldi
 * Clara - Jenna Coleman
 * Ashildr - Maisie Williams
 * The President - Donald Sumpter
 * The General - Ken Bones
 * Female General - T'Nia Miller
 * Gastron - Malachi Kirby
 * Ohila - Clare Higgins
 * The Woman - Linda Broughton
 * Man - Martin T. Sherman
 * Wraiths - Jami Reid-Quarrell, Nick Ash, Ross Mullan
 * Voice of the Dalek - Nicholas Briggs

Crew
to be added

Story notes

 * This is the first Doctor Who television story to feature a regeneration from a male body to a female. There have been references to this happening with the Corsair in The Doctor's Wife and the Master in Dark Water and Death in Heaven, and it was one of the options the Eighth Doctor received in The Night of the Doctor but it has never been featured on a televised story until now, in this case the General from his eleventh to twelfth incarnation.
 * This marks the first time a Doctor Who television episode has had the minor expletive "hell" in the title. The word previously appeared in the titles of the comic stories A Cold Day in Hell! and The Road to Hell as well as the audio story Minuet in Hell.
 * This episode marks the first televised appearance of an interior shot of a TARDIS other than the Doctor's since Time and the Rani, the latter being the Rani's. It is only the second TARDIS control console seen other than the Doctor's since Time and the Rani, after the Junk TARDIS in The Doctor's Wife.
 * The Doctor plays the first note of the theme song on his guitar, leading into the title sequence.
 * The tune played by the Doctor when he was sitting in the diner is a simplified version of Clara Oswald's theme from the Series 7-9 soundtracks. It is a rare example of a piece of incidental music composed for Doctor Who becoming part of its in-universe narrative.
 * The Radio Times programme listing was accompanied by a small colour head-and-shoulders shot of the General, with the accompanying caption "Doctor Who / 8.00 p.m. The General (Ken Bones) prepares for battle in the series finale".
 * Although they only receive a brief cameo, the inclusion of the Cybermen ensures the continuation of a pattern that has been ongoing since Series 5, whereby they appear in every twelfth episode of a series.

Ratings

 * BBC One Overnight: 4.8 million
 * BBC America Overnight: to be added
 * Final UK ratings: to be added

Filming location
to be added

Production errors

 * When taking off in the getaway TARDIS, Clara's hair changes from combed, to messy, to combed again, in a series of jump cuts.

Continuity

 * A Dalek invasion of the Matrix occurred in AUDIO: Ascension.
 * Before the Doctor shoots the General, he asks "Regeneration?", to which he replies "Tenth", reminiscent of the exchange between First Doctor and Fifth Doctor in the Death Zone. (TV: The Five Doctors)
 * Charlotte Pollard had previously wiped the Sixth Doctor's memory so that he forgot travelling with him and went on other adventures afterwards with in her case the Viyrans. (AUDIO: Blue Forgotten Planet)
 * The Doctor's TARDIS provides him with a new sonic screwdriver. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)
 * Clara and Ashildr have not been able to get their TARDIS' chameleon circuit working, leaving its outer shell stuck in one shape just like the Doctor's. (TV: An Unearthly Child, et al)
 * It stays in the form of an American diner that the Doctor recalls visiting with Amy Pond and Rory Williams. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut)
 * Prior to dematerialising, the Doctor's TARDIS still has Rigsy's Clara memorial graffiti on it. (TV: Face the Raven)
 * When the Doctor first walks into the diner, the song Don't Stop Me Now as performed on the Orient Express can be heard in the background. (TV: Mummy on the Orient Express)
 * The Doctor again plays his guitar. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice, Before the Flood)
 * The Doctor returns to the barn where he nearly detonated the Moment, (TV: The Day of the Doctor) and briefly lies on the bed where Clara spoke to his first incarnation in a "dream" during his childhood. (TV: Listen)
 * The Doctor still has his confession dial. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice, The Witch's Familiar, Face the Raven, Heaven Sent)
 * The Doctor once again states that he came to Gallifrey "the long way around." (TV: The Day of the Doctor, Heaven Sent)
 * The Doctor finds himself once more at the end of the universe. (TV: Utopia, Forest of the Dead, Listen)
 * When threatening to kill the Doctor, Rassilon inquires into the number of regenerations granted to the Doctor as part of his new cycle, but no answer is given. (TV: The Time of the Doctor) Indeed, it is uncertain if even the Doctor knows the answer to this question, as he has previously speculated that he may be able to regenerate indefinitely. (TV: Kill the Moon)
 * The Doctor refers to the Cloister Wars and the night he apparently stole the moon and the President's wife, (TV: The Magician's Apprentice) although he credits the latter as being a rumour spread by the Shobogans. (TV: The Deadly Assassin)
 * A Time Lord soldier refers to the "Doctor of War", while the General refers to the Doctor as the man who won the Time War. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
 * When Gastron tells the Doctor to drop all weapons, the Doctor drops his spoon. The Doctor once successfully dueled a sword-wielding Robin Hood with a spoon. (TV: Robot of Sherwood)
 * The General changes gender (PROSE: Interference - Book One, Interference - Book Two, Harvest of Time, TV: Deep Breath, The Doctor's Wife) and skin tone (TV: Planet of the Spiders, Let's Kill Hitler, Death of the Doctor) through his regeneration.
 * The Doctor assumes the title of Lord President of Gallifrey once more. (TV: The Invasion of Time, The Five Doctors) As with his fifth incarnation, he vacates the position by running away from Gallifrey. (TV: The Five Doctors)
 * The Doctor's promise that he made to himself "Never cruel or cowardly" is alluded to by Ohila, who asks if the Doctor was being cruel or cowardly toward Rassilon, and by the Doctor himself to Clara just before he passes out. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
 * The Doctor closes the TARDIS doors with a snap of his fingers once more. (TV: Forest of the Dead, The Eleventh Hour, Day of the Moon, et al)
 * Clara's affinity for TARDIS controls is yet again demonstrated, (TV: Listen, The Woman Who Lived et al) being being able to fly her TARDIS without guidance from the Doctor like she had previously required or a TARDIS Instruction Manual like Ashildr.
 * Clara states that she is going to return to Gallifrey "the long way around," the same way the Doctor described his own journey home. (TV: The Day of the Doctor, Heaven Sent)
 * It's revealed that the Doctor was referring to Ashildr when he stated that the Hybrid was "Me". (TV: Heaven Sent)
 * Ashildr theorises that the Doctor could be the Hybrid, suggesting that he is half Time Lord and half human. (TV: Doctor Who)
 * The Doctor once more displays his ability to defeat enemies by standing his ground and not resorting to force. River Song once mentioned that "her Doctor" could do things like this when talking about him. (TV: Forest of the Dead)
 * Clara and Ashildr's TARDIS has a similar console room design to the Doctor's TARDIS during his early travels with it (TV: An Unearthly Child), and its original exterior is the same as the original exterior of the Doctor's TARDIS when he first stole it. (TV: The Name of the Doctor)
 * The Doctor recalls an encounter with an Ice Warrior on a submarine (TV: Cold War) and seeing a Mummy on the Orient Express (TV: Mummy on the Orient Express) while travelling with Clara.
 * Preparing to wipe Clara's memory of him with a neural block, the Doctor notes that he has done this before using telepathy. The Tenth Doctor previously wiped Donna Noble's memory of him to prevent her mind from burning up after she was given his Time Lord knowledge after interacting with the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor. (TV: Journey's End) The Time Lords wiped Jamie and Zoe's memories of the Doctor aside from their first adventure with him after passing judgement at his first trial. (TV: The War Games), but it's unknown what method was used in that case.
 * When there is a knock on the TARDIS door, the Doctor mentions that it is "always four times". (TV: The End of Time)
 * Ashildr refers to the Doctor's dislike of endings. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan)
 * The Doctor uses his sonic sunglasses (TV: The Magicians Apprentice, et al)
 * He later loses them and reverts back to a new sonic screwdriver (TV: Fury From the Deep et al)
 * Clara leaves a message for the Doctor on his blackboard. (TV: Listen, et al)
 * The message Clara left is similar to one used by herself and her various splinters. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks, et al)
 * Clara says she reversed the polarity of the neuroblock, something the Doctor has done multiple times since the days of his third incarnation. (TV: The Sea Devils, The Day of the Doctor et al.)

DVD releases
to be added

Blu-ray releases
to be added