The Pilot (TV story)

 was the first episode of the tenth series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales. It introduced the Twelfth Doctor's new companion, Bill Potts.

According to Steven Moffat in a video introduction, "series 10 sort of begins the show again. [The Pilot] introduces everything you need to know about Doctor Who, and tips you into the universe". Indeed, through Bill's eyes now, viewers are introduced again to the character of the Doctor, his TARDIS, his enemies the Daleks, and his versatile tool, the sonic screwdriver.

New viewers are brought into the show with all important information given, and meet the Doctor as a mysterious figure, much like they did through Rose Tyler in series 1's 2005 "pilot", Rose, or through Ian and Barbara in the original 1963 introduction, "An Unearthly Child". Much like Rose, The Pilot follows Bill around in every scene.

This was also the first on-screen depiction of the Dalek-Movellan War since Resurrection of the Daleks, in 1984. The Pilot introduces St Luke's University, where the Doctor has been lecturing for over fifty years, and begins a plot thread surrounding what he and Nardole are hiding in a vault beneath the campus.

Synopsis
The Doctor -- now living and teaching at St Luke's University on Earth -- convinces dinner lady Bill Potts to be his private student. The Time Lord and his companion Nardole soon discover that their new friend has unwittingly made a deal with a prospective girlfriend that threatens their safety in a way that even the TARDIS can't outrun.

Plot
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Cast

 * The Doctor - Peter Capaldi
 * Bill - Pearl Mackie
 * Nardole - Matt Lucas
 * Moira - Jennifer Hennessy
 * Heather - Stephanie Hyam
 * Voice of the Daleks - Nicholas Briggs

Science

 * The Doctor is Bill's tutor on physics and astrophysics, among other subjects.

Technology

 * The Doctor has, in his office, several sonic screwdrivers, of various designs from his past.

TARDIS

 * The Doctor tells Bill that "TARDIS" stands for "Time and Relative Dimension in Space". (Other stories have it as "Dimensions".) Bill questions why this acronym only works in English.
 * Bill compares the TARDIS control room design to a kitchen.
 * She also asks where the toilet is.
 * While she discovers the TARDIS is bigger on the inside, Bill at first thinks it's a knock-through behind his office, then that it's a lift.

Culture

 * Bill is a fan of science fiction, and recognises many of its tropes in her experiences with the Doctor, including mind wipes.
 * Bill watched a thing on Netflix about lizards in people's brains, controlling them.

Locations

 * While running away from the sentient oil puddle, the Doctor visits Sydney, a planet on the other end of the universe, and a war zone in the Dalek-Movellan War.

St Luke's University

 * The Doctor has been lecturing at St Luke's University in Bristol for 50 years.
 * Bill serves chips there, and Heather is a student.
 * The Doctor's office contains the TARDIS, photographs of River Song and Susan Foreman, Rembrandt van Rijn's Self Portrait with Two Circles, black-and-white prints of Joshua Reynolds' Portrait of Emma Hart and George Romney's Lady Hamilton in a Straw Hat, and a bust of Ludwig van Beethoven. Bill comments that both the doors and windows are too small to have brought the police box in without taking it apart.
 * The Doctor and Nardole are keeping something hidden in an underground vault beneath the university.



Story notes

 * A working title for this episode was A Star In Her Eye.
 * Before filming started, a two-minute scene featuring the Doctor and Bill known as Friend From the Future was broadcast in April 2016, set during the encounter in the Dalek war zone. Parts of this scene were adapted into the episode. (DWM 511)
 * As described by Caroline Lie, many if not all of the extras who attend the Doctor's lecture were employees from Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff. She can be seen, in fact, in multiple places, often near her friends, including Joe (TARDISArchives). Both previously participated in Classmates, a YouTube series consisting of fan reactions to episodes of Class.
 * The setting of this story bears some resemblance to the unfinished TV story Shada. Both stories feature Time Lords (in Shada, Chronotis; in The Pilot, the Doctor) who settle in colleges as eccentric professors for an extended period of time. Both feature opening shots of a student (in Shada, Chris Parsons; in The Pilot, Bill Potts) entering their studies and noticing the TARDIS, parked in the corner.
 * The plot element of having the Doctor travel to various obscure locations in the universe as he continuously encounters the same entity has been used in the Doctor Who universe various times before.
 * The Chase, back in 1965, famously had the TARDIS team travel to various locations, often to comical effect, while under pursuit by the Daleks.
 * This element was also used in the season-long-arc of Titan's Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor Year 2; where the Eleventh Doctor's team was stalked by a being known as the Then and the Now.
 * A creature which mimicked living people to steal their form previously appeared in TV: Midnight.
 * Another spaceship part seeking a compatible pilot — specifically, one who wants to leave, to travel — previously appeared in TV: The Lodger.
 * The Doctor battled off against sentient water before in TV: The Waters of Mars. A similar effect is used here in The Pilot to indicate that the water is controlling them: the liquid is dripping from their hands, their mouths and their clothes.
 * During the scene when the Doctor is about to wipe Bill's memory and she tells him to imagine if someone did it to him, "Clara's Theme" plays. This is a reference to the events of TV: Hell Bent.
 * "The Sad Man with A Box" plays in the scene in which Bill is introduced to the TARDIS. A happier, more fairy-tale rendition of this same tune, "The Mad Man with a Box", played during the scene in The Eleventh Hour when Amy walked into the TARDIS and saw the interior for the first time.
 * The romance between Bill Potts and her friend, Heather, may be homage to William "Bill" Hartnell, the first actor to portray the Doctor, and his wife, Heather Hartnell.
 * The ringtone for Bill's mobile phone is the same as the one for Martha Jones' phone, which was later kept onboard the TARDIS by the Tenth Doctor.
 * When Nardole shows Bill the Doctor's office, his arm makes a mechanical sound and a bolt falls from it, implying that his body is robotic.

Ratings
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Filming locations

 * The Main Building, the Sir Martin Evans Building, and Tower Building of Cardiff University largely fill in for St Luke's University, while the Reardon Smith Theatre (within the National Museum of Wales) is where the Doctor gives his lectures.
 * The Cardiff Metropolitan University (Llandaff Campus)'s Atrium Cafe is where Bill serves chips.
 * The bar scene was shot at Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff.
 * Bill runs into the bathroom in "Australia", in World of Boats in Cardiff.
 * CEMEX's Taffs Well quarry, just outside of Cardiff, is the exotic planet the TARDIS team travel to.

Production errors
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Continuity

 * The Doctor has framed photographs on his desk of both his lost wife River Song (TV: The Wedding of River Song - The Husbands of River Song, Forest of the Dead) and his granddaughter Susan. (TV: An Unearthly Child - The Dalek Invasion of Earth, AUDIO: An Earthly Child, Lucie Miller / To the Death)
 * The Doctor has an "Out of Order" sign on the doors of the TARDIS, nearly identical to one used by his first incarnation. (TV: The War Machines)
 * The Doctor has previously met sentient liquid beings: the Kar-Charratans on Kar-Charrat (AUDIO: The Genocide Machine) and the Flood on Mars. (TV: The Waters of Mars)
 * The Doctor relents on wiping Bill's memory when she poses the question of how he would feel if it happened to him, clearly bringing back his memories (or lack thereof) of Clara Oswald. (TV: Hell Bent)
 * In his office, the Doctor has his bust of Beethoven, previously seen in his TARDIS. Similar to that occurrence, he also plays Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. (TV: Before the Flood)
 * Potts writes an essay entitled "Laser cooling of ions: atomic clocks and quantum jumps." The Eighth Doctor encountered an atomic clock on the eve of the new 2000th year. (TV: Doctor Who)
 * The Doctor pilots the TARDIS to the Dalek-Movellan War. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks)
 * Near the vault the Doctor had a sign belonging to the Mary Celeste. (TV: The Chase, PROSE: The Mystery of the Marie Celeste, COMIC: A Stitch in Time)
 * The Doctor had encountered scorch marks left in concrete by a shuttlecraft once before, also on a school campus. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
 * The Doctor mentions the TARDIS' broken chameleon circuit, (TV: An Unearthly Child, Logopolis, Boom Town, COMIC: Hunters of the Burning Stone, et al.) and calls it a "cloaking device." (TV: Doctor Who)
 * The Doctor attempts a memory wipe. (TV: Journey's End) He previously revealed that he's done this several times, usually telepathically. (TV: Hell Bent) In this case, the method he's about to use was the same one employed on Donna Noble. (TV: Journey's End)
 * The Doctor clicks his fingers to open the TARDIS doors. (TV: Forest of the Dead, The Eleventh Hour, Hell Bent, et al.)
 * The Doctor speaks to River's and Susan's photographs, telling them to "shut up" after he refuses to take Bill as a companion. He previously told River, "You are always here to me and I always listen." (TV: The Name of the Doctor) Immediately after, the Doctor offers Bill the opportunity to become his companion.

DVD releases
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Blu-ray releases
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Digital releases
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