Legend of the Sea Devils (TV story)

Legend of the Sea Devils was the 2022 Doctor Who Easter Special. This episode introduced the Sea Devils into the BBC Wales revival series, last seen on television in 1984's Warriors of the Deep.

Unlike the 2010 redesign of the Sea Devils' sister species, the Silurians, in The Hungry Earth, these returning enemies remained largely faithful to their original designs, with CGI augmentations mostly allowing for a greater variety of expressions.

It has the distinction of being only the second ever Easter Special, following Planet of the Dead 13 years prior, in 2009.

Synopsis
When the legendary pirate queen Zheng Yi Sao, alias "Madam Ching", awakens an antediluvian Sea Devil extremist, the Doctor's TARDIS is pulled off-course and Team TARDIS must try to work together with the historical rogue to save the entire Earth from global flood. But amidst the high-stakes, high-sea adventure, it soon becomes clear the stakes for everyone involved — even the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz — are much more personal than a legendary sunken treasure, or even the all-important Keystone...

Plot
to be added

Cast

 * The Doctor - Jodie Whittaker
 * Yasmin Khan - Mandip Gill
 * Dan Lewis - John Bishop
 * Ying Ki - Marlowe Chan-Reeves
 * Madam Ching - Crystal Yu
 * Chief Sea Devil - Craige Els
 * Ji-Hun - Arthur Lee
 * Ying Wai - David K.S. Tse
 * Sea Devils - Jon Davey, Simon Carew, Chester Durrant, Richard Price, Mickey Lewis, Andrew Cross

Uncredited cast

 * Lei Bao - TBA
 * Diane - Nadia Albina

TARDIS

 * While underwater, the Doctor reinforces the oxygen bubble with an aquashield.

History

 * Zheng Yi Sao is after the lost treasure of Ji-Hun, known as the keystone. Ji-Hun gave the keystone to Lei Bao, whose family handed it down the generations.
 * The keystone is a plutonic crystal created by the Sea Devils.

Technology

 * Dan has an app on his mobile phone for identifying the constellations in the night sky.
 * The Sea Devils have a geomagnograph for measuring the current flow underwater, and a current regulator for controlling the flow.
 * The Sea Devils also employ orbital electron stripping to keep their sea creature base airtight, and algae to keep the microclimate under check.
 * The Sea Devils use hexo-toxic poisoning as a weapon.

Popular culture

 * The Doctor says Stephen King films, like history, are "never like the books".
 * The Doctor makes reference to Pimp My Ride, saying that the Sea Devils "really pimped [ Ji-Hun's] ride". Yaz reminds her that this is an anachronism.

Story notes

 * This was the second Easter Special in Doctor Who history, following 2009's Planet of the Dead.
 * This was the first episode of the Chibnall era that played the 'Coming Soon' trailer before the end credits. This is also the first episode of the Chibnall era not to include the Doctor Who theme over the 'Coming Soon' trailer; a special rendition of the Thirteenth Doctor's theme by Segun Akinola was played instead.
 * This was the first episode since Revolution of the Daleks to included the old BBC logo in the title sequence.
 * This episode was the first time that Chris Chibnall had his executive producer credit above Matt Strevens' credit. The entire Chibnall era, Matt Strevens was credited above Chris Chibnall as executive producer.
 * With overnight ratings of 2.2 million, this story is officially the story with the lowest on the day viewing figures in the history of the show, undertaking the previous record holder, Battlefield in 1989.
 * Legend of the Sea Devils was also the shortest Doctor Who special up to that point, with a running time of 48 minutes (the average length of a regular episode).
 * The sets for this episode were particularly ambitious and included a full sized pirate ship. Executive producer Matt Strevens said that they were "probably" the biggest sets that had ever been made for the show while Mandip Gill said they were the biggest sets she's ever worked on.
 * John Friedlander is credited as originally designing the Sea Devils from the story The Sea Devils and Warriors of the Deep.

Ratings

 * Overnights: 2.20 million
 * Consolidated: 3.47 million

Filming locations
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Production errors

 * The end credits misspelt Malcolm Hulke's name as "Malcom Hulke".

Rumours

 * The Sea Devils' pet sea creature was a Myrka. This was proven false.
 * The Master was going to appear at the end of the episode as a cliffhanger. This was proven false.

Continuity

 * The Doctor mentions that she's dealt with the Sea Devils "once or twice" in the future. (TV: The Sea Devils, Warriors of the Deep)
 * The TARDIS is able to sustain being underwater with the doors open without hurting its occupants, (TV: Listen, PROSE: Dark Horizons) due to its oxygen bubble. (TV: The Runaway Bride, The Beast Below, Oxygen)
 * Yaz encounters the Sea Devils for the first time, although another account posits that she has already encountered them once before. (COMIC: Alternating Current)
 * The Doctor gets angry at Ji-Hun for killing an enemy unnecessarily. (TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians, The Christmas Invasion, War of the Sontarans)
 * The Doctor shouts "Geronimo" again when swinging across the pirate ships, just like the Eleventh Doctor. (TV: The End of Time)
 * Yaz and Dan recall their earlier conversation regarding Yaz's romantic feelings for the Doctor. (TV: Eve of the Daleks)
 * The Doctor acknowledges her wife. (TV: The Wedding of River Song et al.)
 * Dan gets back in touch with Diane. (TV: The Vanquishers)
 * Dan claims he is "forty two". For this to be true, he is seemingly discounting the four years he was trapped in the past with Yaz. Indeed, he nearly says "six" before quickly saying "two" in its place. (TV: The Vanquishers)

DVD releases
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Blu-ray releases
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Digital releases
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