Series 7 (Doctor Who)

Series 7 of Doctor Who, sometimes known as Season 33 to avoid confusion with the original Season 7, was a transitional series, both within the narrative and behind the scenes. Matt Smith continued as the Eleventh Doctor, but series 7 part 1 saw the exit of Amy Pond and Rory Williams, and Clara Oswald was introduced thereafter. With a new companion, and an anniversary year starting, Doctor Who gained a new title sequence, the Doctor gained a wholly new outfit, a new TARDIS interior, and a new mystery: who is this impossible girl, he meets again and again?

Series 7 was broadcast on BBC One between 2012 and 2013, and, like Series 6, it was split into two parts. The BBC first announced the new series, which contained fourteen episodes, on the official Doctor Who site on 8 June 2011.

Series 7 began its run on 1 September 2012 with five regular, stand-alone episodes which aired between 1 September 2012 and 29 September 2012 and a Christmas special. These were followed by the remaining eight episodes, which aired between 30 March 2013 and 18 May 2013.

Series 7 was followed by a series of 2013 specials, in honour of the programme's 50th anniversary. This was the last full series with Matt Smith's Doctor.

Overview
Series 7 has been described at being a series of "movies" squeezed into forty five minutes, although The Snowmen was sixty minutes. The first half is about the Doctor deleting himself from the universe to hide himself from the deadly Silence, who attempted to assassinate him in series 6 to stop him from answering the Question. During this time, the Doctor regularly visits Amy Pond and Rory Williams and also meets his grandfather-in-law Brian Williams. The Doctor meets his wife, River Song, in the final episode of the first half of the series, which involved the Weeping Angels who separated him from Amy and Rory forever.

As established in The Name of the Doctor, in Asylum of the Daleks and The Snowmen and thousands of other encounters with the Doctor before, echoes of Clara Oswald were sent through time with the purpose of saving the Doctor, dying in at least the lives in Asylum and The Snowmen. The Doctor, not knowing who Clara was, realised that both incarnations of her were the same woman and believed there would be more versions of her somewhere in the universe. He found and travelled with the original Clara from 2013, determined to solve the mystery of the "impossible girl". To save the Doctor from having his victories undone by the Great Intelligence, Clara followed the Intelligence into the wound of the Doctor's timeline from his tomb on Trenzalore, sacrificing herself to save the Doctor many times over.

Matt Smith, continued to play the Eleventh Doctor throughout all of series 7.

Karen Gillan, who played Amy Pond, and Arthur Darvill, who played Amy's husband Rory Williams, returned for the first five episodes, departing in The Angels Take Manhattan. This episode also featured River Song, played by Alex Kingston, who again returned for the season finale.

Jenna Coleman debuted as the original, 21st century version of Clara Oswald, the Doctor's newest companion, from The Bells of Saint John. Prior to this episode, echoes of Clara spread through time, known as Oswin Oswald in the Dalek Asylum and Clara Oswin Oswald in Victorian London, appeared in Asylum of the Daleks and The Snowmen respectively, also played by Coleman, and dying at the end of each story. Other versions of Clara existing at various prior eras of the show were also played by Coleman in The Name of the Doctor.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Clara Oswald - Jenna Coleman, Sophie Downham
 * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
 * Rory Williams - Arthur Darvill
 * Madge Arwell - Claire Skinner

Recurring

 * Daleks - operated by Barnaby Edwards, Nicholas Pegg and voiced by Nicholas Briggs
 * Brian Williams - Mark Williams
 * Kate Stewart - Jemma Redgrave
 * River Song - Alex Kingston
 * Jenny Flint - Catrin Stewart
 * Madame Vastra - Neve McIntosh
 * Strax - Dan Starkey
 * The Great Intelligence - Richard E Grant and additionally voiced by Ian McKellen
 * Ellie Oswald - Nicola Sian
 * Angie Maitland - Eve De Leon Allen
 * Artie Maitland - Kassius Carey Johnson
 * Dave Oswald - Michael Dixon
 * The War Doctor - John Hurt

Guest

 * Lily Arwell - Holly Earl
 * Solomon - David Bradley
 * Latimer - Tom Ward
 * Dr Walter Simeon - Richard E Grant, Cameron Strefford
 * Miss Kizlet - Celia Imrie
 * Newsreader – Olivia Hill
 * Merry - Emilia Jones
 * Captain Zhukov - Liam Cunningham
 * Professor Grisenko - David Warner
 * Skaldak - Spencer Wilding
 * Alec Palmer - Dougray Scott
 * Emma Grayling - Jessica Raine
 * Gregor Van Baalen - Ashley Walters
 * Bram Van Baalen - Mark Oliver
 * Tricky Van Baalen - Jahvel Hall
 * Winifred Gillyflower - Diana Rigg
 * Ada Gillyflower - Rachael Stirling
 * Porridge - Warwick Davis
 * Alice Ferrin - Tamzin Outhwaite

Producers
Before the airing of series 7, it was announced that both Beth Willis and Piers Wenger would step down as executive producers. Willis' last credit was on The Wedding of River Song; however, Piers Wenger stayed for one episode longer, and produced The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe.

A new executive producer named Caroline Skinner joined Steven Moffat to produce The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe onwards, but it was announced before the broadcast of the spring half of series 7 that she was departing the show after just one season and would be replaced by BBC Wales Head of Drama, Faith Penhale.

Writers
Head writer Steven Moffat wrote seven episodes. He has written the 2011 Christmas special, episodes one and five in the autumn run, the Children in Need mini-episode, the 2012 Christmas special, episodes six and thirteen of the spring run, and the 50th anniversary special.

Chris Chibnall and Toby Whithouse, who had both written episodes for multiple previous series of Doctor Who, returned to contribute scripts for the Autumn run. Chibnall wrote episodes two and four, while Whithouse wrote episode three.

Mark Gatiss also returned, writing episodes eight and eleven.

Another returning writer was Steve Thompson, who wrote episode ten.

Fantasy author Neil Gaiman (who previously wrote The Doctor's Wife), wrote episode twelve.

Luther creator Neil Cross made his Doctor Who debut with episode seven, as well as writing episode nine.

Directors
Returning director Nick Hurran directed episodes one and five. Douglas Mackinnon, another returning director directed episodes four and eight.

New director Farren Blackburn directed the 2011 Christmas special, as well as episode seven.

Saul Metzstein, another director new to Doctor Who, directed episodes two, three, eleven, thirteen and the 2012 Christmas special.

A handful of new directors directed one episode each in the spring half of the series. These are: Colm McCarthy, Jamie Payne, Mat King and Stephen Woolfenden, who directed episodes six, nine, ten and twelve respectively.

Filming
Filming for series 7 began on 20 February 2012. Episode three was filmed in Spain, as were some scenes for episode one. Filming for episode five saw the crew return to America. This time, they were filming in New York.

Spring half
The remaining eight episodes of series 7 began airing on 30 March, 2013.

DVD Box Set Mini-episodes
These three mini-episodes were released on the series 7 DVD boxset.

Episode notes

 * This is the first series to have special "movie" posters made featuring titles, cast and credits.
 * For the first time in Doctor Who, this series had no two-parters in it. Asylum of the Daleks through The Angels Take Manhattan form a loose story arc involving Amy and Rory, whereas the mystery of Clara is a background arc contained in the remaining episodes of the season.
 * This is the second series of Doctor Who in which all the stories have the same number of episodes, the first being season 18.
 * During Series 7, Matt Smith appeared as the Doctor in a spoof titled One Born Every Minute, aired on 15 March 2013 as part of the annual Comic Relief appeal.

Aliens and enemies

 * Daleks
 * Dalek puppets
 * Dalek Prime Minister
 * Nanogene
 * Solomon
 * Robot 1 and Robot 2
 * Dinosaurs
 * Silurians
 * Kahler-Tek
 * Kahler-Jex
 * Shakri
 * Weeping Angels
 * Great Intelligence
 * Walter Simeon
 * Snowmen
 * Spoonheads
 * Miss Kizlet
 * The Mummy
 * Vigil
 * Old God
 * Ice Warrior
 * The Crooked Man
 * Time zombies
 * Winifred Gillyflower
 * Mr Sweet
 * Cybermen
 * Cybermites
 * The Whisper Men

Novels

 * Dark Horizons
 * Terrible Lizards
 * Horror of the Space Snakes
 * Extra Time
 * The Water Thief
 * The Angel's Kiss: A Melody Malone Mystery
 * Devil in the Smoke: An Adventure for the Great Detective
 * Plague of the Cybermen
 * The Dalek Generation
 * Shroud of Sorrow

Audiobooks

 * The Empty House
 * Sleepers in the Dust
 * Snake Bite