The Lie of the Land (TV story)

 was the eighth episode of the tenth series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales. The conclusion of a three-story arc in which the Twelfth Doctor is pitted against the Monks, it saw him enter the Vault to consult, revealing his endeavour to turn her from her destructive past to a path of "good".

Synopsis
The Monks have ruled the world since humanity took its very first baby steps towards the Sun. One problem... they haven't always been there. And only Bill Potts see the truth. But where is the Doctor? And how can Bill make the rest of the world see?

Plot
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Cast

 * The Doctor - Peter Capaldi
 * Bill - Pearl Mackie
 * Nardole - Matt Lucas
 * - Michelle Gomez
 * Mother - Emma Handy
 * Group Commander - Beatrice Curnew
 * Alan - Stewart Wright
 * Richard - Solomon Israel
 * Giant Monk - Jamie Hill
 * Bill's Mum - Rosie Jane

Crew
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Culture

 * The Monks propagate falsehoods through Bill, and have injected themselves into all of human history. The Monks take credit for humanity's achievements.
 * A montage (in the beginning of the episode) shows, although not named, altered versions of the Lascaux cave paintings, da Vinci's Vitruvian Man and the Mona Lisa appear. Each of these is altered to incorporate the Monks. Photos also appear of the Monks with Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein (in front of a blackboard with E=MC² written), Neil Armstrong and Winston Churchill.
 * Armstrong's speech "It's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" is heard.
 * Screens inside the pyramid show images of a "votes for women" sign, the Truth logo, Yuri Gagarin, Mother Teresa, the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer, Martin Luther King Jr, Mount Everest, Big Ben and the London Eye at New Year's Eve, Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Berlin Wall, and Donald Trump, among others.
 * The Doctor suggests he'd make some modifications to history, like ending racism, and people who talk in cinemas.
 * Jane broke the Memory Crimes Act of 1975. She is sentenced to 10 years in labour camp.

Science

 * The Doctor explains that Bill is unaffected in "Fake News Central" because they are at the eye of the storm, as all the lies are being broadcast from there.

Biology

 * A montage (in the beginning of the episode) shows a cell splitting.

Technology

 * The Doctor mentions the light bulb, the telephone and the Internet.
 * The Bishop family owns a Sharp TV.
 * The Monks use a signal scrambler to blur the signal of the broadcasts.
 * Nardole found a signal GPS in the TARDIS to trace the broadcasts.
 * The Vault is dimensionally transcendental, like some other Time Lord technology.
 * Missy asks for "toys" like a particle accelerator, a 3D printer and a pony, in return for her help.
 * The Monk statues around the world act as beacons for false propaganda.

Martial arts

 * Nardole performs a Tarovian neck pinch to knock out Alan. He's reached the level of Brown Tabard in Tarovian martial arts.

Philosophy

 * The Doctor had Bill write a 3000 word essay on free will, which she never completed due to the Monk invasion.

Business

 * The Memory Police are roaming the cities enforcing the Truth.
 * A Magpie Electricals shop is broadcasting the Doctor's Monk Truth on window-televisions.

Currency

 * The Doctor has 50 Danish kroner in a drawer in the TARDIS.

Food and beverages

 * The Doctor has takeaway menus in a drawer in the TARDIS.

Locations

 * The Monks have erected statues cities including Bristol, New York City, Paris, Moscow, China, Sydney and Toronto, among others. Statues have also been erected by monuments, including Mount Rushmore, Niagara Falls and Stonehenge.
 * Breaking News reports of Memory Criminal investigations going on in Tokyo.
 * Nardole mentions Australia.
 * Locations on Nardole's map include Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, all located in the United Kingdom. Locations around the UK include the Hebrides, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands. The Faroe Islands, highlighted as being part of Denmark, are also located north of the UK. To the north-east of the UK is Norway which includes the locations Stavange, Bergen and Oslo.
 * The Doctor is located on an old Hulk prison boat off the coast of Scotland.
 * The Cathedral has relocated to central London. It is now located a short distance from St Paul's Cathedral. A Monk statue stands between the two.

Species

 * A montage (at the beginning of the episode) shows a fish vertebrate crawling towards a welcoming Monk.
 * The Doctor mentions the Daleks, the Cybermen and the Weeping Angels in his broadcast.
 * Bill mentions the "Heather creature".
 * The Doctor mentions the sea serpent.
 * Time Lords can "fake" a regeneration, seemingly by starting the process only to abort it before any actual healing, if needed, is enacted.

People

 * Bill references Heather.
 * Nardole once had an imaginary friend.
 * Nardole won his current left hand gambling.
 * The boat captain has an identity card for the Sea Ranger IV which includes his fingerprint and the Truth logo.
 * When Bill attempts to drown out the propaganda, images of her childhood appear on the screens. Archive images of Bill from The Pilot, Thin Ice and Knock Knock also appear.

Music

 * Missy plays the Gnossienne No. 1 by Erik Satie and "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin.

Story notes

 * The read-through for The Lie of the Land took place on 11 January 2017, and filming took place between 16 January and 22 February.
 * Archive material from TV: Blink, Nightmare in Silver, Into the Dalek, and The Pilot is shown. By extension, Weeping Angels, Cybermen, Daleks and photos of Bill Potts' birth mother are shown in this capacity.
 * This story, along with Mission to the Unknown, Doctor Who and the Silurians, The Mind of Evil, The Dæmons, The Sea Devils, The Sontaran Experiment, Genesis of the Daleks and Midnight, are the only nine stories to not feature the TARDIS, although she is mentioned.

Ratings
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Filming locations
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Production errors
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Continuity

 * The Doctor mentions the Daleks, (TV: The Daleks, et al.) the Cybermen (TV: The Tenth Planet, et al.) and the Weeping Angels. (TV: Blink et al.)
 * Citizens watch the Doctor's broadcasts in a Magpie Electricals shop. (TV: The Idiot's Lantern, et al.)
 * To gain Bill's trust, Nardole tells her they went to Australia on the run from "the Heather creature" (TV: The Pilot) and that space doors should go "shuck shuck". (TV: Oxygen)
 * The Doctor and Bill reference her asking the Monks for help and him getting back eyesight. (TV: The Pyramid at the End of the World)
 * Nardole mentions being contaminated by Raoultella planticola (TV: The Pyramid at the End of the World) and states it laid him up for six weeks.
 * The Doctor tells Bill about the creature under the Thames. (TV: Thin Ice)
 * The Doctor fakes a regeneration. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut, The Wedding of River Song) In doing so, he voluntarily conjures up regeneration energy (TV: Rise of the Cybermen, The Angels Take Manhattan, The Witch's Familiar).
 * previously scoffed at the idea that she had "turned good" when questioned by Clara Oswald. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice) He preferred to die than be taken "prisoner", under the Tenth Doctor's protection. (TV: Last of the Time Lords) As early as his seventh incarnation, the Doctor had vowed to one day save his friend after the Master was forced to revert following a temporary spell as the kindly John Smith. (AUDIO: Master)
 * Nardole knocks Alan out with a Tarovian neck pinch, using only his thumb. Ian Chesterton demonstrated a similar act on Ixta. (TV: The Aztecs)
 * Nardole continues to hint at a cybernetic nature (TV: The Return of Doctor Mysterio, The Pilot, The Pyramid at the End of the World) when he tells the group invading the pyramid that his left hand isn't his original hand but is one that he won in a game of some sort.
 * The Doctor introduces Missy to Bill as "the other last of the Time Lords". (TV: Utopia, The Sound of Drums, Last of the Time Lords)

DVD releases
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Blu-ray releases
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Digital releases
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