The Eleventh Hour (TV story)

The Eleventh Hour was the first episode of the fifth series of BBC Wales Doctor Who. It featured the debut of Karen Gillan as new companion Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as recurring character and future companion, Rory Williams.

Though not the first episode filmed of the 2010 series, it was nevertheless the public's first full exposure to a new production ethos, as shaped by then-new executive producers Steven Moffatt, Piers Wenger, and Beth Willis. It was also the public's first exposure to director Adam Smith's work on a Doctor Who universe programme.

The episode was extensively previewed prior to broadcast, with special screenings in several British cities as part of a special promotional tour at the end of March 2010, and special pre-broadcast screenings on both the east and west coasts of the United States. The first minute of the episode was released as a special preview on the digital Red Button service in the week prior to its first BBC One broadcast.

Synopsis
The Doctor has regenerated into a brand new man, but danger strikes before he can recover. With the TARDIS wrecked, and the sonic screwdriver destroyed, the new Doctor has just twenty minutes to save the whole world - and only Amy Pond to help him.

Plot
After sustaining major damage from the Tenth Doctor's regeneration, the Doctor's TARDIS flies wildly through London. An explosion on the console throws open the doors and the Eleventh Doctor is barely hanging onto the edge of the entrance. As he tries to get back in, he notices the TARDIS is heading towards Big Ben. Using his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor manages to divert the TARDIS just enough to miss its spire. Before he can relax, another explosion makes it spin wildly off into the distance...

In 1996, Amelia is praying to Santa in her bedroom; there is a crack in her wall she wants mended. She hears a crash and runs to the window. She sees the crashed TARDIS and goes to investigate. The TARDIS doors fly open and the Doctor pulls himself out. He asks her for an apple. His regeneration's aftereffects are giving him a craving. After the Doctor tries a variety of foods (including yoghurt, bacon, beans, and buttered bread), he decides on fish fingers and custard.

The Doctor examines the crack in Amelia's wall, and she gives him an apple with a smiley-face carved in it. He deduces that it is a crack in time and space. Listening to the wall, he hears a voice saying "Prisoner Zero has escaped"; there is a prison on the other side of this crack, with an inmate missing. To close it, the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to open it wide. While it's open, an Atraxi sends him a message on his psychic paper: 'Prisoner Zero has escaped'. He surmises that Prisoner Zero escaped through the crack, which acted as a wormhole. The Doctor investigates the corridor and senses he's missing something in the corner of his eye. The cloister bell chimes, warning that the engines are going to overload and he rushes back to the TARDIS to fix it, promising Amelia to return in five minutes. An excited Amelia goes to pack her things, not noticing that the door the Doctor was about to discover has mysteriously opened.

The Doctor returns to Amelia's garden in daytime, and runs into the house. He's figured out what he was missing and that Amelia's life is in danger. He is looking around the house when someone behind him whacks him on the head with a cricket bat. When he wakes -- hand-cuffed to a radiator -- he is confronted by a young woman in a police uniform. He asks about Amelia Pond. The woman says that Amelia hasn't lived in the house for a long time. The Doctor asks her to count the number of rooms on the floor. She counts five, but the Doctor says six; one is protected by a perception filter. She is shocked and investigates the room, ignoring the Doctor's warnings. She finds the sonic screwdriver stuck to a table by goo. She picks it up and comes face to face with Prisoner Zero - a serpentine alien creature. Startled, she runs back to the Doctor and gives him his sonic screwdriver.

The Doctor locks the door and tries to free himself. Prisoner Zero breaks through the door and emerges as a man with a dog. The creature doesn't seem to be able to copy two voices at once, and both mouths bark. The Doctor says that the policewoman had called for back up. The woman admits that the radio is fake: she hasn't called for backup, and that she isn't a police woman, but a kiss-o-gram. She whips off her police hat, revealing long, bright red hair. The Atraxi captain is heard: "Attention Prisoner Zero the human residence is surrounded" followed by "Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated" over and over. Back at the local hospital several patients in comas keep repeating one word: "Doctor". One of the people in a coma is a double of the form that Prisoner Zero has taken.

The Doctor and the woman go outside to the TARDIS, but the Doctor can't open it; it's repairing itself and is shut off until done. He notices the shed which he smashed when he crash-landed. He licks it; the shed is twelve years old. He asks the woman why she had said six months had passed, when in fact twelve years had. In reply, she angrily yells "Why did you say five minutes!?" - in a Scottish accent. The young woman is Amelia Pond, embittered by the Doctor leaving her all those years ago. Prisoner Zero barks at the door and they flee into the street where the message from the Atraxi is repeated over and over, on all wavelengths and all transmitters everywhere. The Doctor realizes this means that when the Atraxi are saying that they are going to incinerate the human residence, they mean the Earth.

The Doctor and Amelia investigate the transmissions, which are being broadcast across the globe, entering the home of Amelia's friend Jeff Angelo and his grandmother. They recognize the "Raggedy Doctor" from cartoons Amelia drew as a child. While in the Angelo's home, Amelia reveals that she is now calling herself Amy.

The Atraxi put Earth in a force field, preparing to boil it. The Doctor notices a male nurse taking a picture of Prisoner Zero in the nearby park instead of the obscured sun as everyone else is doing. The Doctor announces he can save the world and tells Amy to either help him or run home and say good-bye to loved ones. Amy slams the Doctor's tie in a car door, demanding to know his identity. The Doctor persuades her to trust him by showing her the apple she gave him when she was seven, still fresh. Amy releases the Doctor's tie and they run into the park.

The Doctor takes the nurse's cell phone and asks why he was taking that photo. Amy introduces him as her "sort of boyfriend", Rory Williams. Rory explains that the man Prisoner Zero is disguised as can't be there because he's in the hospital in a coma. The Doctor confronts Prisoner Zero, telling him that the Atraxi are scanning for non-terrestrial technology, and since "nothing says 'non-terrestrial' like a sonic screwdriver!" uses the device at full power, breaking lights and causing mechanical and electrical glitches. Unfortunately, it overloads and burns out.

With the distraction gone, Prisoner Zero escapes into a sewer. Figuring that it would take approximately twenty minutes for the Atraxi to power up their weapons and incinerate the planet, the Doctor sends Rory and Amy to the hospital to clear out the coma ward. Prisoner Zero has beat them there and is killing all the conscious people in the ward. The Doctor heads to Jeff's room and uses his laptop to talk with all the "big boys": NASA, Tokyo Space Center, Patrick Moore, etc. Using Rory's phone, he writes a virus to turn every single digital display in the world into a list of zeros and then uploads it to the web via the laptop, telling them to get it spread across the world.

At the hospital, Amy and Rory have gotten past security thanks to her policewoman kiss-o-gram outfit and his nurse's scrubs. They meet a mother and her two daughters who survived Prisoner Zero's attack on the ward. Amy phones the Doctor, who has commandeered a fire engine to reach the hospital, telling him Prisoner Zero is there. The Doctor tells them to leave, but one of the daughters starts talking in the mother's voice. Prisoner Zero apologizes for getting it wrong again and chases Amy and Rory into the room the coma patients were in.

After calling Amy to confirm what floor and window they are near, the Doctor rams the firetruck's ladder into the ward's window (first texting Amy to "DUCK!") and asks Prisoner Zero to surrender by removing its disguise. Prisoner Zero refuses, as the Atraxi would kill it, but the Doctor's computer virus takes hold of the clock behind them and all around the world for all digital devices - another way to get Atraxi attention. He then uses Rory's phone to upload pictures of all Prisoner Zero's known human forms (which Rory had previously taken) to the Atraxi. Prisoner Zero uses the link it had formed with Amy over the previous twelve years to take the form of the Doctor holding onto Amy's hand - a form the Atraxi are unaware of - but the Doctor uses his telepathic powers to make Amy dream of Prisoner Zero's true form, forcing it to change. A furious Prisoner Zero is about to attack the Doctor, but the Atraxi catch it in a paralysing light and begin to teleport it away. Their constant refrain demanding Prisoner Zero's surrender now changes to "Prisoner Zero has been located; Prisoner Zero is restrained." Prisoner Zero snarls ominously at the Doctor "The Pandorica will open... Silence, Doctor. Silence will fall".

With the threat now ended, Amy awakes. The Doctor then calls back the Atraxi because they have breached the rules of the Shadow Proclamation about interfering in 'primitive' planets. The Doctor heads into the locker room and changes out of his ragged clothes, replacing them with fresh ones. On the roof, the Doctor uses his reputation to scare the Atraxi away from the planet. As the Atraxi vessel flees, the Doctor notices his TARDIS key is glowing - the TARDIS has recovered and is waiting for him. The Doctor dashes off to the rebuilt TARDIS to see what is in store for him, and his eyes open with wonder as he beholds the newly repaired console room, whispering "Oh, you sexy thing... Look at you!". Amy runs back to her garden, only to find the TARDIS fading away...

As Amy dreams about her younger self waiting in the garden for the Doctor to return, she wakes up to realise he really has come back. Racing into the garden, she angrily informs him that all the events around Prisoner Zero and the Atraxi had happened two years ago; it's been fourteen years since fish custard. The Doctor says she's waited long enough, and asks her to join him as a companion. She initially refuses, but changes her mind when the Doctor opens the TARDIS doors with a click of his fingers. Amy forces the Doctor to promise to bring her back to Leadworth by tomorrow morning, though she only claims it's for "stuff". The Doctor then activates the controls and they vanish into the Time Vortex. The reason for her request quickly becomes clear to the audience, though; her bedroom is revealed to contain a few partially packed suitcases filled with her childhood dolls and cartoons of the Doctor.... and a wedding dress hanging on her wardrobe door...

Cast

 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
 * Rory Williams - Arthur Darvill
 * Young Amy (Amelia) - Caitlin Blackwood
 * Mrs. Angelo - Annette Crosbie
 * Jeff - Tom Hopper
 * Barney Collins - Marcello Magni
 * Coma Patient - Peter Moyes
 * Mother - Olivia Colman
 * Mr. Henderson - Arthur Cox
 * Ice-Cream Man - Perry Benson
 * Dr. Ramsden - Nina Wadia
 * Children - Eden Monteath, Merlin Monteath
 * Himself - Sir Patrick Moore
 * Atraxi Voice - David de Keyser

The Doctor

 * The Doctor says "What? What?? What?!?" and "Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey" much like his previous incarnation.
 * The Doctor opens the TARDIS doors with a snap of his fingers for the first time since Forest of the Dead. According to River Song in the same episode, he will begin to do so regularly at some point in the future.
 * When Jeff states "You can't just hack in on a call like that." the Doctor responds with "Can't I?". This is the Fourth Doctor's same response and mannerism to Sarah Jane's and the Brigadier's protests shortly after he had regenerated.
 * Perhaps due to his new appearance, the Doctor finds it necessary to prove to the online conference that he has the credentials to solve the current problem, despite the fact the name "The Doctor" would have been well-known in these circles at this time (per DW: The Christmas Invasion, and other events).
 * The Doctor mentions "cowboys," a phrase used by his previous incarnation in DW: The Girl in the Fireplace.
 * The Doctor drives a fire engine.
 * The Doctor calls the TARDIS "oh, you sexy thing" and "dear", possibly referring to the fact he has known it for so long and it's very close to him. The later episode DW: The Doctor's Wife, however, will expand on this by establishing that the TARDIS is not only aware of the Doctor's feelings, but reciprocates them; she also adopts the name "Sexy" based on the Doctor calling her that. It's unclear whether the Doctor's referring to the TARDIS as "sexy" originated in this episode, or had been expressed off-screen in past incarnations.
 * One of the jackets taken from the hospital for the Doctor to try on is a dark maroon similar in style to one of the Third Doctor's jackets (see also Production Errors below).

Food and Beverages

 * The Doctor craves many different types of foods whilst still undergoing regeneration. He attempts to try many until he finally decides which one he liked. The Doctor doesn't like apples, yoghurt, bacon, beans or bread and butter, and rejects carrots without even trying them, but does like fish fingers and custard, a combination dubbed "fish custard".

Galactic Law

 * Article 57 of the Shadow Proclamation is cited by the Doctor against the Atraxi, similar to when he cited it against Matron Cofelia in DW: Partners in Crime.

Earth locations

 * Gloucester is 30 minutes away from Leadworth.

Science and Maths

 * The Doctor uploads the "real" proof of Fermat's theorem, the formula for faster-than-light travel (albeit using "two diagrams and a joke"), and an explanation for why electrons have mass as a way to prove to the experts on the secure video conference that they should trust his advice about how to deal with the Atraxi threat.
 * The Doctor refers to Jordrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, NASA, and the Tokyo Space Centre as three of "the big boys", as well as Sir Patrick Moore (playing himself). Unmentioned by the Doctor but shown on the conference screen are the ESA (European Space Agency) and CSIRO (Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation).

Music and Songs

 * The Ice-Cream man mentions that the song that was originally supposed to be playing from the Ice-cream truck's speakers was meant to be 'Claire De Lune' before the Atraxi had hijacked it.

Technology

 * The Doctor notes there is a perception filter around the door so that it is only visible out of the corner of his and Amy's eyes.

Theories and concepts

 * Prisoner Zero mentions that the Pandorica will open and that "Silence will fall".

Story notes

 * The working title for this episode was The Doctor Returns.
 * Matt Smith revealed that there are five things in this story to look out for over the course of the series, the cracks being one of the five things.
 * The opening scene, which was released on BBC Red Button, was actually a pick-up. Not originally included in the final shooting script of the episode, it was written months after principal photography had wrapped on the episode. It technically had its own script, subtitled "Opening Sequence". At least two drafts were written, with the second being dated 17 December 2009. The sequence was in fact its own production. Unlike the episode proper, its producer was Nikki Wilson, its director was Jonny Campbell, and its director of photography was Tony Slater-Ling. Wilson received a credit of "special thanks" in the end credits. The involvement of Campbell and Slater-Ling were established by behind-the-scenes footage of clapperboards. (WC: Doctor Who Video Explorer)
 * According to Russell T Davies in Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale, Moffat informed him in January 2008 that he had begun writing the first episode of Series 5.
 * This is the only televised story starring a single incarnation of the Doctor to refer to the number of that incarnation in its title.
 * The episode included a sequence showing all previous ten incarnations of the Doctor. The vision of the Tenth Doctor is from DW: The Family of Blood.
 * The episode introduces a new Doctor Who theme arrangement, an unprecedented third by Murray Gold (not counting several other closing-credit and non-series arrangements). A new opening titles sequence is also introduced, along with the first on-screen use of a new Doctor Who logo. Other cosmetic changes as of this episode include a new TARDIS interior design, slight modifications to its exterior, and the introduction of a new sonic screwdriver.
 * This story reveals that at least some sonic screwdrivers are grown/built by the TARDIS.
 * Amy Pond is the first modern Earth companion since the series' revival to not be from London. In the Confidential for this episode, Steven Moffat says that London-set stories had become a cliché and this was an attempt to avoid it.
 * Caitlin Blackwood (young Amy) and Karen Gillan are real-life cousins, and Gillan convinced series producers to cast Blackwood in the role; amazingly, they hadn't actually met before Doctor Who.
 * The TARDIS scene in which the characters are viewed through the central column as they talk to each other mirror those seen in the film.
 * Prisoner Zero states that "The Pandorica will open", and repeats "Silence will fall".
 * In the final scene, the Doctor is standing next to a monitor in the TARDIS that shows a waveform. The waveform appears to be the same shape as the crack in Amy's wall.
 * To write the virus, the Doctor uses Rory's BlackBerry Storm (confirmed by Engadget-4/04/10).
 * The monitor in the new TARDIS console has a Magpie Electricals logo on it.
 * Like the Eleventh Doctor, the Tenth Doctor also had a distaste for certain foods: particularly pears. (DW: Human Nature/The Family of Blood)
 * Lots of speculation began concerning Rory William's 1990 badge date and how it conflicted with many things seen and heard on-screen (slim camera-phones, Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, and the very 2000s technology); however, Steven Moffat later confirmed that the badge date was a mistake that went unnoticed until after the episode aired. The year of this story was later confirmed in Flesh and Stone.
 * When the Doctor and Amy leave her yard in the TARDIS at the end of the episode, the clock in the TARDIS is shown changing from 11:59am to 12:00pm, despite the fact that it is clearly night outside. This would not usually be notable (this *is* Doctor Who), except that an identical effect is observed on the clock in Amy's bedroom at the end of DW Flesh and Stone. Also in the same episode, the Doctor confirms that they "had been gone five minutes"; yet the time is the same.
 * This is the first time the Doctor doesn't use a mirror to find out what he looked like after a regeneration (as part of one of Prisoner Zero's forms was him).
 * The Eleventh Doctor continues a long standing tradition (which has had a few exceptions) of performing a large portion his first episode in the costume of his previous incarnation, picking out his new costume at the end of the episode.
 * This episode aired on the same day as the K9 episode, The Korven was first broadcast on Disney XD in Britain. It also aired on the same day that Regeneration was first broadcast on Network Ten in Australia.
 * On the BBC America broadcast, which was heavily edited down to fit in a 60-minute slot with commercial breaks, left out Prisoner Zero's important "Silence will fall" line, which may have confused some viewers because The Impossible Astronaut uses a flashback to that scene.
 * One clothing retailer reported that in the month following the airing of this episode, in which the Doctor declared that "bow ties are cool," its bow tie sales increased by 94%.
 * The TARDIS control room from the Ninth and Tenth Doctor's era was restored and left standing for eighteen months after it was used in this episode at the request of writer Neil Gaiman. The set was used for the SJA episode The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith and finally for Gaiman's story The Doctor's Wife. Production staff had to make up excuses in response to questions as to why the set was left standing. It has since been removed.
 * This episode contains a number of parallels with the story of Peter Pan. Both feature a little girl receiving a "magical" visitor who promises to take her to far-away places. In JM Barrie's original novel, Peter leaves Wendy when she is a child, promising to return every Spring, but he does not come back until Wendy has grown much older, while he remains the same age. Here, the Doctor promises to return for Amy in five minutes but does not come back for 12 (and then 14) years. In both cases the girl looks to her visitor as a way to escape an unhappy childhood. Perhaps most tellingly, the Doctor tells Amy that her growing up is something he'll "fix," echoing Peter's vow to "never grow up."

Ratings

 * 8.4 million - First viewing in the UK (36.9% audience share)
 * 10.08 million viewers - Final BARB figure

Filming locations

 * The White House, Llandaff, Cardiff
 * Old Cemetery, Rhymney, Gwent
 * The Vicarage, Rhymney, Gwent
 * Abertillery Hospital, Aberbeeg, Abertillery
 * The Cathedral Green, Llandaff, Cardiff

Production errors

 * In the opening scene, there are several errors.
 * When the Doctor is hanging from the TARDIS across London, every wide shot shown depicts the TARDIS rotating, but whenever a close-up of the Doctor is shown, the background does not rotate.
 * When the camera initially looks down on the Doctor, the floor is at slightly different levels, but when it cuts to the Doctor pulling himself inside, the floor is all the same level.
 * The St. John's Ambulance logo is visible on the CGI wideshots of the TARDIS, yet on the live-action close-up, the doors remain as they have been since 2005.
 * On several occasions editor James Pearson mismatches footage of the same scene-parts, as recorded by different cameras or in different takes.
 * When the Doctor leaves Amelia for his TARDIS-stabilizing, five-minute hop into the future, Caitlin Blackwood's closeup shows her hair being whipped around by the TARDIS' departure. When Pearson immediately cuts to an over-the-shoulder shot of Blackwood watching the departure, her hair is totally unaffected.
 * During the Leadworth hospital rooftop scene, the Doctor progressively throws away a variety of neckties as he whittles the options down. The last of these neckties is yellow, which we see in a frontal mid-shot. When Pearson switches to footage taken from the side in a long shot, the tie is not present. When he again switches to the frontal mid-shot, the tie reappears. Later in the same scene, Pearson has a similar problem. The wide shot of the departing Atraxi vessel shows Smith reaching into his coat pocket for the TARDIS key. When Pearson cuts back to a close-up of Smith, he hasn't yet reached into his pocket, and it takes several seconds for him to complete the same action from that angle.The Doctor's hair switches from being swept back to hanging in front of his forehead. Several times when the hair is in front of his forehead, the number and size of strands also changes. Also, when he has yoghurt smeared on his chin it vanishes after the shot changes.
 * When the Doctor slaps himself in the forehead exclaiming "I missed it! I saw it and I missed it!", he ends up with a red mark, but when the camera cuts to the close-up, the red mark has vanished.
 * In the final TARDIS scene, The Doctor obtains his new Sonic Screwdriver, throws it and pockets it. However, when Amy asks The Doctor "why her", when he responds we can see him still putting it in his pocket.
 * When Prisoner Zero takes the form of the mother with two daughters, the older, longer haired girl always appears to the right of the mother. When the Doctor crashes the fire engine's ladder through the window and Prisoner Zero looks on, the two girls have switched places.
 * When Prisoner Zero walks out of the "extra room" in Amy's house, the doorway that he eventually walks through has its door closed yet when we flick to Prisoner Zero looking at the Atraxi's voice booming out we see that the door has magically disappeared and Prisoner Zero walks through.
 * During the final scene inside the TARDIS we see close-up views of The Doctor's hands turning three joysticks and typing on the typewriter. You can clearly see that his tweed jacket has mysteriously changed pattern, becoming the pattern that is not shown again until Victory of the Daleks.
 * Some of the aliens shown in the Atraxi projection on the Leadworth hospital speech scene weren't encountered on Earth, like the Hath and Vashta Nerada, for example. Also, the image when the Cybermen crash through the window was from DW: Rise of the Cybermen which was in Pete's World, not ours.
 * Whilst the Atraxi shows all the aliens which invaded Earth via hologram, it shows the Ood, which never invaded that planet.
 * When the Atraxi is scanning the Doctor, the camera from behind shows his head tilted but when the camera view switches to in front of the Doctor, his head is straight up.
 * When the Atraxi first starts scanning the Doctor, from the camera behind the Doctor, the scanner light is halfway down his body, but when it switches to in front of him, it's just then going by his head.
 * When the Doctor rushes out to stabilize the TARDIS, Amelia says, "But, it's just a box. How can a box have engines?" The word engines is unusually loud.
 * When the Doctor is talking to the Atraxi on the roof of the Leadworth Hospital, he has a bunch of ties on his shoulder. The one he eventually chooses (a maroon bow tie) is never seen on his shoulder in the scene before he walks through the projection. However, Rory has been holding The Doctor's coat while he discards ties. The Doctor then retrieves his coat off camera. It is possible Rory also had the bow tie with the multiple coats in his hands.
 * During the Doctor's conversation with the Atraxi, Rory is standing behind him holding a selection of jackets. As the Atraxi are reviewing the various incarnations of the Doctor, one of the jackets (a dark reddish brown jacket) can be seen on the ground to Rory's left. When the Doctor says the line "Hello, I'm the Doctor", the coat is still on the ground, but the scene immediately cuts to a closeup with Rory still holding the jacket in his arms.
 * During the final scene, when The Doctor appears to switch off the monitor, it cuts from a close up of the monitor, to a wider angled shot of the Doctor standing at the monitor for a single frame, but then cuts for a single from back to the monitor before going back to the shot of the Doctor.
 * In the kitchen scene, after the Doctor has taken a bite out of the apple and spit it out, he puts the bitten fruit back into the fruit bowl that Amelia is holding, and it can be seen in the bowl when Amelia is running to the refridgerator to get him yogurt. But when she returns with the yogurt, the bitten apple is laying beside the bowl on the table.

Continuity

 * The Doctor asks "Do I have a face that no one listens to? Again?"; this is a reference to that the Doctor's companions never seem to listen to him.
 * The majority of this episode takes place in 2008, with the final scene set on 25th June, 2010. Amy is 21 at this time (established in Flesh and Stone)
 * This story continues the events seen at the end of DW: The End of Time with the TARDIS crashing towards Earth.
 * Perception filters have previously been mentioned/seen in reference to the TARDIS keys (DW: The Sound of Drums) and the Torchwood Three lift (TW: Everything Changes).
 * The Doctor uses the phrase "Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey" which was first used by the Tenth Doctor in DW: Blink and again by both the Tenth and Fifth Doctors in DW: Time Crash.
 * The Doctor opens the TARDIS by clicking his fingers as he first did in DW: Forest of the Dead.
 * The Shadow Proclamation is again invoked in the first story of a new incarnation of the Doctor, as it had been in Rose and The Christmas Invasion.
 * Creatures that appeared in the projected image included the Cybus Cybermen (DW: Rise of the Cybermen), the Daleks (DW: Doomsday), a Pyrovile (DW: The Fires of Pompeii), the Empress of the Racnoss (DW: The Runaway Bride), the Ood (DW: Planet of the Ood), the Hath (DW: The Doctor's Daughter), the Sontarans (DW: The Time Warrior), the Sea Devils (DW: The Sea Devils), the Sycorax (DW: The Christmas Invasion), a Reaper (DW: Father's Day) and a Vashta Nerada's victim (DW: Silence in the Library). The use of clips from The Time Warrior and The Sea Devils marks the first time "monster clips" from the 1963-89 series had been used in the revival.
 * Images of all ten prior incarnations of the Doctor are also projected.
 * The Doctor states that he got tired of travelling alone (DW: Planet of the Dead; The Waters of Mars); he claims he'd been giving himself earache by not having anyone to talk to.
 * This is not the first time a newly-regenerated Doctor has taken new clothes from a hospital. The Third and Eighth did the same thing. (DW: Spearhead from Space; Doctor Who)
 * The Doctor's sonic screwdriver was previously destroyed in DW: Smith and Jones, a story which was also the first episode of a new series and also introduced a new companion, as well as in DW: The Visitation.
 * This story contains minor references to previous episodes written by Steven Moffat. Libraries are mentioned on numerous occasions, a potential reference to the two-parter DW: Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead. The concept of meeting a person at different points of their life - as the Doctor (accidentally) does with Amy Pond - was a major theme of The Girl in the Fireplace. Similarly, River Song also meets the Doctor at different points in his life - often in the wrong order. The Doctor also mentions 'Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey', as he did in DW: Blink and DW: Time Crash. The Doctor opens the TARDIS by snapping his fingers as he did in DW: Forest of the Dead. When Amy contradicts him after he tells Prisoner Zero she sent for backup, he refers to the deception as "a clever lie", the same phrase he retorted with after Donna challenged his claim that the two of them were safe from the Vashta Nerada.
 * The Doctor intending to return in 5 minutes and accidentally taking 12 years is similar to the first time he takes Rose home in DW: Aliens of London; however instead of taking 12 years, it was 12 months.
 * When the Atraxi note that the Doctor is not from Earth, he responds with "No, but I've put a lot of work into it." These are the same lines used in DW: The Curse of Fatal Death (also written by Moffat) with regards to the universe.
 * After witnessing the destruction of the Sycorax at the hands of Torchwood in The Christmas Invasion, the Doctor tells Harriet Jones that he "...told them this world was protected. I should have told them to run." This time, he does both (in fact, he calls the Atraxi back to do so).
 * The TARDIS' doors open outwards for the first time since Episode 1 of DW: The Ice Warriors.
 * Assuming that Amy is able to see the Atraxi projection of the Doctor's past incarnations, this makes her the first ongoing companion of the revival to see all the Doctor's past lives; while Jackson Lake in DW: The Next Doctor saw a similar projection, he was only a one-off companion.
 * The Doctor is knocked unconscious by Amy's cricket bat. In the novelisation for DW: The Power of the Daleks it was stated that were the Doctor rendered unconscious soon after regeneration the cycle might have started again. Fortunately, the Eleventh Doctor appears to avoid this complication; it may be that when the Doctor leaves in 1996 and returns in 2008, more than fifteen hours of subjective time has passed and he doesn't have to worry about triggering another regeneration.
 * The Doctor congratulates Prisoner Zero on "the perfect impersonation of yourself"; The Master gave Adric similar congratulations after he created an illusion of himself to fool Nyssa. (DW: Castrovalva)
 * The TARDIS previously "regenerated" in The Company of Friends.
 * The Doctor's rejection of carrots may be a callback to his sixth and seventh incarnation's dislike of carrot juice. (DW: Terror of the Vervoids, The Ultimate Foe, Time and the Rani)
 * When the Doctor tells Prisoner Zero to open a crack again to escape from the Atraxi, it says it didn't open the crack. When it finds out he doesn't know what the cracks are, it adopts a young girl's voice and says, "The Doctor in the TARDIS doesn't know. Doesn't know, doesn't know!" this is similar to what Angel Bob says in DW: Flesh and Stone. Angel Bob's words were, "The Doctor in the TARDIS hasn't noticed."
 * When the Doctor leaves in his new TARDIS, there is lightning or electricity as it leaves, just as there was when it materialized in San Fransisco on the 30th December 1999. (DW: Doctor Who)

Timeline
For the Doctor For Amy For Rory
 * The story occurs after: DW: The End of Time
 * This story occurs before: DW: The Beast Below
 * This story occurs before: DW: The Beast Below
 * This story occurs before: DW: The Vampires of Venice

Flashbacks featuring Amy and Rory in DW: Let's Kill Hitler take place during the 12-year time skip.

DVD/Blu-ray-exclusive scene
The 2010 DVD and Blu-ray release of the Complete Series 5 included an additional scene from The Eleventh Hour. Contrary to many reviews and video-sharing site repostings of the scene, it is not a deleted scene, but rather a scene shot specifically for the DVD/Blu-ray release sometime during the later stages of Series 5 production. The comedic scene links the events of The Eleventh Hour with that of The Beast Below as Amy endlessly hammers the Doctor with questions about the logistics of the TARDIS, as well as mocking his decision to wear a bow tie, even at one point wondering if it might be a "cry for help". The Doctor replies, "Bow ties are cool".

The scene ends with the Doctor playfully pushing Amy out into the air bubble surrounding the TARDIS, which leads directly into the first scene of The Beast Below in which Amy is seen floating above the TARDIS, the Doctor holding her by the ankle (although this is not clear to those viewing the scene without the benefit of knowing how The Beast Below begins).

International broadcasts
The Eleventh Hour received its international broadcast debut on 17 April 2010 when both BBC America in the US and Space in Canada broadcast it, followed by ABC1 in Australia on 18 April.

However, it had several pre-broadcast public screenings in North America prior to its official broadcast launch. On the west coast, it premièred on 3 April at WonderCon in San Francisco. Its east coast debut was on 14 April 2010 at the Village East Cinema in Manhattan. This latter screening was sponsored by BBC America, and was attended by Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Steven Moffat, who fielded questions after the showing. An additional showing occurred on 16 April at the C2E2 convention in Chicago. In addition there were also press screenings, such as the Canadian one held in Toronto 8 April after which Moffat participated in a Q&A via Skype.

Home video releases
BBC Video - Doctor Who Series Five - Volume One was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on 7th June 2010 (UK only), featuring The Eleventh Hour, The Beast Below, Victory of the Daleks, and the featurette The Monster Diaries. A full-series box set has been released.

Of note, the "Next Time..." trail at the end of each episode has been excised from this and all future episodes for the DVD/Bluray releases up to Series Six Part One.