Empress of Mars (TV story)

Empress of Mars
Doctor:	Twelfth Doctor
Companion(s):	Bill
Featuring:	Nardole, Ice Warriors, Missy, Alpha Centauri
Main enemy:	Neville Catchlove, Iraxxa
Main setting:	Ice Warrior Hive, Mars, 1881
Key crew
Writer:	Mark Gatiss
Director:	Wayne Yip
Producer:	Nikki Wilson
Release details
Story number:	273
Premiere broadcast:	10 June 2017
Premiere network:	BBC One
Format:	1x45 minute episode
Official trailer
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Memorable moment
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Behind the scenes video
More behind the scenes stuff
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Doctor Who television stories
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Production order
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Empress of Mars was the ninth episode of the tenth series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales. This episode was notable for introducing in 2017 the first on-screen female Ice Warrior, the Ice Queen Iraxxa, 50 years since the species were introduced in 1967's The Ice Warriors.

Empress saw the return of two actors from classic Doctor Who: Ysanne Churchman, reprising the role of Alpha Centauri for the first time since in the 1974 story The Monster of Peladon, and Anthony Calf, who last appeared on televised Doctor Who in the 1982 serial, The Visitation. An image of Pauline Collins, who appeared in 1967's TV: The Faceless Ones is also seen, taken from her 2006 appearance as Queen Victoria in TV: Tooth and Claw.

Synopsis

When NASA discovers a message reading GOD SAVE THE QUEEN on Mars's surface, the Twelfth Doctor, Nardole, and Bill travel to the Red Planet to investigate it. On arrival, they find themselves embroiled in a conflict between the Ice Warriors and the Empress Iraxxa, and Victorian soldiers — who are determined to conquer Mars. It's just the same, only this time the humans are the ones invading. Now which side should the Doctor help: humans, or Ice Warriors? One thing is clear: the Doctor must choose fast, as the Martian hive awakens around them.

Plot

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Cast

• The Doctor - Peter Capaldi
• Bill - Pearl Mackie
• Nardole - Matt Lucas
• Missy - Michelle Gomez
• Godsacre - Anthony Calf
• Catchlove - Ferdinand Kingsley
• Friday - Richard Ashton
• Iraxxa - Adele Lynch
• Sergeant Major Peach - Glenn Speers
• Jackdaw - Ian Beattie
• Vincey - Bayo Gbadamosi
• Knibbs - Ian Hughes
• Coolidge - Lesley Ewen
• Voice of Alpha Centauri - Ysanne Churchman

Crew

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References

People

• Bill points out a photograph of Neil Armstrong on the wall of NASA. The Doctor clarifies that Armstrong was not the "first man on the Moon".
• Godsacre was a "hero of Isandlwana".
• The British Army have a portrait of Queen Victoria with them on Mars.
• Missy agrees to help Nardole get the TARDIS back to Mars.
• Friday and Iraxxa have been in hibernation for 5,000 years.
• Vincey is engaged to someone named Alice.

TARDIS

• The TARDIS pilots herself autonomously back to the Doctor's office at St Luke's University.

Culture

• The Doctor has never seen the Terminator movies but he has heard of the movie Frozen.
• Bill compares the underground tunnels to those in The Thing.
• Bill mentions the film The Vikings, which stars Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis, and has an amazing theme tune.
• Friday is named after Man Friday from Robinson Crusoe.
• Godsacre finds the notion of a woman in the police force hilarious.

Music

• Jackdoe sings "She Was Poor But She Was Honest" to himself.

Story notes

Matt Lucas and Mark Gatiss - The Aftershow - Doctor Who The Fan Show

This episode's Aftershow on Doctor Who: The Fan Show.

• The read-through for Empress of Mars took place on 11 January 2017, and filming took place between 27 January and 22 February of that same year.
• Actor Ysanne Churchman returns as the voice of Alpha Centauri at the age of 92, becoming the oldest actor to appear in the new series of Doctor Who. To keep the reappearance of Alpha Centauri a surprise, Churchman was not credited in Radio Times, nor on the Doctor Who website.
• Mark Gatiss explains on The Aftershow that Empress of Mars began as a sequel to the 2015 series 9 episode Sleep No More, but later turned into an Ice Warrior story, and with the inclusion of Alpha Centauri was intended as a third Peladon-story, until the story was fully formed.
• Guest star Ferdinand Kingsley was currently co-starring with Jenna Coleman in the TV series Victoria. The image of Queen Victoria used for this episode, however, is a portrait of Pauline Collins from TV: Tooth and Claw.
• At one point Iraxxa tells her soldiers to "sleep no more!" This is a reference to Gatiss' previous episode for the programme, TV: Sleep No More.

Ratings

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Filming locations

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Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

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Continuity

• The Doctor told Friday that he was an Honorary Guardian of the Tythonian Hive. (TV: The Creature from the Pit)
• The Doctor had previously encountered an Ice Warrior who had been asleep for a very long time. (TV: Cold War)
• The Doctor remarks on how he can't resist a countdown. He previously said similar of the Saxon Master. (TV: Last of the Time Lords)
• Bill mentions Neil Armstrong and the 1969 moon landing. The Tenth Doctor was present for it with companion Martha Jones (TV: Blink) while his eleventh incarnation witnessed the broadcast of Armstrong live while interrupting the footage with the image of a Silent. (TV: Day of the Moon)
• Nardole knows how to pilot the TARDIS, (TV: The Return of Doctor Mysterio) though she isn't co-operating.
• The TARDIS pilots herself autonomously. (TV: The Doctor's Wife, Hide, et al.)
• A portrait of Queen Victoria appears. (TV: Tooth and Claw)
• The Doctor visits one of the Ice Warrior Hives. (TV: Robot of Sherwood)
• The Doctor previously dealt with another (apparently secret, as later stories feature the alleged first) mission to Mars by British explorers (TV: The Ambassadors of Death), as well as a UK space probe to the red planet (TV: The Christmas Invasion).
• The Doctor has previously dealt with Daleks who, like Friday, appear to have become subservient to humans after having been rescued, only to have a secret agenda of reviving more of their race. (TV: The Power of the Daleks, Victory of the Daleks)
• The Doctor has visited the remains of the Ice Warrior civilisation before. (TV: The Waters of Mars)
• The Doctor complains that his sonic screwdriver still has no setting for wood. (TV: Silence in the Library, The Hungry Earth, Night Terrors, The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, In the Forest of the Night)
• The Doctor sends a message to Alpha Centauri to start the new Ice Warriors' lives. (TV: The Curse of Peladon)
• The Doctor mentions that Neil Armstrong was not the first man on the moon. (PROSE: Moon Blink)

Home video releases

DVD releases

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Blu-ray releases

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Digital releases

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External links

• Official Empress of Mars page on the Doctor Who website