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This article needs a big cleanup.

Large parts of article need to be wholly rewritten from the perspective that this is a series which has passed. Most of this page seems to deal with announcements and past speculation, rather than the final product, which we've had more than enough time to sit with.

These problems might be so great that the article's factual accuracy has been compromised. Talk about it here or check the revision history or Manual of Style for more information.

RealWorld

You may wish to consult Series 10 for other, similarly-named pages.

Series 10 of Doctor Who ran between 25 December 2016 and 25 December 2017. It starred Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, Pearl Mackie as Bill Potts, Matt Lucas as Nardole and Michelle Gomez as Missy. The regular series was preceded by The Return of Doctor Mysterio, opened with The Pilot, concluded with The Doctor Falls and followed by Twice Upon a Time.

In early 2018, Murray Gold announced his departure from Doctor Who at the Gallifrey One convention, confirming that the 2017 Christmas Special, Twice Upon A Time, was his last episode.

In April 2015, Steven Moffat confirmed that Doctor Who would run for at least another five years, extending the show until 2020.[1]

In 2020, Chris Chibnall wrote and released a sequel to this series' following Christmas special called Things She Thought While Falling on the Doctor Who website, set directly before The Woman Who Fell to Earth as a treat during "strange times" due to outbreak of COVID-19 worldwide.[2]

Overview

It consisted of twelve stories and fourteen episodes. The series introduced Bill Potts as a new companion of the Doctor, the first openly gay companion alongside the Doctor on TV with Nardole continuing to travel with him. The series was most noticeable for reintroducing the "Saxon" incarnation of the Saxon Master and the First Doctor. Also seen was the first ever female Ice Warrior on television and the original design for the Cybermen, only seen beforehand in The Tenth Planet. Alpha Centauri also made a cameo in Empress of Mars. This series also introduced the first female incarnation of the Doctor.

The first confirmation of plans for this series were revealed in the BBC Worldwide Annual Review on 14 July 2015.[3] On 6 November 2015, in an interview with the Radio Times, Steven Moffat confirmed a full series as well as a Christmas special.[4] Series 10 was the last for both Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor[5] and Steven Moffat as head writer and executive producer of the show.

The series story arc primarily focused on Missy and how the Twelfth Doctor made a deal to guard her in a vault for 1000 years. Despite Nardole's protests to not adventure or interact with her while lecturing at St Luke's University, the Doctor desired to change Missy's outlook on life, away from her evil ways in the hopes of renewing their strong friendship from long ago.

While here, the Doctor met Bill Potts, who strangely went to his lectures despite not studying at the university. The Doctor personally offered to tutor her and, after helping her in an encounter with a mysterious creature, decided to take her on adventures in his TARDIS.

The series concluded with the Doctor's attempts to transform Missy ultimately failing after encountering her predecessor on a Mondasian Colony ship, where she joined him against the Doctor.

The Doctor and Bill were killed in battle defending the residents from the Master's Cybermen army while Nardole was condemned to the upper floors to keep defending the children should the Cybermen ever reach them. Bill managed to survive the ordeal after her friend Heather transformed her into sentient oil like her. As for the Doctor, he managed to survive through regeneration, though he temporarily delayed it.

After one last adventure with his original incarnation, the Twelfth Doctor regenerated into a female incarnation. She soon fell from her TARDIS because it malfunctioned after suffering critical damage during the regeneration, falling to Earth.

Cast

and introducing Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor

Recurring

Guest

The Tenth Planet

Production

The first readthrough began on 14 June 2016,[7] with filming beginning on 20 June.[8]

On 23 August 2016, it was rumoured that filming on series 10 would continue to 31 March 2017.[9] This proved not to be true, as filming wrapped on 7 April 2017.[10]

Crew

Producers

to be added

Writers

Steven Moffat, as head writer, wrote the series opener The Pilot, episode six Extremis, and the two part finale episodes World Enough and Time and The Doctor Falls. He also wrote the Christmas special for 2017, Twice Upon a Time as Chris Chibnall decided against starting his Doctor's tenure with the special.

Mark Gatiss wrote Empress of Mars for the tenth series. Jamie Mathieson wrote episode five, Oxygen.

New writer Mike Bartlett penned episode four, Knock Knock. Sarah Dollard penned the third episode, Thin Ice.

Classic series writer Rona Munro, known for the episode Survival, wrote the tenth episode titled The Eaters of Light. This marks the first time a writer of the original series contributed to the revived series. Munro told Doctor Who Magazine that: "Writing Survival was my dream job, but it was a mournful time in the show's history. This has been a very different experience. There's more of everything; people, resources, confidence, successโ€ฆ but the same constantly renewing and indefinable wonder that is Doctor Who," and added, "When I was very small and watching the First Doctor, I had a special cushion known as 'Rona's Doctor Whocushion'. I would hide my face in it when the Daleks or other monsters appeared on screen! The Eaters of Light is my version of other stories that have haunted me for almost as long."[11]

Peter Harness wrote episode seven, The Pyramid at the End of the World and Toby Whithouse wrote episode eight, The Lie of the Land. In the magazine's June 2017 issue, Moffat told Doctor Who Magazine that he personally wrote the final draft of episode seven close to filming of the episode's production block.[12]

Directors

Lawrence Gough directed episodes 1 and 2, The Pilot and Smile; Bill Anderson directed episodes 3 and 4, Thin Ice and Knock Knock; Charles Palmer directed episodes 5 and 10, Oxygen and The Eaters of Light; Daniel Nettheim directed episodes 6 and 7, Extremis and The Pyramid at the End of the World; Class director Wayne Yip directed episodes 8 and 9, The Lie of the Land and Empress of Mars; and Rachel Talalay directed episodes 11 and 12, World Enough and Time and The Doctor Falls.

Filming

Although originally reported as beginning in May 2016, filming commenced on the 20th of June.[13]

To avoid online leaks, the production team used the codeword "Mean Town", an anagram of "Ten Woman", when talking about Bill, casting director Andy Pryor revealed to the Radio Times. This was a reference to the fact that Bill is the companion of series 10.[14]

The working title of The Pilot was A Star In Her Eye.[15][16]

In the line-up to the beginning of series 10, a bunch of small videos were released with Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor, in which three of these featured a description that Steven Moffat himself used for the Doctor in 2013.[17][18]

On 24 June, 2017, Benjamin Cook, writer of Doctor Who Magazine, confirmed on Twitter that the pre-titles sequence in World Enough and Time was shot two weeks prior to broadcast, during the production of the 2017 Christmas special[19]

At a Live Q&A on 24 June, 2017, after the broadcast of World Enough and Time, Steven Moffat said that the second part The Doctor Falls had not finished filming, leading to a possible delay in the broadcast.[20] Peter Capaldi's final scene on set had been his regeneration scene, just as his first scene in TV: Deep Breath had been him emerging from the TARDIS.[21] By the end of July 2017, Moffat stated that Jodie Whittaker had already filmed her half of the regeneration scene.[22]

Twice Upon a Time was originally rumoured to be titled The Doctors.[23][24]

Television stories

Christmas special

Episode
Number
Title Writer Director Notes
N/A The Return of Doctor Mysterio Steven Moffat Ed Bazalgette

Regular series

Episode
Number
Title Writer Director Notes
1 The Pilot Steven Moffat Lawrence Gough
First appearance of Bill Potts, Moira, St Luke's University, and the Vault. Brief reintroduction to the Movellans.
2 Smile Frank Cottrell-Boyce
3 Thin Ice Sarah Dollard Bill Anderson
4 Knock Knock Mike Bartlett
5 Oxygen Jamie Mathieson Charles Palmer First time Nardole travels alongside the Doctor and Bill. The Doctor is rendered irreversibly blind.
6 Extremis (Part One) Steven Moffat Daniel Nettheim Explanation of how Nardole became a companion. Missy is revealed to be in the vault. First appearance of the Monks. Part one of the "Monks Trilogy".
7 The Pyramid at the End of the World (Part Two) Peter Harness & Steven Moffat The Doctor has his eyesight restored. Part two of the "Monks Trilogy".
8 The Lie of the Land (Part Three) Toby Whithouse Wayne Yip Part three of the "Monks Trilogy".
9 Empress of Mars Mark Gatiss First female Ice Warrior depicted on screen. Brief reintroduction to Alpha Centauri.
10 The Eaters of Light Rona Munro Charles Palmer
11 & 12 World Enough and Time / The Doctor Falls Steven Moffat Rachel Talalay Reintroduction of the Mondasian Cybermen. Bill is converted into a Cyberman. Return of the "Saxon" Master. Death of Missy and the Master. Final regular appearances of Bill Potts and Nardole. The Doctor begins regenerating. Return of the First Doctor.

Christmas special

Episode
Number
Title Writer Director Notes
N/A Twice Upon a Time Steven Moffat Rachel Talalay Final regular appearance of the Twelfth Doctor. First appearance of the Thirteenth Doctor. The First Doctor regenerates into the Second Doctor.

Episode notes

  • On 25 May 2017, the BBC announced the episode The Pyramid at the End of the World would air in edited form, with a line of dialogue about terrorism removed. This is in the wake of the preceding Monday's terrorist bombing in a Manchester arena during an Ariana Grande concert.[25] The version of the episode broadcast in Canada and the U.S. also contained this edit.
  • It had previously been believed that there was to be a Casualty crossover and this was speculated to be a Children in Need-special.[26] However it now seems that this was to be part of the episode The Lie of the Land, but was cut from said episode.[27]
  • Benjamin Cook, writer of Doctor Who Magazine, confirmed on Twitter, on 24 June 2017 that the pre-titles sequence in World Enough and Time was shot two weeks prior to broadcast, during the production of the 2017 Christmas special[19] Steven Moffat and Rachel Talalay confirmed this on The Fan Show.
  • Like the previous series, there was an instance where post-production effects were missing on the Scottish airing of the episode. The edit of World Enough and Time shown on BBC Scotland was missing some lighting effects that'd been added to torchlights in post-production.
  • Due to technical difficulties some viewers watching on BBC Scotland HD lost the sound during watching of the Series 10 finale The Doctor Falls, in the last part of the episode.[28]
  • Steven Moffat, showrunner for this series, used the finale World Enough and Time and (even more so) The Doctor Falls to pay a subtle tribute to former showrunner Russell T Davies, by having the Doctor's last stand take place on Floor 0507 of the colony ship. He explained that RTD's go-to number was always "57".[29]
  • The beginning of Twice Upon a Time features a "Previously" sequence from The Tenth Planet with William Hartnell, Anneke Wills and Michael Craze. The sequence slowly morphs Hartnell into David Bradley, and then Lily Travers and Jared Garfield appear as Ben and Polly, reenacting the missing last bits on Snowcap of said episode. The ending of Twice Upon A Time from the First Doctor's view also starts with Bradley starting to regenerate and the episode slowly morphs back into that of Hartnell's First Doctor regenerating into Patrick Troughton's Second Doctor.
  • This is the first series since Series 6 in which the title sequence appears the same in every episode of the main series, apart from episode titles.

Aliens/enemies

Adaptations and merchandising

Home media

DVD / Blu-ray

All episodes of Series 10 were released on a DVD box set on 13 November 2017. The episodes were split over five discs with a special sixth disc containing special features, notably the deleted scenes. The box set also included the 2016 Christmas special The Return of Doctor Mysterio.

Name Number and duration
of episodes
Doctor Who: Series 10, Disc 1
The Return of Doctor Mysterio
The Pilot
1 x 60 min
1 ร— 50 min
Doctor Who: Series 10, Disc 2
Smile
Thin Ice
Knock Knock
1 ร— 50 min

2 ร— 45 min

Doctor Who: Series 10, Disc 3
Oxygen
Extremis
The Pyramid at the End of the World
1 x 50 min
2 ร— 45 min
Doctor Who: Series 10, Disc 4
The Lie of the Land
Empress of Mars
The Eaters of Light
3 ร— 45 min
Doctor Who: Series 10, Disc 5
World Enough and Time
The Doctor Falls
1 x 45 min
1 ร— 60 min

Novels

Audiobooks

to be added

Comics

Footnotes

  1. โ†‘ https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-32202633
  2. โ†‘ https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/doctorwho/entries/97411dd5-13e3-45a8-9ed2-dbf97ef85516
  3. โ†‘ BBC Worldwide (14 July 2015). BBC Worldwide Annual Review 2014 - 2015. BBCWorldwide.com. Retrieved on 7 December 2015.
  4. โ†‘ Kelly, Stephen (6 November 2015). Steven Moffat can "confirm absolutely" that there will be a full series of Doctor Who next year. RadioTimes.com. Retrieved on 7 December 2015.
  5. โ†‘ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/doctorwho/entries/43787cd6-f1de-4264-a509-d387d9a89c4b
  6. โ†‘ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Archival footage from TV: The Tenth Planet during TV: Twice Upon a Time.
  7. โ†‘ "Series 10 is coming! Here's a snap from today's first read-through with Peter and Pearl.". Facebook (14 June 2016). Retrieved on 14 August 2016.
  8. โ†‘ Doran, Sarah (20 June 2016). Doctor Who series 10 starts filming today and Twitter is very excited. RadioTimes. Retrieved on 14 August 2016.
  9. โ†‘ http://www.cultbox.co.uk/news/headlines/doctor-who-season-10-wont-finish-filming-until-end-march-2017
  10. โ†‘ https://twitter.com/bbcdoctorwho/status/850411339659055105
  11. โ†‘ DWM 506
  12. โ†‘ DWM 512
  13. โ†‘ Matt Lucas to join Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie for Doctor Who series 10. BBC Doctor Who (14 June 2016). Retrieved on 14 August 2016.
  14. โ†‘ Gill, James (26 April 2016). Pearl Mackie's Doctor Who codename revealed. Radio Times. Retrieved on 27 April 2016.
  15. โ†‘ https://twitter.com/d0od/status/767445794781790208
  16. โ†‘ https://twitter.com/HDProductions70/status/766751107116896256
  17. โ†‘ http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2013/11/24/matt-smith-steven-moffat-more-talk-doctor-who-at-official-50th-celebration/
  18. โ†‘ https://www.facebook.com/DoctorWho/videos/1803691109644908/
  19. โ†‘ 19.0 19.1 https://twitter.com/benjamin_cook/status/878765850433597441
  20. โ†‘ http://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/821067/Doctor-Who-season-10-Finale-Missy-Bill-Potts-dead-Master-John-Simm-threatened-DELAY-why
  21. โ†‘ http://racheltalalay.tumblr.com/post/163516797449/the-time-of-our-lives-steven-moffats-final-dwm
  22. โ†‘ https://www.dailystar.co.uk/showbiz-tv/hot-tv/633706/doctor-who-new-doctor-british-television-programme-jodie-whittaker
  23. โ†‘ http://doctorwhonews.net/2017/07/doctor-who-at-san-diego-comic-con.html
  24. โ†‘ http://www.comingsoon.net/tv/news/869081-doctor-who-the-13th-doctor-will-be-revealed-this-sunday
  25. โ†‘ http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-05-25/doctor-who-episode-edited-for-saturday-airing-following-manchester-bombing
  26. โ†‘ http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/doctor-who/news/a809426/are-doctor-who-and-casualty-crossing-over/?utm_content=bufferfed31&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=maintwitterpost
  27. โ†‘ http://www.cultbox.co.uk/news/headlines/the-doctor-whocasualty-crossover-that-never-happened
  28. โ†‘ http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-07-02/bbc-apologises-for-doctor-who-series-10-finale-sound-problems?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook
  29. โ†‘ http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-07-04/doctor-who-series-10-finale-included-an-incredibly-subtle-tribute-to-russell-t-davies--did-you-spot-it?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook
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