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The Devil's Chord was the second episode of Series 14 of Doctor Who. The episode was released simultaneously with its predecessor Space Babies [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024). to mark the start of the new series.

This episode was the first historical episode of the series, featuring notable artists from the 1960s, such as the Beatles and Cilla Black. Furthermore, it also featured the introduction of the Toymaker's child Maestro, building on the events of The Giggle [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023). with the first of the Toymaker's legions arriving on Earth.

The episode also featured a mention of "The One Who Waits", also last heard when the Fourteenth Doctor encountered the Toymaker. It also continued Ruby Sunday's ability to summon snow, as established in Space Babies, and revealed it had been gifted to her by the Oldest One the day she was abandoned in The Church on Ruby Road [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2023 (BBC One and Disney+, 2023)..

Synopsis[]

The Doctor and Ruby meet the Beatles but discover that the all-powerful Maestro is changing history. London becomes a battleground with the future of humanity at stake.

Plot[]

In England, 1925, Henry Arbinger is having a piano lessons with his teacher, Timothy Drake. He asks the man to play something exciting, and is introduced to a melody called "the Devil's chord". The piano lid suddenly drops, but knocking is heard from inside. Maestro emerges from the lid and reveals that Henry's name is short for "Harbinger", calls Drake a genius for unlocking "the lost chord", and consumes the music from his soul. Remarking on their need for more music, Maestro turns to the piano and begins to play a tune.

In the TARDIS, Ruby asks the Doctor to take her to see the Beatles record their very first album. Having changed into 1960s attire, they venture out to Abbey Road on February 11th, 1963 and enter the studio. Taking over a tea cart, they enter one of the recording studios and come across the Beatles in the midst of a recording session, but are confused at their tone-deafness, as well as their somewhat lacklustre choice of song about Paul McCartney's dog. They also peek into separate sessions with Cilla Black, and an entire orchestra, who are also all inexplicably tone deaf.

In the cafeteria, after reading a headline of the Soviet Union threatening Finland, the Doctor theorizes that music's sudden disappearance is leading humanity to a dark future. The Doctor and Ruby approach Paul McCartney and John Lennon respectively to ask about what happened to music. Paul and John reveal that the human race has stopped caring about music since the early 20th century and they plan on finishing the album and retiring to normal everyday lives. The men react angrily when the Doctor and Ruby try to reassure them of music's importance.

The Doctor has a piano lifted up to the studio's roof, while Ruby makes a note of a mysterious dark smog overtaking the skies. The Doctor talks briefly about his granddaughter, who is living nearby with his first incarnation, then implores Ruby to play the piano, and plays a sad song she wrote for a friend. The music attracts the attention of Londoners, who emotionally react. The piano violently shifts, interrupting the playing, and Maestro emerges. The Doctor flees into a cellar, and uses his screwdriver to silence the environment around them as Maestro searches. Maestro reverberates a puddle of water to return the sound. An elderly lady begins playing Clair de Lune, distracting Maestro. The Doctor suspects Maestro to be part of the Toymaker's legions: the Pantheon. Ruby tries reassuring him, but the Doctor fears its powers. He takes Ruby back to 2024, where she finds London has been devastated by war in a nuclear winter.

They are interrupted by Maestro, who summons a piano and transport them elsewhere. They reveal they are the child of the Toymaker and grow stronger by consuming music until they are able to steal the music of the spheres. The Doctor deduces that Maestro could be banished by a different combination of notes, but Maestro reveals they can drain anything that makes a sound. They start playing the piano, which affects the TARDIS. Panicked that Maestro could drain the power of the TARDIS, the Doctor immediately takes Ruby back to 1963, escaping Maestro's control. He then recalibrates the TARDIS, but it makes a mysterious groaning sound.

Returning to Abbey Road Studios, he plugs the sonic into the control booth and uses John Lennon’s guitar to find the Notes of Banishment. Maestro uses physical music notes to kidnap Ruby, disables the sonic, and threatens to consume her music. Ruby begins singing "Carol of the Bells", which confuses Maestro due to its power from deep within her soul and Maestro states that this music was present on the night of her birth, saying that this power is that of The Oldest One. The Doctor uncovers the "Mrs Mills Piano", which he uses to fight Maestro. They engage in a music battle, the Doctor on piano, Maestro on violin. Ruby joins the Doctor on piano, and Maestro breaks their violin. He discovers the Notes of Banishment, but plays a bum note, allowing Maestro to regain full power, flings the piano down the hallway, and traps the Doctor and Ruby in instruments. Lennon and McCartney come across the piano and play the final note, finally defeating Maestro, who before disappearing, remarks to the Doctor that "the One Who Waits is almost here."

With music returned to the world, the Doctor and Ruby celebrate on the roof of EMI Studios. Ruby remarks positively but the Doctor halts her, warning her that there is always a twist at the end. He winks and proceeds to lead a musical dance number, "Twist at the End", with Ruby, the Beatles and Cilla Black throughout the studio. Henry Arbinger watches on as they do. Once complete, he and Ruby proceed back to the TARDIS, dancing along Abbey Road, which reacts to their steps as if a keyboard. Once in the TARDIS, it gives a thrum and a slam of its doors.

Cast[]

Uncredited cast[]

Crew[]

General production staff

Script department

Camera and lighting department

Art department

Costume department

Make-up and prosthetics

Movement

Casting

General post-production staff

Special and visual effects

Sound



Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.
          

This episode was produced with the support of incentives for the Irish film industry provided by the Government of Ireland.


Worldbuilding[]

Individuals[]

  • Charlie Shelley, Stephen Fielding, Henry Arbinger, Robert Owens, David Hangley are Timothy Drake's students
  • Ruby uses the TARDIS jukebox for the first time.
  • Ruby's mother used to have a girlfriend called Claire who was into music and favoured the Beatles. Ruby loved Claire too when she was ten years old.
  • The Doctor pretends that he is sent by Mister Epstein.
  • Ruby confirms she was born in 2004.
  • Ruby wrote a song on a piano to help a friend called Trudy after a girl had broken Trudy's heart.
  • Maestro is the child of the Toymaker.
  • The Doctor can speak Turkish. (He says "Hadi ama" which translates to "Come On" in English.)
  • The existence of the mysterious group known as "The Pantheon" is confirmed. Sarah Jane Smith had previously faced the "Pantheon of Discord".
  • The Doctor claims to have met Mrs Mills and had some adventures.

Art[]

Maestro's world[]

  • In a timeline, created by Maestro, the Russian Missile Crisis takes place, as Khruschev threatens Finland.
  • The front page of the Daily Mirror also had an article "Tyranny of the toddler" by Alexander Jackson about a trial over Bastian Phelps.
  • Both Ruby and the Doctor are upset that there are no more love songs in the world.
  • In order to banish Maestro from N-Space the Doctor needs to find the Notes of Banishment.

Notes[]

  • Maestro briefly plays the theme song of "Doctor Who" on the piano and it is briefly heard on the Doctor's jukebox. The Twelfth Doctor could play the song on his guitar (TV: The Magician's Apprentice [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One|BBC One]], 2015).)
  • Maestro and the Doctor both break the fourth wall in this episode, with the former doing so in the cold open before they begin playing the aforementioned Doctor Who theme song, directly addressing the audience and seemingly performing the piano of the non-diegetic music itself. Later the Doctor comments on the music being used by Maestro to kidnap Ruby, stating he thought it was non-diegetic, which is music that takes place outside the fictional universe of the work in question and is only audible to the audience.
  • Maestro later also plays the Saxon theme song to control the TARDIS' Cloister Bell and the TARDIS lights.
  • Ruby mentions that her family owned "Revolver" and "The White Album" when she was ten years old.
  • The music heard when the Doctor and Ruby wander through 1963 is called "California Soul" by Ashford and Simpson.
  • The Beatles first entered the recording studio in real life on Monday February 11, 1963. They appear to be recording the album "Please Please Me" and Abbey Road Studios indeed was not yet named as the Doctor states.
  • The reason why no actual songs of the Beatles were used in this episode is because it was simply too expensive.
  • Cilla Black was a British singer/entertainer/TV presenter who was a friend of the Beatles and sometimes sang together. The Beatles wrote the song "Love of the Loved" for Cilla.
  • The old woman plays the song "Clair de Lune" on her piano.
  • The song that the Doctor and Ruby play on the piano is called "The Life of Sunday - Ruby's Theme". It was written by Murray Gold.
  • The Mrs. Mills piano also exists in real-life. It was used by pianist Gladys Mills. The Beatles used the piano for their songs "Penny Lane" and "With a Little Help From my Friends".
  • Maestro dances to Danse Macabre when they trap Ruby and the Doctor in instruments.
  • The ending sequence of the Doctor and Ruby dancing on the streets of Abbey Road serves as a double homage: the first is to the famous piano dance from Big (which Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson acknowledge in this episode's Unleashed), and the other is the film Singin' in the Rain.
    • The fact that the two dance in the rain was something of an accident: the scene had been reserved for the end of the day during an outdoor shoot with the intention of it taking place during sunset. When a rainstorm muddled these plans, the production team decided to have the two characters keep their umbrellas from earlier in the song, providing a judicious means for the two to be holding umbrellas.

Comparison between BBC and Disney+ versions[]

To be added...

Myths[]

  • Maestro was to be revealed as an incarnation of the Master. This was proven false. Instead, they are a child of the Toymaker.

Filming locations[]

To be added...

Ratings[]

  • BBC UK ratings: 3.91 million[1]
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.

Production errors[]

to be added

Continuity[]

Home media releases[]

DVD and Blu-Ray[]

This story was released on DVD and Blu-Ray in the United Kingdom on 12 August 2024, along with the rest of Series 14. The Bluray release is encoded to Region B, atypical of BBC releases which usually do not have any kind of region encoding on the disc.

Digital releases[]

This story is available on BBC iPlayer in the United Kingdom, in Ultra High-Def (4K). It is also available on Disney+ in other territories.

Footnotes[]

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