Doctor Who

Season 8

Deep Breath

1. The new opening credits that were introduced in this episode were based on a fan-made YouTube video by Billy Hanshaw. Steven Moffat was so impressed by the video, he got in touch with Hanshaw to get it recreated by BBC Wales Graphics.
2. During the read-through of the script for this episode, the cast and crew-members filled the room with laughter when Peter Capaldi reached the lines ridiculing his eyebrows. The read-through was also the first time that Capaldi and Jenna Coleman had worked together, as Capaldi had been secretly auditioned.
3. It is the longest normal Doctor Who episode.
4. At the end of the story, the TARDIS brings the Doctor and Clara to Glasgow, Scotland. Glasgow is Peter Capaldi's birthplace.
5. This episode attracted Doctor Who (2005)'s best ratings for a series opener for four years, with a peak audience of 7.3 million viewers.
6. At one point the Doctor asks a pedestrian, "Have you seen this face before?" and then continues to go into a rampant speech about never knowing where his face comes from. This is a reference to the fact that Peter Capaldi's face has been on the show well before he became the Doctor. In S04E02 The Fires of Pompeii Capaldi played Caecilius.
7. First appearance of Missy.
8. When the newly regenerated Doctor is confused by the English accents of everyone in the room, Madame Vastra adopts a subtle Scottish accent (to reflect the new Doctor's Scottish accent). Neve McIntosh plays Madame Vastra with an refined English accent but is from Paisley, Scotland.
9. Brian Miller, who was the husband of Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), has a minor role.
10. The line Vastra speaks when the Doctor passes out on the beach, "Well here we go again", is a nod to Doctor Who: Planet of the Spiders: Part Six (1974) which was the final story for Jon Pertwee. The same line is said by the Brigadier when the Doctor regenerates into Tom Baker.
11. "Deep Breath" marked the seventh Doctor that Steven Moffat has written for, eight if you count Tom Baker's cameo in "The Day of the Doctor". In addition to penning stories for the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors in their respective eras, Moffat also wrote for the Fifth Doctor in Doctor Who: Time Crash (2007) , the Eighth in Doctor Who: The Night of the Doctor (2013) and the War Doctor in Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor (2013) .
12. The "kiss" between Vastra and Jenny was deleted from versions of the episode shown in parts of Asia, due to various cultural stigmas against same-sex intimacies.
13. This is the first episode in series eight and the first series premiere in August since Doctor Who: The Leisure Hive: Part One (1980)
14. Missy's look was based after the titular Mary Poppins (1964).
15. Disregarding the special case of Rose, this is the first episode introducing a new Doctor since "The Power of the Daleks" to not show the Doctor choosing his new outfit.
16. The Twelfth Doctor choosing Caecilius's face is is the third time a Time Lord chose the face of a person that they previously encountered for their regeneration. The first was Romana choosing Princess Astra in Doctor Who: Destiny of the Daleks: Episode One (1979) (both played by Lalla Ward), and the second was the Sixth Doctor choosing Commander Maxil in Doctor Who: The Caves of Androzani: Part Four (1984) (both Colin Baker).
17. Near the day of filming where Peter Capaldi's official costume would be seen in public for the first time, the BBC released an official publicity shot to deter a press leak.
18. Marks the first time a Doctor Who (2005) episode gets a theatrical screening in Iceland, since even the so-called 'universal' screening of the 50th Anniversary special did not make it to Icelandic theatres. It's also the first 'non-special', i.e. plain episode of the show to get an international cinema screening.
19. As Half-Face Man awakens in "heaven" a sound, like the faint echo of the cloister bell can be heard in the distance.
20. Doctor mentions Sweeney Todd, who is a fictional character that was popular in Victorian-era melodrama and was also known as "The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." He would dispatch unwary patrons in his barber shop by pulling a lever and having the barber chair they were in drop into a pit. They would then be cut up with his straight razor and served in pies sold in by his co-conspirator, Mrs Lovett.
21. No shots of the TARDIS interior are shown before the reveal of its redesign, due to the permanent remodeling of certain parts in the control room for the Twelfth Doctor, which would make the replication of the pre-redecorated console highly tasking.
22. A black and white screener of this episode made its way onto the internet nearly a month before airing.
23. Digital raindrop removal was used in the scene where Clara and the Doctor emerged in Glasgow (actually Cardiff), since it was a brisk, overcast day that saw a small downpour during filming. Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman used insulated coats to stay warm when they were not in the middle of filming.
24. The BBC gave this episode a world tour in seven countries over twelve days.
25. This episode (and its script) was leaked online when stored on a publically-accessible server, with incomplete CGI, watermarks and timecodes in black-and-white, prompting a plea from BBC Worldwide not to watch it. The rough cut held the nomenclature, "Prepared for Marcelo Camargo at Drei Marc".
26. When the Doctor hands the droid a silver platter with which to study its reflection, he can be seen studying his own on the back of the polished surface, as he is still acclimatizing to his new face.
27. While visually it was toned down due to fears of being too gruesome, Frontios (in the Peter Davison era) also dealt with aliens capturing humans to imbed them into technology, specifically to be the "driver"
28. When Clara is trying to get the sonic screwdriver back to the doctor and almost misses, the Doctor says "It's at times like this I miss Amy."This is a reference to Amy Pond, the 11th Doctor's first companion.
29. When the Tardis lands on the bank of the River Thames, there is a metal frame that looks like the internal structure of the upper part of a Dalek's body, where the gun and plunger are mounted.
30. The outfit that the new Doctor chooses bears a striking resemblance to the one worn by Peter Capaldi during his November 24th, 2009 appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (2005).
31. First appearance of Courtney.
32. This episode takes place in the 1890s.
33. The Doctor discovers that the cyborgs made the restaurant out of parts from a spaceship called SS Marie Antoinette, which is a sister ship to the SS Madame de Pompadour. In "The Girl in the Fireplace", also written by Steven Moffat. The SS Madame de Pompadour was a 51st century spaceship, ran by clockwork robots, which the Tenth Doctor, Rose and Mickey discovered had repaired the ship by using parts from the ship's crew. The robots were also using time windows to stalk 18th century French aristocrat Madame de Pompadour, which the ship was named after, as her head was required to complete the repairs of the ship.
34. When the Doctor was ripping off the face of the cyborg while in the larder when Clara reached back, the face was a mask of Matt Smith.
35. Peter Capaldi's predecessor Matt Smith makes a surprise cameo as The Eleventh Doctor.

Into the Dalek

1. The mental strain the 900 year war on Trenzalore had on the Doctor is shown fully in the Twelfth Doctor, from his new intensified hatred of the Daleks and his refusal to believe a good Dalek could even exist to causing Rusty to see what it called his "Divine Hatred" and desire to wipe out the Dalek race.
2. Footage of the extermination of security guard Bywater in "Dalek" and the Dalek attack on the Valiant in Doctor Who: The Stolen Earth (2008) is seen in 'Rusty's' Dalek memories, and the destruction of the Daleks and the Crucible in Doctor Who: Journey's End (2008) is seen when Rusty looks into the Doctor's mind.
3. Rusty says "Resistance is futile", a catch phrase famously associated with the Borg race from the American science fiction series "Star Trek", but which was first used on Doctor Who by the Cybermen in 1967.
4. The Vent joke exchanged between the Doctor and Clara is a reference to the vent scenes from "The Ark in Space" between the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith. It also reflects a similar exchange between Rose Tyler and Toby Zed in "The Satan Pit".
5. The Doctor tells Clara that is not possible for the Dalek to be good because there's "no such thing as a good Dalek." The first version of Clara that we saw on screen was a Dalek, who sacrificed herself to help the Doctor, Amy, and Rory.
6. This is the first episode since "The Waters of Mars" to have two credited writers. Like The Waters of Mars, it is co-written by Phil Ford and the show's head writer (then Russell T. Davies, now Steven Moffat).
7. Steven Moffat conceived the idea while discussing possible concepts for a Doctor Who (2005) computer game.
8. The Dalek known as "Rusty" exclaims "Death to the Daleks!" This is possibly a reference to the Jon Pertwee serial of the same name.
9. When the Dalek states 'spare no humans' a rather obvious use of 12" RC asylum daleks are seen to be in use, this is recognizable because their ears are of a different colour to the actual props (slightly blueish) and their backs don't look right. They are also seen emerging into the human ship on the bridge when they say SEEK, LOCATE, DESTROY, surrender is not accepted.
10. Rusty's line "YOU are a good Dalek" has striking parallels with the line "You would make a good Dalek" from Doctor Who: Dalek (2005). In fact, a popular fan theory is that if Rusty was once human but converted into a Dalek, and that the latter Dalek was vice versa, then the two Daleks could be related. An early work print of Doctor Who: Into The Dalek (2014) even shows Rusty committing suicide via self destruct, using the same footage from "Dalek".
11. First appearance of Danny Pink.
12. The Aristotle is a rebel spaceship. In the William Hartnell story "The Dalek Invasion of Earth", The 1st Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan joined rebels in fighting back against the Daleks when the Daleks invaded and took over the Earth in 2164.
13. The "Exterminate... Doctor!" line of the teasers is never heard in the episode.
14. An additional scene in the leaked work print shows Rusty self-destructing when he returns to the Dalek ship, killing everything, himself included. However, it reuses the animation of the "Metaltron" from "Dalek", likely for a point of reference. In the finished episode, Rusty's fate was left ambiguous.
15. This season was a tip to the fans and fan art. Missy resembles Mary Poppins, a fan favorite theory of being a time lady. This episode was in reference to "The Magic School Bus." Clara is Ms. Frizzle. Clara wears an eye outfit that looks like the Dalek's antibodies. Clara is also a teacher that miniaturizes and goes inside "a body."
16. The last scene to be filmed was the one featuring Gretchen and Missy, which was filmed concurrently with the similar scene with Half-Face Man from Doctor Who: Deep Breath (2014)
17. The conclusion of this story is similar to the conclusion of the Big Finish audio story Jubilee, where a lone Dalek notices the error of its comrades and stops an invasion, and Journey's End, in which the time-warped Dalek Caan ensured that the defeat of Davros' Reality Bomb plot would always happen.

Robot of Sherwood

1. When the Doctor and Clara are being introduced to Robin's Merry Men, the doctor hypothesizes that they 'could be inside a Miniscope'. The Miniscope was first introduced in the Classic Doctor Who episode Doctor Who: Carnival of Monsters: Episode One (1973).
2. Peter Capaldi's 56th birthday was celebrated during the filming of this episode. In particular, he was presented with a Dalek-themed birthday cake.
3. A beheading scene was edited out due to the beheading of two American journalists by the terror organization ISIS.
4. Clara indicates that she is from Blackpool, which is the real life hometown of actress Jenna Coleman.
5. The sheriff's question "who will rid me of this turbulent doctor?" Is a reference to when Henry II, Richard Lionheart's predecessor, supposedly asked " who will rid me of this turbulent priest?" in 1170, twenty years before this episode is set. The question was interpreted as a command to murder Thomas Beckett, Archbishop of Canterbury.
6. In the original outline, The Headless Monks from "A Good Man Goes to War" were working with the Sheriff of Nottingham, whom The Sheriff had formed an alliance with and The Doctor and Clara set out to convince Robin Hood to form a band of outlaws to fight back against The Sheriff and The Headless Monks.
7. This marks the third story where the TARDIS is shot with an arrow, the others being Silver Nemesis and The Shakespeare Code. Oddly enough, all three involve a Doctor played by a Scotsman.
8. Filming took place at Fforest Fawr and Caerphilly Castle, which had previously served as locations for Doctor Who (2005), the former as a setting for scenes from "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End", and the latter for "Vampires of Venice" and "Nightmare in Silver".
9. Patrick Troughton, who played the Second Doctor (1966 -1969), starred in Robin Hood (1953). A photo of him as that character can be seen in the 29th century time ship's data bank. His grandson Sam Troughton played Much in Robin Hood (2006).
10. Trevor Cooper (Friar Tuck) played Takis in the 1985 Colin Baker story "Revelation of the Daleks".
11. Mark Gatiss stated that his intent with the episode was "to do the Doctor and Robin Hood in 45 minutes". He went on to state: "The premise is inherently funny, but I didn't think of it as the funnier episode when I was doing it. It's still asking big questions. But it's definitely more frivolous."
12. This is the first episode since "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" to not have any scenes set on present-day Earth (the TARDIS's location when the Doctor asks Clara where she wants to go next is unspecified).
13. The Doctor mentions fighting Errol Flynn, who is known for playing Robin Hood in "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1938).
14. This episode takes place in Sherwood Forest and Nottingham in 1190.
15. The episode title references Robin Hood (1984), which competed against Doctor Who (1963)'s twenty-second season on Saturday nights during its second series in 1985.
16. The Doctor's challenge to Clara to name a destination is similar to his invitation to Amy Pond in "The Eleventh Hour".
17. The Doctor appears to flip off Robin Hood at 04:33
18. Roger Ashton-Griffiths played Friar Tuck in the 2001 TV Movie "Princess of Thieves", which was a new take on the legend of Robin Hood.
19. The actor who plays Will Scarlet, (one of Robin Hoods men) played another character called Carter in the BBC series Robin Hood. (2009)
20. Arthur Darvill whom played The Eleventh Doctor's companion Rory Williams had a small role in Robin Hood (2010).
21. Tom Riley (Robin Hood) and Sabrina Bartlett (Quayle's Ward) also star together in Da Vinci's Demons (2013) as brother and sister.
22. A novelization was made written by David Maule and was published by Pearson Education.
23. 16:05 minutes into the show when the first robots are revealed, there is a WILHELM SCREAM when the robot shoots a villager.
24. There are numerous references to "The Time Warrior": . There is a crashed spaceship. . It takes place in Medieval times . There is a castle involved. . There are robotic knights . A number of characters claim that the Doctor is some sort of magician or sorcerer . Once working, the spaceship explodes. . A king that wants to conquer other kings' lands . The Doctor tells other people to run out of the castle because it is going to explode.

Listen

1. One of a few Doctor Who (1963) episodes not to feature an antagonist in any form.
2. Steven Moffat revealed that the episode originated with the decision, "I'm going to do a chamber piece, with no money, in the middle [of the eighth series], because I haven't done one in ages and I'd like to prove that I can actually write."
3. Steven Moffat discussed the episode in an interview, saying: "my impulse starting in that was just the idea, 'What does he do when he's got nothing [to] do?' Because he'd throw himself off a building if he thought it'd be interesting on the way down ... he's fascinated by anything. And here he's with nothing to do, so he just goes out poking things with a stick until something bites it. And I think that's quite interesting, isn't it? Sort of, there's a thrill seeker aspect."
4. In a 2007 short story, Corner of the Eye, Steven Moffat had already dealt with the idea of monsters who had the super-ability to hide (called Floofs). Previously, he had revived concepts from his short story What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow into his televised Blink.
5. Critics called this "The best story Steven Moffat has written for Doctor Who (1963) since "The Eleventh Hour"".
6. John Hurt appears as The War Doctor from archive footage of the 50th anniversary special "The Day of The Doctor".
7. Yet again, the spacesuit from The Satan Pit (2006), as originally worn by David Tennant, makes a recycled appearance. Matt Smith has also worn this very same spacesuit prop.
8. When Clara is attached to the telepathic circuits in the TARDIS, the sound effect is identical to the one used by the Psirens from Red Dwarf in the episode Psirens (1993). It's also the sound effect from the signal given from the planet Trenzalore in the Doctor Who episode "The Time of the Doctor" in 2013.
9. When The Doctor and Clara travel and view Clara in the recent past, when Clara sees her past self, she says "Is that really what my hair looks like from the back?". This is a direct Easter Egg to Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban where Hermione says the same thing.
10. Samuel Anderson plays both Danny and Orson Pink.
11. Danny Pink wears a pink shirt.
12. This episode takes place in the 1990s.
13. In this episode, Clara says, "Fear makes companions of us all," which is a quote from the first episode of Doctor Who (1963), "An Unearthly Child".
14. Aside from archive footage, and body/voice doubles, this episode marks the first time in years that the First Doctor had appeared in an episode of the show, as well as being played by a different actor (he has now been played by three different actors). It also marks the very first instance the Doctor has been portrayed as a child in the televised series. The Doctor is the second Time Lord (not including the children in "The Day of the Doctor") to be shown as a child. The first one was the Master in "The Sound of Drums".
15. The unknown actor who played The Doctor as a boy but was uncredited was rumored to had been Ty Tennant, son of Georgia Tennant - who played Jenny in The Doctor's Daughter (#4.6) and is the daughter of Peter Davison, who played the Fifth Doctor (1981 - 1984) - and adopted son of David Tennant, who played the Tenth Doctor (2005 - 2010, 2013). Recently, the actor was confirmed to be Michael Jones.
16. The Doctor, Clara, and Orson arrive at the End of the Universe. In Utopia (#3.11), the Tenth Doctor, Martha and Jack traveled to the End of the Universe, where Professor Yana and his assistant Chantho were trying to relocate humans and human-like creatures to a planet called Utopia to escape the End of the Universe only to discover Professor Yana was The Doctor's old enemy The Master and had used a fobwatch that changed him from Time Lord to human.

Time Heist

1. One of the mugshots that flashes on the monitor is of John Hart. He is a Time Agent (like Jack Harkness) who appears in Torchwood (2006). The character is played by James Marsters.
2. When Psi tries to lure the Teller away from Clara by visualising some of the galaxy's most notorious criminals, the mugshots he is seen accessing include a Sensorite ("The Sensorites"), a Terileptil ("The Visitation"), a Slitheen, an Ice Warrior, the Gunslinger from "A Town Called Mercy", Captain John Hart from Torchwood (2006), Androvax and the Trickster from The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007), and Abslom Daak from Doctor Who Magazine.
3. The character of Psi was strongly influenced by the main character of Johnny Mnemonic (1995). Like Johnny Mnemonic, Psi can store data directly into his head.
4. Speaking about the premise for the episode, director Douglas Mackinnon said "What we wanted to do was a heist movie for Doctor Who (1963). I've watched virtually every heist movie there's ever been, and it incorporates things into it, but because it's Doctor Who, time travel is involved".
5. Steven Moffat came up with the concept for this episode years earlier before handing it over to Steven Thompson when he found a way to utilise it.
6. The episode opens with imagery taken from the opening credits sequence that segues into the Doctor peering into a washing machine. It is the only episode of Series 8 to make use of the SFX footage.
7. This episode features the first in-narrative use of the new Time Vortex.
8. The character of Saibra was strong influenced by the "X-Men" comics. Saibra is a mutant human would change into another person by touching any part of their organic matter. In the "X-Men" comics, there is a character called Mystique/Raven, a mutant who had the ability to shapeshift into anyone, as well as the character Rogue, who would absorb abilities and life from anyone she touched. Hence Saibra's lament that she will always be alone because of her mutant power.
9. This episode was written before Peter Capaldi had been cast.
10. The episode contains an image of Abslom Daak, a character who originated in comic stories. This is one of the few examples of a TV episode referencing a character who originated outside of the TV series itself.
11. Keeley Hawes was the star of another time travel series Ashes to Ashes (2008), which was a sequel show to Life on Mars (2006), which starred John Simm (The Master).
12. Michelle Gomez was offered the Keeley Hawes role.
13. This is the second episode, after "Robot of Sherwood" to capitalise its title during the opening credits. Also it shares the same pre-opening theme sting with "Robot of Sherwood" which, interestingly, is from Series 1 to 4's.
14. Mr Porrima, the bank customer copied by Saibra to gain access to the safety deposit boxes, is only identified in the credits, not in dialogue.
15. The only appearances in the series of Psi and Saibra. Steven Moffat had not considered to making them companions of The Doctor when Jenna Coleman left the series.
16. Johnny Mnemonic (1995) and the X-Men comics have been considered by a few to be strong influences behind Psi and Saibra. Like Johnny, the main protagonist of the Keanu Reeves film, Psi has the ability to store data directly in his head and the mutants from the X-Men, in particular Mystique, Saibra, a mutant, can assume the form of any other person by touching them.
17. Michelle Gomez was the original choice for Ms. Delphox before she was cast as Missy.
18. Keeley Hawes (Ms Delphox) is not credited as Karabraxos.

The Caretaker

1. The Doctor whistles the first few bars of the Pink Floyd song "Another Brick In The Wall" when he sees Clara scolding the students for playing football near the large chess board. The music video for Pink Floyd's "One Of These Days" takes inspiration from the show.
2. Apart from a couple shots of the Blitzer, every scene in the trailers was taken from the first five minutes of the episode. Except for one scene that, for some reason, is actually taken from "Listen".
3. A banner hangs on the wall saying "A Spirit of Adventure". This is a nod back to the First Doctor story "The Sensorites", in which the Doctor tells then-companions Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton that their travels in the TARDIS with him and Susan Foreman turned out to be "a great spirit of adventure".
4. The series started at Coal Hill School, where the Doctor's granddaughter was a student. The first TARDIS crew consisted of an old Doctor, 2 teachers and a student from Coal Hill School. The crew in this story parallels that one. In addition, in the classic series story "Remembrance of the Daleks," the Doctor returns to Coal Hill School and pretends to look into the job of caretaker.
5. Building on the experience of writing "The Lodger" and "Closing Time", Gareth Robertsand Steven Moffat tried to match the former for threat, feeling there was an excessive amount in Closing Time, which had included back-story for the antagonists at the expense of other themes. For this reason, it was decided that the first draft had the right amount of threat and that it would be unnecessary to add more later
6. Peter Capaldi and Chris Addison previously appeared together in The Thick of It, as Malcolm Tucker and Oliver Reeder, respectively.
7. Adrian refers to The Tempest not being finished. It was written by William Shakespeare, who appeared in "The Shakespeare Code", also written by Gareth Roberts.
8. This episode takes place in the 2010s.
9. In class in one scene, Clara is teaching Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The previous Doctor, Matt Smith, was later a supporting actor in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016).

Kill the Moon

1. The DVDs that the Doctor says are in the bookcase that will bring the TARDIS to him, is a reference to the episode Blink. They are the 17 DVDs that he made for Sally Sparrow to take the TARDIS back to him in 1969.
2. Peter Capaldi confirmed that he wore David Tennant's spacesuit from "The Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit" and "The Waters of Mars".
3. The filming location for the moon was Lanzarote, which 30 years earlier was the filming location of "Planet of Fire". The production team played upon this - early drafts of the script were titled Return to Sarn just to mislead those who theorised that this story would feature the return of the Master.
4. Not the first time the Doctor has encountered spider-like creatures. In Jon Pertwee's final story "Planet of the Spiders" in 1973, the Third Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith discovered mutants spiders had gripped a colony on the planet Metebelis 3 in the far future, in a grip of future.
5. During the writing process, Steven Moffat told Peter Harness to "Hinchcliffe the s**t out of it", in particular the first half. This referred to the period when Philip Hinchcliffe was series producer (1975-77), which is remembered many as especially frightening.
6. Like the earlier story The Girl Who Waited (Series 6), "Kill The Moon" is about The Doctor forcing his companion to make a choice that only the companion can make.
7. This was originally envisioned as a story written for the Eleventh Doctor in 2011. Peter Harness felt that the script suited the Twelfth Doctor better.
8. To make her feel "special", the Doctor offers Courtney Woods the chance to be the first woman on the moon. Actually she's not even the first 21st century woman from London to go to the moon in new Doctor Who: Martha Jones was transported there - along with the entire Royal Hope Hospital - in her first outing as companion, Doctor Who: Smith and Jones (2007).
9. Peter Harness has said that the episode will see a large change for the show. "I still don't know how people will take it. I'm in this kind of limbo now waiting for people to see it, and I've no idea, really I do not know how it is going to go down."
10. This episode takes place in 2049.
11. This is the most polarising episode of the revived series of the show, both in terms of critical reception and fan response. TV critics labelled the episode "an instant classic", "Doctor Who on top form" and "the best episode of the season".
12. According to Tony Osoba, the crew used a car battery to keep the three actors playing the Space shuttle crew cool during the very hot location filming.
13. Clara says the school secretary hates her. "She thinks I gave her a packet Tena Lady for Secret Santa". Tena Lady is a leading brand of women's adult incontinence diapers.
14. Steven Moffat called the script "intense and emotional".
15. It is technically possible to fit 100 nuclear bombs into the space shuttle since the can be made very small, like warheads for nuclear artillery shells that weigh only about 45 kg. However these were all scrapped even before the end of the Cold War. Also they would be inefficient to use for this purpose since smaller thermonuclear bombs have a worse yield-to-weight ratio. The smallest nukes only had a yield of around ten kilotons of TNT equivalent. They are less efficient. Payload and space are limited on the shuttle. In order to get the highest possible yield, you would fill it with very few bombs and make those as big as possible.
16. Danny Pink makes a brief appearance at the end.
17. Third Doctor Who role for Tony Osoba after "Destiny of the Daleks" and "Dragonfire". He dies in all three of his stories. Also Osboa is one of 37 actors to have been in both the 20th Century Series and the 21st Century series.
18. There have been two previous Doctor Who (2005) adventures located on the moon. From the classic series, "The Moonbase". In the revived series, "Smith and Jones".
19. While arguing about the safety of the adventure with Clara, the Doctor says "walking across the street is dangerous! You can't live like that!" As it turns out, this foreshadows the death of Danny Pink, who is killed by a car when he crosses a street without looking because he is on the phone with Clara in the Episode "Dark Water".
20. In the narrative behind The Doctor justifying his actions behind abandoning Clara on the moon and leaving her to decide the future of the human race. The Doctor could not decide the destiny and the future of human race and he felt it was only a decision that a human like Clara could make. Sometimes The Doctor cannot make the decisions and the choices and he cannot interfere with the course of human history. The Doctor is not above the law and has limits.

Mummy on the Orient Express

1. It was Peter Capaldi's idea for The Doctor to have a cigarillo case containing jelly babies.
2. The Doctor says the line "Are you my mummy?" which was used a lot in "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances".
3. Jamie Mathieson was approached to write the script while working on Flatline. He was given the title, chosen by Steven Moffat, which led Mathieson to look to Agatha Christie for inspiration.
4. The original idea for the script had far more content, with the Express visiting the "Seven Wonders of the Universe", but this was removed due to time constraints.
5. Brian Minchin expressed early on to Mathieson that the Mummy might force the episode to be broadcast at a later time as the BBC judged it to be too scary. Minchin had repeatedly tried to have it shown in the series trailer, but the corporation would not allow it.
6. Voted best story of the Season by readers of Doctor Who Magazine.
7. Jamie Mathieson based Perkins on a friend of his a "train buff" from whom he acquired information about the Orient Express.
8. This is the first time in the new Doctor Who (2005) series that the Doctor is seen with jelly babies on his person.
9. Christopher Villiers previously appeared in "The King's Demons", and Janet Henfrey previously appeared in "The Curse of Fenric".
10. The song the performer sings on the train is a jazz version of "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen. The different style causes the music to sound very similar to the theme song from fellow British SciFi series Red Dwarf. Queen also seem to be a popular band favourite in Doctor Who fans.
11. The episode title references the original Agatha Christie novel, "Murder on the Orient Express", and subsequent screen adaptations.
12. Among the items on the lab bench is a rack containing an actual set of three variable-volume pipettes that look somewhat like sonic screwdrivers.
13. The Captain sees the Doctor's psychic paper as identification for a "Mystery Shopper". In the UK, stores and service companies can hire "mystery" or "secret" shoppers from a number of agencies. These shoppers evaluate individual stores or services on cleanliness, speed, variety of product, employee treatment of customers, etc. by pretending to be regular customers.
14. One of the scientists working to find out what the mummy is has ruffled hair and a bushy mustache - making him look like Albert Einstein.
15. The Eleventh Doctor also got a call to investigate the Orient Express in the last scene of Season Five finale, "The Big Bang", which is congruent with what The Doctor (Capaldi) says, when speaking of how he has been invited several times in the past.
16. Jenna Coleman has confirmed that the suspiciously loud "I love you" in the phone call at the end wasn't primarily intended for Danny, but for the Doctor, whom she deliberately looks at while she says that.
17. Two scenes were deleted from the final episode due to timing reasons. The first scene featured the Doctor protesting against superstition after seeing that people had lit a candle near the scroll and were leaving trinkets and money near it as if it was a shrine. The second scene revealed that Maisie was present near the campfire on the beach in the end, explaining that when the Doctor implanted Maisie's pain and trauma into himself, he took them away from her for good.
18. According to Frank Skinner, there is a version of the scene where the Doctor asks Perkins to come with him and he says yes. This was shot in case they want to bring him back as a future companion. It has not been released to the public as of yet.

Flatline

1. It was only after writing several drafts that Jamie Mathieson was told the episode would need to lock the Doctor away in a single location, as Peter Capaldi's scenes for the episode needed to be filmed quickly to bide by the production schedule.
2. This is the first time since the classic series that The Doctor opens the TARDIS doors using the control panel. The sound effect used is also the same as in the classic series
3. When the TARDIS goes into "siege mode", it becomes a miniature version of the Pandorica.
4. Two years before writing this episode, Jamie Mathieson had pitched his ideas for a story to Steven Moffat, but was unsuccessful. When he again met with the executive producer, he showed him four ideas for episodes, complete with his own illustrations, aided by his background in art college. Taking an interest in the monster he had created for what would become Flatline, Moffat asked Mathieson to produce a story outline and he got the job to script the episode.
5. The first train carries the name "A113," a tribute to Pixar Animation, which includes "A113" in all its films, a reference to the classroom at the California Institute of Technical Arts where many Pixar figures studied, including John Lasseter and Brad Bird.
6. This is the 250th Doctor Who story.
7. This episode is influenced by the 1884 novella, Flatland: A Romance in Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott Abbott. The novella takes place in a world with various realms of differing dimensions. The main character, who is a square of two dimensions from the land of Flatland, dreams of visiting Lineland, a land of one dimension. While there, he is only seen as a line since the residents cannot conceive of two dimensions. He then has a vision where he talks to Sphere, a character from Spaceland, that has three dimensions, which he can only see as a circle. The connection is that the creatures of two dimensions only see things of two dimensions, and the creatures of three dimensions can only see things of three. Flatland was also the basis of two animated movies in 2007.
8. Jamie Mathieson decided to write a script where the Doctor was "in the dark". For this to be successful, he had to create a unknown quantity to feature as his alien enemy. Much like his next creation, the Foretold, he elected to have no dialogue for the aggressors, allowing something about them to remain "unknowable".
9. Rigsy was based on the graffiti artist Banksy.
10. Clara claims that Doctor Rule #1 is "use your enemy's power against them", but it already has been established that Rule #1 is "The Doctor lies". She has started re-writing these rules from her time as the Doctors companion.
11. Joivan Wade and Michelle Gomez are co-stars on Doom Patrol (2019).
12. As of 2020, the only episode to feature "The Boneless"
13. There is a large shooting star top right of the screen when the Doctor is talking to Clara at the end. He says "Apparently" when a large shooting star flies across the top right.
14. This episode takes place in the 2010s.

In the Forest of the Night

1. The title comes from William Blake's 1794 famous poem The Tyger, which begins, "Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night"
2. An advertisement for Doctor Who (2005) can be seen on a bus when Danny, Clara and the kids leave the museum.
3. The "bus" seen in the background of the forest is actually a cardboard cutout, due to difficulties that would be faced in order to manoeuvre a real bus into a place of dense foliage.
4. There are three Union (Jack) flags flying in the forest. The one seen in most scenes is actually upside down, however this may be deliberate as an upside-down flag is a distress signal.
5. The red phone box seen in the forest is a typical British one, of the second type. It has rectangular glass panes.
6. Maebh's last name Is Arden, which means "great wood."
7. This was Frank Cottrell Boyce's first Doctor Who (2005) story.
8. Oyster cards are electronic ticketing cards for using public transport in the greater London area.
9. This episode takes place in the 2010s.
10. When Maebh's sister appears near the end of the episode, she comes out of a hydrangea, which is referenced earlier in the episode when her mother complains about the neighbour's hydrangea blocking all the light. The sister's name is Annabelle. An 'Annabelle Hydrangea'(hydrangea aborescens 'Annabelle') is also a commonly available variety of this type of plant.
11. When Maebh stops in the forest and you see the eyes of the wolves, she is wearing a red coat with a hood. This is almost reminiscent of Little Red Riding Hood. A few other fairy tales are mentioned in this episode.

Dark Water

1. Both of the Eleventh Doctor's coats and the Tenth Doctor's trenchcoat are visible when Clara steals the TARDIS keys.
2. Clara's birthday is given as November 23rd. The show premièred on November 23.
3. Michelle Gomez modeled her performance as Missy after Johnny Depp.
4. The scene of the Cyberman walking down the steps outside St. Paul's Cathedral is reminiscent of a similar shot in the Second Doctor serial "The Invasion".
5. At a Royal Television Society event, Steven Moffat revealed a decoy version of Missy's reveal in the episode was shot in case any members of the public overheard: "You know who I am. I'm Missy. Or, if you'd prefer, Random Access Neural Integrator. Rani for short."
6. Both the name "3W" and the presence of a Doctor Chang are references to Doctor Who: The Wheel in Space: Episode 1 (1968) another seminal Patrick Troughton Cybermen story.
7. The Hyperscape Body Swap Ticket used to get Clara and the Eleventh Doctor into the Doctor Who at the Proms is shown on Clara's bookshelf among her sticky notes. Discounting the sticky note references to the Paternoster Gang, whom Clara had also encountered in Series 7, and one reading "Impossible Girl" (which was a plot element in Doctor Who: Deep Breath (2014)), the ticket is the only item exclusive to the Eleventh Doctor era visible on Clara's notes, though the camera does not focus in on all the stickies.
8. The Doctor points out the Nethersphere is a "Matrix Data Slice", referencing the Gallifreyan virtual reality computer that stored the biodata of dead Time Lords, introduced in Doctor Who: The Deadly Assassin: Part One (1976).
9. Even with Series 8 running for one episode shorter than normal, this episode still mananges to continue the trend of the Cybermen appearing in the penultimate episode of every series since Steven Moffat assumed the role of head writer and executive producer. The Pandorica Opens in Series 5, "Closing Time" in Series 6 and "Nightmare in Silver" in Series 7, all of them featuring the Cybermen, were also all the twelfth episodes of thirteen in their respective series.
10. When the Doctor hands Dr. Chang the psychic paper, it says that he is from the government and Chang questions the amount of swearing on the paper. The Doctor responds with "I've got a lot of internalized anger." Peter Capaldi is well known for his role as the foul-mouthed Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It (2005) and its spin-off film, In the Loop (2009).
11. The first time the Twelfth Doctor faces the Cybermen.
12. Michelle Gomez's first scene she filmed was in this episode when she sucks on The Doctor's nose.
13. This episode and Doctor Who: Death in Heaven (2014) is the first multi-part Doctor Who (2005) episode since Series Six's Doctor Who: The Rebel Flesh (2011)/Doctor Who: The Almost People (2011). It is also the first one of Peter Capaldi's era as the Doctor.
14. Seb's job description name-plate reads: "Nethersphere After Death Department"
15. Charles Dance was falsely rumored to play The Master.
16. Chis Addison (Seb) and Peter Capaldi (The Doctor) were both in "The Thick of It" (2005) and In the Loop (2009) and shared many episodes/scenes together.
17. This episode is titled "Dark Water". Rachel Talalay directed Tank Girl (1995) which the main protagonist Tank Girl (Rebecca) battles the evil powerful corporation that is controlling the world's water supply.
18. This episode takes place in the 2010s.
19. The door to Doctor Chang's office has a round window with the teardrop occlusion to the lower right, exactly like the eyes of Cybermen.
20. This is the first official appearance of the Master since 2010's Doctor Who: The End of Time: Part Two (2010). Michelle Gomez becomes the ninth incarnation of the character, following Roger Delgado, Peter Pratt, Geoffrey Beevers, Anthony Ainley, Gordon Tipple, Eric Roberts, Derek Jacobi and John Simm.
21. One of the TARDIS keys is hidden in a copy of "The Time Traveler's Wife." The book is one of Steven Moffat's favorites and it is a reference to The Doctor's relationship with River Song, since, they too, never meet in the same order. In fact, the book inspired their whole story arc.
22. The 3W logo consists of four circles, two big and two little ones, which resembles the eyes of the Cybermen, thus foreshadowing their presence in the Nethersphere. Also, when Danny is standing on the balcony in the Nethersphere, the window on the door behind him resembles a Cyberman eye.
23. This isn't the first time The Master has taken advantage of humanity's desire for paradise after the end. Only difference this time is that it involves those who are already dead instead of those at the end of their rope, desperately holding on and wishing for Utopia.
24. By Danny Pink dying, his descendant Orsen in "Listen" wouldn't have been born or ever existed.
25. Clara 's threats to strand The Doctor were not well thought out because it has already been established that the TARDIS is sentient enough to unlock herself or can be opened by the snap of the Doctor's fingers.
26. Danny Pink finding himself in "heaven" and encountering a boy he killed as a soldier is a nod to The Inferno by Dante Alighieri.
27. In Series 8 The Doctor's arch foe, The Master, is first introduced to audiences as Missy (played by Michelle Gomez), a completely new character, before she is revealed to be the newest incarnation of the villainous Time Lord. This is keeping with tradition, as twice previously a new character is introduced, only to be revealed as The Master's newest body. In "The Keeper of Traken", Anthony Ainley portrays the kindly Professor Tremas for a full serial before he is possessed by The Master, and in Doctor Who: Utopia (2007), Professor Yana (played by Derek Jacobi) is revealed in the final act as The Master by way of the Chameleon circuit.
28. When the camera pans over the skeletons in the tank before settling on Missy and the sphere, the music strongly resembles the Master's theme.
29. Some viewers found the plotline about death and cremation disturbing and complained to the BBC. In response, the network pointed out that the Doctor learned the whole concept was a setup from the beginning.
30. Where the Doctor and the Master (Missy) are both from the same planet, Peter Capaldi and Michelle Gomez are both from Glasgow.
31. This episode marks the first on screen instance of a Time Lord changing gender through regeneration, although the possibility had been alluded to in Doctor Who: The End of Time: Part One (2009), Doctor Who: The End of Time: Part Two (2010), Doctor Who: The Doctor's Wife (2011) and Doctor Who: The Night of the Doctor (2013).
32. The Windows on the building in the Nethersohere and in the 3Ws building are in the shape of a large circle with a smaller adjoining circle on the lower part. They are the same shape as the cybermen's eyes.
33. Danny Pink dying and finding himself in the Nethersphere (Heaven) was influenced by the classic 14th century poem "The Divine Comedy" by Dante Alighieri.
34. When Missy says "Humankind, bring out your dead" she is referencing a scene from the film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" where a man is walking around with a cart shouting "Bring out your dead!"
35. The location of 3W is shown to be inside of St. Paul's Cathedral. This is the same place where the Bird Lady sat in 'Mary Poppins,' which was a major influence behind Missy's appearance.
36. In Doctor Who: The End of Time: Part One (2009) and Doctor Who: The End of Time: Part Two (2010), when the Master takes over the whole of the human race, Wilfred wonders if that also includes the dead in their graves. That episode does not answer the question but now "All the graves on planet Earth are about to give birth".
37. Missy revealing herself as The Master in this episode is considered by some to be one of the most shocking moments in the new series.

Death in Heaven

1. Osgood continues to be a walking Doctor costume homage. After wearing a big, floppy scarf like the Fourth Doctor, her latest outfit has a leather jacket, Converse sneakers and a burgundy bow tie - favored by the War/Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors, respectively.
2. Clara mentions the Doctor had four marriages. In the Doctor's chronological order: Susan's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, Marilyn Monroe, and River Song.
3. First time the Doctor's daughter and grand daughter are mentioned in an episode at once.
4. Missy descends from the clouds with her umbrella opened. That and her costume mimics the titular character Mary Poppins (1964).
5. As a result of the dark and more mature themes in the episode, the release of the Complete Series 8 DVD boxset was delayed by a week. The covers had to be re-printed, as this episode caused the age rating to increase from PG to 12.
6. This is the first episode to show a scene mid-end credits.
7. This is the first time the companion is listed prior to the Doctor during the opening credits. It's also the first time the companion's eyes are used during the title sequence instead of the Doctor's.
8. Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor appears for a second time since his regeneration in "The Time of the Doctor", in archive footage from "The Bells of Saint John". He last appeared in "Deep Breath".
9. This episode has the return of Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) and Osgood (Ingrid Oliver). Both these characters last appearance was in the 50th anniversary, "The Day of The Doctor".
10. The Twelfth Doctor drinks his tea with ridiculous amounts of sugar, just like the Third and Eighth Doctors.
11. This is the first reference of the term Prydonian since the 2005 revival.
12. This is the first series finale to lead directly into the following Christmas Special since "The Last of the Time Lords".
13. The cybermen head which Kate Stewart throws in front of the Cybermen is from one of the cybermen in the 1963 series.
14. Danny's body was being stored at the Chaplet Funeral Home, a possible reference to Dodo Chaplet who was a companion of the First Doctor.
15. Upon adding ridiculous amounts of sugar to his tea, the Doctor can be seen about to drink his tea from his "serving saucer".
16. When the Mistress hands over the bracelet that controls the Cybermen to the Doctor, she wishes him a happy birthday. She then turns on a husky voice and sings "Happy birthday, Mr. President". This is especially funny since Clara mentions the Doctor's four marriages earlier, one of which was to Marilyn Monroe.
17. The Santa scene was directed by Paul Wilmshurst in the "Last Christmas" filming block.
18. The first two-part story ever since the Eleventh Doctor story "The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People" in 2011.
19. Kate Stewart mentions being divorced and having two kids. Jemma Redgrave is divorced and has two kids.
20. Chris Addison (Seb) and Peter Capaldi (The Doctor) were both in The Thick of It (2005) and In the Loop (2009) and shared many episodes/scenes together.
21. The Series 8 story arc (The Nethersphere) was strongly influenced by the story arc of the second and final season of Legend of the Seeker (2008).
22. This episode takes place in the 2010s.
23. Missy (the Master)'s plan of affecting the dead (turning them into Cybermen) was more-or-less foretold by Wilfred Mott in the 4th season finale "The End of Time". Wilf had asked the 10th Doctor if the Master, who had changed everyone on Earth to look like himself (the"Master Race"), would have changed the dead in their graves as well.
24. A portrait of the Brigadier, father of the character Kate Stewart and a famous ally of the Doctor in the classic series, appears on UNIT's presidential plane. The character later appears resurrected as a Cyberman near the end of the episode, where he disintegrates Missy and is saluted by the Doctor. This was the Brigadier's first appearance in the show since the 1989 Doctor Who story "Battlefield".
25. Right before Missy kills Osgood, she says "Oh, my giddy aunt!" which was a quote said by the Second Doctor.
26. To keep the appearance of Santa Claus a surprise, Nick Frost was uncredited in The Radio Times and on the BBC website.
27. Missy tests control the Cybermen by having them turn to the left and right. In "Rise of the Cybermen", Mr. Crane does the exact same thing to the mind controlled people.
28. Michelle Gomez is the first Scottish person and woman to play the part of the Master.
29. Danny calling to Clara while she sleeps is very similar to the Tenth Doctor calling to Rose Tyler in "Doomsday".
30. In Series 8 The Doctor's arch foe, The Master, is first introduced to audiences as Missy (played by Michelle Gomez), a completely new character, before she is revealed to be the newest incarnation of the villainous Time Lord. This is keeping with tradition, as twice previously a new character is introduced, only to be revealed as The Master's newest body. In "The Keeper of Traken", Anthony Ainley portrays the kindly Professor Tremas for a full serial before he is possessed by The Master, and in Doctor Who: Utopia (2007), Professor Yana (played by Derek Jacobi) is revealed in the final act as The Master by way of the Chameleon circuit.
31. The unmasked Danny Pink Cyberman was strongly influenced by the unmasking of Darth Vader in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983).
32. Danny Pink dying and finding himself in the Nethersphere in Doctor Who: Death in Heaven (2014) was influenced by Dante's Alighieri's classic 14th century poem "Dante's Inferno".
33. The unmasked Danny Pink Cyberman in Doctor Who: Death in Heaven (2014) was strongly influenced by the unmasking of Darth Vader in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983).