Doctor Who series 7
The seventh series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who was broadcast concurrently on BBC One in the United Kingdom, and was split into two parts as the previous series had been. Following its premiere on 1 September 2012, the series aired weekly with five episodes until 29 September. The remaining eight episodes were broadcast between 30 March and 18 May 2013. The 2012 Christmas special, "The Snowmen", aired separately from the main series and introduced a new TARDIS interior, title sequence, theme tune, and outfit for the Doctor. The series was the seventh to air following the programme's revival in 2005 and is the thirty-third season overall.
Doctor Whos seventh series was the show's third and final series to feature Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Arthur Darvill. They reprised their roles of the Eleventh Doctor, Amy Pond, and Rory Williams respectively, from the previous series. Gillan and Darvill departed the series in the fifth episode, "The Angels Take Manhattan", after which a new companion named Clara Oswald joined the Doctor, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman, remaining with the series for its second half. The main story-arc of the series focused on the significance of the character of Clara, whom the Doctor had encountered twice before as Oswin in "Asylum of the Daleks" and as a governess in "The Snowmen". It also features the recurring appearance of the Doctor's enemy, The Great Intelligence, who is later revealed to be trying to gain the Doctor's true name for his own purposes. Smith stayed for one year longer than Gillan and Darvill, and departed after the 2013 specials, with his final appearance being in the 2013 Christmas special "The Time of the Doctor".
Episodes
As with Series 6, this series was again split into two parts. For the first time in the show's history, each episode of this series is a standalone story with no multi-parters.Supplemental episodes
Prequels
Prologue videos to selected episodes were released via various online outlets and the Children in Need 2012 appeal.Casting
The seventh series marked Matt Smith's third and final full series as the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor. Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill, who portray Amy Pond and Rory Williams respectively, departed the programme in the fifth episode. The decision to write the pair out of the series was a mutual decision from Gillan and showrunner Steven Moffat. The actress previously stated that she did not want to make return cameos to the show.On 21 March 2012, it was announced that Jenna Coleman would replace Gillan and Darvill as the next companion. She auditioned for the role in secrecy, pretending it was for something called Men on Waves, an anagram for "Woman Seven". Moffat chose her for the role because she worked the best alongside Smith and could talk faster than him. He stated that her character will be different from previous companions, though he attempted to keep the details of her character a secret until she debuted in the Christmas special. In "Asylum of the Daleks", Coleman appears as the character Oswin Oswald, a secret which was kept from the public before transmission. Coleman was originally given the role of a Victorian governess named Jasmine, and then for the second audition she was given both the characters of Oswin and Clara. She originally thought that the producers were looking for the right character, but later realised it was part of Moffat's "soft mystery" plan of having multiple iterations of Clara in the events of "The Name of the Doctor".
Guest stars include David Gyasi in episode 1, Rupert Graves, David Bradley, Riann Steele, and the voices of David Mitchell and Robert Webb in episode 2, Ben Browder, Adrian Scarborough, and Garrick Hagon in episode 3, Steven Berkoff, Ruthie Henshall, and Jemma Redgrave in episode 4, Mike McShane in episode 5, Celia Imrie in episode 7, David Warner, Tobias Menzies, James Norton, Josh O'Connor, and Liam Cunningham in episode 8, Dougray Scott and Jessica Raine in episode 9, Ashley Walters in episode 10, Rachael Stirling and her mother Dame Diana Rigg in episode 11, and Warwick Davis and Tamzin Outhwaite in episode 12.
Mark Williams appears in the second and fourth episodes as Rory's father. Alex Kingston returned to the series as her character River Song for Amy and Rory's final episode and the series finale.
Richard E. Grant and Tom Ward were cast in the 2012 Christmas special, together with young actor Cameron Strefford playing a younger version of Grant's character. Ian McKellen also appears in the Christmas special, providing the original voice of the Great Intelligence. Grant later returned in the mid-series premiere and the series finale, portraying the Great Intelligence.
Production
Development
The BBC commissioned the fourteen-episode seventh series on 8 June 2011. "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" was executive produced by Steven Moffat, Piers Wenger and Caroline Skinner. Beth Willis left the BBC and stepped down as executive producer after series 6 and Wenger also departed following the Christmas special, leaving Moffat and Skinner as executive producers for series 7. Marcus Wilson remained as series producer, with Denise Paul producing "The Bells of Saint John", "The Rings of Akhaten", "Nightmare in Silver" and "The Name of the Doctor". Production of Doctor Who relocated to the new Roath Lock studios in Cardiff midway through production of the series on 12 March 2012; the first episode to be filmed there was the Christmas special in Block Four, with the debut of Coleman's character; however it was reported that a later episode written by Neil Cross was the first Coleman filmed. Moffat has stated that the introduction of the new companion will " the show a little bit" and "make you look at the Doctor differently".Writing
Moffat has stated that the seventh series would be the opposite of the arc-driven nature of the sixth, consisting of mainly stand-alone stories. This was inspired by fan reactions to the title of "Let's Kill Hitler" when it was revealed at the end of "A Good Man Goes to War" with no plot details; he told the writers of the seventh series to "slut it up" with "big, huge, mad ideas" and "write it like a movie poster". Toby Whithouse, writer of the Wild West-themed third episode, stated that each episode would have more of a specific genre, and his was developed from a one-line pitch from Moffat. The stand-alone nature meant that there were no two-part episodes or series-long story arcs. According to Dan Martin of The Guardian, Moffat stated that the goal of the series was "compressed storytelling"; Martin remarked that "Asylum of the Daleks" told more than some of the four-parters in the classic series.Design changes
In keeping with the blockbuster theme, the title sequence for the first part of the series featured a different look to the titles and logo in the title sequence to reflect the concept of the episode. The Time Vortex in the title sequence was also tinted blue and green. The interior of the TARDIS was redesigned starting with the Christmas special, which also featured a new title sequence that, for the first time since the end of Season 26 in 1989, showed the Doctor's face, together with a new orchestration of the theme tune. Moffat had noticed that the TARDIS' design was getting "progressively whimsical" and resembled more of a "magical place" rather than a machine. The set was designed by series production designer Michael Pickwoad, who stated that the new interior was also supposed to be "darker and moodier" and provide an easier access to the "gallery" of the ship when shooting. The new design allowed the entrance to be more central, and also returned the console to the look of the designs in the classic series.In the Christmas special the Doctor sported a new costume, tying into the purple colour scheme, which Smith described as "a bit Artful Dodger meets the Doctor". Moffat described the new outfit as a "progression" as the Doctor was in "a different phase of his life now" and felt more "grown-up" and fatherlike. In the second half of the series, Moffat intended to show the Doctor not dressing exactly the same way each time, similar to the Third Doctor and the Fourth Doctor, who did not wear exactly the same clothes but retained a common "look".
Music
composed the soundtrack to this series, with orchestration by Ben Foster.Filming
The seventh series began shooting on 20 February 2012. Episodes 2 and 3 were the first to enter production, directed by Saul Metzstein. Much of the Wild West episode was filmed in March 2012 in the desert area of Almería, Spain, an area which contains Wild-West style streets that have been used in the making of many Western-set films. Filming the episode in Spain was cheaper than constructing a set in the UK. The fifth episode, Amy and Rory's last, was filmed in Central Park in New York City in April 2012, as well as at Cardiff University and a cemetery in Llanelli. The fourth episode was filmed next, the only episode in the third block of production.Filming for Pond Life occurred as part of the series's additional photography, following Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill's final scenes for the episode "The Power of Three". It was filmed over three days, from 6 to 8 June 2012, alongside the prequel to "Asylum of the Daleks"; Amy and Rory's house was filmed on Bute Esplanade.
Doctor Who Magazine reported that the Christmas special would be produced by itself in Block Four. In late May 2012, Coleman was spotted at a manor in the Vale of Glamorgan, filming what was reported to be the Christmas special. However, Neil Cross's episode, reportedly the first Coleman shot, was partially filmed in Margam Country Park, South Wales, around the same time, and it was reported that the manor location was also for that episode, and that Moffat was still writing the Christmas special. "Cold War" and "The Crimson Horror" were filmed in June and July 2012." The Christmas special began filming the week of 6 August. "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" finished filming in September 2012. "The Bells of Saint John" was filmed in London from 8–16 October 2012. "The Rings of Akhaten" became the 100th episode produced since the series returned in 2005, although "The Crimson Horror" was the 100th aired. Scenes for "Nightmare in Silver" were filmed in early November 2012, showing a new design for the Cybermen.
Production blocks were arranged as follows:
| Block | Episode | Director | Writer | Producer |
| X | Christmas special: "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" | Farren Blackburn | Steven Moffat | Marcus Wilson |
| 1 | Episode 2: "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" | Saul Metzstein | Chris Chibnall | Marcus Wilson |
| 1 | Episode 3: "A Town Called Mercy" | Saul Metzstein | Toby Whithouse | Marcus Wilson |
| 2 | Episode 1: "Asylum of the Daleks" | Nick Hurran | Steven Moffat | Marcus Wilson |
| 2 | Episode 5: "The Angels Take Manhattan" | Nick Hurran | Steven Moffat | Marcus Wilson |
| 3 | Episode 4: "The Power of Three" | Douglas Mackinnon | Chris Chibnall | Marcus Wilson |
| 4 | Episode 9: "Hide" | Jamie Payne | Neil Cross | Marcus Wilson |
| 4 | Episode 8: "Cold War" | Douglas Mackinnon | Mark Gatiss | Marcus Wilson |
| 5 | Episode 11: "The Crimson Horror" | Saul Metzstein | Mark Gatiss | Marcus Wilson |
| 5 | Christmas special: "The Snowmen" | Saul Metzstein | Steven Moffat | Marcus Wilson |
| 6 | Episode 10: "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" | Mat King | Stephen Thompson | Marcus Wilson |
| 7 | Episode 6: "The Bells of Saint John" | Colm McCarthy | Steven Moffat | Denise Paul & Marcus Wilson |
| 7 | Episode 7: "The Rings of Akhaten" | Farren Blackburn | Neil Cross | Denise Paul & Marcus Wilson |
| 8 | Episode 12: "Nightmare in Silver" | Stephen Woolfenden | Neil Gaiman | Denise Paul & Marcus Wilson |
| 8 | Episode 13: "The Name of the Doctor" | Saul Metzstein | Steven Moffat | Denise Paul & Marcus Wilson |