DanaK

It wouldn’t surprise me if this happens because the Doctor has to make a very difficult decision, which results in bringing them back. The BBC synopsis for the Shelley episode, which comes this Sunday, indicates the Doctor has to make an earth-shattering decision, so it may happen there or at the beginning of Episode 9

I've seen some people say this episode, particularly the look at the companions' feelings and fears, should have been in Series 11. Maybe that makes sense for Yaz's backstory near the end of Series 11, but I think Ryan's concerns about missing his life with his friends probably did fit well in Series 12 because of the amount of time that has gone by and the increasing uncertainty and fear that his regular life was passing him by. The problem for Ryan is he doesn't even have a regular job as far as we know so he's stuck in neutral in his own life while he helps the Doctor save the universe. Like all companions who leave (on their own two feet) and go back to a normal life again, it is likely a heck of an adjustment At the end we see Yaz give that coin to the policewoman to show that things did get better, but I'm not sure she's totally at ease with her life with the Doctor as she seems to want more, and I'm not sure she really wants to go back to her regular life as a young police officer in Yorkshire. She seems like a very restless person who wants more all at once, though that's pretty common with young people

I'm actually surprised I liked this episode, as I normally don't particularly like "trippy" episodes. But it mostly worked for me as a look into the psyche of the companions and little bit into what's bothering the Doctor

I think it's important to say that scene between the Doctor and Graham can resonate with different people in different ways, given how many people have voiced or have a particular fear and how others have received it and responded. There's probably no one right way to react or respond and I can see how varied people have reacted to that scene on here and elsewhere. So I don't want to say people are necessarily wrong if they don't like it even if I disagree. I do think it helps in this particular case, at least for me, to see the different views people have, especially given a lot of people go through this type of situation or have other health issues or worries on their mind and how to share and how to respond. Which is probably a good thing the episode was partly about mental health and getting help

@Llywela I have to disagree some. Graham really just wanted the Doctor to listen to him express his fears, which she did. As with most people, she really didn’t know how best to respond, so instead of mouthing some platitudes, she honestly told him she wasn’t sure what to say. I think Graham got what he wanted, for someone to just listen. I do think she could have responded by saying she appreciated that he confided in her even if she didn’t know what else to say

Longer synopsis: The Doctor and her gang arrive at the Villa Diodati at Lake Geneva in 1816 on the night that inspired Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The plan is to spend the evening soaking up the atmos in the presence of some literary greats, but the ghosts are all too real, and the Doctor is forced into a decision of earth-shattering proportions. Guest cast: Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin - Lili Miller Lord Byron - Jacob Collins-Levy Percy Bysshe Shelley - Lewis Rainer Dr John Polidori - Maxim Baldry Written by Maxine Alderton Directed by Emma Sullivan Next-time trailer, which is pretty funny Longer trailer Note they are all wearing period clothing, including the Doctor (or at least something different than her usual clothes)

I think it was narrated by the female "god" and basically explained how these gods toyed with mortals and caused a lot of destruction throughout the universe until some people came up with a plan to trap one of them with the two planets From what I've read, the only other animation in a Who episode was in "Fear Her" (Series 2?) where the drawings moved. All other animation has been after the fact I think

I really liked this and it was pretty creepy. I was in to it right from the start unlike last week. I didn’t understand all the references to other beings but I guess I can get a Who history lesson from others. We got a cold open and a Timeless Child reference The resolution seemed a little too quick and easy but it gave ending time to moments with the team. I can understand Ryan’s angst about losing touch with his friends, but he can easily choose to stop traveling with the Doctor; he’s not conscripted. It was really good to see his friend getting help. Graham’s worry makes total sense and it was good to see (and Grace!). I guess Yaz’s thing was running away 3 years ago and the cop bringing her back and probably inspiring her to become a cop. But none of that seems nightmarish except I guess she ran away because she was really unhappy and couldn’t talk about it It looked good and the music was really good. I found it pretty interesting and enjoyable I ended up dodging spoilers yesterday, but got spoiled that there would be an animated sequence, which looked good. I ended up muting all my Twitter Who related accounts I follow yesterday and stayed away from Who forums, which seemed to work pretty well and allowed me to keep reading my regular Twitter timeline without hitting potential spoilers It seems more than a few people are interpreting Yaz’s thing as a plan to run away and perhaps kill herself. That’s more serious than I thought

Very spoilery info about Sunday's Can You Hear Me? episode:

Sneak peek clip

Here are a couple of tidbits from Chibnall's Production Notes column from the current issue of Doctor Who Magazine, where he talks mostly about post-production for the last few episodes of the season - He describes composer Segun Akinola's score for Episode 10 as "epic and beautiful" - He mentions a 10 second next-time trailer for either Episode 10 or at the end of episode 10; it's not quite clear from the context which he means. If it's at the end of the episode, then it would mean it's for the special that comes after the series at some point. It was pointed out elsewhere that Series 11's finale showed a 10-second next-time trailer for Resolution, so it's probably the same here

http://wearecult.rocks/bbc-studios-reveals-details-of-doctor-who-the-faceless-ones The BBC’s animation of the missing serial “The Faceless One’s” will be released on home media on March 16

Regarding the "human chain" call with the boy, I only watched it once so I likely missed something, but wasn't the bottom of the hill a body of water? If so, why keep hanging on to the kid, as he likely would have just fallen to the shore line or just slightly into the water? If it wasn't water (I should have paid more attention or rewatched!), it seemed like it flattened out at the bottom. What did I totally miss?

https://cultbox.co.uk/general/doctor-who-magazine-reveals-titles-of-two-part-series-finale Cultbox has more from Chibnall from Doctor Who Magazine about the 2-part finale in the above link The above is a really pretty still from Doctor Who Magazine (DWM) from the Shelley episode Here are more tidbits on upcoming episodes from DWM (Issue 548, out now): Regarding Sunday's episode Can You Hear Me?, Chibnall said in DWM that Ian Gelder's character is an entirely unrelated and separate character from his voice work for the Remnants in "The Ghost Monument" in Season 11. Jodie describes the episode as "really creepy, really scary". The characters are being forced by something out of this world to face their fears. The various comments from the cast and crew make it sound like it's going to be a very different episode from the usual Who show and with a deliberately different tone than usual Regarding Episode 8, "The Haunting of Villa Diodati", which is the Shelley episode, Tosin describes it as an "old-school creepy episode". The weather is part of the story, as there had been a volcanic eruption in Indonesia, though Europeans weren't aware of it, that caused all kinds of bad weather and crazy storms. The episode is mostly set at night, so they used candlelight to light it and had to get different lenses (for the cameras I presume) to let more light in. The director and director of photography seemed to be happy with the results. Also, just for a fun factoid from the article, apparently Mary Shelley's group were a lot of forward-thinking people and they had stopped eating sugar because they were anti-slavery. They had really strong liberal values. Separately, we learn Jodie is scared of lighted candles (as part of being afraid of fire) and she's scared of ghost stories, as is Tosin. I'm not too keen about lighted candles either guys. For Episode 9, "Ascension of the Cybermen", Chibnall says the Cybermen are relentless, single-minded and brutal. They are around every corner and they just won't stop. The humans are desperate and the Cybermen just keep going. The Doctor and her friends are all on the run from different threats. We head into the next episode (Episode 10) with the jeopardy of whether they are ever going to meet up again For Episode 10, "The Timeless Children", Chibnall doesn't want to give up much information. But he says they've been laying the groundwork since the arrival of Jodie's Doctor. The Timeless Child is mentioned in Series 11's The Ghost Monument and the final episode of this series is where some of those questions get answered. Chibnall says it's a huge, emotional finale with lots of Cybermen and, as I previously posted, it runs for 65 minutes. Chibnall indicates that he was shooting for 60 minutes for Episode 10 but they went over that, as running times are sometimes dictated by the edit. Fortunately, the BBC was fine with it. Chibnall was asked whether Episode 10 would be as geographically epic as 9 or more condensed as a more personal struggle. He indicated it would be both epic and personal. This is what you are always looking for in a series finale, the way the big universe-threatening story impact on the personal lives of our characters Jamie Magnus Stone directed both Episodes 9 and 10. He had previously directed Spyfall Part 1 and Praxeus. It's not entirely clear, but Episode 9 might be 1 hour based on Stone's comments about editing the 2 episodes Chibnall says the narrative shape of Series 12 only becomes clear with "The Timeless Children". There's a deliberate journey. In Spyfall Part 1, they [the Doctor and her friends] are buoyant and are having fun. Where they are left at the end of the series is an entirely different place. Chibnall won't offer up any more clues about the episode, though he does end with, as I posted previously, saying to watch this episode live or as soon as you can Also, this DWM issue has a good interview with Sacha Dhawan talking about his role as the Master and preparing for it. The issue also has two separate covers to choose from (probably at the newsstands only though), one with Jodie and one with Sacha https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2020/dw-ian-steve?ns_campaign=bbc_press_office&ns_linkname=corporate&ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter The BBC has announced that Ian McElhinney (Rogue One, The Fall, Game of Thrones) and Steve Toussaint (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Judge Dredd, The Mutant Chronicles) are set to guest in the 2-part finale

A couple or more of things I thought about regarding the episode: - If the cure was made for humans, which made sense cause Earth, what about the Zygon refugees? It also wasn't clear if the cure would fix the birds - What I missed in this episode were news reports on what was happening as well as some mention (from the news or our characters) of how various countries and their governments were responding to what seemed to be a growing global crisis. All we got was a report on the missing astronaut. Other than our characters saying so, there didn't seem to be a bigger sense of bad things happening around the world - Why didn't Suki's people at least get a name?

Even more promo pics What appears to be all the images released at this point https://cultbox.co.uk/news/doctor-who-can-you-hear-me-new-images

Just to point out. In regards to Series 13, it’s possible Brad’s fans were confused or Brad was talking about something else or joshing with them and that any “secret Series 13 filming” is a misunderstanding. I’ve seen speculation that the delay in filming is due to casting for 1 or more new companions and when that’s complete, they will announce them along with the start of filming. There’s also speculation that the show will wait to make those announcements until this season is over in early March On a tangential note, Jodie and Chibnall will be attending the BBC Studios Showcase in mid February to talk about the show https://cultbox.co.uk/news/chris-chibnall-and-jodie-whittaker-to-participate-in-doctor-who-event-at-bbc-studios-showcase https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000fjf1 The BBC has a synopsis up for Episode 8, "The Haunting of Villa Diodati" ‘Nobody mention Frankenstein. Nobody interfere. Nobody snog Byron.’ Should be easy, right? The Doctor and her gang arrive at the Villa Diodati at Lake Geneva in 1816 on the night that inspired Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The plan is to spend the evening soaking up the atmos in the presence of some literary greats, but the ghosts are all too real, and the Doctor is forced into a decision of earth-shattering proportions. From Doctor Who Magazine as reported by others: Episode 9, Part 1 of the 2-part season finale, is titled “Ascension of the Cybermen”. Per Chibnall: “Ascension is set at the end of the great cyber war. This is a conflict that's reduced both the Cybermen and humanity to barely anything. It's the last remnants of the Cybermen against the last refugees of humanity in this corner of the universe." Episode 10, Part 2 of the 2-part season finale, is titled “The Timeless Children” and will be 65 minutes Chibnall reportedly said that viewers should make sure to watch Episode 10 live or as soon as they can I’m digging it

I think some episodes need to be longer, but I feel a full 2 parter would be overkill for most of them as one or the other episode would end up with too much padding. It’s too bad the BBC can’t so easily just let the show have an extra 10 to 15 minutes whenever the showrunner wants it. I’m not sure this episode would have benefited much because more than a few people didn’t like it in the first place and it might have been more plodding in parts

I watched this again tonight and it played better for me than it did on Sunday. Still not great and not a favorite, but it was reasonably good and entertaining. It just had the misfortune of being a non arc good episode coming after a hugely entertaining arc episode. Lots of character stuff to like, especially the team split up and investigating things and Yaz taking a risk investigating the teleport

https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/doctor-who-battle-entire-army-21430923 Per the Mirror (by a Who-friendly writer), the Doctor and the team will battle an entire army of Cybermen in an epic 2 part season finale, according to showrunner Chibnall. Chibnall reveals that Julie Graham (she was Ruby in the Sarah Jane Adventures spin-off series) will play an all-action hero. Chibnall says the finale will be as epic and emotional as the 2-part premiere

I think it would help if we had only 2 companions vs 3. It sort of worked in Series 11 as Graham and Ryan had a character storyline of mourning Grace and getting to know each other, plus you had Yaz to help with stuff. Now that they are done with that, Yaz seems to be getting some attention (though not enough) and Graham is getting the short end of the stick. I think getting the companions to do some tasks away from the Doctor would still work fine (like in the recent Praxeus) if there's one less companion, and the remaining two would get more to do

As I said in the Spyfall Part 1 thread, the 28-day numbers are in. The numbers quoted are for 7 days. The 28-day numbers for Part 2 were 6.69 million

^These numbers were for the 7-days. The 28-days numbers have come in for Part 1 and 2 and Part 1 got 7.40 million after 28 days

https://cultbox.co.uk/news/doctor-who-series-12-eighth-episode-titled-the-haunting-of-villa-diodati#disqus_thread Per Cultbox, Episode 8 is titled “The Haunting Of Villa Diodati” and features Mary Shelley. It’s cowritten by Maxine Alderton and Chris Chibnall. Rumors say it involves one or more Cybermen https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2020-02-04/doctor-who-mary-shelley-episode/ Chibnall talks more about the Mary Shelley episode (#8), on the night in 1816 where Shelley writes "Frankenstein", including casting age-appropriate actors to play the characters (Shelley, Lord Byron and Percy Shelley) given Mary Shelley was only 18 at the time. He refused to confirm if a Cyberman was in the episode, only saying there's a ghost story Just to note, there seems to some signs there might be some secret filming on Series 13 going on now. Bradley Walsh reportedly told some fans he had recently done some filming for the series in Barry Island Wales and then told them he shouldn't have said that and to pretend they didn't hear it. So no idea what's going on at the moment. There's also the possibility that they might be starting late to accommodate Tosin filming his AMC series, or they might be starting without much of a break from the previous filming to allow him time to film his series afterwards. No idea at the moment what's exactly true

Regarding Series 13, someone at Gallifrey Base is saying show producer Nikki Wilson said they will be starting filming in early Summer (which month is considered early Summer for the UK?). Someone said somewhere else a month or two ago that Jodie maybe said May during some Q&A or interview