More Details on Episodes 5-8 of Series 9

In a nutshell:

After a thrilling adventure in space, the Doctor and Clara come down to Earth with a bump when they’re captured by a posse of village-dwelling, Odin-worshipping Vikings. They then stand their ground in the face of an impending attack from the galaxy’s deadliest mercenaries. The odds are overwhelmingly against our heroes, since their only allies in this war are the galaxy’s least battle-ready Vikings and a barrel of eels…

Quote Unquote:

THE DOCTOR: “Now, I’m not going to lie to you. We are facing a force with vastly superior weaponry, training, armour, posture and personal hygiene. But we have a secret weapon. Think of me as… a potter. You are my clay. And over the next 24 hours I will shape this lumpen mass I see before me into a slightly differently shaped mass. Possibly a vase, or a jug, maybe a paperweight. This metaphor is derailing, forget the metaphor.”

In a nutshell:

When the Doctor tracks an alien artefact to England 1651, he clashes with a notorious highwayman known as The Knightmare. The pair discover they have a common goal and form an uneasy alliance. But you should never trust a highwayman and this one has been economical with the truth. There’s been no mention, for instance, of the fire-breathing beast which lurks in the grounds of The Knightmare’s home…

Quote Unquote:

THE KNIGHTMARE: “Step aside or I shall blow your brains out.”
THE DOCTOR: “Sorry, you’ve been talking, haven’t you? Try again, I promise to listen this time.”
THE KNIGHTMARE: “You have interrupted my robbery, sir, and you will step away, if you wish to take another breath.”
THE DOCTOR:”… Sorry, I was really planning to listen that time, but I basically didn’t.”

Other bits:

• Writer Catherine Tregenna likens it to a “buddy-buddy” movie with… fart jokes
• The Doctor gets a new gadget – the curioscanner
• The Doctor is hunting something important and comes into rivalry with highwaymen
• Treganna says Maisie Williams has to encompass a lot of layers with her character – sometimes she’ll draw your sympathy, and other times can make you feel scared and threatened by her

In a nutshell:

The fragile peace between humans and Zygons is on a knife edge. Tensions run high as factions within the Zygon community seek to incite violent action against humans. Called in by UNIT, the Doctor and Clara fight to bring the situation under control. But one question remains: where on Earth is Osgood?

Quote Unquote:

KATE: “You left us with an impossible situation, Doctor.”
THE DOCTOR: “Yeah, I know. It’s called peace.”

Other bits:

• The two-parter revisit events from The Day of the Doctor. You will see the stark reality of a Human-Zygon coalition a few years later and some difficult political themes are explored
• Harness said: “I thought that if aliens wanted to fight us and they were fighting us from a position of weakness, they would look at how we fight wars. The Zygons are not only stealing our faces, but they’re stealing the ways in which we fight each other nowadays…”
• The story has a wide scope and is set across London, New Mexico and Azerbaijan
• Osgood’s return is so key, it becomes tricky to discuss her without spoiling, but it’s not as simple as her being a Zygon
• The original title, “Invasion of the Zygons”, was down to Harness’ inspiration from the film “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”
• Guest star Rebecca Front is playing UNIT Colonel Walsh
• It has a “gob-smacking” cliffhanger