You may wish to consult Series 8 for other, similarly-named pages.

Series 8 of Doctor Who ran between 23 August 2014 and 8 November 2014. It starred Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor and Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald. The series opened with Deep Breath and concluded with Death in Heaven.

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Overview Edit

It consisted of eleven stories and twelve episodes. The series saw the debut of Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor. Capaldi was announced in a live television special, Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor, on 4 August 2013.[1] The previous Doctor, Matt Smith, announced he was leaving on 1 June of the same year.[2]

Filming began on 6 January 2014,[3] and ended on 7 August of the same year.[4] Series 8 was the first series since series 5 in 2010 to be broadcast straight with no series split halfway through it, and the first series of the revival not to consist of 13 episodes (excluding Christmas and other specials), instead running for 12.

The new Doctor was joined by Series 7, Part 2's companion, Clara Oswald, as played by Jenna Coleman, in her first full series.[5]

Samuel Anderson joined the cast as a new recurring character, Danny Pink, a fellow teacher at Coal Hill School.[6] Although initially reported by media as being a new companion for the Doctor, in fact the character never actually took on an official companion role during the course of the season.

The Paternoster Gang returned,[7][8] each using a sonic device designed in a Blue Peter competition in the series.[9] Kate Stewart, Osgood[10] and UNIT also appeared.[11]

This series also saw the return of the Master, now in a female incarnation known as Missy, played by Michelle Gomez, which was the first time a Time Lord had been portrayed in two distinct genders. The overarching story elements revolve around characters who have died in the episode being greeted to 'Heaven,' by Missy, where the heaven is revealed to be a data cloud to store the minds of the deceased, as Missy upgrades the bodies into Cybermen before manipulating the minds to delete their emotions and put them into their old cyber-upgraded bodies as an army. This is a plan to lure the Doctor into a trap so she can get her 'friend back.'

Cast Edit

Recurring Edit

Guest Edit

Production Edit

Brian Minchin, the new producer of the series, explained in the July 2013 issue of Doctor Who Magazine that "I have just spent a very happy few days meeting some scarily clever writers, and we have an incredible set of stories to work on. More adventures ahead!". In a May 2013 interview, Steven Moffat claimed that "the next season is plotted out."[12]

The first read-through for series 8 was held on 17 December 2013.[13] This was an unusually long lead time, as actual filming for the first episodes of series 8 did not commence until 6 January 2014, with Capaldi filming his first scenes the next day. In a break from what was done with Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and Matt Smith and several Classic era Doctors, the first episode filmed by Capaldi was also to be the first episode to be broadcast.[14]

Crew Edit

Producers Edit

Series 8 was co-executive produced by Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin. (DWM 460) Series 7's producer, Caroline Skinner, officially stepped down on 13 March 2013, [15] and Minchin was announced as her replacement on 30 April. [16]

Producer Marcus Wilson stepped down following production of The Time of the Doctor. His role was filled by former producers Nikki Wilson and Peter Bennett.[17]

Writers Edit

Steven Moffat penned both the series opener, episode 4, and the two-part series finale, as well as co-writing on episodes 2, 5 and 6. Phil Ford wrote episode 2, Mark Gatiss wrote episode 3, Steve Thompson's script is for episode 5, and Gareth Roberts wrote episode 6 of the series. Three new writers joined the series: Peter Harness (episode 7), Jamie Mathieson (episodes 8 and 9) and Frank Cottrell-Boyce (episode 10). All three of these new writers returned for further episodes, in later series.

Directors Edit

Ben Wheatley directed episodes one and two. Paul Murphy directed episodes 3 and 6, Douglas Mackinnon directed episodes 4, 5 and 9, Paul Wilmshurst directed episodes 7 and 8, Sheree Folkson directed episode 10 and Rachel Talalay directed the two-part finale.

Television stories Edit

Episode notes Edit

Aliens and enemies Edit

Stories set during this series Edit

Novels Edit

Comic books Edit

Four Doctors (before Dark Water )

(before ) The Fractures (before Dark Water)

Adaptations and merchandising Edit

Home media Edit

DVD / Blu-ray Edit

Notes Edit