The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine (#493) contains some new details on the final four episodes of Series 9. Below are some highlights.

Note: As ever spoilerphobes read on at your own discretion…

Sleep No More

Spoiler: show

In a nutshell: The thirty-eighth century: a time of unparalleled prosperity. A golden age of peace, harmony, and industry. But every shift must come to an end. Every working day must stop. Sleep claims us in the end… Until now! “Welcome Morpheus!” Quote Unquote: THE DOCTOR: “Sleep is essential to every sentient thing in the universe. But to humans – greedy, filthy, stupid humans – it’s an inconvenience to be bartered away! Now we know the truth. Sleep isn’t just a function; it’s blessed. Every night we dive deep into that inky pool, deep into the arms of Morpheus. Every morning we wake up and wipe the sleep from our eyes. And that keeps us safe from the monsters inside…”

Face the Raven

Spoiler: show

In a nutshell: Clara probably never expected her friend Rigsy to need the emergency TARDIS phone number she gave him after they defeated the Boneless in Bristol. Yet today he’s in big trouble, sentenced to die for a murder he can’t remember committing. The Doctor and Clara’s campaign to exonerate Rigsy leads them to a secret London street where alien refugees hide in plain sight. Once they gain access, they’ll learn the terrible answers to various questions. Such as: what is a chronolock? And what exactly does it mean to face the raven? Quote Unquote: “If you see something unusual or notable, dismiss it. Keep walking. But if there’s a bit of London so unremarkable that you don’t even think about it? Stop. You could very well be standing right outside a trap street.” Other bits: Rigsy has just 537 minutes to live, with a tattoo on his back counting down, when the countdown hits zero he will face the raven

The Doctor has to prove Rigsy didn’t commit a murder

The story came from the concept of a Trap Street (and that was the original episode title). The Doctor, Clara and Rigsy are searching for it

The trap street here is an alien refugee camp

Alongside the return of Ashildr (Maisie Williams), the Judoon will also reappear

There is a “huge shock, something absolutely massive” and something you don’t want ruined

Heaven Sent / Hell Bent

Spoiler: show

In a nutshell: Long before the Time War, the Time Lords knew it was coming. Like a storm on the wind. There were many prophecies and stories. Legends before the fact. One of them was about a creature called the Hybrid: half Dalek, half Time Lord. The ultimate warrior. But whose side would it be on? Would it bring peace, or destruction? Was it real, or a fantasy? “I confess: I know the Hybrid is real,” the Doctor proclaims. “I know where it is, and what it is. I confess: I am afraid.” Quote Unquote: CLARA: “Is it a sad song?”

THE DOCTOR: “Nothing’s sad till it’s over. Then everything is.”

CLARA: “What’s it called?”

THE DOCTOR: “I think it’s called Clara.” Other bits: The two episodes are very different. Episode 11 is essentially one 45-minute monologue with the Doctor

Moffat wondered “How do you break the Doctor” Would he still be a hero without witness and reward? “It’s putting the Doctor alone in hell”

There’s a scene where the Doctor imagines a TARDIS in his head and tries to explain what’s really going on

11 was meant to be a money saving episode but it didn’t quite work that way. It takes place in a “rotating mechanical castle full of visual effects”

Capaldi says there’s a “sadness, a romance, and tragedy” to episode 12

Episode 12 begins “very much like a Western”

Ohila and the Sisterhood of Karn are back, Moffat sees Ohila as the Doctor’s mother figure

Director Rachel Talalay says Moffat has layered in a lot of things throughout the series which you never thought were important – “You have no clue what the series arc is, or how Clara leaves”

The finale is the fallout of Clara sort of becoming the Doctor.

Moffat thinks if the Doctor found Gallifrey he’d run away again. He thinks Clara is the same with Earth now. She has lost her “sense of home”

DWM hints that Moffat may have changed something in the mythology, something Moffat was quite nervous about doing

Episode 11 pushes the Doctor to the brink of madness, Ep 12 is what happens next “if the Doctor has lost his moral compass, if you got him really angry and gave him nothing to fight for – an angry, off the rails Doctor”

Be sure to read the full in-depth previews in the new issue of Doctor Who Magazine, out Thursday.