11th Doctor
Night and the Doctor
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Executive Producers
Steven Moffat
Piers Wenger
Beth Willis

Producer
Marcus Wilson

Written by Steven Moffat [1-4] and Tom MacRae [5]
Directed by Richard Senior [1-4]
Incidental Music by Murray Gold

Matt Smith (The Doctor) [1-4], Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) [1-2], Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams) [1], Alex Kingston (River Song) [3-4], James Corden (Craig Owens) [5], Daisy Haggard (Sophie) [5].


What does the Doctor do at night when his companions are asleep?

Notes:
  • Night and the Doctor is a series of five made-for-DVD mini-episodes of Doctor Who released as bonus features in the Complete Sixth Series DVD and Blu-ray box sets. Four of them are thematically linked and take place in the console room of the TARDIS while the fifth one precedes the events of the episode Closing Time, and does not feature the Doctor or any regular companions.
 
  
 
 
Bad Night
(drn:3'39")

The phone rings in the TARDIS control room. Amy, in her night dress and dressing gown, answers it and finds she is talking to the Prince of Wales. He wants to speak to his mother. As she talks a fly buzzes round her and she squashes it with a rolled up newspaper. The Doctor enters, carrying a goldfish in a glass bowl. He tells her never to answer the phone, and then takes it from her. He assures the prince that his mother is well.

A second call comes in and the Doctor switches lines to talk to an Ambassador. He tells this caller that the Warrior Chieftain is safe in the TARDIS and will be released when the Queen is turned back into a human. The Doctor and Amy gaze meaningfully at the goldfish. Then the Doctor sees the squashed fly, puts the Ambassador on hold and asks Amy what she has done. She says that she thought it was just a fly.

She deflects this by asking him where he has been. As he is wearing top hat and tails she assumes he has been at a party with River Song and asks him if this is what he does at night. She then changes tack and tells him she couldn't sleep because she needs to tell him something. The Doctor shouts for Rory because Amy is "having an emotion." She is appalled that the Doctor and Rory pass her over, one to another, when she has something serious to say. At this point the Doctor gives a cry of despair and opens the TARDIS door. He shouts out to River that they have brought the wrong goldfish. As he leaves the TARDIS he tells Rory and Amy that he has three hours to save the Commonwealth. Amy asks him what happens in three hours and he tells her that this is when the pet shops open.

Good Night
(drn:4'51")

The Doctor enters the TARDIS, wearing a tuxedo and carrying a euphonium. He calls out to River that Marilyn is too late and will have to use the biplane. Amy is sitting on the steps in her dressing gown, waiting for him. She asks if he does this sort of thing every night. He tells her that he has extra adventures while she is sleeping. He says that he has just helped out a possessed orchestra on a moon base, written a history of the universe in jokes, prevented two supernovas and done some locum work at an understaffed practice in Brixton.

Amy comments that his companions are just tiny parts of his life. He replies that they are all he ever remembers. She tells him that she is troubled; she remembers the time before he restored the universe and at the same time she can remember how life should have been - there are two conflicting sets of memories in her head. He says that this is true for everyone. Anyone who has memories of parties or holidays that they were never at is feeling the effects of time being rewritten. To prove his point he connects Amy to the TARDIS telepathic circuits and tells her that her saddest ever memory was at a fairground in 1994. She says that dropping an ice cream cannot be her saddest memory. The TARDIS lands and the Doctor asks her what happened after she dropped the ice cream. Amy recalls being bought a new ice cream by a red haired woman wearing a night dress.

He opens the door of the TARDIS and tells her to go and buy them both ice creams. He adds that he gets scared on ghost trains and wonders if it will be alright if he holds her hand.

First Night
(drn:2'16")

River is on the first night of 12,000 consecutive life sentences in the Storm Cage. The TARDIS lands in her cell and she enters. There is a dress hanging on the console and the Doctor is wearing a tuxedo. He tells her he is taking her to Calderon Beta and she needs to put on the dress. He tells her that she has to put all of their adventures together into her diary so that they can synchronise their lives. She says that being in prison means there won't be any adventures but he tells her that she could walk out whenever she chooses. As she goes off to get changed he hears laser fire at the door. He opens it and River falls in, saying that she knew he would come back because he is a nostalgic idiot. She passes out in his arms.

Last Night
(drn:3'35")

The doctor realises that River is pretending to not breathe. She opens her eyes and says that she was being shot at by Sontarans for asking if they were on a hen night. Noticing the dress she asks if he has brought somebody else and says that she remembers him bringing someone else the last time they were here. He tries to explain that it is the same night but she storms off into the TARDIS.

The first River pops back and asks who he was talking to. He tells her he was talking to himself. As she goes back to get changed the second River asks the same question. She gets the same answer and walks out exactly as a third River comes in through the TARDIS door. She sees the dress (identical to the one she is wearing) still on the console and asks who is there. He tells her to go back out and check that the light on top of the TARDIS is still working. Puzzled, she does so. As she goes out the second River comes in. The Doctor fits her with a time bracelet and sends her back to Storm Cage.

The third River re-enters, followed by a second version of the Doctor wearing top hat and tails. He tells her that she has got into the wrong TARDIS. River is intrigued by the prospect of two Doctors but he ushers her out. She says that they are going to the Singing Towers of Darillium. The two Doctors reflect that the first time they met River, in the library, she said that the last time she had seen him was at Darillium. As the second version of the Doctor leaves, the first River comes in. She wonders what the other one was doing there but the Doctor tells her, "Spoilers." She says that he will be the death of her. He is left pondering this statement.

Up All Night
(drn:2'00")

 

Source: Mark Senior
 
   
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