Spoilers or Hints? Series 9 Previewed in Radio Times

Philip Bates is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

The Radio Times’ preview of Series 9 is in-depth, teasing, and wonderful – as good as previous years, that’s for sure.

If you’ve not picked it up, we won’t spoil it too much – but let’s take a look at some of the quotes from each episode and mill over exactly what they could mean. Of course, we might be hugely wrong and people might kick off and there may be riots in the street and calls for the Prime Minister’s resignation… but that’s something we’ll just have to deal with.

The Magician’s Apprentice

“What’s a confession dial?”

“In your terms, a will. This is the last will and testament of the Time Lord known as the Doctor.”

Yep, this is the bit we’ve seen on the trailer, but interesting that the Time Lords call it a confession dial. Colour us intrigued.

What do we think he’ll be confessing? Showrunner, Steven Moffat further teases that it might just be why he originally left Gallifrey, all those years ago…

The Witch’s Familiar

“The Doctor is trapped. He’s a prisoner of the creatures who hate him most in the universe. Between us and him is everything the greatest warrior race in history can throw at us. We, on the other hand, have a pointy stick.”

And now we’re getting into some details! Minor spoilers ahead, guys and gals!

The Doctor, it seems, is trapped on Skaro – without his TARDIS, without his sonic screwdriver, and without Clara Oswald. Moffat also teased: “He’s more relaxed about certain things, more relaxed about his relationship with Clara… So, now that he’s acknowledged that, he’s more relaxed. And he’s no longer worrying about whether he’s supposed to be a good man or whatever. He’s just an idiot with a box and he’s trying to have as much fun as possible. Still in his grumpy, unsociable way.”

But surrounded by Daleks, we don’t think the good Doctor will be too relaxed.

Under the Lake

“It’s impossible! It’s evil! I hate it! It’s astonishing! I want to KISS IT TO DEATH.”

This was a quote that shocked many fans when it accompanied the Series 9 preview trailer. Perhaps the Doctor is talking of the rumoured Fisher King, a being that writer Toby Whithouse describes as having overcome the usual limitation of the universe: death.

Before The Flood

“Doctor. Hello. Can I just say: huge fan.”

I think this could be the Doctor actually praising the monster, not anyone appreciating the Time Lord. It depends how you stress it, really.

Set in an underground base and surrounded by ghosts – well, okay, the Doctor says they’re not ghosts, but they’re certainly apparitions of some description – the two-parter is set to be a scary one.

The Girl Who Died

“There’s going to be a war tomorrow. And here’s some news, this just in – we are going to win the hell out it!”

Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones), it sounds, plays Ashildr, a young girl who decides to declare war on the Mire, which Moffat describes as the “deadliest mercenaries in the galaxy, famed fro being unstoppable and without mercy.”

In a small Viking village, the Doctor and Clara must turn a few peaceful farmers into warriors. Somewhat reminiscent of The Daleks, no…?

The Woman Who Lived

“Ninja, nun, surgeon, scientist, composer, inventor… it’s a fantastic CV.”

Written by Catherine Tregenna (Torchwood), and directed by Poldark‘s Ed Bazalgette, this is the second of two linked stories, both with Maisie Williams in.

You have to wonder whose CV that is. The Doctor’s – ?

The Zygon Invasion

“Operation Double is a covert operation, outside of normal UNIT strictures, to resettle and rehouse an alien race, in secrecy, on planet Earth.”

Ah, so this is what deal was on the table in The Day of the Doctor (2013)! The Zygons return – twenty million of them. They’re in amongst us, peaceful and undetectable. Who can you trust?

Actually, can you trust UNIT’s Scientific Advisor, Osgood? She’s supposed to be dead.

The Zygon Inversion

“Humans cannot accept us the way we really are. If we cannot hide, we must fight. You’re going to be the first. You’re going to be the first to make the humans see.”

There are echoes of The Rebel Flesh/ The Almost People in this quote, don’t you think? That “us and them” idea?

It does seem a great notion to be explored again, this time by Kill the Moon scribe, Peter Harness, especially with the shape-changing Zygons involved. Once more, a Flesh quote comes to mind: “Who are the real monsters?”

Sleep No More

Ooh, no quote for this Mark Gatiss-penned episode. Just this:

“This is footage collected from a space rescue mission. If you value your life, your sanity, and the future of your species, DO NOT WATCH IT.”

Filmed last, there’s a lot of mystery about this episode, particularly as we’ve never had a ‘found footage’ story before.

Face The Raven

“There have always been rumours. Stories passed from traveller to traveller, mutterings about hidden streets, secret pockets of alien life right here on Earth.”

Written by Sarah Dollard, Joivan Wade reprises his role as Rigsy from last year’s hit story, Flatline. A secret alien world is folded into our reality, and the Doctor, Clara, and Rigsy must come face to face with the mysterious raven. Moffat promises that “not all of them will get out alive.”

Could this be the episode Jenna Coleman leaves…?

Heaven Sent

“When, at last, you rise to go, there will be another shadow next to yours. And your life will then be over.”

Director, Rachel Talalay returns for this series’ finale, just as she helmed last year’s Dark Water/ Death in Heaven. Might the ‘Heaven’ be a further reference to Missy’s Promised Land, aka the Nethersphere?

Very little is known – is Michelle Gomez even in this one?! – so please do speculate away.

Hell Bent

“Is it a sad song?”

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

“What’s it called?”

“I think it’s called Clara.”

“Tell me about her.”

Well, if Face the Raven isn’t Clara’s swansong, this one likely is.

The Doctor’s confession might just be this year’s arc, teased in The Magician’s Apprentice and this Series 9 finale. Moffat further hints: “If you took everything from him, and betrayed him, and broke both his hearts… how far might the Doctor go?”

How far might Steven Moffat go, in fact? He says there’s a fine line to tread:

“You have to treat the show like you own it. I don’t just mean me – I mean every writer, every director and every actor that comes onto this show. I’m always saying, ‘It’s not a fancy heirloom. You’re not carrying this carefully to the next room. You’ve got to engage with it like you own it, otherwise it’s not a TV show, it’s a perfectly tended mausoleum.’ At the same time I actually feel quite strongly that there is only so far you can go. Secret incarnation of the Doctor? That’s the one that gave me an anxiety attack! The moment I pitched it, everyone else involved in the show immediately leapt up and down and said, “This is great! You can do this! This is the thing that can make the 50th special!” And I was the one going, “Oh no! I’m changing the numbering! What are we going to do? What if someone’s got tattoos with numbers on them of all the Doctors? What’s going to happen to them?” [laughs]. I sweated blood over that one!”

We don’t know what’s coming, but one things for certain: Doctor Who is back and we can’t wait for the next twelve weeks to unfold.

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