Season 49 (Doctor Who)

Season 49 - 2014-15
Doctor	Fourteenth Doctor
Companion(s)	Erin Stevenson Hogan Cox
Key Crew
Showrunner(s)	Ronald D. Moore Jane Espenson
Executive Producer(s)	Ronald D. Moore Jane Espenson Ken MacQuarrie Ira Steven Behr
Producer(s)	Nikki Wilson Brian Minchin Derek Ritchie
Co-Executive Producers	Toni Graphia Bradley Thompson David Weddle Nicholas Briggs Matthew B. Roberts Toby Whithouse
Series Details
Start Date	20 September 2014
End Date	14 March 2015
Premier Network	BBC One
Format	16x60 minutes
← Previous	Season 48 (Doctor Who)
Next →	Season 50 (Doctor Who)

The following article is written from an Out of Universe perspective.

Season 49 of Doctor Who premiered in Autumn of 2014. The season was the first of Chapter Four, and was considered within the production as Season 1 of a brand new show.

Ronald D. Moore and Jane Espenson took over as joint-showrunners, whilst Samantha Bond joined as the Fourteenth Doctor after making her full debut in Doctor Who: Genesis. Montserrat Lombard also joined the show as, new companion, Erin Stevenson.

The season was the first to be split into two parts, with the first half airing from the Autumn of 2014 and the second airing from the Spring of 2015.

Overview

A Female Doctor

The Fourteenth Doctor was the first, in the show's history, to be played by a woman. Before Samantha Bond, however, the idea of a female Doctor had been explored.

The idea that a female actor could take the role of the Doctor was first publicly introduced by John Nathan-Turner and Tom Baker in 1980. By Baker's suggestion, he told the press, "I certainly wish my successor luck, whoever he—or she—might be." Peter Davison was cast as the Fifth Doctor, but the idea remained alive.

The Ninth Doctor stated that he could end up as anyone "man, woman, child or even a decrepit old codger..." (DW: The Chimes of Midnight).

Setting the Scene

In 2011, Christopher Biggins' character on Panopticon, Francis, regenerated into a female incarnation, refereed to as Frances (PAN: The Rules of the Game). This was a controversial move at the time, but the fact that it was successful, certainly opened the gates for the Doctor Who production team to make the Doctor a woman.

As part of the Doctor's resurrection, Phaedra is revealed to be an alternate universe version of the Doctor's consciousness after ascension, who herself is in female form (PAN: Put Your Dreams Away). This can be seen to provide somewhat of an in-universe explanation for a female Doctor.

The New Companion

The Doctor's latest companion was to be Erin Stevenson, played by Montserrat Lombard. She was devised by Moore and Espenson to be a departure from many previous companions, not only being from not just the past, but the recent past but also being an 'out and out' rebel, initially a punk rocker.

With Erin, Moore and Espenson decided would come a family life too. Susannah Harker and Trevor Cooper were cast as her parents, and William Moseley was cast as her boyfriend, Kyle Stevenson.

Changes in Production

New Executive Producers and Showrunners, Ronald D. Moore and Jane Espenson, took over for this season, after running Panopticon since its fourth season. In addition, Ken MacQuarrie, came on as an Executive Producer, replacing Faith Penhale. Ira Steven Behr, stayed on for his last season as Executive Producer and Franchise Executive, smoothing over the production from Chapter Three to Chapter Four.

Production for this season moved from Wales to Scotland, being produced by BBC Scotland. Moore’s reasoning was that for the stories he wanted to tell, he wanted the plethora of locations that Scotland could offer, and while Wales did offer locations of a similar degree, most had been exhausted by 2014, due to Doctor Who using them before. However, despite mainly being production in Scotland, other locations for this season would include, London, Germany, and the US (filming with the CBS crew).

Other Notable Changes

Title Sequence

As is standard practice at the beginning of a new era of the show, this season featured a brand-new title sequence. It included a vast array of clips from across the season, with credits running over the top, for the first time in a Doctor Who title sequence, the wider ‘above the line’ production crew would be credited, and due to standard BBC rules everyone, but cast, who are credited in the opening titles should not be also credited in the closing titles. In addition, the top 3 billed Guest Stars from each episode would be given a short credit in the opening titles after the principal cast. 

Theme Music

To go along with the new titles, a new theme tune arrangement was commissioned. It was arranged by new in-house composer, Bear McCreary, which takes a bold new take on the iconic theme giving us a fresh interpretation, including the removal of the iconic sting and replacing it with a new drum roll.

Logo

As the season was the first of Chapter Four, Moore, Espenson and Behr decided to discard with the previous logo used between 2003 and 2013, opting to commission a new specially designed logo for the season and Chapter Four as a whole. The new logo was designed by Red Bee Media, and was a lot thinner and streamlined than the previous logo.

Broadcast

The season would be broadcast into two parts, Part one would air from September to November, 2014. And part two would air from January to March, 2015.

Cast

Regular

• The Doctor - Samantha Bond
• Erin Stevenson - Montserrat Lombard
• Hogan Cox - Bernard Cribbins

Recurring

• Danielle Stevenson - Susannah Harker
• Roger Stevenson - Trevor Cooper
• Kyle Harrison - William Moseley
• Caitrin Ryan - Gillian Anderson
• Amanda Theodore - T'Nia Miller
• The Governor - David Warner
• The Master - Jason Issacs
• Gemma Legato - Emer Kenny

Guest

• Mary, Queen of Scots - Nell Hudson
• Bastian Pagez - Stanley Weber
• Earl of Bothwell - James Marsters
• Dr Edward Carter - Simon Callow
• Penelope Carter - Alexandra Moen
• Uncle Reg - David Ryall
• Sergeant Wilson - Bradley Gardner
• Colonel Lafayette - Julian Dutton
• Private Maynard - Ian Hallard
• Arunzell - Samuel Oatley
• Captain Maion - Chris Stanton
• Kazie Boiell - Maureen Lipman
• Suzie Q - Lucie Jones
• Commentator - Graham Norton
• Fenton - Christopher Fairbank
• PC Forrest - Jessica Hayles
• Obergruppenführer Sennheiser - Ben Miller
• Sofia Lukas - Rosie Day
• Karl Lukas - Rory Kinnear
• Tasker - Justin Sallinger
• Dahh-Ren - Peter Caulfield
• Gouildeir - Shane Gately
• Enrico Amid - Ameet Chana
• Florence Nightingale - Emily Speed
• Anderson - Ifan Meredith
• Adelaide Brook - Lindsay Duncan
• Ed Gold - Peter O'Brien
• Yuri Kerenski - Aleksandar Mikic
• Mia Bennett - Gemma Chan

Television Stories

Main Season

#	Title	Writer	Director	Air Date
Part One
1	God Save the Queen	Ronald D. Moore	John Dahl	20 September 2014
2	The Darnley Conspiracy	Toni Graphia	Metin Hüseyin	27 September 2014
3	At the Tip of Your Fingers	David Weddle & Bradley Thompson	Richard Clark	4 October 2014
4	Tomahawk	Nicholas Briggs	Douglas Mackinnon	11 October 2014
5	The Food of Love	Simon Guerrier	John Dahl	18 October 2014
6	Flatline	Jamie Mathieson	Douglas Mackinnon	25 October 2014
7	Fire and Fury	Jacqueline Rayner	Metin Hüseyin	1 November 2014
8	Those Who Lead, Part I	Jane Espenson & Jamie Mathieson	Rachel Talalay	8 November 2014
Part Two
9	Those Who Lead, Part II	Jane Espenson	Rachel Talalay	24 January 2015
10	The Lady with the Lamp	Toby Whithouse	Metin Hüseyin	31 January 2015
11	One Giant Leap	Matthew B. Roberts	Richard Clark	7 February 2015
12	The Waters of Mars	Phil Ford	Euros Lyn	14 February 2015
13	Queen of Nine	Toni Graphia	Metin Hüseyin	21 February 2015
14	Remnants	Ira Steven Behr	Nick Hurran	28 February 2015
15	Destiny of the Gaians, Part I	Ronald D. Moore	Rachel Talalay	7 March 2015
16	Destiny of the Gaians, Part II			14 March 2015

Mini-Episode

Title	Writer	Director	Air Date
I Don't Want Tomorrow	Simon Guerrier	Kurt Pongratz	23 May 2015

Production

Crew

To be added.

Shooting Blocks

Block	Episodes	Director	Producer	DOP	Editor
1	1.03, 1.01, 1.05	Richard Clark / John Dahl	Nikki Wilson	Owen McPolin / Nic Morris	Peter H Oliver / Phil Hookway
2	1.02, 1.07, 1.10, 1.13	Metin Hüseyin	Brian Minchin	Edward J. Pei	Christopher Cooke
3	1.04, 1.06	Douglas Mackinnon		David Higgs	Peter H Oliver
4	1.08, 1.09, 1.15, 1.16	Rachel Talalay	Nikki Wilson	Stuart Biddlecombe	Will Oswald
5	1.12	Euros Lyn	Derek Ritchie	Rory Taylor
6	1.11, 1.14	Richard Clark / Nick Hurran		Owen McPolin	Christopher Cooke

Filming

To be added.

Aliens and Enemies

• Raston Assassin Robot
• Earl of Bothwell
• Dr Edward Carter
• J’taria
• Sky Heads
• Mind Leaches
• Lava Spiders
• Arunzell
• The Carrionites
• The Boneless
• The Nazis
• Obergruppenführer Sennheiser
• The Gaians
  • Smart Suits
  • Human Corpses
• The Governor
• The Yarra
• The Drahvins
• The Flood
• Lady Matilda
• Queen Mary
• The Master

Viewing Figures

No.	Title	Official BARB Figures (7-day)
		Consolidated (m)	Weekly Rank
1	God Save the Queen	10.54	1
2	The Darnley Conspiracy	9.14	2
3	At the Tip of Your Fingers	9.04	4
4	Tomahawk	8.86	4
5	The Food of Love	8.41	3
6	Flatline	8.22	4
7	Fire and Fury	7.97	6
8	Those Who Lead, Part I	7.51	10
9	Those Who Lead, Part II	8.92	3
10	The Lady with the Lamp	8.10	6
11	One Giant Leap	7.33	13
12	The Waters of Mars	8.41	4
13	Queen of Nine	7.84	10
14	Remnants	8.09	6
15	Destiny of the Gaians, Part I	8.78	2
16	Destiny of the Gaians, Part II	9.95	1
Series Average		8.569

Home Media

 Physical Media

Title and Episodes included	Cover	Format	Number and duration of episodes	Release Date
Doctor Who - Season 49: Part One God Save the Queen/The Darnley Conspiracy/At the Tip of Your Fingers/Tomahawk/The Food of Love/Flatline/Fire and Fury/Those Who Lead, Part I	TBA	DVD/Blu-Ray	8x60 minutes	24 November 2014
Doctor Who - Season 49: Part Two Those Who Lead, Part II/The Lady with the Lamp/One Giant Leap/The Waters of Mars/Queen of Nine/Remnants/Destiny of the Gaians	TBA	DVD/Blu-Ray	8x60 minutes	27 April 2015
Doctor Who: The Complete Season 49 God Save the Queen/The Darnley Conspiracy/At the Tip of Your Fingers/Tomahawk/The Food of Love/Flatline/Fire and Fury/Those Who Lead/The Lady with the Lamp/One Giant Leap/The Waters of Mars/Queen of Nine/Remnants/Destiny of the Gaians	File:Doctor Who SEASON 49 DVD normal Cover.png	DVD/Blu-Ray	16x60 minutes	13 July 2015
Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 49 God Save the Queen/The Darnley Conspiracy/At the Tip of Your Fingers/Tomahawk/The Food of Love/Flatline/Fire and Fury/Those Who Lead/The Lady with the Lamp/One Giant Leap/The Waters of Mars/Queen of Nine/Remnants/Destiny of the Gaians	TBA	Blu-Ray	16x60 minutes	TBA

Download/Streaming

Country	Netflix	Amazon Video	Google Play	iTunes	Britbox	BBC iPlayer
United Kingdom	✓	✓	✓	-	-	✓
United States	✓	✓	✓	✓	-	-
Canada	-	✓	✓	✓	-	-
Ireland	✓	-	✓	✓	-	-
Australia	-	-	✓	✓	-	-

BBC Player is only available in the UK. iTunes only carry Doctor Who in the US, Canada, Ireland and Australia. Amazon Video can stream Doctor Who through BritBox in the US, and holds it as a paid series in all other countries, but Australia where it's included with Prime.