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" Death in Heaven " is the twelfth and final episode of the eighth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 8 November 2014. The episode was written by showrunner Steven Moffat and directed by Rachel Talalay.
The Doctor refuses to abandon Cass, and both are killed when the ship crashes. On the planet, the Doctor is taken in by the Sisterhood of Karn, guardians of the Flame and Elixir of Eternal Life, who revive him temporarily; Cass, however, is beyond their help.
- Overview
- Synopsis
- Plot
- Cast
- Worldbuilding
- Story notes
- Continuity
- Home video releases
was the twelfth and final episode of series 8 of Doctor Who.
It saw the demise of Danny Pink, and the death of one of the two Osgoods. It revealed that Missy had been the "woman in the shop" who gave Clara the TARDIS phone number in The Bells of Saint John and the one who had provided the advertisement that drew the Doctor and Clara together again in Deep Breath. It also allowed Doctor Who to again pay homage to the late Nicholas Courtney, with his character, the Brigadier, appearing as a Cyberman. This was the first televised Doctor Who appearance by the character since Battlefield, and effectively his first televised appearance since Courtney's death. He had appeared in audios and The Sarah Jane Adventures in the intervening time period.
With Cybermen on the streets of London, old friends unite against old enemies and the Doctor takes to the air in a startling new role.
Can the mighty UNIT contain Missy? As the Doctor faces his greatest challenge, sacrifices must be made before the day is won.
Inside the 3W facility, Clara hides behind a desk as the Cyberman that had been Dr Skarosa marches out of its tank. However, it detects her, demanding she reveal herself. Clara complies, hands raised; she tells the Cyberman that she is a target of strategic value. The Cyberman scans her and states that she is Clara Oswald, an ordinary human with no value whatsoever. Clara tells the Cyberman it's wrong, to which the Cyberman scans her again, and states she is indeed Clara Oswald. Clara insists that the Cyberman is wrong, and that the identity of "Clara Oswald" is just a story she made up. Clara states she is someone who would have to hide their identity from the Cybermen. With its interest piqued, the Cyberman demands she identifies herself. Clara then states she is the Doctor.
Outside of St Paul's Cathedral, the Doctor tries getting everyone to run away from the Cybermen, but everyone just ignores him. Missy sarcastically passes him off as a ranting madman. The Doctor is baffled; no-one is panicking at the sight of these silver monstrosities. Missy advertises the Cybermen as big metal men and charges the public one pound for a picture with them; people take selfies with passive Cybermen. Slinging an arm around the Doctor, Missy shows him pictures on her device which show that the same thing is happening globally.
When Missy states they should take a picture, an undercover Osgood offers to take a picture, seizing Missy's weapon. She calls in a strike, and UNIT officers reveal themselves from the crowd. Kate walks out of the crowd, introducing herself to the Cybermen, who dismiss her threats as insignificant as human technology cannot match Cyber-technology. With a smile, Kate tosses the empty head of a dead Faction Cyberman in front of them; they left that behind on one of their previous attempts to conquer the Earth. The Cybermen use their rocket boots to escape.
The roof of St Paul's opens and more Cybermen fly out; Kate and the Doctor attempt to count them all, but fail. Osgood guesses eighty-seven due to her OCD, but Missy reveals that there are ninety-one Cybermen. Osgood states that this is the number of areas of significant population densities in the British Isles, meaning one Cyberman for every town and city in the world. One Cyberman detonates itself above St Paul's, creating a dark cloud and deploying Cyber-pollen.
Meanwhile, in the Nethersphere, all the lights go out. Seb tells Danny that they all might be going home - the deceased will be returning to their bodies. He explains to Danny that he should think of the Nethersphere as a data-cloud for storing recently deceased minds. The good news, he says, is that their bodies have been "upgraded".
Back at St Paul's, both Missy and the Doctor are sedated and the Doctor just manages to whisper to Osgood, "Guard the graveyards" before passing out. Kate states on the phone that the "first protocol" has been implemented as the cloud made by the Cyberman starts to rain into the graveyards – and only the graveyards. The water seeps out and makes the sewers and gutters overflow. The water gets into the Chaplet Funeral Home and converts the deceased bodies within. One of these is revealed to be Danny Pink, who clutches the sheet of paper with his information on it.
•The Doctor - Peter Capaldi
•Clara - Jenna Coleman
•Danny - Samuel Anderson
•Missy - Michelle Gomez
•Seb - Chris Addison
•Osgood[note 1] - Ingrid Oliver
Locations
•Missy mentions New York, Paris, Rome, Marrakesh, Brisbane and Glasgow among the locations invaded by the Cybermen. •Danny's body was being stored at the Chaplet Funeral Home.
Technology
•Missy's bracelet is able to give the mind of someone in the Nethersphere a physical body if they use it to teleport back to the real world, serving as a means of continual resurrection.
Culture
•Missy descends from the clouds with her umbrella opened, copying the title character in Mary Poppins. •Missy does an impression of Marilyn Monroe singing "Happy Birthday, Mr President". •Missy sings a version of "Mickey", replacing "Mickey" with "Missy". •The Doctor calls the Valiant "Cloudbase". Osgood immediately says Cloudbase is from Thunderbirds, but Colonel Ahmed quickly corrects her with Captain Scarlet. In addition, the Doctor claims he and Sylvia Anderson, co-creator of both shows, shared at least one dance together. •The Doctor mocks Colonel Ahmed about being a Man Scout.
•Clara's ruse to the Cybermen of claiming to be the Doctor in the pre-opening teaser was followed by a one-off modification to the title sequence, with the eyes of the Twelfth Doctor being replaced by those of Clara's, and Jenna Coleman's name preceding that of Peter Capaldi. This is the second time any aspect of the face of someone other than the Doctor in the title sequence. The first was the 1996 TV movie, which also featured the eyes of the Bruce Master. This is also the first time where the name of the actor playing the Doctor is not the first name to appear in the title sequence•The Radio Times programme listing was accompanied by a small colour head-and-shoulders photograph of Missy holding her weapon in her outstretched hand as the Doctor looks on, with the accompanying caption "Doctor Who / 8.00 p.m. Who are you? The Doctor is disturbed by the mysterious Missy in the series finale".
•To keep the appearance of Santa Claus a surprise, Nick Frost was uncredited in Radio Times and on the BBC website.
•This is the first episode to have a mid-credits scene.
•This is the first series finale to lead directly into the following Christmas Special since Last of the Time Lords.
•This is the first reference of the term Prydonian since the 2005 revival of Doctor Who.
•The episode continues the trend of the Cybermen appearing in each series' twelfth episode ever since Steven Moffat took over as showrunner. They also appeared in The Pandorica Opens, Closing Time and Nightmare in Silver, the twelfth episodes of series 5, 6 and 7 respectively.
•Kate tells the Doctor that her father always wanted a salute from him. The Tenth Doctor gave the Brigadier a sincere salute as a farewell after they saved Upper Wardleswick from Harpies. (COMIC: The Warkeeper's Crown)
•While pondering Missy's offer of an army, the Doctor recalls asking Clara if he is a "good man", (TV: Into the Dalek) being offered a mocking salute by Danny Pink who called him "Sir", (TV: The Caretaker) being told by Rusty that his soul contained hatred, (TV: Into the Dalek) telling Robin Hood he himself was not a hero, (TV: Robot of Sherwood) and also being told by Rusty that he was a "good Dalek". (TV: Into the Dalek)
•Danny calling to Clara while she sleeps is very similar to the Tenth Doctor calling to Rose Tyler after she is trapped on a parallel Earth. (TV: Doomsday)
•Kate presents a damaged Cyberman headpiece to the Cybermen who emerged from St. Paul's Cathedral - a token from a previous attempt at invading Earth. (TV: The Invasion) The Ninth Doctor encountered the same model of Cyberman headpiece as an exhibit in Henry van Statten's museum. (TV: Dalek)
•Missy ordering the Cybermen in the graveyard mirrors how Mr Crane once ordered them likewise in the Cybus factory. (TV: Rise of the Cybermen) Miss Hartigan also gave Cybermen similar orders in Victorian London. (TV: The Next Doctor)
•The Doctor offers to take Osgood with him as a companion, but Missy kills her before he can make good on this promise. This isn't the first time someone was offered the chance to become a companion but died before they could take up the offer. Other invitees who died have included Phelan, (AUDIO: Night of the Vashta Nerada) Lynda Moss, (TV: The Parting of the Ways) Madame de Pompadour, (TV: The Girl in the Fireplace) Astrid Peth, (TV: Voyage of the Damned) Jenny, (TV: The Doctor's Daughter) Rita, (TV: The God Complex) and Clara Oswin Oswald. (TV: The Snowmen)
DVD & Blu-ray releases
•Death in Heaven was released as part of the Complete Eighth Series DVD and Blu-ray boxsets in region 1/A on 9 December 2014, in region 2/B on 24 November 2014 and in region 4/B on 19 November 2014. •This episode, together with Dark Water, was also released on 3D Blu-ray in North America on 22 September 2015. •It was later included in the Series 8, Part Two DVD boxset in region 1 on 13 December 2016.
Digital releases
•The episode was released on Google Play, iTunes and Amazon Instant Video in HD or SD, also available as part of the Series 8 digital boxset. The digital boxset contains various features: trailer, interviews, The Ultimate Companion, The Ultimate Time Lord, Inside the World Tour and Doctor Who Extra episodes for each episode. •In the US, the series was released through digital streaming services Hulu and Netflix with a subscription. •In the United Kingdom, this story is available on BBC iPlayer.
The Night of the Doctor was a reference book published by Obverse Books in 2020. The book covered the Doctor Who webcast The Night of the Doctor. ‘Physician, heal thyself.’
The Night of the Doctor was a mini-episode of Doctor Who to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the series. Initially made available on the BBC iPlayer on 14 November 2013, The Night of the Doctor was subsequently made available to UK viewers on the BBC One, from Saturday 16 November.
The chronological order of the Doctor Who New Adventures series is the same as the publication order, with the exception of So Vile a Sin, which missed its deadline and should take place between Damaged Goods and Bad Therapy.
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Nov 4, 2014 · Warning contains spoilers for series 8 up to Dark Water, and speculation on Death In Heaven.
