Episode 4: ‘Listen’

Air date: Saturday 13 September 2014, 7.30pm.

Written by Steven Moffat.

Directed by Douglas Mackinnon.

Guest cast: Robert Goodman as Reg, new monster.

Official synopis: “When ghosts of past and future crowd into their lives, the Doctor and Clara are thrown into an adventure that takes them to the very end of the universe. What happens when the Doctor is alone? And what scares the grand old man of Time and Space? Listen!”

Samuel Anderson: “I first read the script on the train and it came as a surprise to me, there’s lots of surprises in that one! It gives the first good idea of who Danny Pink is.”

Samuel Anderson: “There’s a big twist in there which says a lot about Danny and Clara’s relationship!”

Steven Moffat: “…my impulse starting in that was just the idea, ‘What does he do when he’s got nothing do?’ Because he’d throw himself off a building if he thought it’d be interesting on the way down. And here he’s with nothing to do so he just goes out and poking things with a stick until something bites it. And I think that’s quite interesting, isn’t that? Sort of, there’s a thrill seeker aspect.”

Steven Moffat: “What scares the grand old man of time? What horrors lurk under his bed? Ghosts of the past and future crowd into the lives of the Doctor and Clara; a terrified caretaker in a children’s home, the last man standing in the universe, and a little boy who doesn’t want to join the army…”

Jenna Coleman: “You see a lot more of her home life. We see how she lives her life, and how she lives a double life. Spending time at home, being a teacher and living a normal life, and then very separately sneaking off and having these mad, wonderful, magical adventures with the Doctor.”

Jenna Coleman: “Clara meets a man called Danny Pink – a teacher – who’s charming and lovely. He’s that perfect boyfriend really and is very supportive, but he doesn’t know anything about this double life she lives. She tries to hide it from him whilst at the same time falling in love.”

Jenna Coleman: “In the same way we had Victorian Clara leading a double life, this Clara has a life of home, school, her domestic life, her domestic bliss, her flat in Shoreditch, and then the Doctor will bring the TARDIS and land in the bedroom or land in the stationary cupboard at school, and then she’ll go off on her adventures. But she’s very strict about him returning her at exactly the right time so she doesn’t miss anything on Earth.”

Steven Moffat: “A complete departure for me in terms of writing Doctor Who. It’s the story of a date and the Doctor having what appears to be a minor nervous breakdown. It’s actually quite a scary one.”

Jenna Coleman: “It’s like seeing a control freak out of control. She has a boyfriend and she’s a schoolteacher and then she travels around the universe with The Doctor. She’s trying to live those lives separately and not let them collide.”

Brian Minchin: “[Danny Pink] is a teacher at the same school as Clara. Clara decides she’s not going to leave her life behind to go travel in time and space. She’s starting a relationship with Danny so she’s going to keep both lives going at once.”

Steven Moffat: “One of the watchwords we have this year is there are consequences for choosing to live like this. It’s not a fairytale. If you have people back home, if you run away it’s going to have an effect on them.”

Samuel Anderson: “It’s an honour to be able to work alongside Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman and I can’t wait to show people how my character becomes involved with such a fantastic duo!”

Steven Moffat: “For the fourth time in Doctor Who history, Coal Hill School is coming to the aid of the TARDIS … very soon now, Sam Anderson as Danny Pink will be entering the world of the Doctor. But how and why?”