Doctor Who - Series 7 Radio Times Guide

With the show due to return later this week, Radio Times have provided a guide to the first five episodes of Doctor Who's seventh series and here are the bullet points of what to expect ....

7x01: Asylum Of The Daleks

Written by Steven Moffat
Directed by Nick Hurran

Does it surprise you to know that the Daleks have a concept of beauty?

- Once again, every Dalek imaginable is in this episode.
- There's a surprise after the opening credits (which will be different for every episode this series).
- A woman called Darla Von Karlson wants the Doctor to rescue her daughter.
- The Daleks enlist the Doctor, Amy and Rory to go to a planetoid called the Dalek Asylum, filled with battle scarred/psychotic Daleks that the regular ones fear.
- The Dalek Asylum is more than a myth or a story, it's our characters destinies.

7x02: Dinosaurs On A Spaceship

Written by Chris Chibnall
Directed by Saul Metzstein

Enjoy your bounty.

- We've got a spaceship heading towards Earth with dinosaurs on board, so to save both the planet and the cargo, the Doctor, Amy and Rory need help.
- This includes Rory's father, Brian (Mark Williams), Nefertiti (Rhiann Steele) and John Riddell (Rupert Graves), a game hunter.
- Apparently we'll see the Doctor on top of a triceratops at one point in the story.

7x03: A Town Called Mercy

Written by Toby Whithouse
Directed by Saul Metzstein

Could everyone who's not an American drop their weapon!

 -  One small town in the Old West is under siege between a Cyborg and an alien fugitive and the Doctor seems unconcerned.
- At one point in the episode, the Doctor takes a gun. It seems things have been taking their toll on him. Makes sense given a conversation we see with him and Amy in the trailer.
- It's a story about a man against impossible odds trying to overcome his demons.

7x04: The Power Of Three

Written by Chris Chibnall
Directed by Douglas Mackinnon

The day the Earth got cubed. The year of the slow invasion. The time the Doctor came to stay.

- Features the return of UNIT, Henry the 8th and also a rather slow alien invasion as the world is overrun with small black cubes.
- Focuses on Amy and Rory's life in the span of a year and features the return of Rory's father as well.
- At one point, the Doctor is actually living with Amy and Rory too.
- Think an invasion movie and The Man Who Came To Dinner for this episode.

7x05: The Angels Take Manhattan

Written by Steven Moffat
Directed by Nick Hurran


Never let him see the damage. And never, ever let him see you age. He doesn't like endings.

- It's Amy and Rory's last story and it's set in both present day and 1930s New York, with an appearance from River.
- The Weeping Angels are lying in wait and their collision with the Ponds will change things forever for the couple. Both the Doctor and River are unable to stop it.
- The Doctor doesn't even notice that Amy now needs reading glasses in the episode.
- Once again, it's been promised that it's gonna be a heartbreaker of an episode.

Overall, it sounds like an intriguing bunch of episodes we're due to get but before then, you can also watch the five series, Pond Life, currently airing every day this week until Friday, which explores the domestic lives of Amy and Rory. The first two episodes are up on the BBC site to watch now.

Pond Life: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00wqr12/features/pond-life

Doctor Who returns to BBC1 and BBCAmerica on September 1st at 7.20pm and 9pm respectively.