Closing Time (Doctor Who)

223 – "Closing Time"
Doctor Who episode
The Doctor holds up a Cybermat. The creature was given a more high-tech redesign. The teeth were added to suggest it had once been an animal.
Cast
Doctor Matt Smith (Eleventh Doctor)
Companion James Corden (Craig Owens)
Others Karen Gillan – Amy Pond Arthur Darvill – Rory Williams Daisy Haggard – Sophie Alex Kingston – River Song Frances Barber – Madame Kovarian Seroca Davis – Shona Holli Dempsey – Kelly Chris Obi - George Lynda Baron – Val Paul Kasey – Cyberman Nicholas Briggs – Voice of the Cybermen Greg James - Shopper (uncredited)
Production
Directed by	Steve Hughes
Written by	Gareth Roberts Steven Moffat (final scene, uncredited)
Produced by	Denise Paul Marcus Wilson (series producer)
Executive producer(s)	Steven Moffat Piers Wenger Beth Willis
Incidental music composer	Murray Gold
Series	Series 6
Length	45 mins
Setting	United Kingdom
Originally broadcast	24 September 2011
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → "The God Complex" "The Wedding of River Song"
List of Doctor Who serials

"Closing Time" is the twelfth and penultimate episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 24 September 2011. It was written by Gareth Roberts and directed by Steve Hughs. It is a sequel to "The Lodger", an episode Roberts wrote for the previous series.

In the episode, alien time traveller the Doctor (Matt Smith) is going on a "farewell tour" before his impending death and visits his friend Craig (James Corden), who has a new baby son, Alfie. Though not initially intending to stay, the Doctor becomes intrigued by a Cybermen invasion at a local department store.

Roberts and showrunner Steven Moffat wanted to bring Craig back, having enjoyed "The Lodger" and Corden's performance. Though "Closing Time" was designed to be fun, with comedy built around the double act of Smith and Corden, it contains themes and an epilogue that lead into the finale. The episode marks the first appearance of the Cybermats in the revival of Doctor Who, and they were appropriately redesigned. Much of the episode was filmed in a department store and a private home in Cardiff at night, with shooting going early into the morning. "Closing Time" was watched by 6.93 million viewers in the UK and received generally positive reviews from critics; while the performances, comedy, and emotional moments were praised, many critics were not pleased with the usage of the Cybermen.

Nearly two hundred years have passed for the Doctor since he left Amy and Rory in "The God Complex" and he is on a farewell tour of his friends as he knows he has only one day to go before his death (depicted in "The Impossible Astronaut"). He stops by Craig ("The Lodger"), who is living with his girlfriend Sophie in a new home and is raising their baby, Alfie. Craig, struggling to care for Alfie alone while Sophie is away for the weekend, suspects the Doctor is investigating something alien. The Doctor prepares to leave, but he notices a strange electrical disturbance in the area and decides to investigate.