206b – "Flesh and Stone" | |||||
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Doctor Who episode | |||||
Amy attempts to fool the Weeping Angels by pretending she can still see.
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Cast | |||||
Others
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Production | |||||
Directed by | Adam Smith | ||||
Written by | Steven Moffat | ||||
Script editor | Lindsey Alford | ||||
Produced by | Tracie Simpson | ||||
Executive producer(s) | Steven Moffat Piers Wenger Beth Willis |
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Incidental music composer | Murray Gold | ||||
Production code | 1.5 | ||||
Series | Series 5 | ||||
Length | 2nd of 2-part story, 45 minutes | ||||
Originally broadcast | 1 May 2010 | ||||
Chronology | |||||
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"Flesh and Stone" is the fifth episode of the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by Steven Moffat and directed by Adam Smith, the episode was first broadcast on 1 May 2010 on BBC One. It is the conclusion of a two-episode story that began with "The Time of Angels" that features the Weeping Angels as primary villains and sees the return of the character River Song (Alex Kingston).
Following the cliffhanger of the previous episode, alien time traveller the Doctor (Matt Smith), his companion Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), River Song, and Father Octavian (Iain Glen) and his militarised clerics have escaped entrapment by the Weeping Angels, creatures who only move when unobserved by others. They take refuge inside the crashed starship Byzantium, but the Angels pursue them and Amy is on the brink of dying from the imprint of an Angel in her eye. Both the Angels and the Doctor's team face danger from a widening crack in space and time which has the power to erase persons from history.
Moffat wrote the two-part story as a more action-packed sequel to his 2007 episode "Blink", inspired by the relationship between the film Alien and its sequel, Aliens. The episode contains vital information concerning the main story arc of the cracks in time, and contains many instances which are character-motivated. "The Time of Angels" and "Flesh and Stone" were the first two episodes to be filmed; filming for "Flesh and Stone" took place in late July, with location filming in Puzzlewood and Southerndown beach. The episode was watched by 8.495 million viewers in the United Kingdom and received mostly positive reviews from critics, though many commented that it did not live up to the quality to the first part and disagreed about the decision to show the Angels moving. Additionally, a scene in which Amy attempts to seduce the Doctor generated some complaints to the BBC.