The Caretaker (Doctor Who)

247 – "The Caretaker"
Doctor Who episode
Film style promotional image featuring the setting for the episode, Coal Hill School
Cast
Doctor Peter Capaldi (Twelfth Doctor)
Companion Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald)
Others Samuel Anderson – Danny Pink Ellis George – Courtney Woods Edward Harrison – Adrian Nigel Betts – Mr Armitage Andy Gillies – CSO Matthew Nanya Campbell – Noah Joshua Warner-Campbell – Yashe Oliver Barry-Brook – Kelvin Ramone Morgan – Tobias Winston Ellis – Mr Woods Gracy Goldman – Mrs Woods Diana Katis – Mrs Christopholou Molly Griffiths - Angelina Christopholou Jimmy Vee – Skovox Blitzer Chris Addison – Seb Michelle Gomez – Missy (uncredited)
Production
Directed by	Paul Murphy
Written by	Gareth Roberts Steven Moffat
Script editor	David P Davis Derek Ritchie
Produced by	Nikki Wilson
Executive producer(s)	Steven Moffat Brian Minchin
Incidental music composer	Murray Gold
Series	Series 8
Length	45 minutes
Originally broadcast	27 September 2014 (2014-09-27)
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → "Time Heist" "Kill the Moon"
List of Doctor Who serials

"The Caretaker" is the sixth episode of the eighth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, written by Gareth Roberts and Steven Moffat, and directed by Paul Murphy. The episode stars Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, and Samuel Anderson.

Clara Oswald is struggling to maintain two separate lives: one as the Doctor's companion and the other as a school teacher at Coal Hill School, while also having a relationship with fellow teacher Danny Pink. Preparing for his next outing, the Doctor informs Clara that she cannot join him as he is going under "deep cover". The next morning in the school staffroom, the head teacher presents a temporary caretaker: the Doctor, under the alias John Smith. Clara eventually learns the Doctor's actual purpose is the presence of a murderous robot called the Skovox Blitzer located near the school, which contains enough firepower to destroy the planet. Clara tells the Doctor to leave it alone, but the Doctor explains that if he does not act, someone will attack it and it will begin to destroy Earth. He intends to draw it to the school at night when it is empty and use a time displacement vortex to displace it a billion years into the future where it can't harm anyone. He is in the process of planting devices around the school to generate the vortex. He also demonstrates an invisibility watch, which he will use to avoid detection by the Skovox.

While at the school, the Doctor encounters Danny. Learning he is a former soldier, the Doctor assumes he is a PE teacher, claiming he cannot believe Danny is actually a Maths teacher. Soon afterwards, the Doctor assumes that Clara has an interest in another teacher, Adrian, due to his appearance being similar to that of his previous incarnation, the Eleventh Doctor. The Doctor tacitly approves of Clara's relationship. Danny, however, becomes suspicious of the Doctor. One of Clara and Danny's students, Courtney Woods, also becomes skeptical of him when she sees the TARDIS hidden inside his cupboard.