The Doctor's Wife (Doctor Who)

216 – "The Doctor's Wife"
Doctor Who episode
The Doctor (Matt Smith) and Idris (Suranne Jones, left) pilot the makeshift TARDIS. This set was based on a Blue Peter contest-winning design produced by Susannah Leah, a 12-year-old viewer.
Cast
Doctor Matt Smith (Eleventh Doctor)
Companions Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams)
Others Suranne Jones – Idris/The Tardis Michael Sheen – Voice of House Paul Kasey – Nephew Adrian Schiller – Uncle Elizabeth Berrington – Auntie
Production
Directed by	Richard Clark
Written by	Neil Gaiman
Produced by	Sanne Wohlenberg
Executive producer(s)	Steven Moffat Piers Wenger Beth Willis
Incidental music composer	Murray Gold
Production code	2.3
Series	Series 6
Length	45 minutes
Originally broadcast	14 May 2011
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → "The Curse of the Black Spot" "The Rebel Flesh"
List of Doctor Who serials

"The Doctor's Wife" is the fourth episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was broadcast on 14 May 2011 in the United Kingdom, and later the same day in the United States. It was written by Neil Gaiman and directed by Richard Clark.

In the episode, alien time traveller the Doctor (Matt Smith) and his companions Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) receive a distress call from a living Time Lord, though all other members of the Doctor's race were thought to be extinct. However, they discover that the call was bait to lure the Doctor to an asteroid outside the universe, where previously the energy of Time Lords' TARDISes has been consumed by an entity called the House (voiced by Michael Sheen). The matrix of the Doctor's TARDIS is removed and placed in the body of a woman named Idris (Suranne Jones), who proceeds to help them escape.

"The Doctor's Wife" was originally intended to be produced as part of the previous series, but was pushed back due to budget constraints. Gaiman revised the script many times, having to add and remove characters and events as production saw fit. The episode was filmed in the autumn of 2010 and featured a makeshift TARDIS control room which was the design from a winner of a contest on the children's programme Blue Peter. The episode was seen by 7.97 million viewers in the UK and was met with positive reviews from critics. The episode won the 2011 Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation and the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.