The Time of the Doctor

241 – "The Time of the Doctor"
Doctor Who episode
Promotional poster for "The Time of the Doctor"
Cast
Doctor Matt Smith (Eleventh Doctor) Peter Capaldi (Twelfth Doctor)
Companion Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald)
Others Orla Brady – Tasha Lem James Buller – Dad Elizabeth Rider – Linda Sheila Reid – Gran Mark Brighton – Colonel Albero Rob Jarvis – Abramal Tessa Peake-Jones – Marta Jack Hollington – Barnable Sonita Henry – Colonel Meme Tom Gibbons – Young Man Ken Bones – Voice Aidan Cook – Cyberman Kayvan Novak – Voice of Handles Nicholas Briggs – Voice of the Cybermen/Daleks Barnaby Edwards, Nicholas Pegg – Daleks Ross Mullan – Silent Dan Starkey – Sontaran Sarah Madison – Weeping Angel Karen Gillan – Amy Pond
Production
Directed by	Jamie Payne
Written by	Steven Moffat
Script editor	Derek Ritchie
Produced by	Marcus Wilson
Executive producer(s)	Steven Moffat Brian Minchin
Incidental music composer	Murray Gold
Series	Specials (2013)
Length	60 minutes
Originally broadcast	25 December 2013
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → "The Day of the Doctor" "Deep Breath"

"The Time of the Doctor" is an episode of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, written by Steven Moffat and directed by Jamie Payne, and was broadcast as the ninth Doctor Who Christmas special on 25 December 2013 on BBC One. It features the final regular appearance of Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and the first regular appearance of Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor following his brief cameo in "The Day of the Doctor". The episode also features Jenna Coleman as the Doctor's companion Clara Oswald, plus several enemies of the Doctor, including the Cybermen, Silence, Daleks, and Weeping Angels.

The episode addresses numerous plot threads developed over the course of Smith's tenure, including the prophecy of the Silence, cracks in the universe, and the Doctor's fate on the planet Trenzalore, while also dealing with the regeneration limit established in "The Deadly Assassin". "The Time of the Doctor" is the ninth Christmas special since the show's 2005 revival, and Matt Smith's fourth and final Christmas special as the Eleventh Doctor.

Thousands of aliens orbit an unknown planet, from which a message no one can translate is continually being broadcast across time and space. With the assistance of a modified Cyberman head nicknamed "Handles", which he uses as a personal assistant, the Doctor visits two ships before leaving to Earth to pick up Clara and briefly meeting her family. On returning, Handles identifies the planet as Gallifrey, a statement the Doctor vehemently rejects. The Doctor and Clara are invited on board the Church of the Papal Mainframe, a space church headed by Mother Superious Tasha Lem, an old acquaintance of the Doctor. The Church has secured the planet with a force field. Tasha asks if the Doctor wishes to be the first to explore the cause of the message. On arriving on the planet, the Doctor and Clara are attacked by Weeping Angels hiding in the snow of a frozen forest, but using the key under his wig, the Doctor materializes the TARDIS around them. Using the TARDIS, the Doctor and Clara find a town called Christmas, surrounded by a truth field, preventing anyone from lying. The message's origin is quickly identified as a crack in reality in the church tower; this crack is "scar tissue" from the cracks originally closed when the Doctor rebooted the universe ("The Big Bang"). Handles identifies the language of the message as Gallifreyan and with the Doctor's help, translates the message as a question: "Doctor who?" (the "first question" in "The Wedding of River Song"), repeating endlessly.