210 – "Vincent and the Doctor" | |||||
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Doctor Who episode | |||||
Tony Curran, as Vincent van Gogh, is compared to a self-portrait of his character.
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Production | |||||
Directed by | Jonny Campbell | ||||
Written by | Richard Curtis | ||||
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Incidental music composer | Murray Gold | ||||
Production code | 1.10 | ||||
Series | Series 5 | ||||
Length | 45 minutes | ||||
Originally broadcast | 5 June 2010 | ||||
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"Vincent and the Doctor" is the tenth episode in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast on BBC One on 5 June 2010. It was written by Richard Curtis and directed by Jonny Campbell and featured an uncredited guest appearance from actor Bill Nighy.
Intrigued by an ominous figure in one of Vincent van Gogh's paintings, alien time traveller the Doctor (Matt Smith) and his companion Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) go back in time to meet Van Gogh (Tony Curran) and discover that Provence has been plagued by an invisible monster, known as the Krafayis, which only Van Gogh can see. The Doctor and Amy work with Van Gogh to defeat the Krafayis, but in their attempt to have Van Gogh realise his legacy through bringing him to the future they ultimately realise that not all of time can be rewritten and there are some evils which are out of the Doctor's reach.
Curtis, inspired by the fact that Van Gogh never knew he would be famous, had the idea for an episode centred on him. He left the script open to criticism from the crew and made many revisions as a result. Curtis wanted to portray Van Gogh truthfully, rather than being cruel by writing jokes about his mental illness. The episode was filmed in Trogir, Croatia, and many of the sets were modelled after Van Gogh paintings. The episode was watched by 6.76 million viewers on BBC One and BBC HD. Reception to the episode varied, ranging from very positive to mixed to very negative. While the amount of emotion in the episode was debated, many reviewers agreed that the Krafayis was not a threatening monster. Curran's performance as Van Gogh was widely praised.