Series 7, Episode 11 | 1 part | First broadcast: 4 May 2013 | Writer: Mark Gatiss | Director: Saul Metzstein
Cast
- Matt Smith as the Doctor
- Jenna-Louise Coleman as Clara Oswald
- Diana Rigg as Mrs Gillyflower
- Rachael Stirling as Ada Gillyflower
- Neve McIntosh as Madame Vastra
- Catrin Stewart as Jenny Flint
- Dan Starkey as Strax
Summary
Bodies turning up in a Yorkshire river stained a strange, waxy red draw Madame Vastra, Jenny, and Strax into investigating a factory run by the fanatical Mrs Gillyflower, who has secretly imprisoned the Doctor in a chemically preserved state as part of a twisted survival scheme. Freed at last, the Doctor and Clara must stop Gillyflower’s plan to unleash a parasitic creature that will “cleanse” the world of everyone she deems unworthy.
Interesting Facts
- Legendary actress Diana Rigg guest stars as the story’s chilling antagonist, alongside her real-life daughter Rachael Stirling playing her on-screen daughter Ada.
- The Doctor spends much of the episode’s first act glimpsed only in flashback, discovered “preserved” in red pigment before the full story unfolds.
- The episode leans into gothic Victorian horror imagery, distinct in tone from much of the surrounding series.
- The Paternoster Gang of Vastra, Jenny, and Strax effectively carry the investigation for the story’s opening stretch in the Doctor’s absence.
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