Series 8, Episode 10 | 1 part | First broadcast: 25 October 2014 | Writer: Frank Cottrell-Boyce | Director: Sheree Folkson
Cast
- Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor
- Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald
- Samuel Anderson as Danny Pink
- Abigail Eames as Maebh Arden
- Jayden Harris-Wallace as Samson
- Ashley Foster as Bradley
- Harley Bird as Ruby
- Michelle Gomez as Missy
Summary
Clara, Danny, and a group of Coal Hill School students on an overnight trip wake to find that a vast forest has grown overnight and now covers the entirety of London — and, it turns out, the whole planet. One student, Maebh, who hears mysterious voices since her sister Annabel’s disappearance, leads the group to the Doctor in Trafalgar Square, where he determines that an enormous solar flare is about to strike the Earth. Examining Maebh as her medication wears off, the Doctor discovers she is communicating with insect-like beings responsible for the forest, who reveal through her that they have done this before, citing historical near-catastrophes like the Tunguska Event. Realizing the trees are actually shielding the planet from the solar flare rather than threatening it, the Doctor abandons his plan to evacuate everyone in the TARDIS, and the flare strikes Earth harmlessly as the forest dissipates, leaving only fading fairy-tale memories behind. The episode ends with Maebh’s sister Annabel unexpectedly returning home, and Danny pressing Clara for the truth about her travels with the Doctor.
Interesting Facts
- The episode’s title is drawn from the second line of William Blake’s poem “The Tyger” (“Tyger Tyger, burning bright, / In the forests of the night”), reflected in the story by a tiger that appears loose in the overgrown city.
- Student character Maebh’s surname, Arden, is a reference to the Forest of Arden in Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.”
- Showrunner Steven Moffat publicly defended the episode against mixed reviews, calling it “beautifully and elegantly written” and predicting it would “grow in stature over the years.”
- The Doctor’s line about walking Clara’s Earth and breathing her air directly answers back to her own words to him in the previous episode, “Kill the Moon.”
- The episode leans heavily on classic fairy-tale imagery, including a nod to “Little Red Riding Hood” with Maebh in a red coat being chased through the trees, as highlighted in the behind-the-scenes Doctor Who Extra segment.
No Responses