Series 11, Episode 8 | 1 part | First broadcast: 25 November 2018 | Writer: Joy Wilkinson | Director: Sallie Aprahamian
Cast
- Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor
- Bradley Walsh as Graham O’Brien
- Tosin Cole as Ryan Sinclair
- Mandip Gill as Yasmin Khan
- Alan Cumming as King James I
- Siobhan Finneran as Becka Savage
Summary
Arriving in 17th-century Lancashire during the height of England’s witch trial hysteria, the Doctor is horrified to find herself accused of witchcraft due to her unconventional, “unfeminine” behavior, forcing her to navigate 17th-century gender prejudice while investigating the true cause of local deaths: an ancient alien entity called the Morax imprisoned beneath the ground and being unwittingly released by the trials themselves, all while contending with the eccentric, self-styled witch-hunting expert King James I.
Interesting Facts
- The episode explicitly addresses the Doctor’s new experience of gender-based prejudice for the first time since her regeneration into a woman, a storyline decision that drew significant media attention.
- Alan Cumming’s flamboyant, historically-informed portrayal of King James I was widely praised as one of the season’s standout guest performances.
- It marks one of relatively few “pure historical with sci-fi element” stories in the modern series’ format, blending real witch trial history with an original alien threat.
- Writer Joy Wilkinson researched real 17th-century witch trial procedures and King James’s own writings on witchcraft to ground the fictional plot in genuine historical detail.
- The episode was filmed on location using existing period-appropriate rural landscapes to evoke 1612 Lancashire, one of the real historical epicenters of English witch trials.
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