Specials, Episode 4 | 1 part | First broadcast: 17 April 2022 | Writer: Ella Road (story by Chris Chibnall and Ella Road) | Director: Haolu Wang
Cast
- Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor
- Mandip Gill as Yasmin Khan
- John Bishop as Dan Lewis
- Crystal Yu as Madam Ching
- Arthur Lee as Ying Ki
Summary
Arriving in the 19th-century South China Sea, the Doctor, Yasmin, and Dan encounter the legendary real-life pirate leader Madam Ching, whose fleet has stumbled upon an ancient sunken alien ship housing the reptilian Sea Devils, an aquatic offshoot of the Silurian species, who awaken and threaten to reclaim the surface world by force, forcing a fragile alliance between the Doctor’s crew and the pirates to stop the Sea Devils’ rise.
Interesting Facts
- The episode dramatizes a fictionalized version of the real historical pirate leader Ching Shih (here called Madam Ching), one of history’s most successful pirate commanders.
- It marks the return of the Sea Devils, a classic-series monster largely absent from the revived series, in a starring role for this special.
- This was the first Doctor Who script credited to writer Ella Road, working from a story devised alongside outgoing showrunner Chris Chibnall.
- The episode broadcast on Easter Sunday, continuing the show’s tradition of occasional non-Christmas holiday specials during its reduced 2022 output.
- Significant location filming took place to depict the period-appropriate pirate ships and South China Sea setting central to the story.
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