The BBC have released clips looking behind the scenes of this weeks episode of Doctor Who, The Girl Who Died.




A full review of the episode can be found on Doctor Who Reviews

This item Contains Plot Spoilers

Press reaction for this weeks episode, The Girl Who Died, is in with The Guardian calling the story and enjoyable daft romp. "Vikings have been a puzzling omission from most of Doctor Who, only cropping up once before The Time Meddler in 1965; so presumably the Doctor is rarely in the mood to tangle with Vikings. Throwing in an electric eel-based attack strategy and the Benny Hill theme music, there’s plenty of fun to be had here before the dark twists of the final minutes."

The Telegraph enjoyed the pace of the episode "The attack and battle sequence zipped through at speed. If it felt a little rushed it didn't hugely matter, as it was clearly setting up for a bigger second half."

The Express found the episode underwhelming, comparing the episode to the series Game of Thrones, in which the guest actor, Maisie Williams, stars. "Maisie was good as Ashildr - the girl who can make her visions come to life - but for the most part it did feel as if she was just playing a viking version of Arya Stark from the HBO fantasy series."

Radio Times, after being critical of the first part of the series this year, enjoyed the episode praising it as a return to a more traditional type of story. "It taps into a very traditional vein but again slyly transcends it, and achieves that holy grail of TV drama – unpredictability." They praise the writer Jamie Mathieson who wrote last year's story Mummy on the Orient Express and who co-wrote this story with Steven Moffat. "It rarely feels predictable. It never bores. I lost count of the times I thought, “Oh, I didn’t expect that.” After a lifetime of watching this series, that’s rare."

The Metro , while disappointed by the premise of the episode, also praised the writing. "Between them, writers Jamie Mathieson and Steven Moffat just about get away with it by not taking it too seriously. The Doctor flounces around, naming the villagers after characters from EastEnders, Scooby Doo, Noggin the Nog and the 1980s band ZZ Top before he finally pulls a rabbit out of a hat – or an electric eel out of a vat – to bring hope to the hopeless."

Digital Spy thought the episode unlike any other in the series history, varying wildly in tone. "It's fast-paced, with sharp, funny dialogue and some great clowning from Peter Capaldi, who seems far more comfortable with this sort of material than he was 12 months ago. Scenes in which hapless Vikings are spooked by false Gods are almost Monty Python-esque" AV Club tells its readers to go and watch the episode immediately. "This isn't an episode where the Doctor pretends to not have a plan right up to the opportune moment. He genuinely has no idea how he, Clara, and a bunch of Norse farmers and fishermen are going to defeat one of the galaxy’s most fearsome warrior races"

TV.com wants to wait until next weeks episode before passing judgement. "The Girl Who Died" appeared to be an open-and-shut, single-hour adventure as the Doctor came, saw, and saved the day, but it was still just setting us up for whatever is to come next week." while Mashable thought Maisie Williams was underused. "Sure, she nailed her speech about not fitting in with either girls or boys, but that was way too short to showcase her talents. As was the whole setup where she effectively challenges the Mire to a duel, and the Mire helmet visualization that kills her."

Den of Geek was slightly disappointed by the character of Ashildr, given the wild speculation over the character's origins that had taken place online. "Once one gets past the fact that Williams is not playing Susan or some other familiar character, it’s easier to embrace the story she’s in and who she is playing: the Viking girl Ashildr. And yeah, Ashildr is pretty important to the Doctor too, it turns out. Or at least she becomes important by the end of “The Girl Who Died."

gamesRadar wasn't convinced by the alien race, the Mire. "The armoured suits are fun, and the make up once their helmets came off well-realised, but there’s no real sense of threat. That’s fitting given that the Doctor's solution hinges on them being all mouth and no space trousers, but it’s hard to believe that he was genuinely troubled by them earlier on."

Indie wire loved the portrayal of The Doctor. Capaldi is having a whale of a time and isn't even trying to hide it. He wisecracks, technobabbles and emotes like the best of them, thankfully securing his place in the pantheon of Really Good Doctors. Now that he's finally come into his own, having been poorly served by last season's patchy writing, he's up there with Baker, Pertwee and Eccleston (yes, I said it).

Finally Wales online had no doubt what the talking point of the episode would be. "At last, we are told exactly why the Doctor chose THIS face. I no doubt believe that this point will be spoken about for many years to come."

You can read the Doctor Who News review in our reviews section.

4.85 million viewers watched Doctor Who: The Girl Who Died, according to unofficial overnight viewing figures.

Doctor Who was the second highest rated show of the day, behind Strictly Come Dancing which had an average of 9.66 million viewers. Casualty was third with 4.61 million watching.

Rugby scored highest on ITV, but with none of the home countries playing, just 4.04 million watched New Zealand defeat France.

The rating, the highest figure for the series this year, was slightly boosted by the late start to the episode, meaning the calculation includes the remnants of the Strictly audience. However detailed figures show the audience rising during the show once the Strictly audience had departed to average around 4.63 million.

Final ratings will be issued next week, which will be based on the exact transmission time for the episode and will include those who record it and watch it later.

Doctor Who is currently the 22nd most watched programme for the week

Candy-Jar Books will be releasing the third story in their Lethbridge-Stewart series of novels, Beast of Fang Rock by Andy Frankham-Allen, later this month; those who pre-order the book before relaease date will also receive an additional free short e-story on PDF, The Cult of the Grinning Man.


As might be discerned from the synopsis, Beast of Fang Rock is a sequel (and prequel) to the Season Fifteen opener, Horror of Fang Rock by Terrance Dicks. Talking about the setting, author Andy Frankham-Allen said:
The book also heavily features one of the principal characters from The Web of Fear, Anne Travers; head of publishing Shaun Russell explains:
The book also has a foreward by the storie's star, Louise Jameson, who played Leela in the original story, had provided a foreward for the book, during which she observed:
Hayley Cox, senior publishing coordinator at Candy Jar Books, also explained how the setting of the lighthouse itself is important:


The book can be pre-ordered from the Candy Jar Books website.

This month Doctor Who Magazine looks ahead to the return of one of Doctor Who's most popular monsters, in the forthcoming two-part adventure The Zygon Invasion & The Zygon Inversion – which also sees the return of fan-favourite Osgood

Episode writer Peter Harness tells the Magazine And, of course, the Zygons are back too. Also inside the 92 page issue

• THE GIRL WHO DIED & THE WOMAN WHO LIVED
DWM looks ahead to the brand new episodes The Girl Who Died and The Woman Who Lived and talks exclusively with writers Jamie Mathieson and Catherine Tregenna.
• THE SECRET OF DAVROS
Showrunner Steven Moffat answers readers’ questions about the series’ opening two-parter, and explains why Davros is unlike any other villain.
• BACK TO SKARO
DWM goes behind the scenes of The Magician's Apprentice and The Witch's Familiar to discover how the planet Skaro was resurrected, with insights from Dalek voice actor Nicholas Briggs and writer Steven Moffat.
• GHOST WRITER
In an extensive interview, writer Toby Whithouse talks in-depth about his recent episodes Under the Lake and Before the Flood.
• WHO’S MAGIC?
Excited by the new series, Jacqueline Rayner reflects on The Magician’s Apprentice and celebrates the magic of Doctor Who in her column, Relative Dimensions.
• MONSTERS OF THE MILLENNIUM
Prosthetic effects supervisor Kate Walshe of Millennium FX talks exclusively to DWM about her team's creations for the latest series, including Davros, Colony Sarff and the Fisher King.
• DOCTOR DOOM
DWM talks to Eighth Doctor Paul McGann about his biggest Doctor Who adventure to date: Doom Coalition!
• THE WAR GAMES
The Fact of Fiction explores the second half of The War Games, the landmark Second Doctor story which introduced the Time Lords.
• FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE
There's comic strip action in a terrifying new adventure for the Doctor and Clara: The Highgate Horror, by Mark Wright, illustrated by David A Roach and James Offredi.
• THE DWM REVIEW
DWM reviews the first four episodes of the latest series: The Magician’s Apprentice & The Witch's Familiar and Under the Lake & Before the Flood. Plus the latest books and audios are put under the spotlight.
• COMING SOON
All the latest Doctor Who merchandise releases, including – at last! – the DVD release of 1967's The Underwater Menace. PLUS! All the latest official news, competitions, Wotcha! and The DWM Crossword.

Doctor Who Magazine 492 is on sale from today Thursday 15 October 2015, price £4.99

Actor John Hurt has spoken of his delight on receiving the latest assessment of his fight with Pancreatic Cancer.

The actor, who played The War Doctor in the 50th Anniversary story Day of the Doctor, was diagnosed with the disease last Summer. However speaking at the Man Booker Prize ceremony on Tuesday night in London, he revealed he had recently been given good news by doctors.

His agent Charles Macdonald spoke to to BBC Radio Norfolk telling the station that Hurt had a very good meeting with his oncologist. The actor, who was knighted in the Queen's New Year Honours list, said he was wary of using works like remission, even if true. Around 8,800 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the UK each year, making it the 11th most common cancer.

It was announced last week that Sir John will reprise his role as The War Doctor, in a new range of audio adventures for Big Finish Productions, the first of which will be released later this year.

A roundup of publicity for the next episode in the current series of Doctor Who, The Girl Who Died.

The Girl Who Died: Known Broadcast Details
United Kingdom	BBC One	Sat 17 Oct 2015	8:20pm
United States of America	BBC America	Sat 17 Oct 2015	9:00pm EDT	(2:00am BST)
Canada	SPACE	Sat 17 Oct 2015	9:00pm EDT	(2:00am BST)
Asia Pacific	BBC Entertainment	Sun 18 Oct 2015	10:00am SGT	(3:00am BST)
New Zealand	PRIME	Sun 18 Oct 2015	7:30pm NZDT	(7:30am BST)
Australia	ABC	Sun 18 Oct 2015	7:40pm AEDT	(9:40am BST)
Europe (Benelux)	BBC First	Tue 20 Oct 2015	9:00pm CEST
United Kingdom	BBC Two	Fri 23 Oct 2015	1:45am	(British Signed Language)
Finland	YLE2	Mon 19 Oct 2015	6:05pm EEST
India	FX	Sun 25 Oct 2015	11:00pm IST
South Africa	BBC First	Sat 31 Oct 2015	6:45pm SAST
Germany	FOX	Thu 17 Dec 2015	9:00pm CET	(dubbed into German)

Doctor Who: Under the Lake finished with an official rating of 5.63 million viewers.

The rating issued by the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board, or BARB, includes all those who watched the programme within one week of transmission. It does not include those watching online via iPlayer

The rating makes Doctor Who the 22nd most watched programme for the week on all UK television. It was the 10th most watched programme on BBC Television.

Doctor Who ended higher than Casualty, which beat it in the initial overnight figures, and was the third most watched show on Saturday Night. The Great British Bake Off topped the chart with a massive 12.65 million watching. The most popular Saturday night show was Strictly Come Dancing with 9.27 million viewers.

Dr Whoot and 89 other giant owls came together for one last time at a special Farewell Weekend at Birmingham's Millennium Point on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October before being auctioned to raise funds for Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity.

Artist Stephen Mckay is a long time Doctor Who fan, his Police Box/Owl design was inspired by the conventions he attended in Birmingham in the early 1980s. Mckay has fond memories of meeting passed Doctors Jon Pertwee and Patrick Troughton in the city.

The Police Box owl with its working lamp, hand made by Mckay, has attracted a lot of interest in the UK and America and with a starting price of £5000 is hoped will raise substantially more for the Children's Hospital. The top price previously paid for a work by Stephen Mckay was £25,000 in aid of Bristol Children s' Hospital in 2013.

The Big Hoot Auction takes place on Thursday the 15th of October. If you are interested in bidding for Dr Whoot or any other of the Big Hoot owls or owlets , details are available on the Big Hoot website

Doctor Who: Before the Flood had an Audience Appreciation or AI score of 83.

The Appreciation Index or AI is a measure of how much the audience enjoyed the programme. The score, out of a hundred, is compiled by a specially selected panel of around 5,000 people who go online and rate and comment on programmes.

With Sunday's overnight viewing figures now available, Doctor Who finished as the 39th most watched programme of the week. Consolidated figures will be published next week.