User:Glimmer721/Series 7

The upcoming seventh series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who will be broadcast on BBC One from Autumn 2012 to Spring 2013, following the 2011 Christmas Special "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe". There will be six episodes broadcast in 2012, including the 2012 Christmas Special, and the remaining seven episodes will air in 2013.

This is the third series to feature Matt Smith as the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor, an alien Time Lord who travels through time and space in his TARDIS, which appears to be a British police box on the outside. In the first five episodes he will be joined by his companions Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and her husband Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill); the fifth episode will feature their permanent departure from the programme. In the 2012 Christmas Special a new companion will be introduced, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman.

List of episodes
Other confirmed writers are Mark Gatiss and Neil Cross.

Casting
The seventh series will be the third starring Matt Smith as the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor. Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill, who portray Amy Pond and Rory Williams respectfully, will depart the programme in the fifth episode. The circumstances in which the pair leave was a mutual decision from Gillan and showrunner Steven Moffat. The actress previously stated that she did not want to make return cameos to the show.

On 21 March 2012, it was announced that Jenna-Louise Coleman would replace Gillan and Darvill as the next companion. She auditioned for the role in secrecy, pretending it was for something called Men on Waves, an anagram for "Woman Seven". Moffat chose her for the role because she worked the best alongside Smith and could talk faster than him. He stated that her character will be different from previous companions, though he is attempting to keep the details of her character a secret until she debuts in the Christmas special.

Guest stars include David Gyasi, Rupert Graves, David Bradley, Riann Steele as Queen Nefertiti in Episode 2, Ben Browder, Adrian Scarborough, Garrick Hagon, Steven Berkoff, Ruthie Henshall, Jemma Redgrave, and Michael McShane. Mark Williams will appear in the second and fourth episodes as Rory's father. Alex Kingston will return to the series as her character River Song for Amy and Rory's final episode.

Production
The BBC commissioned the 2011 Christmas Special and the fourteen-episode the seventh series on 8 June 2011. "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" was executive produced by Steven Moffat, Piers Wenger and Caroline Skinner. Beth Willis left the BBC and stepped down as executive producer after series 6 and Wenger also departed following the Christmas special, leaving Moffat and Skinner as executive producers for series 7. Production of Doctor Who relocated to the new Roath Lock studios in Cardiff midway through production of the series on 12 March 2012; the first episode to be filmed there is the Christmas special in Block Four, with the debut of Coleman's character; however it was reported that a later episode written by Neil Cross was the first Coleman filmed.

Moffat has stated that the seventh series will be the opposite of the arc-driven nature of the sixth, consisting of mainly stand-alone stories. This was inspired by fan reactions to the title of "Let's Kill Hitler" when it was revealed at the end of "A Good Man Goes to War" with no plot details; he told the writers of the seventh series to "slut it up" with "big, huge, mad ideas" and "write it like a movie poster". Toby Whithouse, writer of the Wild-West themed third episode, stated that each episode would have more of a specific genre, and his was developed from a one-line pitch from Moffat. Moffat has stated that the introduction of the new companion will "[reboot] the show a little bit" and "make you look at the Doctor differently".

The seventh series began shooting on 20 February 2012. Episodes 2 and 3 were the first to enter production, directed by Saul Metzstein. Much of the Wild West episode was flimed in March 2012 in Almería, Spain, a town which contains Wild-West style streets that have been used in the making of many Western-set films. Filming the episode in Spain was cheaper than constructing a set in the UK. The fifth episode, Amy and Rory's last, was filmed in Central Park in New York City in April 2012, as well as at Cardiff University and a cemetery in Cardiff. The fourth episode was then filmed next; the only episode in the third block of production. Doctor Who Magazine reported that the Christmas special would be produced by itself in Block Four. In late May 2012, Coleman was spotted at a manor in the Vale of Glamorgan, fliming what was reported to be the Christmas special. However, Neil Cross's episode, reportedly the first Coleman shot, was partially filmed in Margam Country Park, South Wales around the same time; and it was reported that the manor location was also for that episode, and that Moffat was still writing the Christmas special.

Promotion
Smith, Gillan, Darvill, Moffat, and Skinner all promoted the series at the official Doctor Who convention in Cardiff in March 2012. At the convention the first trailer for the series premiered. "Asylum of the Daleks" will screen at BFI Southbank on 14 August, and at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival during 23–25 August.

Broadcast
In September 2011 Doctor Who Magazine stated series 7 will air from late 2012. The Doctor Who official Twitter account announced in March 2012 that it was planned that six episodes will be shown in 2012, including a Christmas Special, to be followed by eight in 2013. Part of the reason the show was moved to the autumn was because Moffat felt the darker nights suited the atmosphere of the programme, as well as the classic series originally airing in the fall. He stated that the decision to split the series up originally came from the BBC, but he was open to anything that "shakes [the series] up" and that by making the audience wait would make it seem like an "event piece".