October 12, 2014
Mummy on the Orient Express? Start the clock! It's time for this week's In Case You Missed It...
Mrs Pitt
The over-100-year old Mrs Pitt, who falls victim to the Foretold in the opening scene, was played by veteran actor Janet Henfrey. Alongside numerous stage and screen credits, she’s best known to Doctor Who fans as the pious and mean-spirited Mrs Hardaker in 1989 adventure The Curse of Fenric, who received her comeuppance at the hands of the Haemovores. Relive her most recent Doctor Who death here:
Don’t Stop Me Now
The sultry singer on the Orient Express is played by breakthrough British act Foxes, singing a distinctive cover of Queen’s 1979 scream-along classic Don’t Stop Me Now. Foxes is best known for her electro-pop songs Youth and Let Go for Tonight, and adding her vocals to Zedd’s Clarity.
Would you like a jelly baby?
When grilling Professor Moorhouse about the legend of the Foretold, the Doctor proffers a cigar case containing - surprise! - jelly babies, which the professor gratefully accepts. The juvenile confectionary is most closely associated with the Fourth Doctor, who, right from his first adventure in 1974, was offering them from a paper bag, produced from one of his massive pockets. He even used them as weapon on occasion:
An Egyptian goddess
The Doctor claims that Gus, the train’s computer, has tried to lure him to the Orient Express before. Cast your minds back to the end of Series Five, when the Eleventh Doctor (accompanied by a freshly-wed Rory and Amy) receives a phone call to help with “an Egyptian goddess, loose, on the Orient Express. In space…”
Are you my Mummy?
So quips the Doctor when he finally sees the Foretold - referencing what is undoubtedly one of the show’s creepiest adventures. The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances were Steven Moffat’s first contributions to the series in 2005, and saw the Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler and Captain Jack Harkness pitted against a seeming plague of zombies in gasmasks during the London blitz. The originator of the infection - a small boy, caught in a blast and resurrected by alien nanogenes - is just searching for his mum, leading to one of the series’ most enduring catchphrases…
Next Time
Separated from the Doctor, Clara discovers a new menace from another dimension. But how do you hide when even the walls are no protection? With people to save and the Doctor trapped, Clara goes against an enemy that exists beyond human perception.
Make sure you tune in for Flatline: