Doctor Who: 11 Cool Details We Just Learned About Vincent And The Doctor

10. Curtis' Daughter Inspired The Episode's Opening

Doctor Who Vincent and the Doctor Matt Smith Karen Gillan
BBC/Twitter: @emmafreud

The episode begins with Amy and the Doctor having a look around the Van Gogh section of the Musée d'Orsay, a popular museum located in Paris, France.

Here, the ancient Time Lord - who has had centuries to refine his danger-sensing abilities - spots a beastly face hiding behind a window in one of the paintings. This leads to the TARDIS duo travelling back in time to investigate the face, pulling them into an adventure with Van Gogh himself.

But this basic plot outline didn't arrive in writer Richard Curtis' noggin all too easily. He started brainstorming ideas for the episode while on a family holiday, and it was actually his daughter, Scarlett, who came up with the idea of a sinister-looking creature lurking in one of the paintings.

There are dozens of Doctor Who episodes that feature historical figures, and it must be really difficult to come up with an interesting and non-convoluted reason for the Doctor to cross paths with them. Curtis junior to the rescue!

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.