Doctor Who: Series 9 Episode Titles And Plots Announced

11. Episode 2: The Witch's Familiar

Doctor Who Steven Moffat
BBC

The second part of the opening two-part story is also written by Steven Moffat. Reviews have indicated that the titles of these first two episodes aren't heavily related to what actually happens in them; at best, they're vaguely allegorical.

For a dialogue quote, Moffat provided this snippet:

“The Doctor is trapped. He’s a prisoner of the creatures who hate him most in the universe. Between us and him is everything the greatest warrior race in history can throw at us. We, on the other hand, have a pointy stick.”

I'm guessing this delicious turn of phrase comes courtesy of Missy. Here's the equally appetite-whetting story summary:

There are places the Doctor should never go. Planets where his life would not be worth an hour’s purchase. When he finds himself in the very worst of these, without his TARDIS or his sonic, and with his best friends murdered in front of his eyes, he has only his wits to keep him alive. And perhaps something else. What is the Doctor’s confession? Why did he really leave Gallifrey all those centuries ago? And is it a secret he is willing to give up?

Wait, the Doctor's best friends are murdered? If the place he should not go is the Dalek home planet Skaro, what friends of the Doctor could possibly be there? Also, is the Doctor's reason for originally leaving Gallifrey about to get ret-conned? If so, that is not going to go down well with fans.

Contributor
Contributor

Mike has lived in the UK, Japan and the USA. Currently, he is based in Iowa with his wife and 2 young children. After working for many years as a writer and editor for a large corporation, he is now a freelancer. He has been fortunate enough to contribute to many books on Doctor Who over the last 20 years and is now concentrating on original sci-fi & fantasy short stories, with recent sales including Flame Tree, Uffda, and The Martian Wave. Also, look for his contribution on Blake's 7 to "You and Who Else", a charity anthology to be released later this year. You can find him on Tumblr at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/culttvmike