Doctor Who will return to BBC One in autumn 2012 for a seventh series, starring Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor.

> Order Series 7 Part 1 on DVD on Amazon.

This news summary will be updated regularly as more details are revealed. An * symbol represents an unconfirmed rumour.

Main cast: Matt Smith as the Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond, Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams and Jenna-Louise Coleman as a new companion, apparently named Clara.

Rumoured guest cast: Miranda Hart*, Mark Sheppard*

Producers: Steven Moffat, Marcus Wilson and Caroline Skinner

Writers: Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss, Toby Whithouse, Chris Chibnall, Neil Cross, Stephen Thompson, Neil Gaiman*, Tom MacRae*, John Fay*, Jack Lothian*

Filming begins: Monday 20th February 2012

» "Write it like a movie poster. Let's do big, huge mad ideas" (Steven Moffat)
» "We’ve got a couple of returning monsters, some old fan favourites, but we’re going to move them on a bit" (producer Marcus Wilson)
» "The biggest, the best and the most ambitious season we've ever made" (Steven Moffat)
» "We went quite 'arc' last time and we’re going stand-alone this time around. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t those things creeping in." (Steven Moffat)
» "See this new monster I've invented? This is a GOOD one. This will SCARE you. Oh yes." (Steven Moffat)
» "I think we’ve got one of our strongest seasons yet coming up. I really do. We go into the 50th year all guns blazing." (Matt Smith)
» "[Series 7] is going to be... bigger and madder than ever. It'll be worth the wait. Promise. [The] batch of episodes, sealing off the story of the Doctor and the Ponds, is epic, ambitious and ever so slightly crazy." (Chris Chibnall)
» "I don't think we've had a bigger variety of episodes than the ones we're about to show you. It's truly exciting." (Steven Moffat)
» "I want [director Edgar Wright] to do Doctor Who. We’ll never get him, but he’s perfect." (Matt Smith)
» "I'm not ruling [a musical episode] out." (Steven Moffat)
» "You will be seeing adventures in the future [in Series 7]. It’s a time travel show. But, I always think the magic of time travel is actually going back. Those are the unrecoverable days." (Steven Moffat)
» "...only a fool or a mad man would try to do it again... so I’m on the third draft." (Neil Gaiman)

Episode 1: Asylum of the Daleks
Saturday 25th August 2012, 7.20pm

Written by: Steven Moffat
Directed by: Nick Hurran
Guest cast: David Gyasi as Harvey, Naomi Ryan as Cassandra
Location filming: Spain

» "It’s going to blow everybody’s mind." (Caroline Skinner)
» "...the Daleks are being wheeled before the cameras once again. But which design? The answer is ALL OF THEM!" (official site)
» "We did a day out in the snow out in Spain... it looks like James Bond meet Inception." (Caroline Skinner)
» "Episode 1 is the biggest Dalek episode over. It's epic, alright: more Daleks than ever, on the biggest set Doctor Who's ever had." (Caroline Skinner)
» "There’s a big Dalek story opening the new series which is absolutely brilliant and any expectations you’ve got, double them, it’s that good. It’s so, so, so, so brilliant." (Tom MacRae)
» "The Daleks are coming back and they’re worse than ever. Just you wait until you see what they’re going to do." (Steven Moffat)
» "This is an epic Dalek adventure that kicks off the new series in explosive style! If you think you know all there is to know about the Daleks, think again…" (Caroline Skinner)
» "[The pre-titles sequence of Episode 1] is mad, dark, funny, thrilling and moving." (Chris Chibnall)
» "What you've seen is [Amy and Rory make] a decision: 'Let's get on with our lives.' They don't move back in [to the TARDIS]." (Steven Moffat)
» "We've made [the Daleks] scary again." (Matt Smith)
» "[The Daleks] are really, really scary in this. Genuinely brilliant scary." (Arthur Darvill)
» "[Amy and Rory's] relationship is in a sticky situation, shall we say." (Karen Gillan)

Episode 2: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

Written by: Chris Chibnall
Directed by: Saul Metzstein
Guest cast: Mark Williams as Brian Williams (Rory's dad), David Bradley as Solomon, Riann Steele as Queen Nefertiti, Rudi Dharmalingam as ISA Worker, Rupert Graves as Riddell, Clem So as Mongolian Warlord

» "Watch out for the title of Episode 2. I think that’s a belter. It’s one of my favourite titles ever." (Steven Moffat)
» "The finished script is an absolutely genius piece of writing. It's got the most brilliant relationship between Rory and his dad." (Caroline Skinner)
» "...it's just absolutely amazing. Chris Chibnall is hopping with delight, it looks so good... his riot of a story has been brought to life so joyfully by our fabulous cast. It's going to be the biggest VFX episode of the series." (Caroline Skinner)
» "[Riddell is] a big game hunter... he’s in Africa, and there’s... kind of history behind him and the Doctor, although it’s never fully explained what … he’s there to help the Doctor." (Rupert Graves)
» "The Doctor will come face to face with some of the most monstrous creatures evolution has ever produced, on some of the most monstrous sets we've ever built. We took one look at Chris Chibnall's brilliant script and said to ourselves 'We're going to need a bigger corridor'." (Steven Moffat)
» "[Solomon] is a space pirate, who we've modelled on a well-known night club owner with long hair. He has lots of scars, he wears black leather, he’s like an old rocker who runs a ship the size of Canada. He has two giant robots who are a bit rusty." (David Bradley)
» "I pitched this story to Chris Chibnall just as a title, and sat back, hoping he'd be impressed. He looked out the window for a while and asked, 'Could the Doctor ride a triceratops?'" (Steven Moffat)

Episode 3: A Town Called Mercy

Written by: Toby Whithouse
Directed by: Saul Metzstein
Guest cast: Dominic Kemp as Kahler-Mas, Adrian Scarborough as Kahler Jex, Rob Cavazos as Walter, Ben Browder, Garrick Hagon, Andrew Brooke as The Reckoner, Joanne McQuinn as Sadie
Location filming: Spain

» "My episode is in a genre I’ve never written before — frankly, no one has written in that genre for quite a while now. But I absolutely love it." (Toby Whithouse)
» "The episode will feature a half-human half-robot Terminator-style beast which patrols a Victorian-era western town." (The Sun)
» "I'm confidently smug that it's going to be a winner." (Caroline Skinner)
» "A Town Called Mercy takes us into a genre Doctor Who hasn't attempted since the Sixties - it's a full blooded western. We knew from the start we need some serious location shooting for this one, and given the most iconic American setting imaginable, there was only one place to go - Spain." (Steven Moffat)
» "[Ben Browder] brings that sort of American naturalism which we Brits just don’t have, however hard we try. He makes a good cowboy. He has that great drawl. And the wonderful Adrian Scarborough is in that, he just steals the whole episode." (Matt Smith)
» "A tale of war, betrayal and vengeance, converging on one small town in the Old West - a town under siege. Like all the best westerns, this is a tale of one man standing against impossibile odds and his own personal demons." (Steven Moffat)

Episode 4: The Power of Three

Written by: Chris Chibnall
Directed by: Douglas Mackinnon
Guest cast: Mark Williams as Brian Williams (Rory's dad), Stephen Blything as Henry VIII, Jemma Redgrave as Kate, Steven Berkoff as Shakri, Selva Rasalingam as Ranjit, Alice O'Connell as Laura

» "Chris Chibnall's script is a massive rollercoaster ride of a sci-fi story. It's also a beautiful piece of writing. It's all about Amy and Rory's relationship - full of warmth, love and a celebration of their time on the show. Chris will scare you to bits with this episode!" (Caroline Skinner)
» "[Episode 4 is] totally different to Episode 2, full of the Ponds... " (Chris Chibnall)
» "The most unusual invasion Earth story EVER." (Steven Moffat)
» "...the Ponds face something possibly more terrifying than any world-ending apocalypse - the Doctor is moving in! It's halfway between an alien invasion movie and The Man Who Came to Dinner." (Steven Moffat)
» "UNIT’s return is one for the fans. I think they like cyclical things and we have a good story. It was great to do an episode with UNIT and I hope the true fans like it." (Chris Chibnall)

Episode 5: The Angels Take Manhattan

Written by: Steven Moffat
Directed by: Nick Hurran
Location filming: New York
Guest cast: Alex Kingston as River Song, Rob David as Sam Garner, Micheal McShane as Dr Grayle (a villain), Bentley Kalu as Sophisticated Hood

» "Amy and Rory will leave in a final encounter with the Weeping Angels in [Episode] 5. Not everyone gets out alive and I mean it this time." (Steven Moffat)
» "[Amy and Rory] go out on such an amazing storyline" (Arthur Darvill)
» "[Amy and Rory will] be gone forever. It will be quite heartbreaking, definitely... I think you’ll be in trouble watching it... Heartbreaking doesn’t mean unhappy." (Steven Moffat)
» "I want to see [Amy] go with everything that she wants..." (Karen Gillan)
» "Oh, tragedy! Something with Weeping Angels in New York seemed to make sense to me..." (Steven Moffat)
» "It is so hugely emotional and heartbreaking. It's really beautiful storytelling." (Caroline Skinner)
» "I literally couldn’t read it without crying... I couldn’t have asked for a better exit. I don’t think it’ll be what people expect." (Karen Gillan)
» "There’s something coming up in the final days of the Ponds that was in The Eleventh Hour. There’s a shot in that. [Moffat's] been thinking about it that long. He always knew how she was going to… I’m saying too much already." (Matt Smith)
» "We are going to depart and it's a pretty amazing way to go." (Karen Gillan)
» "Get a couple of boxes of tissues." (Arthur Darvill)
» "It's probably the most epic of all the episodes we've done so far." (Karen Gillan)
» "[The Weeping Angels] have grown and developed into something more scary. / They’ve become bigger and better than ever." (Arthur Darvill / Karen Gillan)
» "[River Song is] so the queen of mischief in this episode." (Caroline Skinner)
» "It’s a huge, beautiful piece of writing that Steven did... filming it [in New York] gave that story a huge amount of scale ... it’s a hugely emotional piece of drama. It gives the episode a real atmosphere and a very different tone for Doctor Who." (Caroline Skinner)
» "A race against time through the streets of Manhattan." (BBC America)
» "Has the wandering Time Lord at last found a family and the nearest thing to a home he could imagine? Not even River Song can save them from the terrible events to come. Heartbreak is always a terrible thing. But imagine if you had two of them..." (Steven Moffat)
» "[Amy and Rory] ain’t coming back. At least, that’s what Steven says. That’s it. Game over." (Matt Smith)
» "I’m done with [Doctor Who]... it’s gone for good." (Arthur Darvill)

Christmas 2012 special

Written by: Steven Moffat
Directed by: Saul Metzstein
Guest cast: Richard E Grant, Tom Ward, Daniel Hyde as a foreman, Liz White, Catrin Stewart as Jenny, Neve McIntosh as Madame Vastra, Dan Starkey as a Sontaran, Graham Turner as Amos, Annabelle Dowler, Jim Conway as Uncle Josh, Laurence Saunders as the Master Librarian, Michelle Tate as Abigail*, Devon Black is Mother*

» "It's not often the Doctor meets someone who can talk even faster than he does, but it's about to happen. Even by the Doctor's standards, this isn't your usual boy meets girl." (Steven Moffat)
» "She's kind of quicker than the Doctor; it's almost as though she's doing a hilarious, dynamic dance around him." (Caroline Skinner)
» "I know what my introduction is and I have a general idea of where we’re going to go. I don’t think anything’s been done like it before, but there are lots of secrets and intrigue... I think it’s going to surprise a lot of people…" (Jenna-Louise Coleman)
» "There are elements to [Jenna's] character that are rather special, and will come as something of a surprise. She had to be witty, clever, inventive, strong, versatile, and very individual." (Casting director Andy Pryor)
» "It's literally a new beginning, you're back to chapter one, in a way [the show is] always a story of someone getting to know the Doctor." (Steven Moffat)
» "Jenna brings a really different energy to the show – one which I think is very interesting." (Matt Smith)
» "There's a bit in the middle of [the Christmas special] that is just poetic." (Matt Smith)
» "[Jenna-Louise Coleman is] doing brilliantly well, she's lovely and I think people are really going to love her. She's different to Amy." (Matt Smith)
» "Having a new companion is a bigger change than a new Doctor. [Jenna-Louise Coleman] brings out a very different side to Matt [Smith]." (Steven Moffat)
» "Steven [Moffat] is writing [Jenna's character] in a very interesting way and a different way to Amy Pond." (Matt Smith)
"[Set in] 1890s London." (BBC)

Episode 6: The Bells of St Johns*
Early 2013

Written by: Steven Moffat
Directed by: Colm McCarthy
Guest cast: Fady Elsayed as Nabile

» "The movie-of-the-week approach does not stop with the Ponds. It carries on." (Steven Moffat)

Episode 7*

Written by: Steve Thompson
Directed by: Mat King
Guest cast: Ashley Walters

Episode 8: The Cold War*

Written by: Mark Gatiss
Directed by: Douglas Mackinnon
Guest cast: David Warner, Liam Cunningham, Josh O'Connor as Piotr, James Norton as Onejin, David Hartley, Charlie Anson as Belevich

» "The fact that the adventure is set where it is, is the fulfilment of a long-term dream." (Mark Gatiss)
» "Prepare to shiver in terror and gasp along the lines of ‘Oh my goodness, is that a…?’" (Steven Moffat)

Episode 9: Phantoms of the Hex*

Written by: Neil Cross
Directed by: Jamie Payne
Guest cast: Dougray Scott as a professor, Kemi-Bo Jacobs as Hila Tacorian, Jessica Raine as Emma Grayling

Episode 10: The Crimson Horror

Written by: Mark Gatiss
Directed by: Saul Metzstein
Guest cast: Dame Diana Rigg as Mrs Gillyflower with Rachael Stirling as Ada (a Yorkshire mother and daughter with a dark secret), Brendan Patricks as Edmund and Jeremiah, Catrin Stewart as Jenny, Neve McIntosh as Madame Vastra, Dan Starkey as a Sontaran

» "The first time Rachie and I will be working together is on an episode of Doctor Who specially written for us by Mark Gatiss. How lucky is that?" (Dame Diana Rigg)
» "What joy. I am looking forward to the madness of Doctor Who enormously. Mark Gatiss has written a gift of a script and an on-screen relationship between Ma and I that is truly delicious. We have never before worked together because the offers have not been tempting, but when such a funny and original script comes through you know the time has come." (Rachael Stirling)
» "Dame Diana Rigg, Rachael Stirling and a Mark Gatiss script - a combination of talents you could only get in Doctor Who! Frankly, I'm terrified already!" (Steven Moffat)
» "The Doctor’s in a cool new Victorian costume. I get a hat and a three-piece suit. I’m having a ball!" (Matt Smith)
» "It’s joyously camp. We take the piss out of ourselves." (Rachael Stirling)
» "I didn’t think Mark Gatiss could get any camper – then I read The Crimson Horror!" (Steven Moffat)

Episode 11*

Written by: Neil Gaiman

Episode 12*

Written by: Neil Cross
Directed by: Farren Blackburn

Episode 13

Written by: Steven Moffat

What are your hopes for Series 7? Let us know below...

> Order Series 7 Part 1 on DVD on Amazon.

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