First Aired BBC1 19:00 18th May 2013
Director: Saul Metzstein
Writer: Steven Moffat
The Doctor: Matt Smith
Clara Oswald: Jenna-Louise Coleman
Madame Vastra: Neve McIntosh
Jenny: Catrin Stewart
Strax: Dan Starkey
River Song: Alex Kingston
This review includes spoilers.
At last… a multi-Doctor episode. William Hartnell has a speaking part in the pre-credits. Excellent! Clara falling through time followed by a thrilling mix of half-glimpsed Doctors with Clara calling out to them.
And the episode didn’t disappoint after the credits either. 1893 London and Madame Vastra interviews a convicted murderer who bargains for his life with news of he Doctor. His secret is revealed…
The ‘Conference Call’ scene was entertaining, Interesting way to bring River in, and a River that knows all of the spoilers, all of them…
Matt Smith’s horror at the revealing of the secret that Vastra has warned him about was huge. Matt is good at showing emotion but has turned a little panto at times this season. This episode he gets it right, could this be due to the Direction of Saul Metzstein? This is the same Director as The Crimson Horror and as I stated in my review of that episode, I couldn’t fault the Direction. This episode the Director definitely seems to have done a good job. He brought out a good performance from a good cast.
Trenzalore, where the Doctor is buried.
A marvelous look to the place and how sad to see the dead TARDIS 😦 but all things must come to an end. The Doctor doesn’t like endings foes he.
It isn’t surprising that The Doctor hasn’t told Clara everything about River. Realising who he had lost the first time he had met her, as he came to know her meeting her out of order. The strange romance of the Doctor and River Song, or Doctor Doctor or Professor Doctor to give her her married title… of course no wonder she kept her maiden name, so much like her mother.
It was interesting to see my 19 year old so worried about dear Jenny as Madame Vastra cradled her still-warm corpse. “He’s the medic!” he screamed at Strax, then looked at me pleadingly, “Isn’t he?” I agreed that indeed he was.
The Great Intelligence was a creepy villain this time, with his Whisperingmen. Forcing the Doctor to let them enter his tomb by killing his friends before him.
Another ray of hope occured to me. We heard the cloister bell, if there was a cloister bell then there was still some life left in the TARDIS. This wasn’t explored, could it be that the living TARDIS outside was putting that sound into the ears of the Doctor’s friends as he was being killed in every lifetime. This is the second time this has happened, the first was in The Two Doctors (first aired BBC1 16 February to 2 March 1985) .
So Clara’s secret is revealed. Splintered throughout the Doctor’s timeline. Always watching over him though rarely taken notice of.
The Doctor’s farewell to River was very moving. And looking back to that moment the doors opened, there was for a fleeting moment, a glance from The Doctor directly towards his unseen wife.
A thrilling end to a very mediocre series. There is life in the Doctor yet!
Next Episode: 23rd November 2013
Previous Episode: The Crimson Horror
Judge-Tutor Semple 
Blimey. Very mediocre series? Really?
Yes. Almost every episode fell short this season in my opinion.
There are points I felt the script let the episode down. Other points I felt the direction was poor.
This was still the only TV show I couldn’t miss though. When you like something it can’t always be as good as what has come before and better mauy come along.
For example, The Crimson Horror had great acting from a great cast and great direction. I felt that the script didn’t live up to what it could have. Too much Strax, not enough mystery around Madame Vestra.
I was entertained by this series but not blown away.