| 250 – "Flatline" | |||
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| Doctor Who episode | |||
| Cast | |||
Others
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| Production | |||
| Directed by | Douglas Mackinnon | ||
| Written by | Jamie Mathieson | ||
| Produced by | Nikki Wilson | ||
| Executive producers | Steven Moffat Brian Minchin | ||
| Music by | Murray Gold | ||
| Series | Series 8 | ||
| Running time | 43 minutes | ||
| First broadcast | 18 October 2014 (2014-10-18) | ||
| Chronology | |||
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| List of episodes (2005–present) | |||
"Flatline" is the ninth episode of theeighth series of the Britishscience fiction television programmeDoctor Who. It was first broadcast onBBC One on 18 October 2014. The episode was written byJamie Mathieson and directed byDouglas Mackinnon.
In the episode, the alientime travellerthe Doctor (Peter Capaldi) is trapped inside his time machine and spaceship theTARDIS after the TARDIS's external dimensions get shrunk by two-dimensional extraterrestrial creatures, which he ultimately dubs the Boneless, in present-dayBristol. Assisted by localgraffiti artist Rigsy (Joivan Wade), the Doctor'scompanionClara (Jenna Coleman) carries the miniature TARDIS with her and temporarily takes over the Doctor's role of trying to protect humanity from alien incursions.
The episode was watched by 6.71 million viewers and received positive reviews, with particular praise for Coleman's performance.
TheTwelfth Doctor discovers something draining energy from theTARDIS and materialises in Bristol.Clara befriends Rigsy, agraffiti artist assigned to community service on a council estate. He tells Clara that several people have gone missing. When Clara returns to the Doctor, the exterior dimensions of the TARDIS have shrunk too small for the Doctor to leave. The Doctor passes Clara hissonic screwdriver,psychic paper, and an earpiece to let him communicate with her, and she carries the TARDIS in her bag, acting as the Doctor.
Clara convinces PC Forrest to let her and Rigsy into the flat of the first disappearance. They hear Forrest scream from the next room. They see no sign of her, but find a strange mural on the wall. The Doctor recognises it as a human nervous system, and suspects it is Forrest's. He warns Clara and Rigsy that there are two-dimensional creatures, the Boneless, which are flattening the missing persons into two dimensions. Clara and Rigsy escape before they are attacked.
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They race back to the other community service crewmen to warn them the murals in a pedestrian subway are additional Boneless. Some crewmen are killed while Clara leads the rest through a train yard into tunnels. They are followed by the Boneless, which take the form of the people they killed to use the third dimension. The Boneless surround the others by flattening the doors into two dimensions. The Doctor jerry-rigs a device to undo this flattening to give the group time to escape. In their haste, Clara drops the TARDIS in the path of an oncoming train. The Doctor turns on Siege Mode, preventing any physical damage but leaving him without enough power to deactivate Siege Mode.
Clara has Rigsy paint a realistic door on a large poster. The poster is hung over an access tunnel to lure the Boneless to it. The Boneless, thinking it is a flattened door, funnel their energy into it to restore it, but instead they power the TARDIS that Clara placed behind the poster. The TARDIS reverts to its normal size and form, and the Doctor erects a barrier to hold the Boneless in place. Realising the Boneless have no peaceful intentions, he returns them to their dimension. The Doctor asks Clara how she enjoyed being the Doctor for the day. Elsewhere,Missy watches Clara, muttering to herself that she has "chosen well".
The TARDIS exterior shrank to an inch in size in the serialPlanet of Giants (1964), with theFirst Doctor and his companions also being shrunk to that size, and it was reduced to the size of a dollhouse in the serialLogopolis (1981), with theFourth Doctor trapped inside.[1]
The read through for "Flatline" took place on 19 May 2014. Filming began soon afterwards, on 28 May, and concluded on 18 June 2014.[1]
It was filmed inBarry Tourist Railway which stood in for Bristol, along withWenvoe Tunnel, also inBarry.
Overnight viewing figures were estimated at 4.6 million.[2] The episode was watched by a total of 6.71 million viewers.[3] In the US, this episode was seen by 0.75 million viewers.[4] It also received anAI of 85, considered excellent.[5]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| The A.V. Club | B+[6] |
| Paste Magazine | 9.4[7] |
| SFX Magazine |   [8] |
| TV Fanatic |  [9] |
| CultBox | [10] |
| IndieWire | B+[11] |
| IGN | 8.3[12] |
| New York Magazine | [13] |
| Radio Times | [14] |
| Digital Spy | [15] |
| The Daily Telegraph | [16] |
The episode received positive reviews, with many praisingJamie Mathieson's script,Jenna Coleman's performance and the uniquely designed monsters. Neela Debnath ofThe Independent praised Coleman andPeter Capaldi's performances and believed this episode to be stronger than the previous week's "Mummy on the Orient Express", also scripted by Mathieson, although she was critical of theCGI effects.[17] Matt Risley ofIGN gave the episode 8.3 out of 10, praising the concept of the episode and the performance of Coleman, but criticising the guest cast.[18] Morgan Jeffery ofDigital Spy gave a mixed review of the episode, calling it "a bumpy ride." He too was critical of the supporting cast, citing lack of depth to their personalities. He was, however, positive of the CGI, calling it "the most impressive and distinctive this show has featured in recent memory." Overall he gave the episode 3 stars out of five.[15]
Reviewing the episode forThe Daily Telegraph, Michael Hogan noted thatChristopher Fairbank was billed as the guest star butJoivan Wade outshone him. He stated that the episode had "outlandishly original ideas, smartly executed. It was thrillingly unsettling and ultimately satisfying."[16] Dan Martin, forThe Guardian, wrote that Jamie Mathieson's script "is one of the more effective demonstrations of how to do the 'cheap one'." Martin also stated that Clara is "becoming more and more like the Doctor".[19] Alasdair Wilkins ofThe A.V. Club awarded the episode a B+, stating that "the show is on a hot streak we haven't seen in a long, long time". Wilkins closed his review by saying "'Flatline' isn't perfect, but it underlines just how great the 12th Doctor and Clara have been for each other, and how great their pairing has been for the show, if for no other reason than their complex relationship has forced the show to be thoughtful in a way it hasn't in quite some time".[6]
| Author | Nancy Taylor |
|---|---|
| Series | Doctor Who novelisations |
| Publisher | Pearson Education |
Publication date | 15 June 2018 |
| ISBN | 978-1292206158 |
Pearson Education published a novelisation of this episode by Nancy Taylor for students of English language reading 24 May 2018.[20][21]
Doctor Who episodes | |
|---|---|
| Series 8 | |
