Doctor Who Series 7: What We Know

A guide to the latest adventures of our favourite Time Lord!
As of today, we've got three weeks now until Doctor Who returns to our television screens with five new blockbuster adventures. These gripping stories will again feature Matt Smith as the Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Williams and Arthur Darvill as Rory, taking the show towards its 50th Anniversary year and indeed marking the departure of the latter two stars from its cast. But just what do we know about these episodes, and indeed the remaining adventures of Series Seven that will follow them so far? Here's On-Screen's full guide of what we can expect from Who in days to come...
EPISODE 1- ASYLUM OF THE DALEKS (SEPTEMBER 1ST):
Judging by the recent Series Seven trailer, this explosive season opener sees the Doctor, Amy and Rory transported onto a Dalek mothership above Earth. Here, they appear to be zapped down to a new alien planet where the titular Asylum of classic Daleks awaits...but why the theatricality on the part of the Time Lord's oldest enemies, and what is their devious masterplan?
EPISODE 2- DINOSAURS ON A SPACESHIP (SEPTEMBER 8TH):
Boasting perhaps the best title ever conceived for a Doctor Who episode, this second adventure focuses on the Doctor assembling a gang of heroes including Amy, Rory, Rory's dad (played by Harry Potter's Mark Williams), Queen Neyfiri and a game-hunter to stop a dinosaur-carrying spaceship hurtling down to Earth. This will be another blockbuster story of intergalactic proportions, of that there is no doubt!
EPISODE 3- A TOWN CALLED MERCY (SEPTEMBER 15TH):
Next up, the Doctor takes Amy and Rory to the Wild West, where the trio come across cowboys, stallions and an evil cyborg character with a thirst for vengeance. Not lots is known about this one, but we can be sure to expect great writing and a truly empathetic and justified villain from the brilliant Being Human showrunner and Who regular writer Toby Whithouse.
EPISODE 4- CUBED (SEPTEMBER 22ND):
What would the human race do if they were all offered a seemingly miraculous gift from an unknown source? According to Chris Chibnall, they would go via their love of free things and sweep it up, but of course that can lead to hidden surprises- here, it appears the magical cubes that sweep the planet Earth turn deadly, leaving the Doctor mortally wounded and Amy and Rory forced to work together (given their rumoured divorce...) against time to save him as UNIT tries to fend off an alien invasion.
EPISODE 5- THE ANGELS WEPT (SEPTEMBER 29TH):
And of course here we are, at the end of the Ponds. The Angels Wept is Amy and Rory's final adventure, and it boasts the return of both the Weeping Angels and the cunning companion River Song into the mix, as well as being set in both modern and 1930s New York. Rumour has it River becomes 'Melody Malone' in the past as Rory is zapped back by the Weeping Angels, but with Matt having been seen staring at two graves in a graveyard, will Amy perhaps decide to stay with Rory in the past, will both of them die, or will just one or none, those shots being some kind of ruse? There's not long until we find out!
EPISODE 6- CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (DECEMBER 25TH):
We then take a short break to mourn the Ponds until Christmas Day, with the thirteen episodes of Merlin Series Five filling the gap. Once Who does return, it'll be to introduce Jenna-Louise Coleman as the new companion Clara. We already know that Richard E Grant and Tom Hart are headlining the Christmas Special, but on top of that it seems Madame Vastra, Jenny and Commander Strax are back for the first of multiple appearances in the final nine episodes of the season. It's also reported that Clara is a Victorian companion with dark secrets to be revealed...
EPISODES 7-14- SERIES SEVEN PART TWO (EARLY 2013):
After the Christmas Special, we'll either see eight more episodes starting the first Saturday of 2013, or indeed one or two months into next year. Little is known about the closing run of Series Seven, other than that Steven Moffat will pen two episodes, as will Mark Gatiss, with Neil Cross confirmed to write one other story. That leaves us with three writer spaces to fill, rumoured to be at least Neil Gaiman (in a new revamp of the Cybermen, apparently!) and Gareth Roberts.
THE ARC:
The main season plot arc of Series Seven has yet to be revealed, but you can bet the Fields Of Trenzalore will have a part to play in the finale. If so, then River and the Silence will most definitely be back in Part Two. Expect seeds of whatever is to come to be planted even underneath the arc of the Ponds' departure in Part One- that's something we'll be looking into here at On-Screen as we go along...
Doctor Who returns on September 1st.