6.13. The Wedding Of River Song

Series 6 - 2011

Writer: Steven Moffat
Produced by: Marcus Wilson
Director: Jeremy Webb, Marcus Wilson (uncredited)
Music: Murray Gold

Synopsis

London 5.02pm 2nd April 2011. London is a mix of different time periods. Around the The Gherkin steam trains run or rails built in the skies. In a park children and being chased by Pterodactyls, past a sign telling people not to feed them. A news-stand has a poster saying the War of the Roses is entering the second year. In the streets cars pass by as a Roman chariot waits at traffic lights. On a giant television Charles Dickens, still alive, is talking about a Christmas special.

Roman Emperor Winston Churchill returns to the Buckingham Senate, and is being looked after by a Silurian doctor. Churchill asks about the time, and realises the date and the time is always 5.02 on the 2nd April 2011. Churchill demands to speak to the Soothsayer, who he had thrown in the Tower. The Doctor, dressed in a Roman toga, is brought before Churchill. All of history is happening at once. Churchill wants to know what happened to time.

Some time earlier in his time line the Doctor extracted information from a Dalek's data core about the Silence. On an old space station the Doctor demands to see Father Gideon Vandaleur, former envoy of the Silence. Vandaleur has been dead for six months. The Father sat in front of the Doctor is in fact the Teselecta, which means they are investigating the silence as well. The Doctors asks the Teselecta captain about the Silence' weakest link.

During a game of live chess, while crowds are cheering, the Doctor's competitor, Gantok, is nervous about the next move. The queen is the only legal move, and as the queen has been moved 12 times there are now 4 million volts running

through it. The Doctor will concede the game in return for information. The Doctor is told to go and see Dorium Maldovar - who was beheaded by the Monks at Demon's Run.

The Doctor is taken where the Monks store the heads they have beheaded - alive. Some are left to rot, but the rich have their own boxes, and Dorium was always rich. The Doctor asks the Doctor about the Silence, why the would want him dead, and what is so dangerous about his future. Dorium tells the Doctor that on the Fields of Trenzalore, at the fall of the Eleventh, a question will be asked. A question that must never be answered. The Silence want to make sure the Doctor never makes it to Trenzalore. Dorium tells the Doctor the question, and the Doctor takes Dorium's head in to the TARDIS.

The Doctor asks Dorium why Lake Silencio, Utah, was chosen. He is told that it is a still point in time, making it easier to create a fixed point, and that the Doctor's death is a fixed point in time. The Doctor tells Dorium that he has a time machine and can go run to any point in time. He makes a phone call to an old friend and says they are going to go out. Dorium says that time will catch up with him, and when the Doctor learns of Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart's passing he realises that time is indeed catching up. The Doctor asks the Teselecta crew to deliver some messages - in blue envelopes.

Back in London the Doctor tells Churchill about Amy, Rory and Utah, the woman he also invited. The Doctor's death is a fixed point, and must always happen. The suit was in control of River Song and she was powerless to stop it. The Doctor prepares for the fatal shot, and hears River's gun fire. But nothing happens. River was able to fire off several shot away from the Doctor, draining the power pack. History unravels, and time becomes stuck at 5.02pm 22nd April 2011 throughout history, and all of history is happening at the same moment.

In the senate room the Doctor finds an increasing number of marks on his arm, and Churchill has a gun he has fired. A group of armed soldiers burst in, and an adult Amelia Pond, wearing an eye patch, shoots at the Doctor. He awakes on a train headed for Cairo. The Doctor tries to get Ameila Pond to remember him. Soon afterwards he realises that he is holding a police box, and that the train carriage is covered in drawings. Amy knows the Doctor, and hands him his familiar clothing to replace the toga. The train arrives at at Area 52 in Cairo, and Captain Williams hands the Doctor an eye-patch. In reality it is an idrive. It shows the wearer images of the Silents, so they can no longer just be forgotten as they are always being observed. Everyone on the train has one.

Area 52 is holding captured Silents, and they watch the Doctor as he passes by them. Amy takes the Doctor to see some old friends, including River Song and a restrained Madame Kovarian. The Doctor grabs hold of River, and time starts ticking forwards normally. River orders soldiers to handcuff the Doctor to stop him touching River and shorting out the time differential. Elsewhere in Area 52 the glass of the cells holding the Silents starts to crack, and water begins to leak in. Kovarian tells the Doctor that the Silents are not trapped... they are waiting.

Because all the idrives are based on Kovarian's the Silents are able to send electrical pulses through them, killing the wearers. The Doctor, Amy, River are able to get their off. As the Silents start to break in the Doctor, Amy and River make their way to the Receptor Room at the top of the pyramid. At the top is a distress beacon built by River. It's broadcasting a message saying the Doctor is dying and asking for help. More importantly the Universe is offering its help.

The Doctor asks Amy to uncuff her, takes off his tie and tells River to wrap one end around her wrist. The Doctor tells Rory and Amy what to say in a hasty wedding ceremony, and the Doctor whispers his name into River's ear. As the Doctor kisses the bride the time differential is cancelled out, and time starts moving forwards, and history is corrected. In Utah the Doctor is shot by River.

Back at her house on Earth Amy is visited by River, in camouflage gear after climbing out of the Byzantium. Amy believes the Doctor is dead. River tells Amy what the Doctor really said to her - and it wasn't his real name - and that the Doctor isn't really dead.

Back at the Monks' room the Doctor replaces Dorium's head. Dorium asks the Doctor how he managed to survive, and make the Universe think he's dead. The Doctor reveals that he was in Utah, inside the Teselecta. History said he had to be there, but it was the Teselecta that was shot and burned. Safe inside the Doctor was barely even singed.

Regular Cast

  • Amy Pond: Karen Gillan
  • Rory Williams: Arthur Darvill

Guest Cast

  • River Song: Alex Kingston
  • Madame Kovarian: Frances Barber
  • Dorium Moldovar: Simon Fisher-Becker
  • Emperor Winston Churchill: Ian McNiece
  • Doctor Malokeh: Richard Hope
  • The Silent: Marnix van der Broeke
  • Voice of the Dalek: Nicholas Briggs
  • Charles Dickens: Simon Callow
  • Sian Williams: Sian Williams (playing herself)
  • Bill Turnbull: Bill Turnbull (playing himself)
  • Newsreader: Meredith Vieira
  • Gideon Vandaleur: Grieg Fulton
  • Barman: Sean Buckley
  • Gantok: Rondo Haxton (Credited as Mark Gatiss in the Radio Times)
  • Doctor Kent: Emma Campbell-Jones
  • Nurse: Katharine Burford
  • Carter: Richard Dillane
  • Canton Delaware: Morgan Sheppard
Uncredited:
  • Roman on chariot: Jake Cox
  • Drivers: Steve Bailey, Meryl Herbert, Darius Walker
  • Mother with prams: Trish Dichler, Kate Powell
  • Passers by: Tim Austin Brown, Rachel Fenwick, Geoffrey Field, Jayesh Harji, Dean Hennessy, Yuan Huang, Faisal Jina, Suraya Jina, Angela Johnson, Azhar Miah, Richard Morgan, Ying Qin, Emma Reeves, Caroline Smith, Matthew Jay, Gillian Brown, Austin Charlesworth, Francene Howard, Doreen Johnson, Alex Lee, John Meredith, Purdey Miles, Mariam Nundy, Tanya Ong, Karen Poolman, John Sinclair, Brian Tahr, David Ulett, Laura Wilson
  • Lunchbox children: Andrew Salter, Amber Morgan, Cerys Spake
  • Children: Thomas Workman, Ben Roe, Daniel Gear, Harry Lewis, Sacha Evans, Becca Hughes
  • Roman slaves: Jamie Jones, Kane Power
  • Roman soldiers: Richard Knott, Gwion Ap Rhiasart
  • Roman dignitaries: Keith Kendry, Doug Kirby, Phil Sutton, Rob Thomas
  • Punters: Paul Bogle, Stephen Coggins, Derris Ewers, Jim Fox, Brett Griffiths, Ian Kaye, Earl Palmer, John Regan, Andy Wheeler, Adrian Brown, Robin Brown, Samuel Lee, Carl Peries, Ian Wilson
  • Male Teselecta officers: Darius Walker, Luke Grahame
  • Female Teselecta officer: Rachel Bond
  • Male spectators: Ikay Agu, Richey Beckett, Stephen Blything, Marcus Elliot, Paul Francis, Jonathan Hughes, Andy Jones, Claudio Laurini, Jamie Maciver, Paul Nevin, Frankie Ward, David Stock, Jeff Williams, Ian Darlington Roberts
  • Female spectators: Joanna Blewitt, Rachel Bond, Emma Goodwin, Bexx Was, Nicola Horton, Sammi Lea, Jennifer Marsh, Gemma Poolman, Victoria Thomas, Anne Lyken Gardner, Barbara Fadden
  • Stunt double for Gantok: Nc Goodey
  • Nurse: Mikelle Ford
  • Pensioners: Norman Quick, Jean Quick
  • Silents: Harrisen Larner Main, Jamie Jill
  • Stunt double for Emperor Winston Churchill: Andy Merchant
  • Marines: Harry Burt, Jon Davey, Marcus Elliot, Dennis Gregory, Iestyn Jones, David Lamb, Alistair Sanderson, David Stephens, Dean Anderson, Jason Caplin, Chester Durrant, Yiannis Laoutaris, Kevin Read, Charlie Walker, Richard Lewis, Ryan Woodward
  • Anderson: Matthew Dooman
  • Slater: Luke Grahame
  • Marines guarding the Doctor: Leigh Alliss, Ben Ashley
  • Double for Doctor Kent: Heddi-Joy Taylor-Welch
  • Voices: Fern Duncan, Frances Encell

Original broadcast on the BBC

Channel Title Date Viewers Rating
BBC 1 (HD) 13. The Wedding Of River Song Saturday, 1 October 2011 19:05 - 19:50

Click here to show repeat broadcasts on the BBC

Studios

  • Upper Boat Studios: Studio 5
  • Upper Boat Studios: Studio 6
  • Upper Boat Studios: Studios 1 + 2

Outside Locations

  • Archer Road, Penarth
  • Bute Park, Cardiff
  • Cardiff City Hall, Civic Centre, Cardiff
  • Dyffryn Gardens, St. Nicholas, Vale of Glamorgan
  • Glamorgan Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff
  • Hensol Caste, Hensol, Vale of Glamorgan
  • Lake Powell, Page, Arizona, USA
  • Mir Steel, Corporation Road, Newport
  • St. Mary Street / Wharton Street, Cardiff City Centre