8.5. Time Heist

Series 8 - 2014

Writers: Stephen Thomson and Steven Moffat
Produced by: Peter Bennett
Director: Douglas MacKinnon
Music: Murray Gold

Synopsis

The Doctor is at Clara's home trying to persuade her to go with him on a trip but she has other plans - a second date with Danny Pink. As she is about to leave the TARDIS telephone starts to ring. Few people have that number. Clara is one, and another is a woman who gave Clara the number. Clara thinks something will happen if the Doctor answers it, and the Doctor tells her nothing back happens from answering a telephone.

Moments later the Doctor and Clara find themselves sitting round a table in a room each holding a memory worm. There are also two other people in room who have also dropped memory works - Psi and Saibra. In the middle of the table is a case. From a tannoy recordings play of each person saying they agree to the memory wipe of their own free wills, and the case opens.

Two screens in the case play a recorded message from a hooded figure called the Architect. The recording tells them their memory of being recruited for a mission has been deleted, and continues with the briefing for the mission. The mission is to rob the bank of Karabraxos, the most secure bank in the galaxy.

The recording also tells them they are on Karabraxos and that their presence is unauthorised, meaning a team will have been dispatched to destroy them. At that moment they hear a member of bank security through a vent. The case contains more information that Psi, who has been augmented with memory implants, downloads before they escape through an exit.

In her office Ms Delphox receives a report from bank security that the room is empty apart from some worms. Ms Delphox then orders members of her team to prepare the Teller.

After running for a while the Doctor, Clara, Psi and Saibra pause to catch their breath and introduce each other. Psi is a hacker, gamer and bank robber who has spent time in prison. Saibra is a mutant shape shifter who changes to look like into anyone she comes into contact with. In the case there was a slide with human cells in it. When Saibra touches the shells she shifts into a Mr Porrima. As Mr Porrima is a customer of the bank his DNA gets them up to to the banking floor of the bank.

The Doctor and Clara do wonder why they are not using the TARDIS, and also wonder where the TARDIS is. As they walk through the bank it goes into lock-down. Saibra thinks it is for them, but when Ms Delhpox, four guards and the Teller arrive they head for another customer. Ms Delphox tells the customer his guilt has been detected. The Teller starts to feed on the customer's mind, turning his brain into soup.

The Doctor, Clara, Saibra and Psi enter Mr Porrima's safety deposit room. Inside they find a bomb. Psi project bank schematics onto a wall revealing service corridors underneath. The Doctor sets the bomb to blow a hole through the floor. Thinking the bomb would also kill them Psi is ready to take his chances outside. The Doctor tells him that the thing he most desires is in the bank, otherwise why would he agree to break into the most secure bank in the galaxy.

Each person goes into a corner of the room as the bomb explodes. There is a flash and a hole appears in the floor. The bomb is a "dimensional shift bomb". Instead of exploding it moves the particles to another dimension. After they disappear through the hole the Doctor reverses the bomb and the particles are replaced.

Ms Delphox has received a report that the customer from earlier was not the original target, and that four people were spotted going into a security deposit room. When guards enter the room they find it empty.

In the service levels the party finds another case. Inside the case are six devices the Doctor calls atomic shredders. The Doctor takes the atomic shredders as intruder alarms sound. The Doctor leaves Clara and Psi to interface with the bank systems as he and Saibra investigate further. Clara and Psi catch up to the Doctor and Saibra and they break into the Teller's room where they find him in a cell.

The Doctor tells everyone to keep their mind blank, but it locks on to Clara. As they try to get out the Teller swaps to Saibra. She is unable to move as the Teller scans her mind. The Doctor offers her one way out, and gives her one of the atomic shredders. When she activates it she disappears in an instant.

Once all the guards have gone past they find the vault, but do not know how to get inside. Round a corner they find another case. Inside is a device that Psi can use to break 24 time locks. Clara also takes a note that contains the safety deposit boxes they are there to steal. Ms Delphox has released the Teller into the tunnels, and the Doctor and Clara can hear it hunting. They all split up, leaving Psi with an atomic shredder.

Clara is caught by the Teller who has been following her telepathic trail. Psi hears her scream and is able project pictures of a number of different criminal and shouts that he is guilty of hiding them all. The Teller latches on to Psi's guilt and starts to follow him instead. When the Teller catches up to him he uses the atomic shredder and disappears.

The Doctor and Clara return to the vault where 23 of the locks have been released. The final lock will not release. A convenient solar storm disrupts the bank's systems and the final lock releases. As the vault opens the Doctor realises the message from the Architect was from the future, meaning he knew how to set up the cases for the party to find, and also when the solar storm would strike.

Inside the vault the Doctor and Clara find a neophyte circuit for Psi which can reboot any system and also replace lost data, and a gene suppressant for Saibra that would replace her mutant shape shifting gene and make her normal. The third reference on Clara's note is the personal vault. As they set off to find it the Doctor and Clara come face to face with the Teller, and guards take them up to see Ms Delphox. Ms Delphox leaves two guards to dispose of the Doctor and Clara as she leave with the Teller.

One guard shifts back into Saibra, and other takes off his mask to reveal Psi. The atomic shredders did not kill them, but instead teleported them to a ship in orbit that contain a blue box. The Doctor hands Saibra the gene suppressant and Psi the neophyte circuit before looking for the private vault which has oxygen and water lines going in to it. The Doctor realises there is someone living in the vault.

The Doctor, Clara, Saibra and Psi find a vault containing many precious artefacts. The Doctor tells Director Karabraxos that they are here to rob the bank. A chair turns round with another Ms Delhpox sitting in it. The Director tells the Doctor she has clones in every department before asking one of them to send the Teller to the private vault. As the Doctor pieces things together in his mind about the Architect he writes down the TARDIS telephone number and hands it to the Director.

With solar storms hitting the bank the Director after the Doctor tells her she will grow old regretting things she cannot change. The Doctor wants his memory back hidden by the memory worm, and uses the Teller. As the Teller feasts on the Doctor's mind it unblocks memories.

The Doctor remembers receiving a call from a dying Director Karabraxos, and recruiting a team to make a bank robbery, including disguising his voice and calling himself the Architect. It was also the Doctor that set up the cases in the bank for him to find.

In the vault the Doctor tells the Teller that the Director has gone and no longer has any power. The Teller then unlocks a safe and inside is another creature like the Teller chained up. Using the six atomic shredders the Doctor, Clara, Saibra, Psi and the two creatures leave Karabraxos, and the creatures are set free on a different planet.

 

Regular Cast

  • Clara Oswald: Jenna Coleman

Guest Cast

  • Ms Delphox: Keeley Hawes
  • Psi: Jonathan Bailey
  • Saibra: Pippa Bennett-Walker
  • Guard: Mark Ebulue
  • Mr Porrima: Trevor Sellers
  • Suited Customer: Junior Laniyan
  • The Teller: Ross Mullan

Original broadcast on the BBC

Channel Title Date Viewers Rating
BBC 1 (HD) 5. Time Heist Saturday, 20 September 2014 19:30 - 20:15 6.99M 84

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