Closing Time

I’m the Doctor. Here to help.

The Eleventh Doctor

Preamble

Closing Time is written by Gareth Roberts, who is a deeply problematic individual in Doctor Who.

To be clear, I find the views he expressed to be abhorrent but I feel that it is important to view and evaluate his work separately, as I do with every writer who has written for Doctor Who on this blog. I appreciate that not everyone will be able to do this, which is absolutely fine. Any praise for this story, or for the writing, is not intended in support of Roberts or his views.

Synopsis

The Doctor’s final days are upon him – but when he drops in on an old friend, the Cybermen are waiting.

Review

Series 6 is tonally quite dark, and Closing Time acts as a lighter pallette cleanser. It falls as the penultimate episode of a series which is quite dark, and had a reputation for being difficult to follow for the casual audience, whilst this story is distinctly more light-hearted.

Closing Time perhaps falls in the unfortunate position of being the penultimate episode before the series 6 finale. Series 6 has to tie up a lot of loose ends, not helped by the fact that the second half of the series doesn’t really help by not really moving the arc forward massively. Whilst that run of episodes does contain some great stories, like The God Complex and The Girl Who Waited, it’s definitely not what I was expecting following the end of A Good Man Goes to War. This is a series about River Song, and she and the Silence barely feature in the second half. Arguably, The Wedding of River Song needs to be broken down into two parts for purposes of clarity and making sure the audience is onboard. That’s not to say that I don’t like Closing Time. It is, by and large, well-written, even if Roberts feels as though he is essentially rehashing The Lodger. The conclusion is essentially the same, except for the fact that he’s substituted out Craig’s feelings for Sophie for his feelings for Alfie.

The Cybermen are here as window dressing and Closing Time does nothing new or revolutionary with them. They are very much in monster of the week territory here, and the story hits a lot of familiar beats. When they are finally dispatched, it is through Craig’s overwhelming love for his son. As a father myself, this did hit harder following the birth of my child than it did beforehand, but it does feel a little bit too convenient and rushed. The Cybermen would be redesigned in their next appearance in Nightmare in Silver, so this feels like the Cybus design going out with a bit of a whimper. The reintroduction of the Cybermats is a nice touch though, and their redesign is quite effective. I think that the twist that the Cybermen’s ship is not, in fact, in space, but under the department store works quite well.

Despite Closing Time‘s flaws, one of the things that does work is the chemistry between Matt Smith and James Corden. There is something very magnetic about both of them on screen, and it is easy to see why the production team wanted to bring Craig back for Series 6. I know Corden is an incredibly divisive figure, however, I’ve always found him to be perfectly likeable on screen. The Doctor helps Craig to feel more confident in his abilities as a father, whilst also showing how not everyone is cut out to travel with the Doctor full-time. Craig is particularly awkward in gathering information, something that is essential for a companion, as shown when he tries and get information from Kelly in the department store.

Matt Smith puts in a good melancholic performance as the Doctor here. Whilst this is a light-hearted story, it cannot escape the fact that the Doctor must end this series facing his final death, and Smith does balance this well. Originally aiming to see the alignment of Exedor (or Exeter, as Craig calls it), the Doctor agrees to settle to help out one of his ‘static’ companions, which ultimately leads to foiling an alien invasion, rather than the alien invasion being the A-plot. The end of this story, where he says goodbye to the children is genuinely touching, as is his speech to Alfie with the stars.

Verdict: Closing Time does not surpass The Lodger, but it is a solid enough story. It’s strengths lie in the performances of Smith and Corden, whilst the Cybermen are simply window-dressing. 6/10

Cast: Matt Smith (The Doctor), Karen Gillan (Amy Pond), Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams), James Corden (Craig Owens), Daisy Haggard (Sophie), Alex Kingston (River Song), Frances Barber (Madame Kovarian), Seroca Davis (Shona), Holli Dempsey (Kelly), Chris Obi (George), Lynda Barron (Val), Paul Kasey (Cyberman) & Nicholas Briggs (Voice of the Cybermen.

Writer: Gareth Roberts

Director: Steve Hughes

Producer: Denise Paul

Composer: Murray Gold

Original Broadcast Date: 24 September 2011

Behind the Scenes

• Working titles for this story included Carry-On Lodging, Everything Must Go, The Last Adventure and Three Cybermen and a Baby.
• The first appearance of the Cybermats since Revenge of the Cybermen.
• The first episode 12 not to be written by that series’ head writer and not to be a part of a multi-part finale.
• The first and only televised story featuring River Song not to be primarily written by Steven Moffat, although he did write the scene in which she appears.
• The Cybus design of Cybermen costumes designed in Series 2 were found to be damaged or dilapidated. Whilst this suited the look needed for Closing Time, these costumes were retired after production of this story.

Cast Notes

• Lynda Baron previously played Captain Wrack in Enlightenment, as well as singing “The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon” for The Gunfighters.

Best Moment

I think it has to be the stars speech, which is followed by one of the best action scenes of the story with the Cybermat.

Best Quote

Hello, Stormageddon. It’s The Doctor, here to help. Be quiet. Go to sleep. No, really. Stop crying. You’ve got a lot to look forward to, you know. A normal human life on Earth. Mortgage repayments, the 9 to 5, a persistent nagging sense of spiritual emptiness. Save the tears for later, boyo. Oh, that was crabby. No, that was old. But I am old, Stormy. I am so old. So near the end. But you, Alfie Owens. You are so young, aren’t you? And you know, right now, everything’s ahead of you. You could be anything. Yes, I know. You could walk among the stars. They don’t actually look like that, you know — they are rather more impressive. Yeah! You know, when I was little like you, I dreamt of the stars. I think it’s fair to say, in the language of your age, that I lived my dream. I owned the stage. Gave it a hundred and ten percent. I hope you have as much fun as I did, Alfie.

The Eleventh Doctor

Previous Eleventh Doctor review: The God Complex.

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