[Susan Foreman]

Episode 1: ‘Deep Breath’

Air date: Saturday 23 August 2014.

Directed by Ben Wheatley.

Written by Steven Moffat.

Running time: Feature-length episode (apparently 75 minutes).

Guest cast: Neve McIntosh as Madame Vastra, Catrin Stewart as Jenny, Dan Starkey as Strax, Paul Hickey as Inspector Gregson, Tony Way as Alf, Maggie Service as Elsie, Sean Ashburn as Restaurant Droid, Mark Kempner as Victorian Cabbie.

The Doctor: “Clara, be my pal. Tell me, am I good man?”

Clara: “I don’t think I know who the Doctor is anymore…”

Reece Shearsmith: “There’s a very abrupt and savage streak in Ben [Wheatley]‘s work, but I don’t think it will quite filter through [into his Doctor Who episodes]…”

Jenna Coleman: “We pretty much kick off where we left off at Christmas and we carry on the story straight away after the regeneration so we’re dealing with that for the first ep.”

Neve McIntosh: “It will be sad not to be working with Matt [Smith] again but I’m really looking forward to Peter [Capaldi] taking over and seeing what he does with it. [Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax will] be helping the Doctor more, but I can’t say anything else.”

Steven Moffat: “In a world with which you are familiar [with Clara, Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax all returning], you can make the Doctor more of a stranger again.”

The Mirror: “As a new Time Lord you need all the friends you can get, but he even has to win over his companion. Clara grew very attached to Matt [Smith's Doctor] and that shows in the opening episodes. Peter [Capaldi]’s Doctor has to get past a spiky opening and try to make Clara a sidekick who will help him save the world from the usual mix of aliens and monsters from the galaxy.”

Peter Capaldi: “New job, first day, slightly nervous. Just like the Doctor, I’m emerging from the TARDIS into a whole other world.”

Steven Moffat: “First the eyebrows! Then, at Christmas, the face! Coming soon, the whole Doctor. In the Cardiff studios, the Capaldi era begins.”

Steven Moffat: “I think [late summer 2014 is] probably right [for Series 8's start date]. But these things change so often.”

Ben Wheatley: “I am very excited and honoured to be asked to direct the first two episodes of the new series of Doctor Who. I’m really looking forward to working with Peter Capaldi and finding out where Steven Moffat is planning to take the new Doctor.”