The Devil's Chord

Last updated

306 –"The Devil's Chord"
Doctor Who episode
Doctor Who The Devil's Chord.jpg
Promotional poster
Cast
Guest
Production
Directed byBen Chessell
Written by Russell T Davies
Script editor Scott Handcock
Produced byChris May
Executive producer(s)
Music byMurray Gold
Series Series 14
Running time50 minutes
First broadcast11 May 2024 (2024-05-11)
Chronology
← Preceded by
"Space Babies"		Followed by →
"Boom"
List of episodes (2005–present)

"The Devil's Chord" is the second episode of the fourteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who . Released alongside "Space Babies," it was written by Russell T. Davies, directed by Ben Chessell, and was released on BBC iPlayer and Disney+ on 11 May 2024.

Contents

The story sees the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) go to see the British rock band the Beatles in 1963, only to find that the world has lost interest in music as they are confronted by the mysterious Maestro (Jinkx Monsoon).

"The Devil's Chord" was watched by 3.91 million viewers and received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised Monsoon’s performance.

Plot

In 1925, a piano teacher shows his student the "devil's chord", which summons a being called Maestro, who consumes the teacher's musical essence, killing him in the process. Maestro then breaks the fourth wall, looking into the camera before playing the opening notes of the Doctor Who theme music on the piano.

At Ruby's request, the Doctor takes her to 1963 to see the Beatles record their first album at EMI Recording Studios but they are disappointed during a recording session with the band as they sing a poorly composed song about Paul McCartney's dog. After viewing similar sessions with Cilla Black and an orchestra, they talk to John Lennon and McCartney and discover that the world has lost its taste for music.

Fearing the impacts of a lack of music on humanity, the Doctor has Ruby play a song on a piano which summons Maestro, who emerges from the piano while laughing. The Doctor recognises this laugh as the same as the Toymaker's giggle. [lower-alpha 1]

After escaping Maestro, the Doctor takes Ruby back to 2024, discovering the ruins of London in a nuclear winter. Maestro appears and reveals that they are a child of the Toymaker. They explain that they plan to eradicate all life from the universe, leaving only Aeolian tones. Maestro claims that to defeat them, the Doctor would need to find the correct chord to banish them, believing he is incapable of doing so.

The Doctor and Ruby return to 1963 where Maestro attacks Ruby, but stops when "Carol of the Bells" begins to play and snow starts to fall. Maestro states that this music was present on the night of her birth, saying that this power is that of the "Oldest One". Playing the Mrs. Mills piano, the Doctor tries to find the chord that will banish Maestro but is unable to find the final note of the chord. Maestro sends the piano out of the room, trapping the Doctor and Ruby inside musical instruments.

Lennon and McCartney arrive outside and discover the piano, with the discovered notes of the chord floating above it. They are able to complete the chord, causing the piano to drag Maestro inside, freeing the Doctor and Ruby. Before the lid closes, trapping them, Maestro portends the coming of "The One Who Waits" to the Doctor. Music returns, and the Doctor and Ruby engage in a musical number before leaving in the TARDIS.

Continuity

The Doctor mentions to Ruby that in 1963 he was living nearby in Shoreditch with his granddaughter Susan, a reference to the first episode of the show, An Unearthly Child (1963), where the First Doctor and Susan Foreman lived in the TARDIS in a junkyard in Shoreditch. [1] The Doctor contemplates the fate of Susan following the genocide of the Time Lords by the Master in "The Timeless Children" (2020). [2] [3]

Production

Development

The episode's title was revealed in December 2023 in Doctor Who Magazine , [4] before the reveal of the rest of the fourteenth series' episodes on 31 March 2024. [5] "The Devil's Chord" was written by Russell T Davies. Davies teased that the episode would be the first of many to feature gods at war. [6] In the episode, the Doctor makes a joke about diegetic music. [7] According to Davies, the joke was not well received by the production team who repeatedly suggested cutting it. Despite this it was well received by critics. [8] [9]

Filming

The production team used a street in Cardiff to emulate a well-known Beatles album cover photographed on Abbey Road (pictured). Abbey Road , Paddington, Greater London - panoramio.jpg
The production team used a street in Cardiff to emulate a well-known Beatles album cover photographed on Abbey Road (pictured).

The episode was directed by Ben Chessell. It was filmed in May 2023. [10] "The Devil's Chord" was produced in the fourth production block of the fourteenth series along with the sixth episode, "Rogue". [11] Parade street in Cardiff for the scenes that took place on Abbey Road in London. [12] A blue screen was placed in the background which was eventually used to substitute the background for London. Umbrellas were not originally intended to be used by the actors in the episode's final scene, but rainy weather caused the production team to come up with the idea since the actors were already using the umbrellas earlier on in the episode. Two pianos were used on set, one that actually worked and one with an empty interior that could hold Monsoon. Davies stated that he had wanted to include a cabaret scene on the programme since 2005 mentioning that it was also done in Pyramids of Mars (1975). [13]

Casting

The episode stars Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson as the fourteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday respectively. The episode features fictionalized versions of several musicians most notably the Beatles with Ed White, Chris Mason, George Caple, and James Hoyles as George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr respectively. Additionally, Josie Sedgwick-Davies appears as Cilla Black. [14]

Jinkx Monsoon appears as the god Maestro. [6] Susan Twist appears as a tea lady. Twist previously appeared as different characters in episodes since "Wild Blue Yonder". [15] Jeremy Limb appeared as Timothy Drake. [16] Limb's father Roger, was an incidental music composer for Doctor Who during the 1980s. [13]

The episode features several cameo appearances including Shirley Ballas and Johannes Radebe as themselves. [17] Former Doctor Who costume designer June Hudson makes a cameo appearance as an elderly woman who is killed by Maestro. [18] Composer Murray Gold also makes a cameo, playing the piano briefly in the final musical number. [19]

Costumes

"The Devil's Chord" saw the Doctor and Ruby in 1960s period clothing. [20] The Doctor's suit was inspired by images of The Rolling Stones. [21] Costume designer Pam Downe designed three costumes for Maestro, including a keyboard outfit, a theatre dress, and an American bandleader outfit; the latter harks back to the Toymaker's bandleader appearance in "The Giggle". According to Monsoon, the looks were inspired by "iconic musicians" through history, with the theatre outfit referencing Adele, and the bandleader outfit referencing Sergeant Pepper from The Beatles. [22]

Broadcast and reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Rotten Tomatoes (Tomatometer)92% [23]
Rotten Tomatoes (Average Score)8.1/10 [23]
Metacritic 72/100 [24]
Review scores
SourceRating
Radio Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [25]
The Evening Standard Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [26]
Total Film Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [27]
Vulture Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [28]
The Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [29]

Broadcast

"The Devil's Chord" was broadcast on BBC One on 11 May 2024, immediately following the series opener, "Space Babies". The episodes were given an early screening exclusive for critics on 6 May. [29] [30] [31] The episode was simulcast on BBC iPlayer at midnight on 11 May in the UK and on Disney+ internationally. [32]

Ratings

Overnight viewing figures estimate that the episode was watched by 2.4 million people on its BBC One broadcast, 200,000 less than the preceding episode. [33] Writing for Radio Times , Louise Griffin attributed the low ratings to the episodes launch on BBC iPlayer nearly 20 hours previously. [34] The episode received a total of 3.91 million consolidated viewers. [35]

Critical reception

On the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, 92% of 12 critics gave the episode a positive review with an average rating of 4.6/5. The sites critical consensus reads, "The Devil's Chord" gets by with a little help from some famous friends -- and a memorably villainous turn from Jinkx Monsoon as Maestro." [23] On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the two-episode season premiere received a rating of 72 out of 100 based on 18 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [24] Jinkx Monsoon's performance was praised by critics. [lower-alpha 2]

Reviewing the first two episodes of the season, Total Film 's Will Salmon gave them four out of five stars, finding "The Devil's Chord" to be "on surer ground and a more obviously crowd-pleasing episode" and writing "Gatwa and Gibson are brilliant, and Jinkx Monsoon crackles with malevolent energy". [27]

Hoai-Tran Bui's review from Inverse was more mixed, though she described the episode as "an intriguing marriage of high-concept sci-fi with high camp that delivers a promising look at what this new era of Doctor Who could look like." [30] Writing for Den of Geek, Stefan Mohamed praised the episode, though he noted that the episode's continuity and references to previous episodes were inconsistent. [8] Vulture's Jennifer Zhan enjoyed the episode, particularly the performance of Monsoon. She also praised the episode’s closing musical number. [28]

Notes

  1. ↑ As depicted in "The Giggle".
  2. ↑ Attributed to multiple sources [10] [36] [37] [28] [29]

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References

  1. ↑ Belam, Martin (11 May 2024). "Doctor Who: Space Babies and The Devil's Chord – season one opening recap". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  2. ↑ Griffin, Louise (11 May 2024). "Doctor Who shares update on Susan's fate in The Devil's Chord". Radio Times . Archived from the original on 14 May 2024. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
  3. ↑ Edwards, Richard (16 May 2024). "Doctor Who 'Space Babies': Why is The Doctor alone in the universe?". Space.com . Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  4. ↑ Davies, Russell T (January 2024). "Letter from the Showrunner". Doctor Who Magazine . No. 596. p. 10.
  5. ↑ Coley, Samantha (31 March 2024). "'Doctor Who' Season 14 Episode Titles Get Haunting New Teaser Trailers". Collider . Archived from the original on 6 May 2024. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  6. 1 2 Mellor, Louisa (25 April 2024). "Russell T Davies Teases Doctor Who's "New Tradition" of Warring Gods". Den of Geek . Archived from the original on 2 May 2024. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
  7. ↑ Stolworthy, Jacob (11 May 2024). "Doctor Who viewers have same theory about episode 2 detail". The Independent. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  8. 1 2 Mohamed, Stefan (11 May 2024). "Doctor Who Series 14 Episode 2 Review: The Devil's Chord". Den of Geek . Archived from the original on 15 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  9. ↑ McEwan, Cameron K. (15 May 2024). "Russell T Davies Talks Bringing 'Doctor Who' to a New Audience and Working With Disney". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  10. 1 2 Vickers-Green, Laura (11 November 2023). "Series 14 Set Photos Hint That RTD Is Bringing The Beatles Back to Doctor Who". Den of Geek . Archived from the original on 2 May 2024. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
  11. ↑ Bates, Philip (8 March 2023). "Ben Chessell Announced as Doctor Who Series 14 Block Four Director". The Doctor Who Companion. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
  12. ↑ Vickers-Green, Laura (11 May 2023). "Series 14 Set Photos Hint That RTD Is Bringing The Beatles Back to Doctor Who". Den of Geek . Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  13. 1 2 Behind the Scenes – The Devil's Chord – Doctor Who (Behind the scenes featurette). BBC. 11 May 2024. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
  14. ↑ Bibby, Daniel (11 May 2024). "Who Plays The Beatles & Cilla Black In Doctor Who Season 14". ScreenRant . Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  15. ↑ Hoffer, Christian (11 May 2024). "Doctor Who Fans Catch Recurring Easter Egg in New Series". ComicBook.com. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  16. ↑ Griffin, Louise (10 May 2024). "Meet the cast of Doctor Who – The Devil's Chord". Radio Times . Retrieved 4 June 2024.
  17. ↑ Jefferey, Morgan (1 May 2024). "Doctor Who's Millie Gibson confirms "special" dance sequence with Strictly stars". Radio Times . Archived from the original on 1 May 2024. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
  18. ↑ Mulkern, Patrick (11 May 2024). "Doctor Who '70s legend returns for cameo – and breaks down "gruesome" fate". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 12 May 2024. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  19. ↑ Bibby, Daniel (15 May 2024). "Doctor Who Season 14 Revives A Great Cameo Trick Not Seen In 17 Years". ScreenRant. Archived from the original on 15 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  20. ↑ Craig, Daniel. "Doctor Who reveals new look for Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor in 1960s adventure". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 15 May 2024. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  21. ↑ Quinn, Jason (29 February 2024). "Time Lord Style: Dedicated Follower of Fashion". Doctor Who Magazine 601. Panini UK: 25–29.
  22. ↑ "Jinkx Monsoon Introduces Maestro to the "Pantheon" of 'Doctor Who' Villains". Collider. 11 May 2024. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  23. 1 2 3 "Doctor Who – Season 1, Episode 2 The Devil's Chord". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media. Archived from the original on 15 May 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  24. 1 2 "Doctor Who (2024) season 1". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 6 May 2024. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
  25. ↑ "Doctor Who - The Devil's Chord review: A vivid, silly and gripping '60s jaunt". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 7 May 2024. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  26. ↑ Robinson, Martin (11 May 2024). "Doctor Who: Space Babies & The Devil's Chord review — with Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor the show is alive and kicking". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 16 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  27. 1 2 Salmon, Will (6 May 2024). "Doctor Who episodes 1 & 2 review: Space Babies may divide the fans, but Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson make for an immediately winning new TARDIS team". Total Film . GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on 6 May 2024. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  28. 1 2 3 Zhan, Jennifer (10 May 2024). "Doctor Who Recap: Here Comes the Fun". Vulture . Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  29. 1 2 3 Dowell, Ben (6 May 2024). "Doctor Who first-look review — Space Babies and The Devil's Chord cause mayhem". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  30. 1 2 Bui, Hoai-Tran (6 May 2024). "The Longest-Running Sci-Fi Show's Latest Reboot Isn't Really a Reboot". Inverse . Archived from the original on 6 May 2024. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  31. ↑ Seale, Jack (6 May 2024). "Doctor Who first look review – Ncuti Gatwa will make this show far more fun than it's been for years". The Guardian . ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  32. ↑ Mellor, Louisa (15 March 2024). "Doctor Who Series 14 Release Date: Episodes to Stream at Midnight UK Time". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on 10 April 2024. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
  33. ↑ Griffin, Louise (16 May 2024). "Doctor Who ratings revealed for season 14 launch after early iPlayer debut". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  34. ↑ Griffin, Louise (16 May 2024). "Doctor Who's overnight ratings aren't the full story - but they still matter". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  35. ↑ Griffin, Louise (20 May 2024). "Doctor Who ratings revealed for first week of season 14". Radio Times . Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  36. ↑ Richard Edwards (17 May 2024). "Who is the 'Doctor Who' villain Maestro? And what's their relationship with the Toymaker?". Space.com. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  37. ↑ Sordi, Valeria (15 May 2024). "Jinkx Monsoon Just Became One of 'Doctor Who's Best Villains in a Single Episode". Collider . Retrieved 28 May 2024.
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