[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Doctor Who, Season 1 Episode 2, “The Devil’s Chord.”]
The Doctor has met plenty of famous figures during his adventures on Doctor Who, from Queen Elizabeth I to Rosa Parks to H.G. Wells. So, according to executive producer/showrunner Russell T Davies, “it’s amazing that The Doctor hasn’t met The Beatles before, especially since they both came into existence in 1963.”
By that, Davies means that Doctor Who first premiered on the BBC in November 1963, while The Beatles recorded their first album in February of that year. And that’s the point in space and time which the 15th Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and his new companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) visit in “The Devil’s Chord,” streaming now on Disney+.
“That script reading was special for sure,” Millie Gibson tells Consequence. “It was just levels above anything I’ve ever read before. The thing that gave me goosebumps, when I read it, was the stage directions for the end: ‘And the TARDIS doors go ‘buh-boo.’”
The initial inspiration for “The Devil’s Chord” came from a friend of Davies, who said that if he had a TARDIS, he’d want to see The Beatles record their first album. Not a mind-blowing idea, except that said friend is 23 years old. “The fact that he said that as a young person made me think, ‘Oh, that’s interesting,’” Davies says. “If I’d said it, I think, yeah, that’s what a 61-year-old says. But that someone so young was interested in The Beatles made me sit up.”
And as soon as Davies started thinking about The Beatles, his years of experience as a television producer led him instantly to a story idea. “I knew The Beatles’ music is way too expensive, even with a lovely Disney budget. So I thought, right, you couldn’t ever use any of their music — lo and behold, you created the plot in that second. It was instantly there. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s good. You go to watch the Beatles, and they’re singing the wrong thing, time’s gone wrong, and suddenly you’re in the middle of a Doctor Who story.’ So that was great.”
In “The Devil’s Chord,” Ruby tells The Doctor that she wants to visit the iconic band in 1963. When they arrive at Abbey Road Studios, though, they discover that the band (featuring Chris Mason as John Lennon and George Caple as Paul McCartney) has lost their mojo — in fact, the concept of music has nearly died out, thanks to the supernatural interference of a new villain named Maestro.
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