Doctor: Peter Capaldi (Twelfth Doctor)
Companion: Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald)
Others
Maisie Williams – Me
Rufus Hound – Sam Swift
Elisabeth Hopper – Lucie Fanshawe
John Voce – Mr Fanshaw
Struan Rodger – Clayton
Gruffudd Glyn – Pikeman Lloyd Llywelyn
Reuben Johnson – Pikeman William Stout
Ariyon Bakare – Leandro
Gareth Berliner – Coachman
Daniel Fearn – Crowd 1
Karen Seacombe – Crowd 2
John Hales – Hangman
Will Brown – Voice of The Knightmare
Production
Directed by Ed Bazalgette
Written by Catherine Tregenna
Script editor Nick Lambon
Produced by Derek Ritchie
Executive producer(s) Steven Moffat
Brian Minchin
Incidental music composer Murray Gold
Series Series 9
Length 45 minutes
Originally broadcast 24 October 2015
Alone and on the trail of an alien artifact, the Doctor interrupts a highwayman known as "the Knightmare" carrying out a highway robbery in 1651 England. The Doctor finds the artifact in the coach's luggage but the vehicle drives off before he can take it. Talking to the robber, he finds that 'he' is in fact Ashildr, the Viking girl made immortal in the previous episode. Over her 800 years of everlasting life, she has lost many of her memories, and has isolated herself in order to avoid the pain of losing loved ones. The Doctor learns that she has renamed herself "Me" due to her loneliness, although he still calls her Ashildr. She begs the Doctor to take her away from this world, but he refuses. Flicking through her journal, the Doctor finds memories ripped out and pages stained by Me's tears. He also discovers that Me previously had three children, all of whom she lost to the Black Death.
Me and the Doctor steal the artifact from a house, flee by climbing out of the chimney and escape an ambush by a rival highwayman, Sam Swift. The Doctor calls the artifact 'the Eyes of Hades' and he theories that it is linked to ancient Greek mythology as a way of opening a portal to the afterlife or into space. The next morning, the Doctor finds out that by day, Me is "Lady Me" and lives as a wealthy woman with a servant. He then meets Me's ally Leandro, a leonine alien stranded on Earth who was the artifact's original owner. In return for Me tricking the Doctor into helping him, Leandro has agreed to let her come with him to travel the galaxy. However, in order for the portal to be activated, the artifact requires another person's death. Me ties up the Doctor and states her intent to kill her old blind servant Clayton for this end, but the Doctor opposes it. Two pikemen arrive to announce that "the Knightmare" is reported to be in the area and Sam Swift is about to be hanged at Tyburn. Me hands the Doctor over to them, claiming that he is the Knightmare, and sets off to use Swift's death instead of Clayton's to activate the artifact.
The Doctor escapes the pikemen by offering them Me's treasury and pursues Me to the hanging. He and Swift joke with each other to hold up the execution and the Doctor fakes a pardon for him from Oliver Cromwell using his psychic paper. However, Me finally attaches the artifact to Swift's chest, killing him and opening a portal. Leandro then reveals that his actual intent is to assist his people in invading Earth and was using Me all along. Spaceships begin destroying the crowd gathered to watch the hanging. Me, rediscovering her conscience and humanity after seeing the crowds slaughtered, uses the second Mire medical chip given to her by the Doctor to save Swift's life and close the portal. Leandro's people kill him for his failure. Afterwards, the Doctor explains that Swift may or may not have been rendered immortal by the chip as its power could have been drained when closing the portal. He also reveals that Captain Jack Harkness, one of his former companions, is immortal like her and suggests that she should get along with him. Me states that she will remain the Doctor's friend and will look after those that the Doctor leaves behind. Back in present-day Britain, Clara shows the Doctor a selfie taken by one of her pupils, in which Me can be seen in the background, looking straight into the camera.
The Woman Who Lived