A Town Called Mercy Preview

By Christian Cawley, September 15, 2012 - Doctor Who - 1 comment

Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill in A Town Called MercyThanks to the BBC we’ve seen a preview of A Town Called Mercy and can tell you that this is a visually stunning episode that you will not want to miss. In fact, it’s probably the first time that Doctor Who has gone “on holiday” and the location hasn’t distracted from the fictional setting!

We’ll tell you a bit more (spoiler free, of course) below, but first, let’s have a few words about the episode with this synopsis and some words from Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill.

The Doctor gets a Stetson (and a gun), and finds himself the reluctant Sheriff of a Western town under siege by a relentless cyborg, who goes by the name of, the Gunslinger. But who is he and what does he want? The answer seems to lie with the mysterious, Kahler-Jex, an alien doctor (yes another one) whose initial appearance is hiding a dark secret.

Written by Toby Whithouse and directed by Saul Metzstein, the episode was filmed on location in Almeria, Spain, the home of the spaghetti westerns of the 1960s and 1970s. Says Matt Smith:

There is only so much CGI can do. We were in the middle of a western village, which was brilliant for Doctor Who, adding to the imagination of it all.

Meanwhile, Karen Gillan got quite excited using a gun.

Amy Pond should be nowhere near a gun,” exclaims Karen. “I remember for a previous episode I had to fire a gun with blanks, followed quickly by Rory shouting ARGHHH as though I had hit him. I completely forgot this when action was called, so when I fired and he shouted, I really thought I had shot him! It was awful! In this episode when she gets hold of a gun you can see the fear on the faces of the other characters, but they weren’t acting, I genuinely think all of the actors including Matt and Arthur were in fear for their lives!

If Rory looks scared when Amy handles a gun, you can bet that Arthur Darvill was channelling real fear!

I am always terrified when Karen picks up anything! Of course there was a guy there to make sure it wasn’t loaded. But Karen is better at these things than she pretends to be, even though she looks like she is made of spaghetti!

Our preview screening of the episode allows us to tell you absolutely nothing. Nada, zip, sweet FA (not Football Association…). However, we can tell you a few reassuring things…

  • Like Ben Browder? You’ll love him after this
  • Is the Doctor a war criminal?
  • It genuinely feels like a western; the travellers could truly be in the old west
  • The Christmas connection – is this a clever Moffat meme?
  • Garrick Hagon measures up well

And now, the BBC America trailer…

A Town Called Mercy airs tonight at 7.35 pm on BBC One and BBC HD and 9/8c on BBC America.

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About the author

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A long-term Doctor Who fan, Christian grew up watching the show and has early memories of the Graham Williams era. His favourite stories are Inferno, The Seeds of Doom and Human Nature (although The Empty Child, Blink and Utopia all come close). When he’s not bossing around the news team, Christian is a freelance writer specialising in mobile technology and domestic computing, and enjoys classic rock, cooking and spending time in the countryside with his wife and young children. You can find him on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.