Having penned a story called The Wedding of River Song, it was only natural that Steven Moffat would come up with a title such as this. It is Husbands, plural, as we get to see three other spouses as well as the Doctor. Two elements are introduced which will reappear later - the character of Nardole and the "Shoal" - humanoid in appearance, but who are able to open up their heads, and have a scar running diagonally across their face.
This was to have been Moffat's final episode as showrunner - though he had planned to leave much earlier. Originally he meant to hand over to someone else after three years, ending his run with the 50th Anniversary celebrations. The new showrunner would then have introduced their own Twelfth Doctor at the end of the 2013 Christmas Special. However, he had been unhappy some aspects of his own work on Series 7 and wished to bow out on a more satisfying note. Then, at the end of Series 8, Jenna Coleman decided that she wanted to stay on longer. Moffat wanted to round off her story himself, so this led to Series 9.
Rather than saddle a new showrunner with a companion created by himself, he decided on a one-off companion figure for what he thought would be his final episode.
Russell T Davies had been encouraging him to pair the Twelfth Doctor with River, so he decided that there was one more story of hers to tell.
The idea that she would encounter a Doctor she didn't recognise appealed to him. The Doctor would be able to see what she was like when he was not around (as far as she was aware).
Believing that The Name of the Doctor had been her final appearance, Alex Kingston was more than happy to be invited back.
It had always been known that the final meeting between River and the Doctor would be at the Singing Towers of Darillium, and so this was an obvious setting for this episode. This location had first been mentioned by River in Forest of the Dead back in 2008. This was their last date before her death in the Library. Knowing this, the Doctor had been avoiding taking her there in the special mini-episodes recorded for the Series 6 box-set (First Night / Last Night).
As the Series 4 two-parter had been his last scripts before becoming showrunner, setting a story at the Singing Towers would bring Moffat's own story with Doctor Who full circle.
The person deemed best fit to take over from Moffat was Chris Chibnall. A known fan of the series who had also written for it, as well as co-producing Torchwood, he had raised his profile significantly in the industry with crime drama Broadchurch. Moffat took him out to lunch to sound him out about taking over - only to learn that he was heavily involved with the third season of Broadchurch as well as the launch of a US version. Moffat decided not to even mention the idea of him taking over Doctor Who, and realised that he would probably have to stay on for another year, when Chibnall could potentially be in a better position to succeed him.
This late change of plans, plus his commitments on Sherlock, is the reason why we were about to get another gap year.
Before the Doctor and River got to the Singing Towers, Moffat wanted a yuletide romp inspired by the screwball comedies of Hollywood's golden age. In these, a man and woman were thrown together by a particular set of circumstances and, despite having opposing personalities, had to work together to overcome these - usually disliking each other at first but becoming romantically involved as they got to know each other better.
An early idea was for River to steal the TARDIS, with the Doctor an apparently unwilling companion for her. He would pretend not to know about the ship and act all surprised at what he saw inside. This, of course, made it through to the broadcast episode, and is one of its highlights.
The villain of the piece would be a big, overblown character who wasn't actually all that much of a threat, despite their bluster.
The idea that he had a robot body, with interchangeable heads, was an early one.
Hydroflax is known as the "Butcher of the Bone Meadows". This was another location mentioned by River as appearing in her diary.
For his spaceship, the director looked to old sci-fi movies, especially the saucer which appears in Forbidden Planet (1956). It was designed to also resemble a Christmas tree bauble.
Ramone and Nardole were deliberately cast as being very dissimilar in looks to emphasise River's wide-ranging tastes in men - which included different incarnations of the Doctor.
She said she knew all the Doctor's faces in The Time of Angels, and here we see a folding wallet with photos of the first eleven incarnations.
When the Doctor comments on River's numerous husbands, she counters by pointing out his marriage history - Queen Elizabeth I, Cleopatra and Marylin Monroe as well as herself.
For his date with River, the Doctor wears the suit he had worn on the space-going Orient Express - which was supposed to be his final trip with Clara.
The street in which we first see the TARDIS is very clearly a reused set - the Trap Street from Face The Raven.
When River states that "one should always have something sensational to read on a spaceship" she is paraphrasing Gwendolen in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, where it is on a train.
Next time: A boy wonder grows up to be a super man, whilst the villains need their heads examining...
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