Story 211 - Vincent and the Doctor

In which the Doctor takes Amy on a trip to the Musee d'Orsay in Paris where they see an exhibition of paintings by Vincent Van Gogh. Studying one of the canvases - The Church at Auvers - the Doctor spots what appears to be a hideous, alien face in one of the windows. He quizzes art historian Dr Black, who is giving a guided tour of the exhibition, about the circumstances behind the picture, and learns the approximate date when Van Gogh painted it. The Doctor takes Amy back to the TARDIS and they travel to Auvers-Sur-Oise and arrive at the beginning of June, 1890. They must discover what it was that Van Gogh saw that day. Searching for Van Gogh they come across a street cafe similar to one in another of his other paintings and find him there - vainly trying to trade one of his self-portraits for another bottle of wine. Amy buys him some wine, and he becomes quite besotted with her due to her fiery red hair. They convince him that they are interested in his work and so he invites them back to his house. As they are about to leave, however, a young woman is attacked in a nearby street and torn to pieces, as though by a wild animal.

At the house, Vincent tells them all about his work, and the Doctor asks him if he has any plans to paint any churches soon. When he says that he has been thinking about this, the Doctor tries to encourage him to do it the next day. Amy is out in the garden looking around when she is attacked by something unseen. The Doctor and Vincent rush outside to help her, and the Doctor discovers that only Vincent can see what is attacking them. To everyone else it is invisible. They manage to chase it off and go back inside, where Vincent draws a sketch of what he saw. It is part-bird, part reptile in appearance. The Doctor leaves Amy with Vincent and returns to the TARDIS where he digs out an old piece of equipment which has a mirror attached. This can capture the image of even invisible creatures and connect to a database to identify them. He leaves the ship armed with the device and finds that it is now daybreak. In the mirror he sees the creature close behind him. It gives chase but he manages to evade it and get back to Vincent's home. Here, the device identifies the creature as a Krafayis. These savage creatures travel across space, usually in packs. For some reason this animal has become separated from its group.

Later that morning Amy decides to surprise Vincent with a display of sunflowers - only to learn that he doesn't like them very much. The Doctor wants to start the trip to the church, where he knows the Krafayis will be waiting. However, Vincent is struck down by one of his fits of depression. The episode passes and they set off for the church, passing the funeral of the young woman on the way. The villagers seem to hold Vincent responsible, as though his madness has brought about the attacks.
The Doctor finds the process of painting to be rather slow, and indicates that he is no fan of modern art. As night falls, Vincent tells the Doctor and Amy that he can see the creature inside the church. They all go inside but are attacked by it once again. The Doctor loses his device, so they have to rely on Vincent to tell them where it is and what it is doing. It soon becomes apparent that this Krafayis is blind, which explains why it was abandoned by its pack, and why it is lashing out at people. The Doctor had hoped to capture it and take it away from Earth but in the struggle Vincent inadvertently stabs the creature with his easel, killing it.

On the way back to his house, Vincent gets the Doctor and Amy to lie down and look at the night sky, and try to see it as he sees it. The next morning he tries to give them a self-portrait as a thank-you, but the Doctor declines - knowing how valuable it will be one day. he then decides to give Vincent a gift. He and Amy take him to the TARDIS and travel to the present day Musee d'Orsay so he can witness the exhibition of his works. The Doctor has Dr Black say some words about his importance to the world of art. Vincent is taken home, his lust for life renewed. Amy insists that the Doctor return her to the exhibition, where she hopes to see many new works by the artist. She is disappointed to find the exhibition unchanged. Vincent still killed himself on 29th July 1890. However, on studying one of his paintings of sunflowers she sees a dedication on the canvas - "For Amy"...

Vincent and the Doctor was written by Richard Curtis, and was first broadcast on 5th June, 2010 - round about 120 years to the day since Van Gogh painted The Church at Auvers. He mentioned the painting in a letter to his sister on 5th June, 1890.
Curtis is one of the most famous people to have written a Doctor Who script, being best known for some ridiculously successful romantic comedies (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Love Actually - all starring Hugh Grant), plus TV comedy series such as Blackadder and The Vicar of Dibley. He also wrote the screen adaptations for the Bridget Jones movies. Alongside this, he co-founded - with Lenny Henry - Comic Relief. This gave him his first contact with Doctor Who, when he commissioned Steven Moffat to write the extended sketch The Curse of Fatal Death for 1999's Comic Relief night. This also featured Hugh Grant as a future incarnation of the Doctor. Another actor who has worked with Curtis many times is Bill Nighy, who was wrongly reported as being the new Doctor back in 2005 by one UK newspaper, on the day that the BBC announced that Christopher Eccleston had won the role. Nighy features in Vincent and the Doctor as Dr Black. He declined an on screen credit.

The main guest artist - indeed the only other actor in the programme beyond some supporting cast - is Tony Curran, who played Vincent. He bears a remarkable likeness to the painter. Curran is originally from Scotland, but now lives in the USA, where he has guested in a number of popular TV series.
He plays Vincent in his native Scottish accent - leading to the TARDIS translation joke that Amy must also be Dutch as she has the same accent as him.
The notion that only Vincent can see the alien is indicative of the way that he saw the world differently from anyone else - as illustrated by the Starry Night sequence.
Curtis likes to feature social commentary within his works, as befits the co-founder of Comic Relief. With Vincent and the Doctor he wanted to say something about mental health, and depression in particular. Van Gogh suffered psychotic fits and deep depressions throughout his adult life, which eventually led to him committing suicide at the age of 37. Today he would have been diagnosed as Bi-Polar. The BBC advertised a mental health helpline immediately after the broadcast of this episode.

No story arc elements this week, although Amy is suspicious at the beginning that the Doctor seems to be treating her a lot these days (his reaction to Rory's death and removal from history last week).
Some people think that there is a visual reference to the crack in the scene where Vincent is returned to his own time following his trip to the future. There is a tree branch along the bottom half of the screen which has a similar shape.
Overall - one of the best stories from the Matt Smith era. It is gorgeous to look at and packs an emotional punch. Series 5 had been lacking some of the emotional elements of the RTD days up to this point, but I defy anyone to watch the sequence where Vincent is taken to the gallery to see how he will be remembered and not get a lump in their throat.
Things you might like to know:

• Did you spot how I managed to get a reference to the Kirk Douglas bio-pic about Van Gogh into the story synopsis above?
• One thing which is glossed over is the infamous story of Van Gogh's ear. In December 1888, during one of his psychotic episodes, he mutilated his ear. It is unconfirmed if he cut it all off or just part. He wrapped the piece in paper and handed it over at a brothel he often frequented. Vincent and the Doctor is set in the last few weeks of his life, after the ear cutting episode, yet he is seen with both ears uninjured in the story. There is one subtle reference to this in the episode as Amy is seen casually playing with a knife in Vincent's home, but hurriedly puts it down - presumably fearing he might use it on himself.
• Paintings which are referenced include The Starry Night (June 1889), The Church at Auvers (see above), Cafe Terrace at Night (September 1888), Vincent's Chair With His Pipe (1888), Wheatfield with Crows (one of his last - from July 1890), plus one of his Sunflowers series. A number of his many self-portraits also feature.
• The location filming for this story took place in and around Trogir, Croatia, alongside location work on The Vampires of Venice.
• The museum is a composite of two Cardiff locations. The exterior is the Millennium Centre, and the interior is the National Museum of Wales. Both have appeared in various guises in the series before, as well as in the spin-off series.
• At one point we see the TARDIS covered in posters (see image above). These were reproductions of real posters for the Cafe Au Tambourin in Paris - the first place in the city which exhibited Van Gogh's works. 
• We've seen people and objects pass through the Vortex on the outside of the TARDIS (Captain Jack in Utopia, and later Clara in Time of the Doctor, plus an arrow in Gridlock) but paper gets incinerated.
• We mentioned that Bill Nighy declined a credit. The last time someone famous turned down a credit on Doctor Who was also an appearance in an art gallery setting - cameos by John Cleese and Eleanor Bron in City of Death.