| 277 – "The Woman Who Fell to Earth" | |||
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| Doctor Who episode | |||
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Others
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| Production | |||
| Directed by | Jamie Childs | ||
| Written by | Chris Chibnall | ||
| Script editor | Nina Métivier | ||
| Produced by | Nikki Wilson | ||
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| Music by | Segun Akinola | ||
| Series | Series 11 | ||
| Running time | 64 minutes[1] | ||
| First broadcast | 7 October 2018 | ||
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"The Woman Who Fell to Earth" is the first episode of the eleventh series and the 845th episode overall of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. It was written by new head writer and executive producer Chris Chibnall, directed by Jamie Childs, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 7 October 2018. It stars Jodie Whittaker in her first full appearance as the Thirteenth Doctor, and introduces the Doctor's new companions – Bradley Walsh as Graham O'Brien, Tosin Cole as Ryan Sinclair, and Mandip Gill as Yasmin Khan. The episode also guest stars Sharon D. Clarke, Johnny Dixon, and Samuel Oatley.
The story focuses on a group of people who come across a new alien threat in Sheffield and find themselves banding together with the recently regenerated Doctor, who has been separated from her time machine the TARDIS since the events of "Twice Upon a Time". As they seek to understand the threat, they find themselves in danger as well, and they discover that the recently arrived aliens are planning a hunt upon a single human, leading the Doctor to co-ordinate an attempt to save everyone from danger.
It is the first episode to be led by Chibnall, alongside executive producers Matt Strevens and Sam Hoyle, after Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin stepped down at the conclusion of the tenth series, and marks the third era of production in the revived series, following Russell T Davies' tenure as executive producer from 2005 to 2010 and Moffat's from 2010 to 2017. It is both the first regular episode of the revived era to be broadcast on Sunday, instead of Saturday, alongside subsequent episodes in the series, and the second episode (the first being "Sleep No More") not to feature any opening titles or credits. Since its first broadcast in the UK, the episode has received positive reviews from critics, as well as a rating of 10.96 million viewers, the highest series premiere for a debuting Doctor in the history of the programme and the highest consolidated ratings since "The Time of the Doctor" (2013).