Going back “Into the Dalek”
Did you know that in the original scripts for Into the Dalek, the newly-regenerated Doctor had dropped Clara off at her flat in London, but then didn’t return to her for another NINE MONTHS? I guess time is relative when you travel in a TARDIS, huh?
Needless to say, Clara was both angry and hurt at being (apparently) forgotten by the Doctor and so she took her frustration out on him. When the Doctor said he needed something from her, Clara replied, “Would my refusal crush your soul? Because, right now, I’d be fine with that!”
Who can blame her, right? Nine months with no sign of him.
During this time (which was later reduced to six months in subsequent drafts), Clara had been attempting to move on with her life (minus the Doctor) and had begun dating Danny Lawrence (a.k.a. Mr. Pink) the new teacher at Coal Hill School.
But, all of these plans were later scrapped when Steven Moffat stepped in and did some rearranging of the time frame. In the finished product, the Doctor had only been absent for three weeks* (still a LONG time!) and Danny PINK was just being introduced.
*A portion of those three weeks has been explained in the short story “Lights Out” by Holly Black in which Twelve wandered off in search of “the best cup of coffee in the universe” for Clara and then got sidetracked in an adventure. It was part of the “12 Doctors:12 Stories” collection put out by the BBC in 2014.
These little factoids (and other behind the scenes tidbits) are presented in The Doctor Who Companion (The Twelfth Doctor, Vol.1). It’s a great magazine chock full of wonderful pictures and production details. I wholeheartedly recommend it.
