Trivia / Doctor Who S31 E10 "Vincent and the Doctor"

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• Actor-Inspired Element: It was Matt Smith who suggested "Chances" by Athlete be used in the ending, as he was a big fan of the band.
• California Doubling:
  • At the end of the episode, when the Doctor, Amy, and Vincent visit Musée d'Orsay, they go through a stairwell (with a statue of Perseus holding the head of Medusa) and a gallery room (with a version of Auguste Rodin's sculpture The Kiss), both of which are actually located in the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.
  • Scenes set in Provence were filmed on location in Trogir, Croatia in the same production block as "The Vampires of Venice".
• Cast the Runner-Up: Bill Nighy was once a candidate for the Tenth Doctor. He jokingly stated that he lost out because David Tennant was better looking.
• Creator's Favourite Episode: Steven Moffat named this as his favourite Eleventh Doctor episode.
• Deleted Scene: Despite being another extended episode, several scenes were cut. These included several scenes with Madame Vernet, Giselle’s mother. It also had the revelation that the Doctor knew of the Krafayis because of scary stories he read back when he was a kid, which resulted in him genuinely frightened during the story. It would have also led to revealing the Krafayis' handicap, since the book was titled Blind Fury.
• Executive Meddling: The original script was a pure character piece where the Doctor and Amy visit Van Gogh and spend an uneventful few days with him. The execs insisted they needed to fight a monster.
• Fake Nationality: Van Gogh was played by the Scottish Tony Curran.
• Playing Against Type: The episode's writer (Richard Curtis) is best known as writing for comedy series/films like Blackadder, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Notting Hill. While the episode does have its funnier moments, it's overall much more serious and dark than the rest of Curtis' work in its analysis of depression and mental illness.
• Reality Subtext: During his commentary for the 2020 Doctor Who Lockdown watchalong of the episode, Richard Curtis said that the episode was inspired by and a tribute to a family member who had struggled with depression.
• Uncredited Role: Bill Nighy as Dr. Black; he agreed to take the part on condition that he was not credited, no publicity photos were taken of him, and he did not have to give any interviews.
• What Could Have Been: The episode was intended by Richard Curtis to be a very low-key story where the Doctor and Amy simply hang out with Vincent van Gogh for a few days as a pure character piece. Executive Meddling then insisted every episode of the show needed to be about fighting a villain somehow. This rule was finally dropped for Thirteen's era.
• Word of Saint Paul: During the Doctor Who: Lockdown! tweetalong in 2020, Matt Smith opined that "Doctor Black" may in fact be an alias of a future incarnation of the Doctor checking back on his younger self and helping him along, quite like the Curator.
• Working Title: Richard Curtis wanted to call the episode "The Eyes That See the Darkness", but Steven Moffat wanted an explicit reference to Vincent in the title.
• Written for My Kids: Richard Curtis wanted to write for the show because he thought it would be "something my kids would like."

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