Doctor Who finally returned to the airwaves for Season 10 earlier this month, treating fans to a somewhat lighter version of Twelve and a brand new companion in the form of the delightful Bill. Called "The Pilot," the premiere was packed with a combination of exposition and action, and it covered all the bases necessary for old and new fans to get in the mood for more Who. As it turns out, however, the premiere was so packeddo that one scene that sounds positively lovely had to be cut. "The Pilot" director Lawrence Gough revealed a big deleted scene, saying this:
There was a whole sequence in the bar scene, where Heather and Bill first meet, and we spin around them. When we spun around them, what was originally revealed was that the Doctor was on stage playing guitar. It's a great sequence, it was lovely to shoot. She hears the guitar and people part, and as she goes to look who's playing this eerie tune, which was Clara's Theme, played in a heavy metal way. Then she runs to Heather, and the camera spins round to see the Doctor in-between them, as if he's drawing them together. It's all part of that time and space montage.
While the purpose of the premiere was really to build a bond between the Doctor and Bill to justify the decision to travel through time and space together, the heart of the episode came from the developing relationship between Bill and her crush, Heather. When the two met and began to crush on each other, they kicked off a sequence of events that would sadly see the end of Heather but introduce Bill to a world larger than what she knew before. Lawrence Gough's description to Den of Geek of the deleted scene indicates that it would have made for a wonderful addition to the story, but the episode didn't really suffer for it being cut out.
The scene also would have given a nice nod to Clara, who had to go her separate way from the Doctor with no real hope of reuniting last season. She might not have appeared in the flesh, but Twelve playing her theme on his guitar could have been somewhat reminiscent of Ten's fleeting memories of Rose back when he had his memories temporarily rewritten back in a Season 3 two-parter, although Twelve and Clara's relationship was obviously quite different from Ten and Rose's.
Given that the story of Heather may not be entirely done -- this is, after all, Doctor Who -- there's a chance that the scene could still come to light, via flashback or journey back to the past. Who knows? Maybe a return from Heather could be what causes Bill to leave the TARDIS at the end of Season 10. She wouldn't be the first companion to choose a normal life on Earth over continuing hijinks through space and time, and traveling the world with Heather could be a brand new kind of adventure. If not, maybe the scene will turn up on the DVDs. We'll have to wait and see.
We can probably count on plenty of hijinks between the fabulous trio of the Doctor, Bill, and Nardole for the time being. Tune in to BBC America on Saturdays at 9 p.m. ET to catch new episodes of Doctor Who, and don't forget to check out our midseason TV premiere guide and our summer TV premiere schedule to discover all your viewing options now and in the coming weeks. Be sure to drop by our rundowns for cable/streaming and broadcast TV renewals and cancellations as well.
