Vincent and the Doctor

210 – "Vincent and the Doctor"
Doctor Who episode
Tony Curran, as Vincent van Gogh, is compared to a self-portrait of his character.
Cast
Doctor Matt Smith – Eleventh Doctor
Companions Karen Gillan – Amy Pond Tony Curran – Vincent van Gogh
Guest Nik Howden – Maurice Chrissie Cotterill – Mother Sarah Counsell – Waitress Morgan Overton, Andrew Byrne – School Children Bill Nighy – Dr Black (uncredited)[1]
Production
Directed by	Jonny Campbell
Written by	Richard Curtis
Script editor	Emma Freud Brian Minchin
Produced by	Tracie Simpson Patrick Schweitzer
Executive producer(s)	Steven Moffat Piers Wenger Beth Willis
Music by	Murray Gold
Production code	1.10
Series	Series 5
Running time	45 minutes
First broadcast	5 June 2010 (2010-06-05)
Chronology
← Preceded by "Cold Blood" Followed by → "The Lodger"
List of episodes (2005–present)

"Vincent and the Doctor" is the tenth episode of the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast on BBC One on 5 June 2010. It was written by Richard Curtis and directed by Jonny Campbell and featured an uncredited guest appearance from actor Bill Nighy.

Intrigued by an ominous figure in Vincent van Gogh's June 1890 painting The Church at Auvers, alien time traveller the Doctor (Matt Smith) and his companion Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) go back in time to meet van Gogh (Tony Curran) and discover that Auvers-sur-Oise has been plagued by an invisible creature, known as the Krafayis, which only van Gogh can see. The Doctor and Amy work with van Gogh to defeat the Krafayis, but in their attempt to have van Gogh realise his legacy through bringing him to the future they ultimately realise that not all of time can be rewritten and there are some evils which are out of the Doctor's reach.

Curtis, inspired by the fact that van Gogh never knew he would be famous, had the idea for an episode centred on him. He left the script open to criticism from the crew and made many revisions as a result. Curtis wanted to portray van Gogh truthfully, rather than being cruel by writing jokes about his mental illness. Most of the episode was filmed in Trogir, Croatia, and many of the sets were modelled after van Gogh paintings.

The episode was watched by 6.76 million viewers on BBC One and BBC HD. Reception to the episode was mainly positive. Reviewers praised Curran's performance as van Gogh, but thought that the Krafayis was not a sufficiently threatening "monster".