The Zygon Invasion (Doctor Who screenplay) Add a review

"The Zygon Invasion" is the seventh episode of the ninth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 31 October 2015, and written by Peter Harness and directed by Daniel Nettheim. The episode is the first episode of a two-part story, the second part being "The Zygon Inversion", which aired on 7 November. In the episode, a peace treaty agreed between humans and shapeshifting aliens called Zygons in the 2013 episode "The Day of the Doctor" has started to fail. A radicalised splinter group of Zygons, seeking to no longer hide among humans but be themselves, takes over Zygon High Command, and seeks to invade present-day Earth and neutralise military organisation UNIT. The alien time traveller the Twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi) attempts to keep the peace.

The story was conceptualised by showrunner Steven Moffat, who was deeply impressed by the Zygons' debut story, 1975's Terror of the Zygons, and sought to write a sequel story featuring them that would touch on numerous real-world topics. Moffat asked Harness to help him with writing the overall story, and the two worked together to produce both "The Zygon Invasion" and its second part. The story also focuses heavily on Ingrid Oliver's character Petronella Osgood,

The episode was watched by 5.76 million viewers and received positive reviews from critics, who noted the episode's focus on contemporary real-world issues, and praised aspects such as Osgood's characterisation and portrayal, as well as the twist reveal of the Doctor's companion, Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman), being replaced by a Zygon during the episode's events. However, the episode's slow pacing was criticised by a few critics, who also noted the episode was hard to judge on its own merits without watching its second part. "The Zygon Invasion" alongside "The Zygon Inversion" were novelised by Harness in 2023.