Under The Lake - Official Synopsis 

The BBC has released the official story synopsis for Under the Lake, the third episode of Series 9.

When an underwater base comes under attack, the Doctor and Clara must save the frightened crew and defeat an impossible threat. But what is behind these terrifying events? And can they really be haunted by ghosts?

Writer: Toby Whithouse. Director: Daniel O’Hara. Producer: Derek Ritchie.

Guest cast: Colin McFarlane, Sophie Stone, Zaqi Ismail, Morven Christie, Arsher Ali, Steven Robertson, Paul Kaye.

It airs Saturday 3 October on BBC One, with the time now confirmed for 8.25pm to 9.10pm.

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This will be the first week when all the Strictly contestants compete in the same show - this weekend, it\'s split over 2 nights - hence Strictly will be VERY long. The following week\'s Strictly will only be 5 minutes shorter or so.

Saturday night in Autumn is a lousy timeslot for the show Moff, it gets bounced around the schedules, and often ends up far too late. 8:25 is not a proper Doctor Who slot

@Planet of the Deaf Whilst I agree with your points, this is hardly Moffat\'s fault is it?

@Oliver is vaguely familiar with witches @Planet of the Deaf No...but he would have been aware of the side effects of making Doctor Who an autumn show again, and how Strictly would occupy it\'s favoured 7pm slot

Does he even have a say in when it airs at all?

It\'s not that late... If it was a week day, yeah. But for Saturday night, it isn\'t that late, even for kids. You can be sure my nephews and nieces will be watching! Though, maybe not the youngest as he\'s only 5 and his parents will probably screen it first to see if it\'s not too scary; he is prone to night terrors.

Saw some more reviews and it sounds fantastic! Can\'t wait!

Unlike the UK, BBCA doesn\'t change their time every week.

Oh my the time! This one is going to be really scary! Toby you have got my attention! Bring it on!!!!!

@The12thDoctorAndClaraOswaldInTheTARDIS Scary is right. I am looking for a sofa to hide behind already (the room in which I watch the show is without one)!! It will be essential this time or perhaps I will just bury my face in a pillow!

The likelihood is because this is a bit scarier, they did that with the Mummy episode (but that wasn\'t scary) I\'ve got such high hopes for this episode...I hope it doesn\'t let me down in being one of the best among the bunch this series.

Must be a scary one. I do like it on after strictly. It used to be on before a bit early i thought so good news

I don\'t really mind. If it\'s too late for some people they can record it, catch up on iPlayer, or even wait for the repeat. Live is going down, catch up is increasing. Its the way of the world. Either way, I think this episode could benefit from being on later, as it certainly sounds quite scary. The structure of this two-parter is really intriguing...

Not too fussed. It worked well for the darker episodes last year, and I hardly care about other people watching it, so fine by me.

Later time.... Intriguing Synopsis.... Ooooh! I\'ll just go get my excited face on!

I don\'t have a problem with the later time. In fact I prefer the dark, mysterious atmosphere that late Autumnal British nights seem to exude.

@Other Dave was told not to eat the marbles... definitely with you there! doctor who is best watched in the autumn in the the dark

@DreamTardis @Other Dave was told not to eat the marbles... Witha sofa to hide behind!

Strictly returns and the shows start date is all over the place.  I wish they move the show back to February. 

@davidbrummy Its never been on in February. I did prefer the April/May start though.

They really don\'t care about high live figures...

@Erga kai Hemerai It\'s the overall figures that should matter, in any case. And I don\'t mean just viewership, but also the Audience Appreciation Index.

Well, I don\'t care about live audience either, just making an observation. Although there is one demographic group one could worry about - casual family audience.

In other countries the hit show are broadcast at 21:10 or even later, when you\'ve finished eating and clean up and you can sit on the couch all together.

I always found weird the current time, an hour later I think is perfect.

And if the reason is because it\'s more scary than usual, even better!

Unfortunately for the ratings you can\'t do miracles, among sports, X-Factor and other things, I would say that Doctor Who is doing wonderfully.

@DWTV - Tear Doctor But broadly, even if moved one hour forward, people in front of TV will be the same. If they watched the show the Saturday before, they\'ll do it anyway. As for casual viewers, who knows, we might even find that this time attracts even more new people. Probably not .. Sure .. But who knows?

The only problem with it being later is you start to lose the \'live\' family audience. And thus risk even lower overnights. 

Which means it starts during the X Factor again. Jeez. They put Hide on early and that was scary like I\'m expecting this to be, can\'t they put this in earlier so it has less competition across the nation and at home?! The big time changes is quite irritating.

@GallifSlay the Hell Bent Raven\'s Familiar Who Died @masonbingley2000 Not taking account the last five minutes, I\'d say yes.

Not X Factor but not much better, It is up against the World Cup Rugby instead!

It would be nice for Doctor Who to be on at the same time every week, but I\'m not too fussed at the end of the day. Hopefully the 8:25 timeslot means the story is beautifully terrifying.

This is my most anticipated episode of S9. Claustrophobic base-under-siege episodes are (usually) what Doctor Who does best, plus I\'m really glad that Toby Whithouse is writing. His episodes feature interesting ideas, but often suffer in their execution. Hopefully this will top his previous efforts. 

Dam it! DWTV, Does the later time slot mean that this is a scary episode? And what did u think of it?

Late air time. That bodes well with the horror and my time at the pub!

Ghost stories are best told late. I\'m all for this.

This could be a very interesting episode. Hopefully it\'s suitably creepy.

So odd not having a show be on the same time every week,  guess we are spoiled in America knowing when the show will be on. But we then have weird weeks off for shows randomly as well

I don\'t mind watching it later (I\'d be up till long after this), but I loathe the inconsistency of it all. It is rather irritating.

Sure I have stayed up late to watch DW episodes, but this seems a bit too late for my time.

BTW, does anyone remember the air-time (UK-wise) for Dark Water/Death in Heaven? Surely you can\'t have anything darker or more morbid than the afterlife itself.

Mummy on the orient express was the latest with 8:35

Yeah, apparently the Mummy was deemed too scary for an earlier timeslot, though how anyone figured it was scarier than the Boneless is beyond me.

An underwater base and ghosts! Has someone been peeking at my Christmas list?

@DWTV - Tear Doctor How about rugby for the next few weeks?

@DWTV - Tear Doctor Pushing the "SCARES"? Was that intended?

@DWTV - Tear Doctor Which is why the decision to start the series so late seems like \'self sabotage\' to me. They must have known Eps 2 - 4 would ALL clash with England Rugby World Cup games. That\'s \'overnight\' ratings suicide at the very least....

Yeah, I just saw your exchange with Toby Whithouse on Twitter. It sounds good :D

@MichaelBoon @DWTV - Tear Doctor It may prove to be a bad decision, but it will yield valuable information on later iViewer, etc. views.  

Even if DW does badly, wouldn\'t any alternative do even worse?

@DWTV - Tear Doctor Have you seen the episode, DWTV? (and if so, was it good?)

@divya12 @DWTV - Tear Doctor The episode is said to be very scary, so...?

Rugby dominates the entire night. They\'re not dodging it unless DW goes up really early or really late.

Yeah looks like the show is going to lack a consistent time slot for yet another year. Then again this is really pushing the scares which might explain it.

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