The Curse of the Black Spot

Episode aired May 7, 2011
99
46min

6.7/10

5.5K

S6.E3

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Hugh Bonneville, Matt Smith, and Karen Gillan in Doctor Who (2005)

Adventure Drama Family

The Doctor, Amy and Rory find themselves aboard a marooned pirate ship whose crew is being picked off one by one by a beautiful - and deadly - Siren.The Doctor, Amy and Rory find themselves aboard a marooned pirate ship whose crew is being picked off one by one by a beautiful - and deadly - Siren.The Doctor, Amy and Rory find themselves aboard a marooned pirate ship whose crew is being picked off one by one by a beautiful - and deadly - Siren.

6.7/10

5.5K

Directors
- Jeremy Webb
- Julian Simpson(uncredited)
Writers
- Steve Thompson
- Steven Moffat(showrunner)
- Sydney Newman(uncredited)
Stars

Top credits

See production, box office & company info

Hugh Bonneville and Matt Smith in Doctor Who (2005)

Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Arthur Darvill in Doctor Who (2005)

Hugh Bonneville, Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Arthur Darvill in Doctor Who (2005)

Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill in Doctor Who (2005)

Karen Gillan, Oscar Lloyd, and Arthur Darvill in Doctor Who (2005)

On board a 17th century pirate ship sailing the ocean waves, a crew under the command of one Captain Avery are being picked off one by one by a ghostly apparition. They believe it to be a legendary Siren, a beautiful and mesmerizing demon who lures men to their death with its haunting Siren song. She marks her prey before retrieving them with a black spot on their hand, a mark that means certain death. As they are becalmed and stuck in the ocean, all seems lost for the dwindling pirate crew... until three stowaways are discovered with a mysterious blue crate. —Anonymous

siren eleventh doctor pirate ship child with a sword child 18 more

Trivia
This episode was supposed to air in the autumn half of the series, but was swapped around, along with "The Doctor's Wife" being fourth instead of third and "Night Terrors" being ninth instead of fourth. This was because Steven Moffat felt "Night Terrors" was too dark.

Goofs
Sailors and ship builders in this period went to great lengths to prevent fires in the powder magazines. The magazine room themselves were often built with a separate lamp room that shone light into the magazine via internal windows so that no flames of any kind would be required in the magazine itself. To have an open flame inside the magazine would be unlikely and extremely dangerous.

Quotes
The Doctor: [to the Pirates] Yo ho ho!
[pause]
The Doctor: or does nobody actually say that?

Connections
Referenced in Rory's Story (2020)

Soundtracks
Doctor Who Theme
(uncredited)
Written by Ron Grainer
Arranged by Murray Gold
Performed by BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Top review

3/10

One of the most forgettable episodes ever

Did I really say I was looking forward to watching this episode in my last review? The start of the episode wasn't too bad and pirates in Doctor Who could have and should have worked with a decent script. The humour is solid and some of the design work is interesting. The biggest problem with the episode is the Siren which looks goofy whenever it pops up and the child actor was particularly awful as well. Overall, the curse of the black spot is a forgettable and unimportant story that leaves a lot to be desired.

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