A tranquil stop for the TARDIS crew in modern-day Central Park becomes a crisis when the Weeping Angels send Rory back to 1938. A pulp detective novel suddenly begins narrating his fate, providing clues that allow the Doctor and Amy to come to his rescue. The book's main character, private investigator Melody Malone, turns out to be River Song. She's become embroiled with Julius Grayle, a mob boss fascinated with the Angels, who has learned that they occupy a New York apartment building called Winter Quay. But when the Doctor sets out to learn why, he puts in motion a tragedy that even he can't avert...

By early 2011, executive producer Steven Moffat was already contemplating the departure of Amy and Rory from Doctor Who, even though it would not be witnessed by viewers for a year and a half. Actors Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill had both expressed a desire for their characters to leave the show in manner that would be effectively permanent. Neither of them wanted to undercut the emotion of their farewell by establishing a revolving door of return appearances, as had become common for companions in recent years. Initially, Moffat thought that the best monster to separate Amy and Rory from the Doctor so irrevocably would be his arch-enemies, the Daleks.

However, during a family vacation to New York City, Moffat decided that this was the perfect setting for Amy and Rory's final story. Although Season Thirty-Three's major location expedition would be to Almería, Spain for A Town Called Mercy, it was agreed that the budget would allow for a short window of filming in the Empire State as well. Since the Daleks had already visited New York in 2007's Daleks In Manhattan / Evolution Of The Daleks, Moffat came to feel that the Weeping Angels were a better fit for the setting. As such, it was decided that the Daleks should instead appear in the season premiere, ultimately Asylum Of The Daleks.

Early drafts saw multiple versions of both Rory and Sam Garner present at Winter Quay

The adventure which would write out Amy and Rory then became known as The Angels Take Manhattan. This title played on the popular phrase about achieving success in the Big Apple, much like the 1984 comedy film The Muppets Take Manhattan and Leonard Cohen's 1987 song First We Take Manhattan. Moffat began writing the script in late January 2012. Early drafts saw the Angels' time manipulation at Winter Quay depicted in a more complex fashion, with multiple versions of both Rory and Sam Garner present at different ages. When the TARDIS was unable to materialise in New York, it was shunted back in time to the Viking era. The man who hired Garner to investigate Winter Quay was a scared gentleman named Nathan; when he was replaced with Julius Grayle, the collector's surname was derived from characters in the 1940 Raymond Chandler novel Farewell, My Lovely. The young girl Garner saw in the window at Winter Quay was to have been looking out at an old woman, who was actually her future self.

Originally, the item made in ancient China at the Doctor's request was a TARDIS-shaped puzzle box; River discovered it amongst Grayle's collection and stored her vortex manipulator inside. The Doctor then located the puzzle box in a museum in the twenty-first century, and used the vortex manipulator to travel to 1938 New York. The Chinese foreman reappeared later in the script: Grayle was transported back to his workshop by the Weeping Angels, and was put to work making the very items he had collected as antiques. In the final version, this element was replaced by the revelation that Grayle wound up as a slave during the Renaissance, as depicted in one of his paintings; however, this was ultimately dropped during editing.

The Angels Take Manhattan was paired with Asylum Of The Daleks as Block Two of the Season Thirty-Three production schedule. Early in pre-production, director Nick Hurran travelled to New York City to hunt for locations. One of the places he visited was Central Park, where he photographed Bethesda Fountain, constructed in 1868 by Emma Stebbins. The centrepiece of the fountain was the sculpture of a tall angel, known as the Angel of the Waters, and this figure was surrounded by four smaller cherubs which represented peace, health, purity and temperance. Upon spotting this picture back in Cardiff, Moffat was inspired to create the new breed of cherub-shaped Weeping Angels, as he felt that their design was particularly unsettling.

Steven Moffat's biggest challenge was deciding exactly how Amy and Rory should make their exit

Moffat's biggest challenge in writing The Angels Take Manhattan was deciding exactly how Amy and Rory should make their exit, especially given Gillan and Darvill's preference for the event to feel irreversible. Indeed, he contemplated the obvious route of killing off one or both characters. However, Moffat was ultimately guided by a scene he had seeded into their debut episode, Season Thirty-One's The Eleventh Hour. It saw the young Amelia Pond hearing the TARDIS materialise after spending all night waiting in her back garden -- despite the fact that it had already been established that the Doctor didn't return to Amy for twelve years. Moffat decided that Amy and Rory would become temporally isolated from the Doctor, but would still thrive and grow old together in New York. He felt that this fate best encapsulated the emotions of their journey together, and the optimism expressed by young Amelia's all-night vigil.

The first recording for The Angels Take Manhattan took place on March 23rd and involved the effects shot of Amy and Rory falling from the roof of Winter Quay. The venue was Upper Boat Studios, which had been Doctor Who's regular production home for the last six years, but was now giving way to the BBC's brand-new Roath Lock facilities in Cardiff. Hurran then focussed on Asylum Of The Daleks for several days, before filming some exterior shots of Winter Quay on April 4th, at Cardiff University's School of Physics and Astronomy. Cameras were again rolling at Upper Boat on the 5th, capturing material in both the TARDIS and ancient China. On April 6th, the Old Custom House in Cardiff Bay provided Grayle's cellar, while the Winter Quay elevator was in the nearby Bay Chambers office building. Another part of Winter Quay -- this time the stairwell -- was actually part of Royal Fort House at Bristol University; work there occurred on the 7th.

Hurran's team -- including only the three regulars amongst the cast -- then jetted off to New York City, where filming began on April 11th. Apart from brief shots in Times Square and along Fifth Avenue, the day was based in Central Park, with the Bethesda Fountain amongst the shooting locations. One of the scenes recorded there was the Doctor reading the letter which Amy had secreted in the afterword of the Melody Malone book; Gillan fulfilled a promise she had made to Matt Smith that she would be present to read Amy's lines off-screen, helping him engage with the bittersweet emotions of the moment.

On April 12th, several iconic New York locations were visited for The Angels Take Manhattan, including Brooklyn Bridge Park, the Chrysler Building, the Battery Maritime Building, and the Grand Central Terminal. Grayle's car drove along Main Street in Brooklyn, while a remount was conducted on the sequence in Times Square. The day's primary venue, however, was Tudor City, an apartment complex which provided most of the outdoor shots of Winter Quay. Although the Central Park recording had attracted considerable attention, the Doctor Who team was flabbergasted to discover more than one thousand fans waiting for them at Tudor City -- a crowd which, fortunately, turned out to be largely cooperative. Most of the cast and crew headed home on April 13th, which was reserved for recording wide shots of key New York landmarks and vistas.

Upon their return to the United Kingdom, the first stop for the Doctor Who team was Coedarhydyglyn, a private residence in St Nicholas, where scenes on the main floor of Grayle's mansion were filmed from April 16th to 18th. Alex Kingston rejoined the cast, almost a full year after recording her last appearance in Season Thirty-Two's The Wedding Of River Song. On the 19th, Amy and Rory vanished from the Doctor's life as the graveyard sequence was recorded at Box Cemetery in Llanelli; Gillan and Darvill, on the other hand, still had the filming of The Power Of Three ahead of them. It was back to Upper Boat on April 20th, when shooting took place on the standing TARDIS set, as well as the roof of Winter Quay, which was erected in the parking lot.

It was decided that additional material for the start of the climactic graveyard scene should be developed

Roath Lock Studios hosted The Angels Take Manhattan for the first time on April 21st, when Hurran taped material in the Winter Quay apartment and hallway, as well as inside Grayle's car. That night, the exterior of Grayle's home was actually the Glamorgan Building, part of Cardiff University; elements of Rory's initial encounter with River were also filmed there. After a day off on Sunday the 22nd, more apartment and hallway scenes were completed at Roath Lock on April 23rd and 24th, with various inserts also taped on the latter day. Further footage inside Grayle's car was recorded at Roath Lock on the 25th. More pick-up shots were subsequently completed at both studios: Roath Lock on the 27th, and Upper Boat on the 30th. This should have concluded work on The Angels Take Manhattan. However, it was subsequently decided that additional material for the start of the climactic graveyard scene should be developed, with the Doctor musing that he could never take the TARDIS back to 1938 New York. As such, an extra day at Box Cemetery was scheduled for June 28th. Hurran was unavailable, so Block One director Saul Metzstein directed the shoot.

A significant trim in post-production involved the Doctor and Amy reflecting on how much time was passing between the Time Lord's visits. Moffat had now come to feel that the sentiment was more elegantly conveyed in The Power Of Three, and therefore needed less emphasis in The Angels Take Manhattan. As with the other Season Thirty-Three stories featuring Amy and Rory, the Doctor Who logo was given a thematically-appropriate facelift, gaining the green hue associated with the Statue of Liberty, and topped with her crown.

For its mid-season finale on September 29th, Doctor Who was scheduled ten minutes earlier than the week before, at 7.20pm. With the story of Amy and Rory having come to its end, the next regular occupant of the timeslot would be Strictly Come Dancing. Meanwhile, on October 12th, an epilogue to The Angels Take Manhattan entitled PS appeared online, running two hundred and seventy-eight seconds. Originally intended to be a special feature on the season's DVD and Blu-ray boxed sets, it depicted Rory's father, Brian, being delivered a letter by an American man who turned out to be Amy and Rory's adopted son.

PS was written by Chris Chibnall, who had introduced Brian in Dinosaurs On A Spaceship and The Power Of Three, where the character was played by Mark Williams. Moffat and his fellow executive producer, Caroline Skinner, had greatly enjoyed Brian, and they were keen to wrap up his story in a suitable manner. Unfortunately, Williams proved unavailable during the intended June recording dates, and the project was shelved. Subsequently, however, Skinner suggested that PS could be presented in the form of storyboards, rather than live-action recording. Darvill agreed to provide narration in character as Rory, thereby drawing his Doctor Who tenure to a close. Gillan, on the other hand, would play Amy Pond one more time, when she appeared to the Eleventh Doctor on the verge of his regeneration in the 2013 Christmas special, The Time Of The Doctor.

• Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition #33, Spring 2013, “The Angels Take Manhattan” by Andrew Pixley, Panini UK Ltd.
• Doctor Who: The Complete History #72, 2017, “Story 230: The Angels Take Manhattan”, edited by John Ainsworth, Hachette Partworks Ltd.