The Well Trivia Quiz

Answer: 500 thousand years

The Doctor lands on a mining planet half a million years in the future. He and Belinda run into a group of soldiers on a reconnaissance mission. They "sky dive" onto the planet's surface and have to wait for their ship to land on the surface. Another episode where the Doctor is separated from the TARDIS.

Answer: Aliss

Rose Ayling-Ellis played Aliss Fenister. In this case, her deafness turned out to be an asset because she was unable to hear the creature, which probably saved her life.

British deaf advocates were very positive about "The Well" both for Ayling-Ellis' strong performance and the fact the Doctor spoke British Sign Language. Given that the Doctor speaks hundreds if not thousands of languages, it should be no real surprise the Doctor speaks BSL. However, it was a nice touch by the producers.

Rose Ayling-Ellis was born deaf in 1994. She is best known as Frankie Lewis on the British soap opera "East Enders" (2020-22). Impressively, she won "Strictly Come Dancing" in 2021.

Answer: Diamond

Carbon 46 is the hardest form (and most valuable form) of carbon, diamonds. The Well was a deep digging operation to extract the planet's diamonds. The patrol explains that most of Planet 6767 had been mined out many years before.

Answer: Midnight

The Doctor puts diamonds and extonic radiation together and asks fearfully "What was this planet called?" It turns out it was Midnight, a planet the Tenth Doctor vacationed on in the fourth season. The original episode was written by Russell T Davies.

Davies had been thinking of making Orishas, the tribal goddesses of western Africa, as the villain but then decided it would be culturally offensive. That led him to making the mining planet Midnight in the distant future.

"Midnight" is one of the more terrifying episodes of the modern "Who" era. The Doctor is on a shuttle with a small group of passengers when a mysterious being takes over a woman named Sky Silvestry. When the Doctor tries to fight the being, it takes him over. The threat is ended when the shuttle hostess absorbs the creature and blows herself out the airlock.

500,000 years later, the entity (or perhaps its descendant) has killed the crew of the mining station and kills half of the exploratory patrol.

Answer: Cassio

Cassio gets frustrated with facing a mysterious, unseeable enemy, and challenges Shaya's leadership. It turns out to be a really terrible decision which gets half the squad killed. Cassio is killed when Alice turns her back to him.

Cassio was played by Christopher Chung. He actually got his start as a singer on "Australian Idol" in 2006. His most notable credits are Archie Wong in "Waterloo Road" (2013-14) and Roddy Ho in "Slow Horses" (2022-24).

Answer: Mercury

The Doctor reasons that because it was a mining site, there would be large amounts of mercury. He creates a cascade of mercury, causing a reflection that drives the entity out of Aliss. The bad news is that it jumps to Belinda.

Answer: Shaya Costallion

Shaya, the leader of the patrol, shoots Belinda, forcing the entity to jump into her body. Shaya then runs to the five mile deep well and dives in. Unfortunately, her sacrifice may have been in vain, because it remains uncertain whether the entity is still alive.

Shaya was played by Caoilfthionn Dunne. The Irish actress started her career in 2008, and has worked in films and television. Two of her more noted film roles were in "In View" (2017) and "Saint Maud" (2019). Dunne was a cast member on the financial drama "Industry" (2020-22).

Answer: Squadron Leader

Mo calls her Squadron Leader Chinchappa. Mrs Flood asks about the Doctor using the vector indicator and she seems pleased when it is confirmed the Doctor is using the device. The vector indicator will clearly play an important role in the fate of Earth as the season progresses.

Answer: False

In rather disturbing conversations, both the Doctor and Belinda discover the troopers have never heard of Earth or humans. This is part of the overarching theme for this season, suggesting something terrible happened to Earth and that Mrs Flood is at least partially involved.

Answer: Sharma Angel-Walfall

Sharma Angel-Walfall wrote "The Well" with Russell T Davies. She crossed paths with Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones) on "Dreamland" (2023). Her other credits include "Sparks" (2020) and the soap opera "Hollyoaks" (2017).

Paul Kasey was the voice of "It Has No Name" the mysterious invisible entity stalking the people on Planet 6767.

Annabel Brook played the doomed Hanno Yeft, the trooper who was the first to die. "Doctor Who" is her first big break on screen, but she has done lots of stunt work.

Juno Dawson is the author of the upcoming episode "The Interstellar Song Contest" (2025). She is a British young adult author whose works have been banned in many places for their sexual themes.