An enigmatic message sends the Doctor and Donna to a library the size of a planet, which has been deserted for a century. Eerily, the automated systems still function -- all uttering dire warnings to flee. Then an archaeological expedition arrives; it's led by Professor River Song, who claims to know the Doctor of old. Joining forces, the Doctor and River investigate the circumstances which led to the library being sealed. They discover that the shadows are alive with a flesh-consuming intelligence called the Vashta Nerada... and, somewhere, a little girl believes that all of these events are playing out in her mind.

After writing his first Doctor Who story, Season Twenty-Seven's The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances, Steven Moffat was asked to come up with additional ideas for the programme. In late 2004, he suggested an adventure about a library in space which contained portals to other libraries throughout history, and which was menaced by monsters in the form of angelic statues. Executive producer Russell T Davies was enthusiastic about Moffat's proposal but, for Season Twenty-Eight, he wanted the writer to tackle an adventure with historical elements. Retaining only the windows through time, Moffat conceived The Girl In The Fireplace. The next year, Moffat again wanted to make use of his library notion. However, he knew that he needed two episodes to tell the tale, and his other commitments precluded this. With only time to write one script, he repurposed the statue monsters as the Weeping Angels of Blink.

Moffat was determined to write the library adventure for Season Thirty, and he began working on the narrative around July 2007. At about the same time, on July 17th, Davies approached him with a staggering offer. Having been the man in charge of Doctor Who since 2003, Davies planned to leave the show following a series of specials which would air throughout 2009. He asked Moffat to succeed him as the executive producer and head writer of Doctor Who beginning with the next full season, which would air in the spring of 2010. Although this was Moffat's self-professed dream job, he had to weigh the offer carefully against the battery of original projects he wanted to develop, not to mention the personal upheaval involved in spending much of the year living in Cardiff, near to Doctor Who's production base. Nonetheless, on October 26th, Moffat formally accepted the position.

Steven Moffat now had a keen interest in provoking viewers' curiosity about what the future held for Doctor Who

Davies' job offer had a profound effect on Moffat's Season Thirty episodes, which became known as Silence In The Library and “The Doctor Runs” -- the latter an intentional echo of his earlier script, The Doctor Dances. Moffat now had a keen interest in provoking viewers' curiosity about what the future held for Doctor Who. He wanted to reassure audiences that there was plenty of excitement ahead after Davies' departure, and that they should look forward to experiencing the Doctor's forthcoming adventures. As such, he decided to introduce a character who had already met a later incarnation of the Doctor. This became Professor River Song, whose exact relationship to the Time Lord would be kept intentionally enigmatic. Nonetheless, Moffat and Davies had privately discussed the possibility that River might be the wife of a future Doctor. Furthermore, Moffat imagined that the Doctor Moon might be so-called because the Doctor himself would one day be uploaded there as a data ghost -- following his eventual demise -- and he and River would therefore be reunited in a kind of afterlife.

Other changes made to the story included the gender of the child in the computer, after it was observed that a young girl would be seen as more vulnerable. Moffat's early conception included an enormous cybernetic librarian, but the character was dropped before he started writing. At one point, it would have been revealed that Donna's artificial-reality husband, Lee, was an overweight woman in real life. The twist was excised for fear of being too confusing for viewers. Donna's illusory children were initially called Alan and Tracy, but they were renamed Joshua and Ella, after Moffat's elder son and one of his friends. Indeed, an incident in which Joshua located concealed buttons on a DVD remote control inspired Charlotte's similar discovery.

Davies disliked the title “The Doctor Runs”, and so the second of Moffat's scripts became “Forest Of The Night”. The two installments were originally scheduled as the ninth and tenth episodes of Season Thirty. During the autumn, however, it was realised that both this adventure and the story intended to follow it, Davies' Turn Left, featured Donna living in an imaginary world. Consequently, around the end of October, Moffat's serial was brought forward one spot, with Midnight now separating the two narratives.

Silence In The Library / “Forest Of The Night” was assigned to the season's eighth production block. The director would be Euros Lyn, whose most recent Doctor Who work had been on the 2006 Christmas special, The Runaway Bride. It was originally intended that Lyn would instead direct the season finale, The Stolen Earth / Journey's End, but a change in its recording schedule prompted his reassignment to Moffat's scripts. Cast in the pivotal role of River Song was Alex Kingston, who had garnered international acclaim with an eight-year stint on the American medical drama ER. Kingston took the part under the assumption that River would appear only in these two episodes. However, she was delighted to learn that Moffat had longer-term plans for the character.

Catherine Tate donned her wedding dress from The Runaway Bride for Donna and Lee's wedding photo

Filming for Silence In The Library / “Forest Of The Night” began on January 15th, 2008, when the CAL hospital was really Hensol Castle, at Hensol in the Vale of Glamorgan. Work on the 16th took place in Cardiff, starting at Victoria Park for playground scenes with Donna and her children; unfortunately, heavy rains meant that Lyn had to postpone much of his itinerary. Material in Charlotte's living room was taped at a residence on Palace Road, while the picture of Donna with her babies was shot at Crwys Medical Centre. Finally, Donna and Lee's wedding photo was taken at St Catherine's Church; Catherine Tate donned the wedding dress she had worn throughout The Runaway Bride for the occasion. From January 17th to 19th, the house on Palace Road again posed as Charlotte's home, while a nearby residence was used as Donna and Lee's dwelling.

After a day off on the Sunday, January 21st saw the final scenes in Charlotte's living room taped on Palace Road. Lyn also tried to remount the playground material at Victoria Park, but his plans were again foiled by the weather. Kingston's Doctor Who debut came on the 22nd, at Dyffryn Gardens in St Nicholas. Additional sequences at the CAL hospital were taped there, along with those in Donna's children's bedroom. The programme's regular studio home at Upper Boat was the venue from January 23rd to 25th. The first day focussed on the sets for the TARDIS and the little shop, plus the effects sequence of crowds emerging from the Library computer. The rest of the week concentrated on the bookcase room and various corridors, with part of the 24th also spent on material aboard the lift platform.

Around this time, it was observed that “Forest Of The Night” would again have to be renamed, since it was now immediately followed by the similarly-titled Midnight. Moffat suggested “Children Of The Library”, but Davies feared that it would give away the fact that Donna's opening scenes were set in a computer simulation. Moffat then proposed a variety of alternatives; they included “A River Song Ending”, which the writer cheekily offered because of its acronym. Amongst this list, Davies preferred “River's Run”, and Moffat duly amended his script to better justify the new title.

All of the remaining location work for Silence In The Library / “River's Run” took place in Swansea, starting after the weekend on January 28th. Material in the Library's main entrance was filmed on this day, at Brangwyn Hall; Lyn's aunt and cousin, as well as his cousin's girlfriend, were amongst the missing Library patrons. On the 29th and 30th, scenes in the facility under the Library were filmed in the disused Alcoa factory at Waunarlwydd Works.

The story's major location was the recently-vacated Swansea Library, originally opened in 1887. With the exception of a day off on Sunday the 3rd, sequences in the Blue Index were recorded from January 31st to February 6th, along with an insert of the squareness hole on the latter day. It was during this work, on February 1st, that the BBC announced the forthcoming departure of producer Phil Collinson, who would become the Head of Drama for BBC Manchester after completing Season Thirty. It was also found that Silence In The Library was running very short, largely because of the pace with which the cast was performing their material. Moffat quickly provided extra dialogue, with the chief beneficiary being the discovery of Miss Evangelista's body. He also wrote an opening TARDIS scene, in which the Doctor received River's mysterious summons en route to a beach holiday. However, Moffat felt that the episode worked better if the Doctor and Donna dove right into the plot, and so he was glad when Lyn determined that there was no need to record the new TARDIS sequence.

On February 7th, pick-up shots involving the Blue Index were taped, and Lyn started recording scenes in the Red Index. This work continued on the 8th and was completed -- after the weekend -- on the early part of the 11th. The Swansea Library then became the Yellow Index, and inserts of Charlotte's living room were captured. There was more action in the Yellow Index on February 12th, before the team returned to Brangwyn Hall to begin filming the sequences in which Miss Evangelista wandered away and her body was subsequently discovered. The team wrapped up this material the next day, when the footage of the Doctor, Donna and Lux looking out at the vastness of the Library was also filmed. On February 14th, the playground scenes were finally recorded at Victoria Park, while various effects and insert shots were taped at Upper Boat. Additional studio work saw Tate's performance as a Node on February 19th, followed by a number of pick-up shots on the 20th.

Episode 2 briefly became known as “Return Of The Dead”

During post-production, executive producer Julie Gardner became unhappy with the title “River's Run”. She suggested “Saved”, but Moffat worried that it would nudge viewers towards the crucial double-meaning hidden in plain sight. He still preferred “Forest Of The Night”, and proposed “The Forest Wakes” as a compromise. Something more sinister was preferred, however, and so the script briefly became known as “Return Of The Dead”. Finally, Moffat suggested merging this title with “Forest Of The Night” to obtain Forest Of The Dead.

On May 20th, in the lead-up to the broadcast of Silence In The Library / Forest Of The Dead, the BBC announced that Moffat would be taking over from Davies as Doctor Who's showrunner. In fact, by this stage, he was already in the midst of planning his first season with Gardner's successor, Piers Wenger, the incoming Head of Drama for BBC Wales. Already, the return of River Song featured prominently in Moffat's designs.

With Doctor Who having been rested for a week due to the Eurovision Song Contest, Silence In The Library was transmitted on May 31st. The BBC One schedule was rearranged on this day to highlight the season finale of I'd Do Anything, the reality competition which normally followed Doctor Who. On this occasion, it was instead broadcast immediately beforehand, with Doctor Who's usual lead-in, The Kids Are All Right, brought forward to air earlier in the evening. The medical drama Casualty occupied the slot after Silence In The Library. On June 7th, the opening match of the UEFA Euro 2008 football tournament on Match Of The Day Live led into Forest Of The Dead. The National Lottery: 1 Vs 100 took over the slot after Doctor Who.

• Doctor Who Magazine #551, June 2020, “Showrunner Showdown” by Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat, Panini UK Ltd
• Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition #20, 19th November 2008, “Episodes 8 & 9: Silence In The Library / Forest Of The Dead” by Andrew Pixley, Panini Publishing Ltd.
• Doctor Who: The Complete History #59, 2017, “Story 195: Silence In The Library / Forest Of The Dead”, edited by John Ainsworth, Hachette Partworks Ltd.
• Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale by Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook (2008), BBC Books.