Tin Dog Podcast

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tin-dog@hotmail.co.uk The Tin Dog welcomes you to sit back and listen to his rants and ramblings about all that is best in modern SF and Television. Via the gift of the new fangled Podcast over the tinterweb. As you can probably guess Tin Dog mostly talks about Doctor Who, Torchwood and Sarah Jane Smith but that wont stop him talking about any other subject you suggest. Hailing from a non specific part of the northeast of England, Tin Dog is male and in his mid 30s. A life long fan of almost all TV SF. His semi-autistic tendencies combined with his total lack of social skills have helped him find a place in the heart of British SF Fandom. Even as a child the Tin Dogs mother told him that she can trace his love of SF TV back to his rhythmic kicking, while still in the womb, along to the beat of the Avengers theme music. From Gabriel Chase to Totters Lane, from the Bad Wolf Satellite to the back streets of the Cardiff, Tin Dog will give you his thoughts on the wonderful Whoniverse. Daleks and Cybermen and TARDIS ES Oh My If you enjoy these Tin Dog Podcasts please remember to tell your friends and leave an email tin-dog@hotmail.co.uk

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Tin Dog Podcast Episodes

• Sontaran a guide for people who dont know them

  25 April 2008 (12:25pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 seconds

  ive had a few emails from people who dont know much about the returning villain for this weeks show so heres some information ive gathered together to help.(This is only text - no audio version as Ill be covering a lot of this in the podcast review of Time Warrior DVD)Sontaran The original Sontarans Sontarans Type Cloned humanoids Affiliated with Sontaran Empire Home planet Sontar First appearance The Time Warrior //<![CDATA[ if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = "show"; var tocHideText = "hide"; showTocToggle(); } //]]> Appearances Television The Sontarans made their first appearance in 1973 in the serial The Time Warrior by Robert Holmes. There, it was explained that they are a race that reproduces by means of cloning rather than by means of sexual reproduction. They live in a militaristic society obsessed by war. Sontarans are humanoid, with a squat build and distinctive dome-shaped head. They come from a high-gravity world named Sontar in the "southern spiral arm of the galaxy", and are far stronger than humans. They recharge their energy through a "probic vent" at the back of the neck rather than by eating food; they also use this vent in their reproduction process. The Sontarans have been at war with the Rutan Host for thousands of years. In the episode The Invasion of Time, the Sontarans successfully invaded Gallifrey, but were driven out again after less than a day. Although physically formidable, the Sontarans' weak spot is the probic vent at the back of their neck; they have been killed by targeting that location with a knife (The Invasion of Time) and an arrow (The Time Warrior). They are also vulnerable to "coronic acid" (The Two Doctors). At some point, the Sontarans encountered the equally expansionist Rutan Host. The war between the Sontarans and the Rutans continued for several millennia, with both sides remaining fairly evenly matched and neither side interested in negotiating for peace. It was still ongoing at the time of The Sontaran Experiment, which takes place at least 10,000 years beyond the 30th century. The episode Horror of Fang Rock, set during the early 20th century, hinted the Sontarans had gained the upper hand, but this proved merely a temporary setback for the Rutans. Thus far in the program's history although both the Sontarans and the Rutans have been seen, they have never been seen together in the same story. All the Sontarans depicted in the original television series have monosyllabic names, many beginning with an initial 'st' sound (e.g., Styre in The Sontaran Experiment, Stor in The Invasion of Time, Stike in The Two Doctors and Staal in The Sontaran Stratagem). Subdivisions of the Sontaran military structure mentioned in the series include the Sontaran G3 Military Assessment Survey [1], the Ninth Sontaran Battle Group [2], and the Fifth Army Space Fleet of the Sontaran Army Space Corps [3]. In a televised trailer for the 2008 episode The Sontaran Stratagem, a Sontaran character is heard to identify himself as "General Staal of the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet" [4]. The Sontarans appeared in a skit for the BBC children's programme Jim'll Fix It titled "A Fix with Sontarans", along with Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka. On October 2, 2007 the BBC's official Doctor Who site revealed that the Sontarans will return in series 4, with Christopher Ryan playing the Sontaran leader, General Staal.[5] This will be in a two-part story, entitled "The Sontaran Stratagem"[6]/"The Poison Sky". The BBC later revealed promotional images which featured the new Sontaran design.[7] They are mentioned in Eye of the Gorgon, an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures. Sarah Jane Smith meets Bea Nelson-Stanley, an elderly lady suffering from Alzheimer's disease who recalls her husband describing the Sontarans as looking like potatoes and that they were "quite the silliest creatures in the galaxy". Games The new 2008 design of a Sontaran, beside the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones The origins of the Sontarans have not been revealed in the television series. The Doctor Who role-playing game published by FASA claimed that they were all descended from the genetic stock of General Sontar (or Sontaris), who used newly developed bioengineering techniques to clone millions of duplicates of himself and annihilated the non-clone population. He renamed the race after himself and turned the Sontarans into an expansionist and warlike society set on universal conquest. However, this origin has no basis in anything seen in the television series. The Sontarans have also appeared as a character in the PC game Destiny of the Doctors released on 5 December 1997 by BBC Multimedia. They can be defeated by firing the occupants of an angry beehive at them.[8] Other Appearances Other appearances by the Sontarans include the spin-off videos Mindgame, Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans and Do You Have A License To Save This Planet?; three audio plays by BBV: Silent Warrior, Old Soldiers and Conduct Unbecoming; the Faction Paradox audio The Shadow Play; and a cameo appearance in Infidel's Comet. Shakedown marks the only occasion in which the Sontarans and their Rutan foes appear on screen together, and was adapted into a Virgin New Adventures novel. They have also appeared in several spin-off novels, including Lords of the Storm by David A. McIntee and The Infinity Doctors by Lance Parkin. In The Infinity Doctors, the Doctor negotiated a peace between the Sontarans and the Rutan Host when two of them were left trapped in a TARDIS for several hours and got to talking due to their inability to kill each other. General Sontar also made an appearance in that novel. In The Crystal Bucephalus by Craig Hinton, the name of their planet was given as Sontara. Comic books The Sontarans have also appeared several times in the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip, both as adversaries of the Doctor and in strips not involving the Doctor. In The Outsider (DWM #25-26), by Steve Moore and David Lloyd, a Sontaran named Skrant invaded the world of Brahtilis with the unwitting help of Demimon, a local astrologer. The Fourth Doctor faced the Sontarans in Dragon's Claw (DWM #39-#45), by Steve Moore and Dave Gibbons, where a crew of Sontarans menaced China in 1522 AD. In Steven Moffat's short story "What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow" (the basis for the Tenth Doctor episode "Blink") the Ninth Doctor has a rooftop sword fight with two Sontarans in 21st century Istanbul, defeating them with the help of spy Sally Sparrow, apparently before the events of "Rose" in his personal timeline. The Sontaran homeworld was destroyed in Seventh Doctor strip Pureblood (DWM #193-196) but the Sontaran race pool survived, allowing for further cloning; the strip introduced the concept of "pureblood" Sontarans not born of cloning. The Sontarans also feature in the Kroton solo strip Unnatural Born Killers (DWM #277) and the Tenth Doctor's comic strip debut The Betrothal of Sontar (DWM #365-#368), by John Tomlinson and Nick Abadzis, where a Sontaran mining rig on the ice planet Serac comes under attack by a mysterious force. TIME WARRIORSynopsis A Sontaran named Linx, trapped in the Middle Ages, uses crude time travel technology to kidnap scientists from the 20th Century to help repair his spacecraft. Plot In the Middle Ages, the bandit Irongron and his aide Bloodaxe together with their rabble of criminals find the crashed spaceship of a Sontaran warrior named Linx. The alien claims Earth for his Empire then sets about repairing his ship, offering Irongron "magic weapons? that will make him a king in return for shelter. They strike a bargain, though Irongron remains suspicious. The Doctor and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart are investigating the disappearance of several scientists from a top secret scientific research complex. They do not know Linx has used an Osmic Projector to send himself forward eight hundred years and has kidnapped the scientists then hypnotized them into making repairs on his ship. The Projector only lets him appear in another time for a brief period. While the Doctor investigates he meets an eccentric scientist called Rubeish and a young journalist called Sarah Jane Smith, who has infiltrated the complex by masquerading as her aunt. Later that evening Rubeish disappears and the Doctor uses the data he has gathered to pilot the TARDIS back to the Middle Ages.- not realising new companion Sarah has stowed away on board. Irongron is a robber baron who has stolen his castle from an absent nobleman, and relations with his neighbours are appalling. Indeed, the mild Lord Edward of Wessex has been provoked into building an alliance against him and, when this is slow in developing, sends his archer Hal on an unsuccessful mission to kill Irongron. The robber baron is in a foul mood when a captured Sarah is brought before him. His mood improves when Linx presents him with a robot knight which is then put to the test on a captured Hal. The archer is only saved when the Doctor intervenes from afar, shooting the robot control box from Irongron's hands. The ensuing confusion lets both Hal and Sarah flee, and they head for Wessex Castle. Meanwhile the Doctor has realised both that Sarah is in the time period and has been captured, and also that she previously supposed him to be in league with Irongron. The next morning the robber baron and his troops assault the castle using rifles supplied by Linx but the attack is repelled by the Doctor's cunning. The failure further sours the relationship between Linx and Irongron, which has deteriorated since the robot knight fiasco and the point at which the robber saw the Sontaran's true visage beneath his helmet. The Doctor now decides to lead an attack on Irongron's castle, and he and Sarah enter dressed as friars. He makes contact with Rubeish and finds the human scientists in a state of extreme exhaustion. Linx catches the Doctor in the laboratory once more, but this time is rendered immobile when a lucky strike from Rubeish hits his probic vent - a Sontaran refuelling point on the back of their necks which is also their main weakness. Rubeish and the Doctor use the Osmic Projector to send the scientists back to the twentieth century. Sarah now invites herself into Irongron's kitchen, using the opportunity to drug the food, thereby knocking out Irongron's men. A recovered Linx now determines his ship is repaired enough to effect a departure. Once more he encounters the Doctor, and they wrestle in combat. A crazed and half drugged Irongron arrives and accuses Linx of betraying him: the Sontaran responds by killing him. As Linx enters his spherical vessel Hal arrives and shoots him in the probic vent, and the Sontaran warrior falls dead over his controls, triggering the launch mechanism. Knowing the place is about to explode when the shuttle takes off, Bloodaxe awakes and rises the remaining men and tells them to flee, while the Doctor hurries the last of his allies out of the castle. It explodes moments before the Doctor and Sarah depart in the TARDIS. The Sontaran ExperimentSynopsis On a future Earth recovering from devastating solar flares, the Fourth Doctor, Harry Sullivan, and Sarah Jane Smith discover Styre, a Sontaran warrior, conducting experiments on astronauts he has captured during their investigation of the rejuvenated Earth. Plot Following on from The Ark in Space, the time travellers teleport down from the Nerva Space Station to Earth, ostensibly uninhabited. However, the system is not functioning well, and the Doctor begins repairing it. The other two explore the surrounding area, but Harry falls down a crevasse and Sarah goes to seek the Doctor's help. He is nowhere in sight. Roth, an astronaut, finds Sarah. He is obviously distressed, and explains that he has been tortured by an alien that lives in the rocks, together with its patrolling robot. He takes Sarah towards the astronauts' campsite, but refuses to approach the campsite, suspecting the astronaut Vural of collusion with the alien. Three of the astronauts have captured the Doctor. They believe Nerva to be a legend, and tell him in turn that they had picked up a distress signal from Earth. They came to investigate, but their ship was vaporised when they emerged, leaving nine of them stranded. Then they began to vanish one by one. They blame the Doctor for this. Roth appears and the astronauts chase him, while Sarah frees the Doctor. Roth loses the others and meets up with Sarah and the Doctor. The Doctor also falls down a crevasse, and the robot returns, capturing Roth and Sarah and bringing them to the alien's spacecraft. The alien is Field Major Styre of the Sontaran G3 Military Assessment Survey, who has been experimenting on, and killing, the astronauts. Roth tries to escape but is shot dead by Styre. Styre reports back to his Marshal via a video link. The Marshal is impatient for the intelligence report (without which an invasion of Earth cannot take place), but Styre admits that he has been delayed in his experiments. Styre subjects Sarah to a series of terrifying hallucinations. The Doctor, free from the hole, has reached her and rips off a hallucinogenic device from her forehead, but she falls unconscious. The Doctor, enraged, attacks Styre, but the Sontaran easily fends him off. Styre shoots him unconscious (believing it to be fatal) when he runs away. The robot, having captured the three remaining spacemen, brings them to Styre's ship, where it is revealed that Vural had tried to make a deal with Styre in exchange for his own life. However, Styre intends to experiment on Vural anyway. The Doctor recovers, disables the robot, and meets Sarah and Harry. He confronts Styre, goading him into accepting hand-to-hand combat. While the two fight, Sarah and Harry free the three astronauts, and then Harry climbs towards Styre's ship to sabotage it. Styre almost wins the fight, but Vural attacks him, saving the Doctor at the cost of his own life. Styre, now low on energy, heads back towards his ship to recharge, but the sabotage causes it to kill him. The Doctor informs the Marshal that not only has Styre's mission failed, but that the invasion plans are in human hands. This is enough to ward off the invasion, and the three can return to Nerva. The Invasion of TimeSynopsis The Doctor returns to Gallifrey, having claimed the Presidency. His behaviour is unusual and has Leela thrown in jail. However, the Doctor is doing this to prevent a Sontaran instigated disaster. More when I review the DVD.The Two DoctorsSynopsis The Second Doctor and Jamie are on a mission for the Time Lords that goes horribly wrong, and Jamie sees the Doctor being tortured to death. However, if the Doctor died in his second incarnation, what does that mean for the Sixth Doctor and Peri? Plot The Second Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon land the TARDIS on board Space Station Camera in the Third Zone, on a mission for the Time Lords, who have also installed a teleport control on the TARDIS that grants them dual control for the occasion. The Doctor explains to Jamie that the station is a research facility and they are here to have a discreet word with Dastari, the Head of Projects. The TARDIS materialises in the station kitchen, where they meet Shockeye, the station cook. Shockeye is an Androgum, a member of a primitive, emotionally and ethically bestial humanoid race which acts as the station's workforce, and is confrontational until the Doctor reveals he is a Time Lord. Suddenly deferential, Shockeye eyes Jamie hungrily and offers to buy him from the Doctor as the main ingredient for a meal. The Doctor, shocked, refuses, and takes Jamie away to see Dastari. As they leave, however, they hear the sound of the TARDIS dematerialising. This is observed by Chessene, an Androgum technologically augmented to mega-genius levels. Chessene has plans of her own, involving someone named Stike who will be arriving in force soon, once Shockeye's poisoned meal to the scientists takes effect. She has also taken possession of the Kartz-Reimer module. The Doctor speaks to Dastari in his office, telling him that the Time Lords want the time experiments of Kartz and Reimer stopped. The Time Lords have an official policy of neutrality, and so have sent the exiled Doctor to maintain deniability. Dastari introduces Chessene, but the Doctor is sceptical as to whether such augmentation can change Chessene's essential Androgum nature, and he considers such tampering dangerous. Meanwhile, three Sontaran battlecruisers appear near the station, on an intercept course. Before the station's defences can be activated, Chessene incapacitates the technician on post and opens the docking bays. Back in the office, the Doctor warns that the distortions from the Kartz-Reimer experiments are on the verge of threatening the fabric of time, but Dastari refuses to order them to cease, accusing the Time Lords of not wanting another race to discover the secrets of time travel. As the argument grows more heated, Dastari grows faint and falls into a drugged stupor. Energy weapons fire begins to sound in the corridors and the Doctor orders Jamie to run as a Sontaran levels a gun at the Doctor. Somewhere else, the Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown are on a peaceful fishing trip. When they return to the TARDIS, Peri is startled as the Sixth Doctor sways and collapses -- just as, back on the station, Jamie spies the Second Doctor in a glass chamber, writhing in agony as a Sontaran manipulates controls. In his TARDIS, the Sixth Doctor awakens, somehow having had a vision of himself as his second incarnation being put to death. He realizes that this is impossible, since he is still alive, but he is also concerned that he may have died in the past and only exists now as a temporal anomaly. He decides to go and consult his old friend Dastari to see if he can enlist his help. The TARDIS materializes on the station, but everything is dark, and the smell of decay and death is everywhere. The station computer demands the Doctor leave, and when he refuses, tries to kill him and Peri by depressurising the passageway. The Doctor, however, manages to open a hatch and drag his unconscious companion through to another section. In Dastari's office, the Doctor discovers the scientist's day journal and the Time Lords' objections to the Kartz-Reimer experiments, but refuses to believe his people are responsible for the massacre. Peri suggests someone is trying to frame the Time Lords and drive a wedge between them and the Third Zone governments. They leave the office to enter the service ducts, work their way to the control centre and attempt to deactivate the computer before it succeeds in killing them. On Earth, Chessene, Shockeye and a Sontaran, Major Varl, take possession of a Spanish hacienda by killing its aged owner, Dona Arana. Varl sets up a homing beacon for the Sontaran ship, while Chessene absorbs the knowledge of the old woman's mind, discovering that they are in Andalucia, just outside the city of Seville. Varl announces that Group Marshal Stike of the Ninth Sontaran Battle Fleet is in descent orbit. Meanwhile, two people, Oscar Botcherby and Anita, are approaching the grounds. Oscar, an ex-English stage actor who is managing a restaurant in the city, is here to catch moths, armed with a net and a cyanide killing jar in his backpack. He and Anita see the Sontaran ship zoom overhead, and observe through binoculars Dastari and another Sontaran carrying an unconscious Second Doctor towards the hacienda. Anita pulls Oscar along, thinking that they are victims of an aeroplane crash and need help. Down in the bowels of the station, the Sixth Doctor tries to disconnect the main circuit. Suddenly, Peri is attacked by a humanoid in rags, and when her cries distract the Doctor, he is hit by a gas trap and falls unconscious, becoming entangled in the wires. Peri knocks out her attacker and frees the Sixth Doctor, who saved himself by shutting off his respiratory passages. He disconnects the computer's main circuit, and the two find that Peri's attacker was a half-delirious Jamie, who has been hiding all the while. Jamie moans that "they" killed the Doctor, and under hypnosis, tells the Sixth Doctor what has transpired, giving a description that the Doctor recognizes as the Sontarans. Returning to the office to examine the station records, the Doctor suddenly sees Peri in the glass tube, writhing in pain. As he frantically works the controls to free her, the person in the tube changes from Peri to Dastari to the Second Doctor and even to himself. When Jamie and Peri return to the office, the Sixth Doctor explains that what Jamie saw was an illusion designed to make people believe the Doctor was dead and not investigate further (the animator had been left on and captured Peri's image), which means the Second Doctor is being held captive somewhere. The Sixth Doctor theorises that the Sontarans kidnapped Dastari as well because Dastari is the only biogeneticist in the galaxy who could isolate the symbiotic nuclei of a Time Lord that gives them the molecular stability to travel through time. If given time travel, the Sontarans will be unstoppable. The Sixth Doctor decides to put himself into a telepathic trance to try and determine where his past incarnation is being held. He awakens having heard the sound of the Santa Maria, the largest of the 25 bells at the Great Cathedral of Seville. In the cellar of the hacienda, Dastari and Chessene set up equipment, keeping the Second Doctor drugged and passive. Dastari questions why they have come to Earth, and Chessene explains that it is conveniently situated for an attack Stike wishes to make on the Madillon Cluster against the Rutan Host, and that Shockeye also wanted to taste the flesh of humans. Dastari heaps scorn on Shockeye's primitive urges, and urges Chessene to remember that she is beyond those, now. The TARDIS materialises on the grounds near the hacienda, and Oscar approaches it as the TARDIS crew emerge, thinking it is a real police box and that the Doctor and his companions are plain-clothes police officers. Taking advantage of the mistake, the Doctor asks that Oscar lead him to the hacienda. Dastari reveals his plan to dissect the Second Doctor's cell structure to isolate his symbiotic nuclei and give them to Chessene. The Second Doctor calls him mad, and protests that her barbaric Androgum nature, coupled with the ability to time travel, will mean that there will be no limit to her evil. The Sixth Doctor asks Peri to create a distraction at the front door of the hacienda while he and Jamie make their way into the cellar via a passage in the nearby ice house. Peri calls out, interrupting Dastari's operation. She poses as a lost American student, but Chessene is suspicious, having read thoughts of the Doctor in her mind. Chessene gets Shockeye to bring the Second Doctor, strapped into a wheelchair, through the hall, to see if Peri reacts. She does not, as she has never seen the Second Doctor before. Peri makes her excuses and leaves, but Shockeye chases her anyway, eager for a meal. Meanwhile, the Sixth Doctor and Jamie are in the cellar, where the Doctor examines the Kartz-Reimer module, a prototype time machine modelled on Time Lord technology. He explains to Jamie that once the briode nebuliser of the module is primed with his symbiotic nuclei -- the Rassilon Imprimatur -- it will be safe for anyone to use. Unfortunately, the Sontarans have heard him. Outside, Shockeye also catches up to Peri. Shockeye knocks Peri out and brings her back to the hacienda kitchen. In the cellar, Stike threatens to kill Jamie unless the Sixth Doctor gets into the module and primes it with his symbiotic print, and the Doctor does so. Stike is about to execute Jamie anyway, but Jamie stabs Stike's leg with a concealed knife, and the Doctor and he run off upstairs, where they find the Second Doctor. Before they can release the Second Doctor and escape the hacienda, however, Shockeye shows up with the unconscious Peri. The Second Doctor feigns unconsciousness while the others hide. While the Sixth Doctor and Jamie watch from their hiding place, they hear Chessene voice her concern that now that a second Time Lord is involved, the other Time Lords will be arriving as well. However, she has a contingency plan. She asks Dastari to implant the Second Doctor with some of Shockeye's genetic material, turning the Doctor into an Androgum and under her thrall, following which they will eliminate the Sontarans. However, Dastari and Chessene are unaware that the module is now primed, and that, outside, Stike is preparing to leave in it once Sontaran High Command has been notified and leave no one alive when he does so. Stike orders Varl to set the Sontaran battlecraft's self-destruct mechanism. Interrupting Shockeye as he is about to slaughter Peri, Chessene gets him to bring the Second Doctor to the cellar. Once there, she stuns Shockeye so that Dastari can remove his genetic material. The Sixth Doctor revives Peri in the kitchen and ushers her and Jamie away. The Sixth Doctor tells them that what he revealed about the Imprimatur in the cellar was not strictly true -- he had heard Stike approaching and the speech was for the Sontaran's benefit. The machine worked for the Doctor, but will not for them because the Doctor has taken the briode nebuliser. Dastari has implanted the Second Doctor with a 50 percent Androgum inheritance, and when Shockeye wakes in a rage, he finds a kindred spirit in the transformed Doctor. They decide to go into the town to sample the local cuisine. In the meantime, Dastari lures the Sontarans into the cellar, where Chessene attacks them with two canisters of coronic acid. Varl is killed, but Stike, though wounded, manages to escape. He tries to use the module, but without the nebuliser, it severely burns him instead. Stike staggers towards his battlecraft, forgetting about the self-destruct. The ship explodes, taking him with it. The Sixth Doctor, Peri and Jamie follow the Second Doctor and Shockeye into Seville, hoping to cure him before the change becomes complete and affects the Sixth Doctor as well. Dastari and Chessene are also seeking the two of them, knowing that unless the Second Doctor undergoes a second, stabilizing operation, he will eventually reject the Androgum transfusion. The Second Doctor and Shockeye go to Oscar's restaurant, ordering gargantuan amounts of food. When Oscar demands that they pay, Shockeye fatally stabs Oscar, just as the Sixth Doctor and the others arrive. Shockeye leaves the Second Doctor behind, who slowly reverts back to normal. As all of them leave the restaurant and the distraught Anita, however, Chessene and Dastari appear, taking them back to the hacienda at gunpoint. Chessene and Dastari find the nebuliser on the module missing, and the Sixth Doctor tells them how he primed the machine for Stike. To test the truth of the Doctor's claim, they replace the nebuliser and send Peri on a trip with the module, and she survives. Chessene gives permission for Shockeye to eat Jamie, and the Androgum takes him up to the kitchen. Left alone for the moment, the Sixth Doctor smugly confirms the Second's suspicions -- the nebuliser is sabotaged, with a thin interface layer so it would only work once for Peri. Flipping the table over on which the key to their chains rests, the Doctors retrieve the key. The Sixth Doctor frees himself first, and runs up to save Jamie. He encounters Shockeye in the kitchen, and the Androgum wounds him with a knife. Shockeye pursues him through the grounds, but the Sixth Doctor finds Oscar's pack and his cyanide killing jar. The Doctor ambushes Shockeye, covering his head with Oscar's butterfly net and pressing the cyanide-soaked cotton wool to his face, killing him. The sight of the Time Lord's blood on the ground is too much for Chessene, who falls to her knees and starts licking it, to Dastari's disgust. He realizes that no matter how augmented she may be, Chessene will always be an Androgum, and decides to free the Second Doctor and his companions. When Chessene sees this, she shoots and kills Dastari. She tries to shoot the Second Doctor and Peri as well, but Jamie throws a knife at her wrist, making her drop the gun. Chessene goes into the module, hoping to escape, but the module explodes, molecularly disintegrating her and turning her back into a common Androgum in death. The Second Doctor uses a Stattenheim remote control -- which the Sixth Doctor covets -- to summon his TARDIS. He and Jamie say their goodbyes and leave. As the Sixth Doctor and Peri make their way back to their own TARDIS, the Doctor tells her that from now on, it will be a healthy vegetarian diet for both of them.

  
  

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• TDP 55: Doctor Who 4.03 Planet of the Ood

  23 April 2008 (10:02pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 11 minutes and 43 seconds

  Direct Podcast Download

  Planet of the Ood" is the third episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 19 April 2008. The episode features the return of the Ood, last seen in "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit". In the narrative, the Doctor (David Tennant) and his companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) investigate why the Ood are happy to serve. They become horrified at the alterations humans perform on the Ood, and resolve to free them. The episode received several positive reviews for its central theme of slavery. //&lt;![CDATA[ if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = &quot;show&quot;; var tocHideText = &quot;hide&quot;; showTocToggle(); } //]]&gt; Plot Synopsis The Doctor uses the TARDIS to land at a random point in time and space. On leaving the TARDIS, he and Donna find a dying Ood, a species the Doctor previously encountered in "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit".Before dying, the Ood's eyes turn red and it attacks the Doctor. The Doctor muses that the last time he met them, they were being influenced by the Devil, so their docility is being influenced by a different and closer being. The Doctor and Donna find an industrial complex controlled by Ood Operations, who are selling the Ood as a servant race. The Doctor locates their position: the Ood-Sphere in the 42nd century. The "Red Eye" phenomenon is affecting other Ood on the planet: several people have been killed in the weeks prior to the narrative. During the outbreak, the Ood state that "the circle must be broken". Ood Operations noted an increase in the phenomenon, and considered it to be similar to foot-and-mouth disease; CEO Klineman Halpen (Tim McInnerny) tells the Doctor the method of killing is identical. Throughout the episode, Donna becomes sympathetic to the Ood and is horrified by their status as slaves. The Doctor also takes an interest in the Ood noting that no species could naturally evolve to serve. He also feels he had overlooked them on their previous encounter. He and Donna travel through the complex and finds a batch of uncultivated Ood. Instead of a translation sphere, they hold a "hind brain" that gives them individuality; the Doctor derides Halpen for lobotomising them. The Doctor and Donna are captured by Ood Operations' security force. Shortly after, the Ood begin a mass revolution, and the complex is evacuated. The Doctor follows Halpen to a locked warehouse. The warehouse contains a large brain, which completes the Ood's collective conciousness. The brain's control of the Ood is limited by a circle of pylons emitting a forcefield. Halpen plans to kill the brain, and by extension, all of the Ood, but is stopped by a joint effort between the Doctor, Donna, Dr Ryder (Adrian Rawlins), and Halpen's personal Ood, Ood Sigma(Paul Kasey); Ryder lowered the telepathic field gradually over ten years, while Ood Sigma used Halpen's hair-loss medication to slowly convert Halpen into an Ood. The Doctor shuts down the circle, freeing the Ood and allowing them to all rejoin in a telepathic collective. Before leaving, Ood Sigma promises to include the Doctor and Donna in the Ood's song and honour their names forever, but comments that the Doctor's song may soon end. Continuity The "red eye" phenomenon is present in all three "Ood" episodes, as an effect of being possessed; in the former, they were under the Beast's control. In "Planet of the Ood", the Doctor gives a time frame for all three episodes: the 42nd century, during the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire; the fourth incarnation was mentioned in "The Long Game" and "Bad Wolf". The Ood-Sphere is in the same solar system as the Sense-Sphere, the location for the 1964 serial The Sensorites;[ the Sensorites and Ood are visually similar.  Production We wanted to know more about [the Ood's] background. This time around, they're centre stage. The story is about them. Why they are the way they are. What makes them tick. --Keith Temple The episode was written by Keith Temple and directed by Graeme Harper. Executive producer Russell T Davies had envisioned the Ood's return because their previous appearance, the 2006 two-part story "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit", had been overshadowed by the appearance of the Devil. Davies subsequently provided Temple with a brief for the episode which included the terms "ice planet" and the storyline of a business selling the Ood as a commodity] Temple's drafts of the episode were described as "too dark" and "too old Doctor Who"; Temple stated on the episode's commentary that he "wrote a six-part [serial] in 45 minutes". Temple and Davies thought that the episode was not a "fun reappearance" of an old monster; instead, they felt that there was "an actual story to tell". Temple emphasised in his script that the Doctor overlooked the Ood in lieu of the Devil, and the character had to see his shortcomings. Temple's script also emphasised the Ood's slavery; both Temple and lead actor David Tennant commented that the existence of a species born to serve was complicated, the latter stating complications with Richard Dawkins' "selfish gene" theory.[3][10] Donna's role in the episode was to further humanise the Doctor, and her opinion changing from visual disgust to empathy was deliberately important.[10] Susie Liggat cited the writing as part of Doctor Who's importance--she thought the story about "liberating oppressed people" could be applied domestically or globally. The episode's antagonist, Klineman Halpen, is portrayed by Tim McInnerny. Davies considered his character--"a middle manager who's out of his depth"--a perfect villain. Temple described him as "narcissistic", "preening" and "ruthless ... without sentiment". McInnerny said "It's always nice to play a bastard... I'm glad Halpen's a three-dimensional bastard! That makes him interesting!" Temple epitomised Halpen in a scene where he kills an operative for the activist group "Friends of the Ood"; Davies and Tennant felt that his "disgusting" and "gothic" Edgar Allen Poe-esque fate would not be deserved otherwise. Filming for the episode took place in August 2007. The opening and closing outdoor scenes were filmed in Trefil Quarry in the Brecon Beacons, the external scenes of the complex in a caramel factory, and the scenes in the "battery farm" were filmed in a hangar at RAF Saint Athan.[10][9] Very little CGI was used in the episode; the snow was paper snow adhered by water, and the Ood heads contained complex animatronics.[10][9] McInnerny wore a prosthetic head with removable flaps for the shot where Halpen transforms into an Ood. Instead of McInnerny, the production team's best boy provided motion capture for the computer-generated profile of the appendages coming out of his mouth. Reception Overnight figures estimated Planet of the Ood was the most watched programme in its timeslot, with 6.9 million viewers (33.4% of the total audience). The episode was the second most-watched programme of the day, beaten by Britain's Got Talent, and was the fifteenth most watched programme of the week. The episode's Appreciation Index was 87 (considered Excellent). Scott Matthewman, writing for The Stage, gaved a mixed review of the episode. He thought that "pretty much the only surprise in the way the humans who made up the Ood Corporation were presented came as PR girl Solana (Ayesha Dharker) escaped with the Doctor and Donna, only to betray their position by calling for the guards," and "the revelation that Ryder (Adrian Rawlins) has been working to infiltrate the Corporation is thrown away... as quickly as it is revealed." However, he thought Donna was becoming "fast ... one of the strongest and most well-rounded companions in the series' history", and "there were some nice interpretations of the Ood's natural development". Caitlin Moran of The Times thought the episode was "really really good ... - one that will have you staring at your screen and asking, once again, 'How can something so good be happening so early on a Saturday night, in my own front room?'". She enjoyed the scene where the Doctor and Donna talk about slaves in contemporary culture, saying that Tate "really, really isn't that bad when she says ["We don't have slaves"]". Ben Rawson-Jones of Digital Spy gave the episode five stars out of five. Rawson-Jones opened his review by saying "Doctor Who can occasionally transcend the properties of a mere family television show to reach out and give viewers a poignant, beautiful epiphany and greater sense of the world they inhabit.", citing Donna's reaction on seeing the uncultivated Ood as the moving part of the episode. He thought the episode as a whole "exemplifies just how powerful and emotive Doctor Who can be when writing, direction and performance are all harmonious and complete their own Ood-like circle", and was appreciative of the acting. The episode's only flaw was when Donna said "Why do you say 'Miss'? Do I look single?", but was otherwise "an extremely impressive, contemplative examination of the abhorrent nature of humanity". 4.03 - "Planet of the Ood" Doctor Who episode An unprocessed Ood shows his "hind" brain to the Doctor. Cast Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor) Companion Catherine Tate (Donna Noble) Guest stars Tim McInnerny - Klineman HalpenAyesha Dharker - Solana MercurioAdrian Rawlins - Dr RyderRoger Griffiths - Commander KessPaul Clayton - Mr BartlePaul Kasey - Ood SigmaTariq Jorden - RepSilas Carson - Voice of the Ood Production Writer Keith Temple Director Graeme Harper Script editor Lindsey Alford Producer Susie Liggat Executive producer(s) Russell T. Davies Julie Gardner Phil Collinson Production code 4.3 Series Series 4 Length 45 mins Originally broadcast 19 April 2008 Chronology ? Preceded by Followed by - "The Fires of Pompeii" "The Sontaran Stratagem"

  
  

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• TDP 54: Doctor Who 4.02 The Fires of Pompeii

  16 April 2008 (5:05am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 14 minutes and 14 seconds

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  The Fires of Pompeii" is the second episode of the fourth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 12 April 2008. The episode takes place during the 79AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius. In the episode, the Doctor is faced with a moral dilemma: whether to recuse from the situation or to save the population of Pompeii. The Doctor's activities in Pompeii are impeded by the rock-like Pyrovile, and their allies, the Sybilline Sisterhood, who are using the volcano to convert the humans to Pyroviles. The episode was filmed in Rome's Cinecitta studios, and was the first time the Doctor Who production team took cast abroad for filming since its revival.[1] The production of the episode was impeded by a fire near the sets several weeks before filming and problems crossing into Europe. Critics' opinion regarding the episode were mixed. The premise of the episode--the moral dilemma the Doctor faces--and Donna's insistence that he save the population of Pompeii were universally praised. However, the episode's writing was criticised, in particular, the characterisation of the supporting cast: the dialogue was described as "one-dimensional"[2] and Peter Capaldi's and Phil Davis's dialogue as "whimpering and scowling".[3] //&lt;![CDATA[ if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = &quot;show&quot;; var tocHideText = &quot;hide&quot;; showTocToggle(); } //]]&gt; Plot Synopsis The Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) arrive in what the Doctor believes to be first century Rome. After an earthquake, he realises he has materialised in Pompeii on 23 August 79, one day before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. When he returns to the TARDIS' location, he is told it was sold to a Lucius Caecilius Iucundus (Peter Capaldi), a marble sculptor. The episode's antagonists are the Pyrovile, giant rock-like creatures resembling golems whose home planet was destroyed. They operate secretly; the Sybilline Sisterhood act as their proxies. They use the Sisterhood, which is comprised of a high priestess (Victoria Wicks), Spurrina (Sasha Behar), and Thalina (Lorraine Burroughs) to make prophecies while converting them to stone. The Sisterhood is inducting Caecilius' daughter Evelina (Francesca Fowler) and is allied to the local augur Lucius (Phil Davis). The Doctor is disturbed by their knowledge of his and Donna's personal lives, and by Lucius' latest commission, a marble circuit board. The Doctor breaks into Lucius' home and discovers that he is creating an energy converter. He is accosted by Lucius, who sends a Pyrovile to kill the Doctor. The confusion allows the Sisterhood to kidnap Donna briefly; the Doctor follows them and frees Donna. They escape into the Sisterhood's hypocaust system and travel into the centre of Mount Vesuvius. Mount Vesuvius is being used by the Pyrovile to convert the human race to Pyroviles. The Doctor realises the volcano will not erupt if the energy converter is running, and subsequently switches it off, triggering the eruption of Vesuvius. Despite Donna's efforts, she and the Doctor are only able to save Caecilius' family, who watch Pompeii's destruction from a vantage point. The last scene takes place six months later in Rome. Caecilius' family are shown to be successful: Caecilius is running a profiting business, Evelina has a social life in comparison to her seclusion in Pompeii, and his son Quintus (Francois Pandolfo) is training to become a doctor. Before Quintus leaves, he pays tribute to the family's household gods, the Doctor and Donna. Continuity The Doctor refers to the eruption as "volcano day", a phrase used to refer to the eruption by Jack Harkness and the Ninth Doctor in "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances".[4][5] The Shadow Proclamation, an intergalactic code invoked in "Rose", "The Christmas Invasion", and "Partners in Crime" is used by the Doctor when speaking to the Pyrovile.[6][7][8] The Medusa Cascade, first mentioned by the Master in "Last of the Time Lords", is referenced;[9] executive producer Russell T Davies stated that the Cascade would "come back to haunt us".[10] The Doctor also alludes to the events of the 1965 serial The Romans, admitting "a little" responsibility for the Great Fire of Rome, which was depicted at the end of that story.[11] Writer James Moran deliberately included the reference. The sale of the TARDIS as "modern art" was also included as a reference to Moran's favourite serial, City of Death.[12] The location and historical significance are also shared by "The Fires of Vulcan", a Big Finish audio play from 2000 starring Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor. Production Writing How does [the Doctor] decide who lives, who dies, when to intervene, and when not to? If you do save them, where do you stop? Do you remake the universe according to what you think is right and wrong? --James Moran[13] Executive producer Russell T Davies originally planned to include a serial set in Pompeii in the first new series of Doctor Who, after seeing the documentary Pompeii: The Last Day.[14] That episode's position was given to Boom Town[14] and the idea was shelved for three years. The episode was written by James Moran, who previously wrote the film Severance and the Torchwood episode "Sleeper". Moran had difficulty writing the episode, and had to rewrite the Doctor's opening line over twenty times.[1] The Pyrovile were also edited during writing: they were previously called Pyrovillaxians and Pyrovellians.[12] Moran worked closely with Davies because of the constraints imposed by filming.[13] Davies encouraged Moran to insert linguistic jokes similar to those in the comic book series Asterix, such as Lucius Petrus Dextrus ("Lucius Stone Right Arm"), TK Maxximus, and Spartacus; the use of the phrase "I'm Spartacus!" refers to the 1960 film.[15][12] Moran based the ancillary characters of Metalla (Tracey Childs) and Quintus from Caecilius' family in the Cambridge Latin Course; the character of Evelina was the only member of the family created by Moran.[15][12] The line "Don't worry, she's from Barcelona" was a reference to an apologetic catchphrase from Fawlty Towers, attributed by the production team to Sybil Fawlty.[12] The episode was heavily based on a moral question posed to the Doctor by Donna: whether to warn the population of Pompeii, or to recuse from the situation.[13][15] Moran also had to deal with the intensity and sensitivity required when writing about the eruption.[15] Davies and Moran both appreciated Catherine Tate's performance, and cited Donna's ability to humanise the Doctor and help him deal with "lose-lose situations" as the reason the Doctor travels with companions.[13] Filming "The Fires of Pompeii" was filmed at the Cinecitta studios in Rome. The episode was filmed at the Cinecitta studios in Rome in September 2007.[15] Other locations suggested were in Malta and Wales, but the size of the project, the biggest since the show's revival, resulted in production taking place in Italy.[15] This was the first time the majority of the episode was filmed abroad, and the first time the cast had filmed abroad;[15] pick-up shots were made in New York City for "Daleks in Manhattan".[15] Cinecitta had accepted the BBC's request despite the show's small budget to promote the studios.[13] Filming an episode abroad had been suggested in 2004,[13] but the episode was the first such occasion.[15] Planning began in April 2007, before Moran had written the script, and continued until the production team travelled to Italy.[15] Several weeks before filming started, a fire disrupted the production team.[16][17] Moving to Rome caused problems for the production team: the equipment truck was delayed for several hours at the Swiss border; the special effects team were delayed for twenty-four hours at Customs in Calais.[15] The production team only had 48 hours to film on location. The aftermath of the eruption was filmed on the same night as the location shots. To create the falling ash, the special effects team used a large mass of cork, with a "constant supply of debris raining down".[1] Broadcast and reception Tate perfectly portrayed Donna's anguish as she forlornly appealed for people not to run to the beaches and certain death. For me, that short scene was the emotional highpoint of a series of heart-rending scenes, each with Donna at their heart. --Scott Matthewman, The Stage[2] Overnight figures estimated the episode was watched by 8.1 million viewers, with a peak of 8.5 million viewers. The episode was the second most watched programme on 12 April; Britain's Got Talent was viewed by 8.8 million people. The episode was the eleventh most-watched programme of the week.[18][19] The episode received several mixed and positive reviews. Ian Hyland, writing for News of the World, said that Tate "was almost bearable this week". He also complimented the "TK Maxximus" joke. He was ambivalent to Donna's reaction to the Doctor leaving Caecilius' family to die: he criticised her acting, comparing her to The Catherine Tate Show character Joannie "Nan" Taylor, but said "top again if that was intentional". He closed saying "this week was a hundred times better than that lame opening episode. Scarier aliens, stronger guest stars and a proper adult-friendly storyline involving sisterhoods and soothsayers."[20] Scott Matthewman of The Stage said that Donna's insistence to change the past "formed the emotional backbone of this episode, producing some truly heartbreaking performances". He liked the joke about the TARDIS' translating the Doctor's and Donna's Latin phrases to Celtic, saying it was "subtly played throughout the episode [...] in a way that builds the joke without trampling it into the ground". His favourite part was Donna's attempts to divert the population of Pompeii away from the beach; the scene was "the emotional highpoint of a series of heart rendering scenes". However, he criticised Moran's writing, specifically, Quintus' and Metalla's dialogue, saying the former "remained pretty much one-dimensional throughout".[2] Alan Stanley Blair of SyFy Portal gave a positive review. He was highly appreciative of Tate, saying "[she] moved even further away from her "Runaway" character that initially joined the show." The phrase "TK Maxximus" and the Doctor's use of a water pistol to subdue the Pyrovile was complimented, as was the special effects used to animate the Pyrovile. However, he disapproved of the use of Cockney colloquialisms in the episode, most notably the Stallholder (Phil Cornwell) saying "lovely jubbly".[21] Ben Rawson-Jones of Digital Spy gave the episode three stars out of five. His opening said "Fantastic effects and a well developed moral dilemma bolster 'The Fires Of Pompeii', although the episode fails to erupt." Rawson-Jones felt that Moran's script took "too long to actively engage the viewer and tap into the compelling premise of the time travellers arriving in the doomed city shortly before 'volcano day'." and that "the subplots are unsatisfyingly muddled for the majority of the narrative." He also complained about the characterisation of the supporting cast, saying that "Peter Capaldi and Phil Davis [deserved] better". However, he said the moral dilemma the Doctor faced was "compelling" and the Doctor's use of the water pistol "adds a pleasing sense of fun to counterbalance the impending stench of death and harks nicely back to the Tom Baker era of the show." Overall, he appreciated the premise of the episode, but thought the episode "deserved better writing".[3]

  
  

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• TDP 53: Doctor Who 4.01 Partners In Crime

  8 April 2008 (12:00pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 11 minutes and 38 seconds

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  Partners in Crime 4.01 (30.1) Synopsis Donna Noble is determined to find the Doctor again - even if it means braving the villainous Miss Foster. But when the alien threat escalates out of control, can Donna find her Time Lord before the march of the Adipose begins at last? Plot Donna Noble is walking down a street on the way to Adipose Industries, as she is investigating them on their weight-loss drug. The Doctor is doing the same but they fail to see each other as they do different things at the same time. They are in an a conference room posing as Health and Safety when a reporter starts asking Miss Foster what this drug does she fails to tell her and the meeting ends. The Doctor and Donna ask different employees for customer addresses. Donna goes to a woman named Stacey Campbell's house while the Doctor goes and interviews a man called Roger Davey about his use of the drug. Roger tells the Doctor that his burglar alarm keeps going of at 1:30 AM. While Donna is talking to Stacey, Stacey tells Donna that she has lost a lot of weight and can't wait to dump her boyfriend. So Stacey goes to the bathroom only to find that her stomach starts moving and a tubby piece of fat comes out her body. Donna while down stairs is fiddling with a capsule like necklace with the end shaped like a pill. As she turns it another fat thing comes out of Stacey's body. As Donna plays with the necklace more of Stacey's body explodes into more pieces of fat and dies. Donna breaks into her bathroom and as an Adipose waves to her it jumps out the window. Miss Foster senses it via her computer and she scans the CCTV with her henchmen only to find a reporter from earlier called Penny Carter. The Doctor senses what has happened to Stacey and runs up to her house only to find nothing there. He then runs off to the TARDIS. Donna cancels Stacey's cab and goes home only to find her mother nagging at her so she goes off to see her grandfather Wilfred Mott who is gazing at the stars at the allotments. He says to Donna to find the right man as she talks to him about missing the trip with the Doctor. The Doctor is in the TARDIS and talks to himself about the Adipose (He is thinking he has got Martha with him only he realises that he does not). The next day Donna takes the car to Adipose industries only to be criticized by her mother because she needs the car for going out. Donna hides in the toilets and the Doctor hides to investigate. All day Miss Foster is looking for Penny Carter who is hiding in the same toilets too. Donna thinks that she has been caught but it turns out to be Penny, who is then tied up. Donna follows only to find that the Doctor is also watching Miss Foster. He Spots Donna watching through the door and mouths to her and she mouths back. They are both unaware that they are being watched by Miss Foster and everybody in her office. Miss Foster asks her two henchmen to get them and they chase after Donna. But she runs up to the roof. Handily for the Doctor he was on a pully for the window cleaner he pulls him self up to rescue Donna as they get in he locks the roping device with the sonic screwdriver so that he can get down. But to his surprise Miss Foster has a sonic pen which she sends them down flying as she cuts the rope with it Donna almost falls but the Doctor climbs up a rope and squeezes into a window. Goes down a floor to Miss Foster's office. Only to find that Penny is locked in there. He then opens her window with his screw driver and saves Donna. Miss Foster then uses a device (possibly another sonic pen) which opens a sliding door to reveal an Inducer which along with her capsule helps her to begin the birthing process of one million Adipose from her customers bodies. Meanwhile the Doctor breaks into a secondary Inducer ,hidden inside a cupboard, with his Sonic screwdriver. There he manages to temporarily disable the process by unscrewing his capsule and attaching it to a wire connected to the Inducer. While he is doing this Donna asks the Doctor that he looks older. She also asks if he's still on his own; he replies that he had this friend called Martha but he ruined her life but she's fine, he also says that Rose is still missing. Miss Foster notices he has tried to hack into the system and increases the power to double strength on her Inducer. The Doctor realises he can't save them and is really upset, that is until Donna pulls out her capsule from her jacket pocket and the peoples lives are saved. Miss Foster plans have failed but she says that one million Adipose will have to do and calls upon the Nursery Ship to take them home. The Doctor listens to an incoming signal from the Adiposian family that identify Matron Cofelia as a criminal for breeding on a Level 5 planet. The Doctor runs onto the rooftop to try and save her and Donna suggests blowing them up though the Doctor replies that they're just children and can't help from where they came from. Donna says that Martha must have done him good and he's says, with arrogance that she fancied him. He offers Matron a hand but she refuses just as the tractor beam switches off and she falls to her death, the Adipose leave the planet and zoom off into space. The Doctor bins the sonic pen and Donna drags him off to the TARDIS. Once there she unpacks her belongings from her car (which is just a few feet from the TARDIS) the Doctor warns that it is a hard life but accepts her saying that he just wants a mate, she takes this literally and says that he is just an alien streek of nothing. Donna then takes her car keys and puts them in a bin on Brook street, 30 yards from the corner. She then tells a strange girl with blonde hair to tell her mother: 'that bin there', it turns out the girl is Rose Tyler and she has just missed the Doctor hoping to catch him at the event. She walks off down the street and dissapears. Donna tells the Doctor to materialise two and a half miles that way to say goodbye to her Grandad, he cheers her on. Cast The Doctor - David Tennant Donna Noble - Catherine Tate Rose Tyler - Billie Piper Miss Foster - Sarah Lancashire Sylvia Noble- Jacqueline King Wilfred Mott- Bernard Cribbins Penny Carter - Verona Joseph Stacey Campbell - Jessica Gunning Roger Davey - Martin Ball Craig Staniland - Rachid Sabitri Claire Pope - Chandra Ruegg Suzette Chambers - Sue Kelvin Taxi driver - Jonathon Stratt The Sinister Miss Foster Production crew 1st Assistant Director - James Blackwell 2nd Assistant Director - Jennie Fava 3rd Assistant Director - Sarah Davies Location Manager - Gareth Skelding Unit Manager - Rhys Griffiths Production Co-ordinator - Jess van Niekerk Production Secretary - Kevin Myers Production Runner - Nicola Brown Floor Runners - Andy Newbery, Heddi Joy Taylor Drivers - Wayne Humphreys, Darren Lean Contracts Assistant - Kath Blackman Continuity - Sheila Johnston Script Editor - Lindsey Alford Camera Operators - Rory Taylor, Julian Barber Focus Puller - Steve Rees Camera Assistants - Tom Hartley, Jon Vidgen Grip - John Robinson Boom Operators - Jeff Welch, Bryn Thomas Gaffer - Mark Hutchings Best Boy - Peter Chester Electricians - Steve Slocombe, Clive Johnson, Ben Griffiths Stunt Co-ordinator - Tom Lucy Stunt Performers - Gorden Seed, Jo McLaren Wireman - Bob Schofield Chief Supervising Art Director - Stephen Nicholas Art Department Production Manager - Jonathan Marquand Allison Supervising Art Director - Arwel Wyn Jones Associate Designer - James North Art Department Coordinator - Amy Pope Set Decorator - Malin Lindholm Props Buyer - Catherine Samuel Standby Art Director - Ciaran Thompson Design Assistants - Al Roberts, Peter McKinstry, Sarah Payne Storyboard Artist - Richard Shaun Williams Standby Props - Phill Shellard, Nick Murray Standby Carpenter - Will Pope Standby Painter - Ellen Woods Standby Rigger - Keith Freeman Property Masters - Paul Aitken, Phil Lyons Dressing Chargehand - Matthew Wild Forward Dresser - Stuart MacKay Senior Props Maker - Barry Jones Props Maker - Nick Robatto, Penny Howarth, Jon Grundon Practical Electrician - Albert James Construction Manager - Matthew Hywel-Davies Scenic Artists - John Pinkerton, John Whalley Construction Chargehands - Scott Fisher, Allen Jones Construction Workshop Manager - Mark Hill Graphics - BBC Wales Graphics Costume Supervisor - Lindsay Bonaccorsi Assistant Costume Designer - Rose Goodhart Costume Assistants - Barbara Harrington, Louise Martin Make-Up Artists - Pam Mullins, Steve Smith, John Munro Casting Associates - Andy Brierley, Amy Rogers VFX Editor - Ceres Doyle Assistant Editor - Carmen Roberts Post Production Supervisors - Chris Blatchford, Samantha Hall Post Production Co-ordinator - Marie Brown SFX Co-ordinator - Ben Ashmore SFX Supervisor - Danny Hargreaves Prosthetics Designer - Neill Gorton Prosthetics Supervisor - Rob Mayor On Line Editors - Matthew Clarke, Mark Bright Colourist - Mick Vincent 3D Artists - Stephen Regulus, Dave Levy, Serena Cacciato, Matt McKinney 2D Artists - Bryan Bartlett, Simon C Holden, Greg Spencer, Sara Bennett, Tim Barter, James Moxon, Murray Barber, Loraine Cooper VFX Co-ordinators - Jenna Powell, Rebecca Johnson VFX Production Assistant - Marianne Paton VFX Supervisor - Barney Curnow Dubbing Mixer - Tim Ricketts Supervising Sound Editor - Paul McFadden Sound FX Editor - Paul Jefferies Foley Editor - Kelly-Marie Angell Finance Manager - Chris Rogers Original Theme Music - Ron Grainer Casting Director - Andy Pryor Cdg Production Executive - Julie Scott Production Accountant - Oliver Ager Sound Recordist - Julian Howarth Costume Designer - Louise Page Make Up Designer - Barbara Southcott Music - Murray Gold Visual Effects - The Mill Visual Fx Producers - Will Cohen, Marie Jones Visual Fx Supervisor - Dave Houghton Special Effects - Any Effects Prosthetics - Millenium Fx Editor - Mike Jones Production Designer - Edward Thomas Director Of Photography - Ernie Vincze Bsc Production Manager - Tracie Simpson Executive Producers - Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner References Donna and the Doctor refer to many instances they last time the encountered one another, including the scene where the Doctor drowned the Racnoss children. Donna refers to the Starship Titanic (from Christmas day) saying it must have been a hoax. Matron Cofelia (Miss Foster) has a sonic pen. The Shadow Proclamation are most likely a group or organisation. They were mentioned before in Rose (TV story), The Christmas Invasion and Fear Her. Adipose Industries was a front company created by Matron Cofelia. The Doctor mentions Martha Jones. Donna asks about Rose and meets her at the end of the story although doesn't know who she is. Story notes This episode is broadcast much earlier at a 6.20 timeslot. It is also fifty minutes long rather than forty five, as the TV listings state it is from 6.20 to 7.10. A certain shot shows an army of Adipose in the streets of London, this was extremely complex and took the CGI team (The Mill) more time than most shots used for the series to complete. A scene was shown the day before airing on GMTV, showing The Doctor and Donna Noble on a suspended window washing platform breaking in while Miss Foster cuts the cable with her Sonic pen. Pointing a sonic screwdriver and a sonic pen at one another creates a sonic feedback in the surrounding area. Ratings Unofficial overnight ratings - 8.4 million viewers Myths It was rumoured that Miss Foster was The Rani. (This turned out to be false) Rose's fading away at the end of the episode indicates that there may be an unstable linkway between Earth and Pete's World. The way Rose fades away echoes that of the guerillas and the Ogrons in Day of the Daleks where those who came from the 22nd century faded away and returned to their own century a short time after arriving in the 20th century. Due to their appearance, the Adipose are said to be the cloning incubation of the Sontarans. Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors When Miss Foster cuts the first cable, she is clearly cutting the one on the Doctor's side of the cradle. However, it is the cable on Donna's side that snaps. Continuity Donna declined the Doctor's offer to travel with him in The Runaway Bride. Wilfred Mott is Donna's Grandfather who appeared in Voyage of the Damned as the Newspaper dealer. This is the first episode since Doomsday that Rose Tyler has appeared as a present character. The effect of pointing the sonic pen and sonic screwdriver at one another is remarkably similar to an effect of a sonic device in TW: Fragments. The Doctor says he's met 'cat people' before, he may be referring to the cat people he met in New Earth and Gridlock, or during Survival.

  
  

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• TDP 52: Torchwood Double 2.12 Fragments AND 2.13 Exit Wounds

  8 April 2008 (8:13am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 10 minutes and 11 seconds

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  Fragments 2.12 - "Fragments" Tosh, Jack, Rhys, Gwen, Ianto and Owen watch the holographic message depicting Gray and Captain John. Production Writer Chris Chibnall Director Jonathan Fox Bassett Script editor Gary Russell Producer Richard Stokes Chris Chibnall (co-producer) Executive producer(s) Russell T. Davies Julie Gardner Production code 2.12 Series Series 2 Length 50 mins Originally broadcast 21 March 2008 Chronology ? Preceded by Followed by - "Adrift" "Exit Wounds" IMDb profile "Fragments" is the twelfth and penultimate episode of the second series of British science fiction television series Torchwood, which was broadcast by BBC Three on 21 March 2008. //&lt;![CDATA[ if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = &quot;show&quot;; var tocHideText = &quot;hide&quot;; showTocToggle(); } //]]&gt; Plot After the team gets signs of an unidentified life form, they (apart from Gwen, who is running late) go to investigate. Searching an abandoned building, the team discover it is a trap and the building is bombed. The resulting explosion causes the team to be trapped under piles of concrete rubble. Gwen and Rhys arrive (Rhys having given Gwen a lift), and as they dig everyone out, the team's lives flash before their eyes revealing how Jack, Ianto, Owen, and Toshiko got recruited to Torchwood. In the Victorian era, Jack is picked up by two women - Alice Guppy and Emily Holroyd - who have noticed his immortality and his references to the Doctor. They examine him, which includes attempting to kill him. Jack recognizes that the technology being used in his interrogation is more advanced than Earth technology of the time. They identify themselves as being part of Torchwood and offer Jack a job with them. Jack initially declines the offer learning that they view the Doctor as a threat. He agrees to the assignment after being told that if he doesn't cooperate he will be treated as a threat himself. He takes an initial assignment which is to track down and capture an alien. While they have the alien in a small cell one of the officers pulls out a gun and shoots the alien in the head without any warning. Jack disagrees with this policy and refuses the next assignment they try to give him. Jack goes to a bar when a young female fortune teller comes to his table and offers to read his cards and doesn't listen to Jack's refusal. She tells him that he will not meet the Doctor for another century. He returns to the Torchwood office and opts to join Torchwood for that century. He is still working for Torchwood in 1999, when he comes back to the Hub on New Year's Eve to find that one of the team has murdered the rest out of fear for the future. He has in his hand some locket or pendant, and he claims to have seen the future in it and killed the rest of the team out of a sense of mercy that the immortal Jack cannot benefit from. Based on the vision from the locket, he states that the next century is when everything changes and that Torchwood isn't ready for it. He then commits suicide, leaving Torchwood to Jack as a "reward for a century of service." With the rest of the team dead, Jack will have to recruit a new team. Toshiko's flashback takes place five years ago when she was working for the Ministry of Defence. One night after her boss leaves she immediately breaks into the security room where she obtains secret files for a Sonic Modulator. At home, she begins constructing a mock version, and once complete, takes it to a secret base. She gives it to a woman, one of her mother's captors, in the hope of her mother's release, but in seeing Tosh's potential, they decide to have her work for them. Tosh refuses, and so the captors set off the Sonic Modulator, sending an ear-piercing sound around the room that brings Tosh and her mother to the floor as their blood vessels begin to pulse violently. At that point however, UNIT soldiers break in and arrest both the captors and Toshiko and her mother. Tosh is locked in a plain empty cell and told that she will have no communication with anyone, and they refuse to answer her questions to her mother's whereabouts. After living in solitude for some time, she is visited by Jack. Jack chats to her and states that she'll be imprisoned indefinitely. He recognises, however, Toshiko's talent and high intelligence in building the fully operational device from plans that could not possibly work and offers her a pardon if she takes a job at Torchwood. In Ianto's flashback, he first meets Jack by helping him fight a Weevil. Ianto asks for a job, but is rejected by Jack. The next morning, Ianto gives Jack a coffee outside Torchwood. Jack recalls a large amount of knowledge about Ianto, stating that he researched him after he was able to identify a Weevil. Ianto again asks for a job as his old job was lost when Torchwood One was destroyed. Jack states that he had severed all ties with Torchwood One. That night, Ianto steps in front of the SUV, and once more asks for a job. After Jack threatens to erase his memory, he tells Jack that he is pursuing a pterodactyl. After a long battle, the pair of them capture it, and Jack tells Ianto that he expects to see him at work the following morning. Owen's flashback shows him before he was employed in Torchwood, working as a regular doctor and planning a marriage. His fiancee, Katie, begins to exhibit signs of Alzheimer's Disease and is taken in for a brain scan. The doctors, in fact, state that it is a tumor, and decide to operate. While Owen waits outside, he hears a loud noise in the operating room, and enters to find all of the surgeons dead on the floor. Jack enters, and states that there is an alien parasite residing in his fiancee's brain that gives off a toxic gas when threatened. Jack attempts to take the brain, but Owen protests, and so Jack knocks him out with chloroform. Owen wakes up in a hospital bed, but because Jack has erased all evidence of himself, there was no proof of Owen ever seeing him and telling him about the alien. The doctors come to the conclusion that Owen is traumatised and they prescribe him 3 months of rest. Visiting his fiancee's grave, Owen sees Jack and confronts him for answers, saying that he was right and Jack was not just a figment of his own imagination. Seeing Owen's potential, Jack convinces him to start up at Torchwood as a medic for the team. When the team reunites, they discover that the SUV is missing. Jack receives a holographic message, as pictured, from Captain John Hart, who reveals himself to be behind the bombs and shows Jack an image of his long-lost brother Gray. He then vows to tear Jack's world apart, so Jack would spend time with him. Cast Captain Jack Harkness -- John BarrowmanGwen Cooper -- Eve MylesOwen Harper -- Burn GormanToshiko Sato -- Naoko MoriIanto Jones -- Gareth David-LloydRhys Williams -- Kai OwenWeevil / Blowfish -- Paul KaseyToshiko's Mother -- Noriko AidaAlice Guppy -- Amy MansonEmily Holroyd -- Heather CraneyLittle Girl -- Skye BennettAlex Hopkins[1] -- Julian Lewis JonesBob -- Simon ShackletonSecurity Guard -- Gareth JonesMilton -- Clare CliffordKatie Russell -- Andrea LoweDoctor -- Richard Lloyd-KingNurse -- Catherine MorrisPsychiatrist -- Selva RasalinghamCaptain John Hart -- James Marsters (uncredited)Gray -- Lachlan Nieboer[2] (uncredited) Cast notes Clare Clifford had played Kyle in the Fifth Doctor story Earthshock. Continuity The tarot card reader girl reappears in this episode. She was last seen in the episode "Dead Man Walking".Toshiko's mother, as played by Noriko Aida, reappears in this episode, having last been seen in "End of Days".Toshiko's "sonic modulator" device based on stolen design plans bears superficial similarities to the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, and its ear-splitting effect is similar to that produced by holding together two similar sonic devices in Partners in Crime.This is the first time the Doctor has been explicitly named in the series.A blowfish alien, similar to the one seen in "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang", appears in flashback sequences involving Jack's first mission for the Torchwood Institute.Captain Jack radios orders to an offscreen Suzie Costello in Ianto's flashback, although Ianto's arrival in the scene prevents the character from being given any lines. Suzie was last mentioned in the episode "Dead Man Walking", and last seen upon her resurrection in series one episode "They Keep Killing Suzie".In his flashback, Ianto Jones refers to his girlfriend, Lisa Hallett, as having died during the Battle of Canary Wharf. Lisa is seen again as a partly-converted Cyberman in the series one episode "Cyberwoman". Exit Wounds 2.13 - "Exit Wounds" Torchwood episode Gray encounters Jack in the Hub. Production Writer Chris Chibnall Director Ashley Way Production code 2.13 Series Series 2 Length 50 mins Originally broadcast 4 April 2008 Chronology ? Preceded by Followed by - "Fragments" -- IMDb profile "Exit Wounds" is the thirteenth and final episode of the second series of British science fiction television series Torchwood, and was broadcast on BBC Two on 4 April 2008.[1] //&lt;![CDATA[ if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = &quot;show&quot;; var tocHideText = &quot;hide&quot;; showTocToggle(); } //]]&gt; Plot Following the previous episode directly, the Torchwood team goes to sites of rift activity. Gwen goes to the police station where the four most senior officers have been killed by Weevils. Tosh and Ianto head to the central server building to deal with "ghosts" that appeared in the building. The ghosts turn out to be humanoid beings in cloaks holding scythes who look very like the Grim Reaper, but Tosh and Ianto easily end the threat by shooting them. Tosh mentions that the server building houses servers for the military, police, NHS and the nearby nuclear power station. Owen heads to St Helen's Hospital where a Hoix was found chewing on cables and subdues it with a sedative. With the rest of the team away dealing with their respective crises, Jack returns to the Hub alone and encounters John Hart, who after a brief conversation with Jack kills him, then strips him of his weapons and restrains him while he proceeds with his task. John gets the Torchwood members to approach the rooftops of their respective buildings to watch as he sets off 15 major and well placed explosions in Cardiff. The team try to cope with the workload of a crippled city. John, who is watching the mayhem in Cardiff Castle with a captive Jack takes him through the rift to the future site of Cardiff city in the year 27 AD. There John explains that he has not been acting of his own free will and shows Jack that his wristband has been molecularly bonded with his skin (rendering it unremovable) which is equipped with surveillance and remote detonation circuits to ensure his obedience. Before John can explain further he is interrupted by the arrival of Gray, Jack's long lost brother. Jack hugs him tearfully, happy to see him alive, only to have Gray stab him in the chest. When Jack comes to, Gray explains that he was tortured mercilessly for years by the aliens who captured him in his childhood, and that he blames Jack for what he had to endure. Gray taunts Jack saying that his grave will be the foundation of Cardiff and that his blessing of life is his curse. He then forces John to bury Jack alive as punishment for this. Before he begins his task John throws a ring into the grave, claiming that it is of sentimental value. He then proceeds to fill the grave, trapping Jack in a cycle of asphyxiation and revivification. John, now gone free and released from his obligation to Gray, returns to the present to help undo the mess he caused. Gwen encounters him and they call everyone back to the Hub except Owen, who is trying to contain the nuclear power plant meltdown--a result of the explosions John had previously set up. Unbeknownst to them, Gray is lurking in the Hub with them. He eventually traps Gwen, John, and Ianto in Weevil cells, and then shoots Toshiko, leaving her for dead. A loud banging noise is heard by everyone and Gray goes to investigate. The sound leads him to the morgue where a light can be seen coming from one of the compartments. Gray opens the compartment to find Jack waking in a cryochamber. The scene then flashes back to 1901 where Jack is discovered by Torchwood personnel because the ring that John dropped was in fact a beacon and Torchwood had picked up the signal. They dig him out and place him in the cryochamber at the Hub, with a timer set to wake him up in 2008. After incapacitating his brother, Jack frees Gwen, John, and Ianto. While this has been happening, Toshiko had been helping Owen to try to prevent a meltdown; despite her life-threatening injury. After sucessfully averting disaster by venting the flow channels into the room Owen is in, she also sets a time delay so Owen can escape. However, a power spike triggers an emergency lockdown and Owen is trapped. Before long the radioactive material is sent to Owen's location and the scene fades out back to the Hub. Jack discovers Toshiko who dies in his arms. As Ianto registers Owen and Toshiko's deaths on the Hub computer, a pre-programmed pop-up video of Toshiko appears, in which she says goodbye and confesses her love for Owen as well as thanking Jack for freeing her from the UNIT prison and showing her the many possibilities of the universe. The episode and second series closes with the devastated city recovering, and Jack, Ianto, and Gwen standing together in the Hub. Cast Captain Jack Harkness -- John BarrowmanGwen Cooper -- Eve MylesOwen Harper -- Burn GormanToshiko Sato -- Naoko MoriIanto Jones -- Gareth David-LloydCaptain John Hart -- James MarstersGray -- Lachlan NieboerRhys Williams -- Kai OwenWeevil / Hoix -- Paul KaseyPC Andy Davidson -- Tom PriceCowled Leader -- Paul Marc DavisDr Angela Connolly -- Golda RosheuvelNira Docherty -- Syreeta KumarCharles Gaskell -- Cornelius MacarthyAlice Guppy - Amy Manson Cast notes This episode marks the last episode starring Naoko Mori as Toshiko Sato and Burn Gorman as Owen Harper. In the Torchwood: De-Classified that covers this episode, Burn Gorman who plays Owen Harper jokingly remarks that Owen either is truly dead or will transform into the "king of the Weevils". A story at GEOS correctly predicted that Tosh and Owen would leave the series.[2]. It also predicts that Martha Jones would become a Torchwood regular and that Captain Jack's role would be reduced. Continuity A Hoix creature, from the parent series Doctor Who in its 2006 episode "Love and Monsters" appears in this episode. This is the first time it is named onscreen.Owen refers to his status as "King of the Weevils", first mentioned in "Dead Man Walking" and seeded in "Combat".When Owen Harper and Toshiko Sato are discussing their early days together, Tosh descibes pretending to be a medic in Owen's second week, to cover for him having a hangover. Owen asks if this was "the space pig", referring to Naoko Mori's appearance as Doctor Sato, a presumed pathologist in the Doctor Who story "Aliens of London".Jack tells Gray "I forgive you", infuriating Gray. The Doctor said this to the Master in similar circumstance in "Last of the Time Lords", and Jack himself spoke the phrase to Owen Harper following his resurrection in "End of Days".In the video played after her death, Toshiko tells Captain Jack "I wouldn't have missed it for the world." Rose Tyler said this to the Doctor facing her death in the Doctor Who episode "Dalek".

  
  

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• TDP 51: The Black Orchid

  3 April 2008 (1:28pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 9 minutes and 53 seconds

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  Black Orchid (Doctor Who) 121 - Black Orchid Doctor Who serial Ann Talbot, who bears a remarkable similarity to Nyssa Cast Doctor Peter Davison (Fifth Doctor) Companions Matthew Waterhouse (Adric) Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) Janet Fielding (Tegan Jovanka) Production Writer Terence Dudley Director Ron Jones Script editor Eric Saward Producer John Nathan-Turner Executive producer(s) None Production code 6A Series Season 19 Length 2 episodes, 25 mins each Originally broadcast March 1-March 2, 1982 Chronology ? Preceded by Followed by - The Visitation Earthshock Black Orchid is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two parts on March 1 and March 2, 1982. This story was the first purely historical adventure for the Doctor -- featuring no science fiction elements save for the TARDIS -- since The Highlanders. Synopsis The Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric arrive in England of 1925. At a masked ball at Cranleigh Hall a series of murders begins, and Ann Talbot, who is the spitting image of Nyssa, is abducted. The Doctor must uncover the secret the Cranleigh family is hiding from the world. [edit] Plot In an English country house two figures are seen struggling before one of them, a servant, falls dead. A young woman is seen sleeping as a figure enters her room. The figure is then seen tied to the bed guarded by an Indian with a large ring distending his lower lip. It is June 11, 1925, and as a train departs Cranleigh Halt railway station, the TARDIS materialises. The crew disembark before receiving an explanation of the basics of the steam train from the Doctor. He says that he has always wanted to drive one. Leaving the station, they encounter the chauffeur of Charles, Lord Cranleigh, who has apparently been expecting the arrival of "the Doctor". He stares at Nyssa as if he recognises her. They are driven to a cricket match where Lord Cranleigh's team is batting but not faring very well. Lord Cranleigh greets them and seeing Nyssa exclaims the she is exactly like his fiancee in appearance. They discuss cricket, the Doctor says that he is a fast bowler. The Doctor goes into bat and scores a plethora of runs. When Nyssa is introduced to his mother Lady Cranleigh, she also exclaims how extraordinary a resemblance between her and Ann, but is surprised that she is not a "Worcestershire Talbot" Nyssa proudly declares that she is from the Empire of Traken. The Doctor takes a turn at bowling and proves equally prodigious managing to get several players out. Lord Cranleigh congratulates him on a ripping performance and invites him home to meet his mother. When introduced, Lady Cranleigh asks "Doctor who?" but Lord Cranleigh says he deserves to remain incognito after his fine cricketing performance. Sir Robert Muir, the chief constable of the county, also congratulates the Doctor, saying that his performance was "worthy of the Master". The Doctor looks momentarily alarmed until he explains that he is referring to "the other Doctor", W. G. Grace. Lord Cranleigh asks if they would mind staying to the annual ball - a fancy dress party - on behalf of sick children. Tegan says that they have no costumes, to which Sir Robert comments that he was thinking how charming their outfits were. Lord Cranleigh has a selection costumes that they can use. They are introduced to Ann Talbot, Lord Cranleigh's fiancee, and she looks identical to Nyssa. Ann also enquires if Nyssa is from Worcester, and when Nyssa says that she is from Traken, Sir Robert says that he believes it is somewhere near Esher. Ann wonders if there could be Talbots from Esher. Lady Cranleigh thinks not as the "hunt is not good enough". When Lord Craneligh offers them a drink, the Doctor asks for lemonade. Tegan asks for a screwdriver, but when Nyssa asks for "the same" the Doctor coughs in disapproval, so instead Lord Cranleigh offers her orange juice. Nyssa tells Ann that she doesn't know where Esher is, to which Lady Cranleigh comments this demonstrates great taste, and that she should stop probing into Nyssa's background. When Tegan admires a curious black flower in the study, Lady Cranleigh explains that it is a Black Orchid and that it was found on the Orinoco by her eldest son George. Tegan recognises the name immediately as George Cranleigh, a famous botanist and explorer. Lady Cranleigh goes on to say that George never returned from his last expedition into the Brazilian forests. Ann had been engaged to George before his disappearance. Meanwhile, the bound figure struggles against his bonds. The Indian goes to the secret room to inspect the figure, but he sees the untied ropes before he is hit on the head from behind. The Doctor picks a Harlequin outfit to wear to the ball. When he tells Lord Cranleigh that Adric is from Alzarius, Lord Cranleigh says that he could never remember all those Baltic bits. Tegan and Nyssa discuss the Charleston, with Tegan giving a demonstration. Nyssa says that dancing on Traken is much more formalised and that she learnt how to dance as part of her training. Ann comes to their room, and presents Nyssa with a dress identical to her own, so that the ball attendees will not be able to tell them apart. Ann reveals the only difference between them is that she has a mole on her left shoulder. As the Doctor gets himself ready for the ball, a figure enters his room from a secret passage. On hearing a noise, the Doctor returns to the room but sees no one, only the newly revealed opening. He enters the opening and finds the secret passage, but the panel slams closed behind him, trapping him. The figure reenters the Doctor's room and with his deformed hands takes away the Harlequin mask and costume. In the gardens, the ball has now started and the guests have arrived. Nyssa asks Adric to dance with her, to his consternation, while Tegan dances with Sir Robert, who is amused by some of her colloquialisms. Lord Cranleigh is dancing with Ann. Nyssa and Ann run inside the building and emerge -- now nobody knows which of them is which. They resume dancing with their partners, but Adric stops dancing saying he would rather eat. Lady Cranleigh spots the Indian and goes aside to talk to him. He informs her that his "friend" has escaped. Tegan gets to show her Charleston. When one of Ann and Nyssa starts dancing, Adric turns to the other believing it must be Nyssa as Nyssa would not know how to do that dance. She confounds him by joining in. The figure wearing the Harlequin costume arrives at the party and begins to dance with the girl that it thinks is Ann. The Doctor finally finds his way out of the passage and finds a room full of botany textbooks. Trying to ascertain his whereabouts, he finds a staircase and ascending them he finds the secret room where the figure had been bound. Searching it, he finds a book written in Portuguese. When he leaves the room, he wanders down the corridor, examining the cupboards, and in one of them he discovers a corpse. Meanwhile the Harlequin figure enters the building with Ann. Ann tells it that they should return to the party, but when it rasps at her and she queries who it is, it grabs her by the wrist and will not let her go. Ann screams for help and a butler rushes to her assistance. The Harlequin grabs him by the throat and starts to throttle and kill him, causing Ann to faint as the Harlequin lurches over her prostrate body... The Doctor returns to the secret room and finds, to his surprise, Lady Cranleigh and the Indian, who she introduces as Latoni -- an old friend from Brazil. The Doctor informs them that he has found a dead body and when he shows it to her, she identifies it as one of the servants. She requests that he does not alarm the other guests by informing them. The figure is seen returning the Harlequin costume to the Doctor's room. It goes to a room where Ann is lying, and a hideously deformed face is revealed. Ann awakes and seeing the figure flees outside the room where Lady Cranleigh and Latoni are waiting. Latoni enters the room and gathering some rope advances on the deformed figure. At the party Adric is berated by Nyssa for eating so much food. The servants inform Lord Cranleigh of events inside the house. He finds the body of the dead butler, and Ann's discarded mask. The Doctor arrives now wearing the Harlequin costume, but when Ann also arrives, she points him out as the man who attacked her. Ann implores Sir Robert to arrest the Doctor, and Sir Robert assumes control of events. He asks Lord Cranleigh to tell the remaining guests to go home. The Doctor insists on his innocence, and suggests that someone else has an identical costume. However, as Ann was in charge of the costumes, she knows that there was only one Harlequin. He looks to Lady Cranleigh to provide an alibi but she stays silent. Sir Robert questions the Doctor as to his true identity, which he replies would be rather difficult to explain. He says he is a Time Lord and that he travels in time and space, in a time machine, like that from the works of H. G. Wells. Again looking to Lady Cranleigh he mentions the other body, but she denies seeing it. Showing Sir Robert the cupboard, the body has vanished and has been replaced by a doll. Lord Cranleigh receives a telephone call from his friend "Smutty" Thomas who he thinks sent the Doctor to the cricket game, and he realises it is not the right man. Lord Cranleigh informs Sir Robert that the Doctor is an impostor, and that the real doctor missed his train. The Doctor is arrested on suspicion of murder, and his companions are accused of being accessories. They are driven off to the police station. The Doctor asks the police sergeant to divert to the railway station to show Sir Robert the TARDIS, but to his dismay it is no longer on the platform. However, when they arrive at the police station, they find that the TARDIS has been brought there. Back at the house Lady Cranleigh tells Lord Cranleigh about the other body, that of Digby the servant. Realising that the Doctor must be innocent, he argues with her. When Ann approaches them he informs her that there is something she must know. In the secret room, the bound figure once again slips his ropes, and attacks and kills Latoni, but not before he hides the room key between the floor boards. Not able to find the key, the figure starts stuffing newspapers under the door, and then sets them on fire. The Doctor unlocks the TARDIS and allows Sir Robert and the police sergeant to enter. Sir Robert is astounded by what he sees and offers the Doctor an apology, but he is still concerned about the murder. Lord Cranleigh telephones the police station and informs them of the second body. The Doctor uses the TARDIS to get them all back to Cranleigh Hall as quickly as possible. After furiously denouncing her parents, Ann runs out of the house and throws her arms around Sir Robert. The secret room is now ablaze with the fire started by the deformed figure, who breaks out, and goes to the main hall where Lord and Lady Cranleigh are talking. He backs away from them, but the Doctor's group arrive from behind. The figure grabs hold of Nyssa and throttling her, drags her upstairs. The Doctor cannot follow him due to the fire which has now spread to the corridors. Sir Robert demands to know what the deformed figure is, and Lady Cranleigh reveals that it is her eldest son George, which the Doctor had already worked out from seeing the Black Orchid and Latoni. She insists that George would not harm Ann, but the Doctor points out that he has the wrong girl. Running outside, they see George carrying Nyssa out onto the roof. The Doctor asks Lord Cranleigh to hold George's attention, whilst he tries to find a way through the house to their position. Lady Cranleigh confesses the truth to Sir Robert: George's hideous injuries were caused by the Kojabe Indians, who also cut out his tongue because they held the Black Orchid sacred. Losing his mind, he was rescued by another tribe of Indians, of which Latoni was a member. She admits that George killed Digby. Lord Cranleigh climbs onto the roof to confront George, and the Doctor has also reached the roof. The Doctor implores him to release Nyssa, telling him to look down and see Ann on the ground. Seeing it to be true, he releases Nyssa. Charles approaches his brother to thank him. George recoils, but he is too close to the edge. He trips and falls, and is killed. After the funeral, the Doctor departs. Ann has given Tegan and Nyssa their costumes as a present, and Lady Cranleigh presents the Doctor with a copy of George's book: Black Orchid. Cast * The Doctor -- Peter Davison * Adric -- Matthew Waterhouse * Nyssa / Ann Talbot -- Sarah Sutton * Tegan -- Janet Fielding * Lord Cranleigh -- Michael Cochrane * Lady Cranleigh -- Barbara Murray * The Unknown / George Cranleigh -- Gareth Milne * Sir Robert Muir -- Moray Watson * Sergeant Markham -- Ivor Salter * Constable Cummings -- Andrew Tourell * Latoni -- Ahmed Khalil * Brewster -- Brian Hawksley * Tanner -- Timothy Block Cast notes * Michael Cochrane, who plays Lord Cranleigh, also appears in the 1989 Seventh Doctor serial Ghost Light. * To avoid giving away the plot surprise, Gareth Milne was credited as "The Unknown" for Part One and in Radio Times, and as "George Cranleigh" for Part Two. Continuity * The character of Ann Talbot reappears in the spin-off novel The Sands of Time by Justin Richards as Lady Ann Cranleigh. * This story was the first two-part serial since The Sontaran Experiment (1975); each Peter Davison season would include at least one two-parter. * This was the first purely historical serial (with no science fiction elements beyond the Doctor and his TARDIS) since The Highlanders in 1966-67; unlike previous ones, it does not revolve around a well-known historical event. To date, it is also the last purely historical story. The next televised story taking place within the Doctor Who universe to contain no science fiction or supernatural elements at all is Countrycide, an episode of the spin-off series, Torchwood, broadcast in 2006 and taking place in the present day. Production * The working title for this story was The Beast. * Producer John Nathan-Turner had originally considered directing this story himself, thus become the first producer to do so since Barry Letts during the early 1970s. However, due to time constraints, Nathan-Turner abandoned the idea and hired Ron Jones to direct. In print Doctor Who book Book cover Black Orchid Series Target novelisations Release number 113 Writer Terence Dudley Publisher Target Books Cover artist Tony Masero ISBN Release date September 1986 (Hardback) 19th February 1987 (Paperback) Preceded by The Seeds of Death Followed by The Ark A novelisation of this serial, written by Terence Dudley, was published by Target Books in September 1986. It was the final Fifth Doctor story to be novelised, but did not complete the Fifth Doctor's era - Resurrection of the Daleks has to date not been novelised due to disputes with the estate of Terry Nation. Broadcast, VHS and DVD release * This story was released in a twin VHS set with The Visitation in July of 1994. * Black Orchid will be released on DVD on April 14th 2008 with; Now & Then special feature of filming locations * 4 Deleted scenes * an Easter Egg * a Blue Peter item * Stripped for Action a feature on comics of the Fifth Doctor * Poinst of View * a Coming Soon Trailer for the The Invasion of Time DVD.

  
  

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• TDP 50: Torchwood Double 2.10 From out of the Rain and 2.11 Adrift

  28 March 2008 (5:52pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 6 minutes and 44 seconds

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  From out of the RainSynopsis After the old cinema "Electro" re-opens, the old scenes of a black and white film are interrupted by mysterious sequences which show a travelling company in the early 20th Century before the age of cinema. The Ghostmaker (the leader of the company) and Pearl ("the mermaid woman"), once captured on film, manage to escape it. Ianto witnesses the escape, noticing that two characters have suddenly disappeared from the film, and informs Captain Jack Harkness. The escaped characters start roaming the streets of Cardiff. They steal the last breath of innocent people, keeping their breath in a silver flask, leaving the victims only half alive with a heartbeat, but no breath. Torchwood starts investigating the casualties and begins research on these old travelling companies. Jack used to be a member of one of the companies, performing the act of "the man who couldn't die". He tells of the "Night Travellers", who perform only during night, and the mythology surrounding them, saying that 'young children were told to hold their breath while the travelling show passed by'. The ghosts begin to bring all their other travelling carnival fellows to our reality at the old cinema but, finally, it occurs to Jack that, being filmed again, the loosened entities may be recaptured onto celluloid. Effectively, Jack manages to achieve this with a home movie camera, filming all the phantasmagoric creatures. He exposes the reel to the sun then, vanishing the carnival ghosts for ever. However, for its last act before disappearing, the Ghostmaker throws the open silver flask and, despite Ianto's quick catch, most of the human souls are lost in the air, so the coma-like affected victims of Cardiff die, except for a child. The silver flask ends up being stored by Jack in his safe at Torchwood. Though the threat of the Night Travellers has been stopped now, Jack speculates that there could be more films with their ghosts trapped inside, confirmed by a scene at a boot-sale where a man and his son purchase an old film reel. The metal case of the film is briefly opened and, back at the Hub, Jack hears a sliver of the Night Traveller's carnival music. Cast Captain Jack Harkness -- John BarrowmanGwen Cooper -- Eve MylesOwen Harper -- Burn GormanToshiko Sato -- Naoko MoriIanto Jones -- Gareth David-LloydGhostmaker - Julian BleachPearl - Camilla PowerJonathan Penn - Craig GallivanDavid Penn - Stephen MarzellaFaith Penn - Hazel Wyn WilliamsNettie Williams - Lowri Sian JonesChristina - Eileen EssellRestaurant Owner - Anwen CarlisleSenior Nurse - Yasmin WildeA&E Nurse - Caroline SheenYoung Dad - Alastair SillYoung Mum - Catherine Olding Cast and credits notes The episodic title credits were missing in the BBC HD broadcast of this episode.Gerard Carey received a closing credit as Greg, a character from the earlier episode, "Meat". Neither the actor nor his character appeared in this episode. 2.10 - "From Out of the Rain" Torchwood episode One of the Night Travelers steps out of the film, into reality. Production Writer Peter J. Hammond Director Jonathan Fox Bassett Script editor Brian Minchin Producer Richard Stokes Chris Chibnall (co-producer) Executive producer(s) Russell T. Davies Julie Gardner Production code 2.10 Series Series 2 Length 50 mins Originally broadcast 12 March 2008 Chronology ? Preceded by Followed by - "Something Borrowed" "Adrift" IMDb profile AdriftSynopsis Jonah Bevan is walking home when a bright light appears over him. One second later he is gone. Seven months later, at the instigation of PC Andy Davidson, Gwen is investigating the disappearance of Jonah. Her research reveals there are more cases that resemble Jonah's disappearance. Toshiko discovers that these disappearances happen during a negative spike in the rift activity, which were previously discarded as background noise. Gwen is able to compile a list of all missing persons and informs Jack. However, Jack tells Gwen that nothing can be done and instructs her to stop the investigation, which she refuses. The investigation slowly turns into an obsession and takes a toll on the relationship between Gwen and Rhys. When Ianto secretly gives Gwen a GPS device with a stored hidden location, Gwen finds a facility on Flat Holm. It harbours 17 of the missing people that the rift took and subsequently brought back, including Jonah, the boy she has been looking for. However, he has aged 40 years and is very deformed. Gwen also finds Jack there, and she demands access to Jonah. Jonah tells how he was stuck on a "burning planet" and how he was taken into a building that was actually a rescue craft, from which he witnessed the burning of a solar system. Afterwards, Jack reveals that he set up the facility when he first took command of Torchwood, in order to care for the victims of the rift, who had previously been locked away in the vaults. Gwen brings Nikki, Jonah's mother, in to see him. At first she is horrified, believing it to be a cruel joke, but Jonah starts telling her things that only he would know. Nikki calms and they hug for a moment, but one of the staff tells Nikki to get away from him. She resists and says that she can take care of him. However Jonah starts screaming, a scream so horrible that everyone flees. In a voiceover, Gwen reveals that he screams like that for 20 hours a day because he looked into the heart of a Dark Star, which drove him insane. A week later, Gwen goes to see Nikki, who implores her not to show the island to anyone else. Gwen takes down her notes over the missing and Nikki packs up Jonah's room. At home that night, Gwen prepares a romantic candle-lit dinner for Rhys, who lets her cry into his chest. Cast Captain Jack Harkness -- John BarrowmanGwen Cooper -- Eve MylesOwen Harper -- Burn GormanToshiko Sato -- Naoko MoriIanto Jones -- Gareth David-LloydRhys Williams -- Kai OwenPC Andy Davidson -- Tom PriceNikki Bevan -- Ruth JonesJonah Bevan -- Robert PughYoung Jonah -- Oliver FerrimanHelen -- Lorna Gayle Outside references When Andy is showing Gwen the security camera photos from the night Jonah went missing, he refers to Jack as 'Mulder', from The X-Files.During the first meeting for the missing persons support group, PC Andy quotes the line "If you build it, they will come", from the film Field of Dreams.The prophet Jonah was swallowed and later regurgitated by a large fish; this episode's Jonah is taken and returned by the Rift.When Nikki clears the shelves of video tapes, several book titles are visible including Snap Happy by Fiona Walker, The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum and A Grand Affair by Charlotte Bingham. 2.11 - "Adrift" Torchwood episode Gwen has compiled a list of all people that have disappeared during a negative rift spike. Production Writer Chris Chibnall Director Mark Everest Script editor Lindsey Alford Producer Richard Stokes Sophie Fante Chris Chibnall (co-producer) Executive producer(s) Russell T. Davies Julie Gardner Production code 2.11 Series Series 2 Length 50 mins Originally broadcast 19 March 2008 Chronology ? Preceded by Followed by - "From out of the Rain" "Fragments" IMDb profile

  
  

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• Date and Time for Season 4 (Ok its really season 30 old school time...)

  27 March 2008 (5:58pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 seconds

  Date And Time Series Four premiere details confirmed. We're delighted to officially announce that Series Four of Doctor Who will commence with Partners In Crime at 6.20pm on Saturday 05 April 2008, BBC One. Tell all your friends, cancel any prior engagements and settle down for what promises to be the most spectacular series of Doctor Who yet! As always, Doctor Who Confidential will be going behind-the-scenes with the cast and crew, starting at 7.10pm on BBC Three. Partners In Crime will be repeated on Sunday 06 April at 8pm on BBC Three. Doctor Who Confidential follows at 8.45pm. As always, we'll be supporting the show with extensive online coverage, both in the run up to and immediately after each episode.

  
  

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• TDP 49: Torchwood Double 2.8 A Day in the Death & 2.9 Something Borrowed

  23 March 2008 (4:42pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 7 minutes and 32 seconds

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  A Day in the Death 2.8 - "A Day in the Death" Torchwood episode Owen holds on to "the Pulse" as it is about to explode. Writer Joseph Lidster Director Andy Goddard Script editor Gary Russell Producer Richard Stokes Chris Chibnall (co-producer) Executive producer(s) Russell T. Davies Julie Gardner Production code 2.8 Series Series 2 Length 50 mins Originally broadcast February 27, 2008 Chronology ? Preceded by Followed by - "Dead Man Walking" "Something Borrowed" IMDb profile "A Day in the Death" is the eighth episode of the second series of British science fiction television series Torchwood, which was broadcast by BBC Three on February 27, 2008.[1] This episode is the last of three to feature Doctor Who companion, Martha Jones, and also features guest star Richard Briers. //&amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = &amp;amp;quot;show&amp;amp;quot;; var tocHideText = &amp;amp;quot;hide&amp;amp;quot;; showTocToggle(); } //]]&amp;amp;gt; Plot The opening of the episode is narrated by Owen Harper, who tells of his life and his death, which he is currently living through. Although everyone else believes he is fine, Owen knows that he is not. He is seen on top of an apartment building with a suicidal woman, asking her if she is ready to jump. After showing the woman his gunshot wound and revealing he is already dead, Owen begins to tell her about the days since his death, shown as a series of flashbacks. Firstly, Captain Jack relieves Owen of his duties as a way of monitoring his condition and keeping him safe. Owen is angry that Martha Jones is taking his position as head medic, and further disheartened when Jack gives him Ianto's old job of making the coffee. He feels useless, conscious that he has always been alone while each one of the Torchwood team has or has had someone in their life (Ianto and Jack, Gwen and Rhys, Martha and her boyfriend, Tosh and Tommy). Ianto challanges him as to whether he is really going to let this problem beat him, after all that he's been through. After Martha concludes from her tests that Owen is 100% human yet will not age, the team meets to discuss a series of unusual energy spikes coming from the estate of a reclusive collector of alien artifacts, Henry Parker. Parker hasn't been seen since 1986, leading the team to wonder what he has inside his house. They devise a plan to find out the origin of the energy spikes, excluding any involvement from Owen. Back on the roof, Owen recounts suicide statistics to the woman, who asks him who he actually is. Owen replies that he is a 'bloody brilliant doctor', which takes us back to the autopsy room, where he is conversing with Martha. As he carelessly toys with a scalpel, Martha tries to reassure him that she does not want his job. While talking, she realizes that he has sliced his hand open with the scalpel - a wound he can't feel, and that won't heal. Owen takes over the stitching, realizing he will need to get used to doing it himself. As we come back to the roof, the woman chastises Owen for refusing help, and he asks her if her boyfriend dumped her because she was so annoying. In flashback, the effectively unemployed Owen heads home, where he sits around aimlessly and then clears out his fridge - he no longer needs food or drink. Tosh arrives and starts to tell him about her morning, as Owen zones out completely. On the roof, the woman states that Owen and Tosh sound like an old married couple. She tells him about how her husband died, also glimpsed in flashbacks, in a car accident an hour after they were married. She asks Owen if things get better when you die, and we come back to Owen's apartment, where he is still zoned out. He asks Tosh why she is there, and becomes angry when she says she wants to help, since in reality she can't. He directs his anger at Tosh, accusing her of wanting someone as screwed up as himself - which he has finally become. After breaking his finger to show Tosh how 'broken' he is, Owen tries to drown himself, but fails because despite his ability to talk, he no longer needs to breathe. At the Hub, the team are discussing the security heat-sensors used at Parker's estate, making it virtually impossible for them to gain access. When Owen points out that he has no body heat, Jack agrees to let him take on the mission. Tosh returns Owen's apartment keys and carries on with the task at hand. The woman on the roof can't get over why Tosh wasn't angry at him and Owen explains that it was Tosh's way: always professional. The woman becomes upset and Owen rushes her to the edge, where she pulls back from jumping. She asks him how he got from where he was to the roof... At the estate, Martha tells Owen not to engage in any physical combat as he will not recover. After breaking security both on the outside and inside the house, Owen reaches Parker who is an old man linked up to many ventilators and medical machines. The man reveals that he has suffered a failed bypass and three heart attacks, but is being kept alive by a glowing object he calls 'the Pulse'. Owen tells him that the object isn't doing anything to keep him alive; that it is actually hope that is doing the job. Owen promises to help Parker face his fear of death, but the man soon suffers another heart attack. Unable to draw breath himself, Owen is unable to perform the kiss of life, and Parker dies. Tosh tells Owen through the earpiece that 'The Pulse' is going to explode and there's nothing they can do about it. Owen holds the object, telling the team he's going to try to absorb it. They all protest, and Owen begins to say his goodbyes, praising Martha as an ideal replacement, and apologising to Tosh for his behavior. Tosh says she loves him and as the object begins to glow ever so brightly, Owen hugs it. On the roof, the woman looks at Owen incredulously, asking what had happened next. Owen says that life is sometimes not as bad as we think, and retrieves 'The Pulse' from his backpack. The team had falsely identified it as a bomb, whereas in fact it was a reply to one of humanity's satellites, launched in the 1970's, to make contact with alien life. The object produces a beautiful light and Owen answers the woman's earlier question: that it does get better. In flashback, after the team say their goodbyes to the departing Martha, Tosh makes Owen promise to open up to her in future; to tell her when he's feeling bad about anything. He agrees, admitting that he's scared of the darkness, and of becoming trapped. We see him walking along a footpath and pick up a photo of the woman on the roof, which had fallen from a building above. This is what had brought him to her: not to jump himself, but to try and save her. In the present, Owen tells the woman that if she can really see that there is nothing for her, then she should jump; but that if she can see even a glimmer of hope then it must be worth taking a chance. She tells him that her name is Maggie, and Owen holds her hand as they watch the lightshow. Cast Captain Jack Harkness -- John BarrowmanGwen Cooper -- Eve MylesOwen Harper -- Burn GormanToshiko Sato -- Naoko MoriIanto Jones -- Gareth David-LloydMartha Jones -- Freema AgyemanHenry Parker -- Richard BriersMaggie Hopley -- Christine BottomleyPhillip Farrington -- Louis Decosta JohnsonTaylor -- Brett AllenWebb -- Gil KolirinWeevil -- Paul Kasey (uncredited) Cast notes Although credited, Kai Owen does not appear as Gwen's fiance Rhys Williams.Richard Briers previously played the Chief Caretaker in the Seventh Doctor serial Paradise Towers. Continuity One of Henry Parker's purchases was a Dogon Eye, an item last seen in "Random Shoes". The official website states that he has recently purchased a Cyberman arm and chest unit.In the opening scene, archive footage of Louise Delamere as Diane Holmes, Owen's first series love interest, is shown. Also in the opening montage, clips from episodes such as "Everything Changes", "Ghost Machine", "Out of Time" and "Meat" can be glimpsed.This is the second episode in which Owen is relieved of his duties. He was previously dismissed by Jack after he opened the rift in "End of Days". [edit] Outside references Owen says that Torchwood filed Henry Parker as "Mostly Harmless," a reference to the book by the same name by Douglas Adams, who used to write for Doctor Who. "Mostly Harmless" was the revised entry for planet Earth in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, also written by Adams. The original entry for Earth was "harmless".Owen criticises Ianto for liking Tintin. Owen thinks Tintin is weird, and reckons "he was shagging the dog" (his pet Snowy). Later in the episode, Owen is given a Tintin T-shirt. Doctor Who writer Steven Moffat is currently writing a screenplay for a forthcoming Tintin movie.In reference to his reclusiveness, Parker is stated to be "a bit Howard Hughes".The symptoms of Owen's death (numbness, inability to heal) have similarities to leprosy, as suffered by the protagonist of Stephen R Donaldson's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. The alien words spoken by Owen in the "Dead Man Walking" (melenkurion, abatha, duroc, minas, mill and khabaal) were also taken from Donaldson's novels.The song playing in Owen's apartment is "Atlas" by Battles. Something Borrowed (Torchwood) 2.9 - "Something Borrowed" Torchwood episode The female Nostrovite takes the shape of Rhys's mother and holds Gwen's mother hostage. Writer Phil Ford Director Ashley Way Script editor Gary Russell Producer Richard Stokes Chris Chibnall (co-producer) Executive producer(s) Russell T. Davies Julie Gardner Production code 2.9 Series Series 2 Length 50 mins Originally broadcast March 5, 2008 Chronology ? Preceded by Followed by - "A Day in the Death" "From out of the Rain" IMDb profile "Something Borrowed" is the ninth episode of the second series of British science fiction television series Torchwood. It was broadcast by BBC Three on 5 March 2008 and repeated on BBC Two one week later. //&amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = &amp;amp;quot;show&amp;amp;quot;; var tocHideText = &amp;amp;quot;hide&amp;amp;quot;; showTocToggle(); } //]]&amp;amp;gt; Plot Just hours before her wedding night, Gwen chases down a shape-shifting alien, eventually engaging him in a fight wherein he bites her arm before he is killed by Jack. The next morning they discover that the alien had transferred its eggs into Gwen, which has matured inside her body to the point where she now appears pregnant. Gwen and Rhys, at the insistence of Gwen, decide to have their wedding anyway, with Gwen's condition being explained away as her being pregnant with Rhys's child, as they do not want to have to explain about aliens or Torchwood. During an autopsy of the alien creature, the team discover that it is a Nostrovite, a race of carnivourous shape shifters who hunt in pairs and mate for life. After fertilisation, the female passes the eggs on to the male, who then transfers them to a host to act as an incubator until the time is right. The female then tracks the host down, and when the egg is ready to hatch she tears the host apart to free the offspring. They realise that the mother must still be out there and that they need to hurry as it is out looking for Gwen. The female Nostrovite tracks Gwen to the hotel where she is having her wedding. Her presence is soon detected, at which point the team tries to catch her while at the same time minimalise any information leaking out to the public. They decide to use the singularity scalpel to destroy the eggs incubating within Gwen. Rhys and Gwen flee to the stable, where Rhys removes the egg using the scalpel, which infuriates the female Nostrovite that followed them. She attacks Rhys who fends her off with a chainsaw, but it stalls. At that moment, Jack enters and kills the creature. Rhys and Gwen's wedding resumes, and the couple are successfully wed. At the reception, and just before Rhys and Gwen leave for their honeymoon, they realise that Jack has retconned the entire wedding party to wipe their memories of the Nostrovite. Jack offers the couple the amnesia pills, and Gwen declines stating that there'd be no secrets in their marriage. They say their goodbyes and leave whilst Jack and the others proceed to clean up. Alone at the Hub, Jack retrieves an old tin box, containing old pictures from his past. He looks at them, reminiscing, and comes across a particular one of him and his bride at his own wedding. Cast Captain Jack Harkness -- John BarrowmanGwen Cooper -- Eve MylesOwen Harper -- Burn GormanToshiko Sato -- Naoko MoriIanto Jones -- Gareth David-LloydRhys Williams -- Kai OwenBrenda Williams -- Nerys HughesMary Cooper -- Sharon MorganGeraint Cooper -- William ThomasBarry Williams -- Robin GriffithCarrie -- Collette BrownMegan -- Danielle HenryTrina -- Ceri Ann GregoryBanana Boat -- Jonathan Lewis OwenMervyn -- Morgan HopkinsRegistrar -- Valerie MurrayShop Assistant -- Pethrow Gooden Cast notes Nerys Hughes previously appeared in the Fifth Doctor serial Kinda and the Eighth Doctor audio drama Phobos.William Thomas was the first actor to appear in both the classic and new series of Doctor Who, first in the Seventh Doctor serial Remembrance of the Daleks and then the Ninth Doctor episode "Boom Town". This makes him the first actor to appear in the classic series, the new series and Torchwood. Continuity An upgraded version of the singularity scalpel from "Reset" is used to remove the alien egg from Gwen. On the Torchwood website Jack receives an email from Martha Jones after the events in "A Day in the Death" saying she is sorry for not going to Gwen's wedding implying she was invited to the wedding. The canonicity of the email is unclear.

  
  

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• TDP 48: Big Finish Recommendations One (sorry about the voice)

  15 March 2008 (4:17pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 20 minutes and 18 seconds

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  : Big Finish Recommendations OneFirts off sorry about my voice but I didnt want to let you guys down with no show even if I did do 3 last week... so heres you are. Notes on 5 of the Best Big Finsh CDs... Ill do more recommendations soon.34. Doctor Who - Spare Parts - DownloadPrice: PS11.99Technical DetailsCast:    Peter Davison (The Doctor); Sarah Sutton (Nyssa); Sally Knyvette (Doctorman Allan); Pamela Binns (Sisterman Constant); Derren Nesbitt (Thomas Dodd); Paul Copley (Dad); Kathryn Guck (Yvonne Hartley); Jim Hartley (Frank Hartley); Ann Jenkins (Mrs. Ginsberg); Nicholas Briggs (Zheng / Cyber Voices / Radio Announcer / Citizen / Nurse); Alistair Lock (Minister / TV Commentator); Gary Russell (Philpott / Nurse)Writer:    Marc Platt     Recorded:    26 and 27 March 2002Director:    Gary Russell     Released:    July 2002Music:    Alistair Lock     No. of Discs:    2Sound Design:    Alistair Lock     Duration    Disc 1 (59' 08"); Disc 2 (73' 50")Cover Art:     Clayton Hickman     Production Code:    6C/E            ISBN:    1-903654-72-6SynopsisOn a dark frozen planet where no planet should be, in a doomed city with a sky of stone, the last denizens of Earth's long-lost twin will pay any price to survive, even if the laser scalpels cost them their love and hate and humanity.And in the mat-infested streets, round tea-time, the Doctor and Nyssa unearth a black market in second-hand body parts and run the gauntlet of augmented police and their augmented horses.And just between the tramstop and the picturehouse, their worst suspicions are confirmed: the Cybermen have only just begun, and the Doctor will be, just as he always has been, their saviour...Chronological PlacementThis story takes place between the television adventures, Time-Flight and Arc of Infinity and after the Big Finish audio dramaSTORM WARNINGCast:    Paul McGann (The Doctor), India Fisher (Charley Pollard); Gareth Thomas (Lord Tamworth); Nicholas Pegg (Lt-Col Frayling); Barnaby Edwards (Rathbone); Hylton Collins (Chief Steward Weeks); Helen Goldwyn (Triskelion); Mark Gatiss (Announcer)Writer:    Alan Barnes     Recorded:    18 May 2000Director:    Gary Russell     Released:    January 2001Music:    Alistair Lock     No. of Discs:    2Sound Design:    Alistair Lock     Duration    Disc 1 (50' 34"); Disc 2 (67' 11")Cover Art:     Clayton Hickman     Production Code:    8B            ISBN:    1-903654-24-6SynopsisOctober, 1930. His Majesty's Airship, the R1010, sets off on her maiden voyage to the farthest-flung reaches of the British Empire, carrying the brightest lights of the Imperial fleet. Carrying the hopes and dreams of a breathless nation.Not to mention a ruthless spy with a top-secret mission, a mysterious passenger who appears nowhere on the crew list, a would-be adventuress destined for the Singapore Hilton... and a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey.There's a storm coming. There's something unspeakble, something with wings, crawling across the stern. Thousands of feet high in the blackening sky, the crew of the R101 brace themselves. When the storm breaks, their lives won't be all that's at stake...The future of the galaxy will be hanging by a thread.Chronological PlacementThis story takes place after the 1996 TV Movie.THE ONE DOCTORTechnical DetailsCast:    Colin Baker (The Doctor); Bonnie Langford (Melanie Bush); Christopher Biggins (Banto Zame); Clare Buckfield (Sally-Anne Stubbins); Matt Lucas (Cylinder / The Jelloid); Stephen Fewell (Councillor Potikol / Assembler 2); Nicholas Pegg (Citizen Sokkery / Mentos); Jane Goddard (The Questioner / Queen Elizabeth); Adam Buxton (Assembler 1); Mark Wright (Guard); Alistair Lock (Guard)Writer:    Gareth Roberts andClayton Hickman     Recorded:    28 and 29 April 2001Director:    Gary Russell     Released:    December 2001Music:    Alistair Lock     No. of Discs:    2Sound Design:    Alistair Lock     Duration    Disc 1 (49' 03"); Disc 2 (73' 39")Cover Art:     Clayton Hickman     Production Code:    7C/R            ISBN:    1-903654-56-4SynopsisWhen the evil Skelloids launch an attack upon the seventeen worlds of the Generios system, its peace-loving inhabitants face total destruction. So it's fortunate that the famous traveller in time and space known only as the Doctor is in the area, and doubly lucky that, with the help of his pretty young assistant, Sally-Anne, he manages to defeat the deadly creatures and save the day. But now it looks as though the Doctor1s luck has run out. Who is the mysterious, curly-haired stranger who insists on causing trouble? What role does the feisty redhead Melanie play in his scheme? And what have they to do with the sinister alien cylinder approaching Generios? One thing is certain: for the Doctor and Sally-Anne, there1s deadly danger ahead ...Chronological PlacementThis story takes place between the television adventures, The Trial of a Time Lord and Time and the Rani.KINGMAKERTechnical DetailsCast:    Peter Davison (The Doctor); Nicola Bryant (Peri); Caroline Morris (Erimem); Arthur Smith (Clarrie); Michael Fenton-Stevens (Mr Seyton); Stephen Beckett (Richard; Duke of Gloucester); Marcus Hutton (Henry; Duke of Buckingham); John Culshaw (Earl Rivers); Chris Neill (Sir James Tyrell); Katie Wimpenny (Susan); Linzi Matthews (Judith)Writer:    Nev Fountain     Recorded:    20 and 21 November 2005Director:    Gary Russell     Released:    April 2006Music:    ERS     No. of Discs:    2Sound Design:    ERS     Duration    Disc 1 (69' 57"); Disc 2 (75' 46")Cover Art:     Stuart Manning     Production Code:    6Q/I          ISBN:    1-84435-161-0SynopsisDr Who encounters one of the most notorious characters from the past, as he journeys through time to solve the great Historical Mysteries...Not surprisingly the Doctor becomes mixed up with Richard the third himself, as he tries to unravel the perplexing problem of who exactly killed the Princes in the Tower.Peri and Erimem also encounter a suspicious time traveller. Someone from the Doctor's own past. Someone who shouldn't really be there at all.So who did murder the Princes in the Tower? Perhaps it's best not to ask a question like that.You might not like the answer...Chronological PlacementThis story takes place between the television adventures, Planet of Fire and The Caves of Androzani and after the Big Finish audio adventure, .NIGHT THOUGHTSTechnical DetailsCast:    Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor); Sophie Aldred (Ace); Philip Olivier (Hex); Bernard Kay (Major Dickens); Joanna McCallum (The Bursar); Andrew Forbes (Dr O'Neil); Lizzie Hopley (Sue); Ann Beach (The Deacon); Duncan Duff (Joe Hartley)Writer:    Edward Young     Recorded:    7 and 8 November 2005Director:    Gary Russell     Released:    February 2006Music:    ERS     No. of Discs:    2Sound Design:    ERS     Duration    Disc 1 (61' 38"); Disc 2 (63' 51")Cover Art:     Lee Binding     Production Code:    7W/C          ISBN:    1-84435-167-XSynopsisI warn you, things could get very nasty here before they get better.'A remote Scottish mansion. Five bickering academics are haunted by ghosts from their past. Reluctantly they offer shelter to the Doctor and his companions Ace and Hex.Hex, already troubled by a vivid nightmare, is further disturbed by the nighttime appearance of a whistling, hooded apparition.Ace tries to befriend the young housemaid, Sue. Sue knows secrets. She knows why the academics have assembled here, and she knows why they are all so afraid. But Sue's lips are sealed, preferring to communicate through her disturbing toy, Happy the Rabbit.And then the killing begins. Gruesome deaths that lead the Doctor and his friends to discover the grisly truth behind the academics' plans, and as the ghosts of the past become ghosts of the present to recognise that sometimes death can be preferable to life.Chronological PlacementThis story takes place between the television adventures, Survival and the 1996 TV Movie, and after the Big Finish audio adventure, .

  
  

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• TDP: Update

  7 March 2008 (11:56am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 seconds

  hope you enjoyed the anniversary special. there wont be a cast this week (there were 3 last week) as ive got a cold. There will be a double Torchwood cast about 2.8 and 2.9 soon too HOWEVER. I did get my review copy of Black Orchid yesterday so there will be a show on that and I have started work on a big finish recommendations podcast. I am thinking of recommending and talking about The One Doctor Spareparts Kingmaker Project Lazarus Storm Warning.Night Thoughts any thoughts... on those choices? the TDP will return once i've got my voice back 100%be seeing you...

  
  

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• TDP 47: First Birthday Special

  3 March 2008 (5:00am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 8 minutes and 14 seconds

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  TIN DOG INTRO MUSIC   To celebrate the first birthday of the Doctor Who TIN DOG Podcast (and my own birthday on March 4th), I present a short episode of Torchwood for your enjoyment. And thanks for listening to me ramble on for a year.   TIN DOG: This story is meant with the greatest and fondest respect to the works of Oliver Postgate , Peter Firmin, Russel T Davies and everyone else who has kept the blue light flashing. No breach of copyright is meant in any way. Please enjoy this special anniversary story to celebrate the Tin Dog Podcasts first Birthday. I present a one of Audio story with those lovely people from the popular secret organisation "Torchwood?.   NARRATOR: In the bottom left hand comer of Wales, a meeting is taking place around an ikea table. Lets listen in...   IANTO: "I have been monitoring activity around the hell mouth... er anomaly.. erm... I mean.. Rift and its been surprisingly quiet which means we can re-investigate some of the unsolved Torchwood files.?   NARRATOR: The thin one with the dry whit gets out a file and blows dust off it in the sort of way Eric Morecambe would look at Ernie Wises wallet.   GRAMS FX- blow... cough   IANTO: This is one that dates back decades. The winged monsters of Tan-y-gwlch.     OWEN "you know the rules we do not investigate anything we can't have sex with... apples and pares - queen mother - gawd bless her.   IANTO: ah but.. Monkey boy... but this is season two and we seem to be moving away from pointless sex scenes so I thought we might look at this.   GWEN: BUT this isn't happening in Cardiff... and you know the only time we leave Cardiff's in unseen adventures and spin off novels... oh and Audio Books... as a rule we don't ever set foot outside Cardiff... Couldn't we just send UNIT?   NARRATOR said Gwen   IANTO: This IS an Audio adventure which gives us an unlimited travel budget.. I have rang UNIT and they are apparently busy denying any links with the United Nations then they are all booked up recording a spin off story for Big Finish... which only leaves only US... Jack do you want to do the voice over?   JACK: Torchwood. Outside the Government, Beyond the police, Of Junction 21 next door to Comet electrical.   IANTO: Quickly... to the Torchwood Mobile... and on to North Wales. GRAMS MUSIC: Ivor the engine Music.   NARRATOR: Oh hello ivor..   IVOR: Ba Baaaa!   NARRATOR: Having a busy day   IVOR: Ba Baaaa!   NARRATOR: What are you upto today? Taking coal to grumby town? New shoes for a new hat for Mrs Dinwiddy? Saving sheep from the snow?   IVOR: Ba Baaaa!   NARRATOR: Oh I see... You're off to see your friends Idris and Blodwin the dragons.   NARRATOR: Oh look Ivor... you have visitors...   IVOR: bo bo bbbooooo...   NARRATOR: No there not the English coming to stay in their cottage for one week of the year and drive up house prices... its those pesky Torchwood lot... yes Ivor the famous secret organisation.   IVOR: ba ba   JONES THE STEAM: Oh hello Mister Harkness. Can I ask you a question   NARATOR: asked the hither too silent Jones the Steam   JACK: Sure   JONES THE STEAM: How come you get to walk the streets with a Webly Mark Four on your hip and no one bats an eyelid. This is the Wales after all you know not down town LA or something.     JACK: It helps us sell the show to Americans. I mean who would watch a show where the heroes didn't have a gun and solved things using their intellect and cunning...   GRAMS: FX Few bars of Doctor Who music   JONES THE STEAM: Oh I guess you have a point. I just assumed you were over compensating for something. How can I help you today?   GWEN: Flying Lizards   JONES THE STEAM: Ah you mean the Dragons...   IVOR: Booo Baa Baaa..   JONES THE STEAM: Quite right Ivor... I mean you mean the non-excitant Dragons on the extinct volcano.   IVOR: Booo Baa Baaa..     JONES THE STEAM: Oh you and your fast talking city ways. I obviously mean the non-existent dragons that defiantly don't live anywhere round here...because they're not real...   JACK: How are we doing for time Gwen?   GWEN: Well were past over half way through the episode... so I think were just about to come up with a working hypothesis. So I recon that the Dragons are real and that they are in the extinct volcano... the one over there in fact - Boyo.   OWEN: Jack. I hate to be the one to say this but theres been no homosexualist kissing so far...Apples and pairs   JONES THE STEAM: Oh is that what you think? Me and Di station have been doing little Britain "only gay in the village? jokes all morning... mind you I'm sure you lot do those all the time down there in Cardiff... and not you lot are here its just going to become a joke too far if I bring that up again.   DI STATION: Good point Jones.     JACK: Lets go to the mountain.   IVOR: Booo Baa Baaa..   JONES THE STEAM: Ivor says he can give you a lift if you want... I must say thats very good of you Ivor.   IVOR: Booo Baa Baaa..   JONES THE STEAM: ah... so you think the plot is flagging and you want to move things along.   JACK Lets leave the Torchwood Mobile here and head out.   GRAMS: Ivor travel music.   JONES THE STEAM: Gwen. I have a question for you. "Why doesnt your hair EVER move? Is it a wig? Come on you can tell me... Oh. look ivor.. were here.   GRAMS : steam fx   JACK: Tosh. You've been quiet... Oh you have a sore thought and the narrator doest think he is up to doing your voice, well he is butchering any attempt at mine. Anything on the tricorder... I mean non copyright breaching scaning device?.. GRAMS FX - Bleeping   JONES THE STEAM: Do you think its noticed those dragons?   GWEN: What the red heraldic ones spinning meters above us?   JACK: Gwen? What's that flashing? is it one of those anomalies from primeval?   GWEN: No it's a tourists camera.   JONES THE STEAM: Ah so you have found out our little secret. Every so often the dragons come out for the tourists and get their photo taken. The pictures are blurred because they move so fast so there's not actual risk of anyone believing the pictures are real.  Those dragons saved out town.  You're not going to take them away from us are you Mister Harness?       JACK No but it is likely that Owen will try and snog one of them   OWEN I'd resent that remark if I hadn't seen the rest of the story ark.   JONES THE STEAM: Look Mister Harkness one of them wants to ask you a question.   IDRIS THE DRAGON: (as sample) "do you know land of my fathers?   JACK: No it's abide with me or nothing   GWEN: You know that still doesn't solve the real mystery.   JACK: You mean  how Ivor - a steam engine - speak?   IANTO: oh that's easy.  Ivor was made from a living  metal that came through the rift at the end of the tea time war. IANTO: sorry...   JONES THE STEAM: Did i say too much?  I mean he is magic.   GWEN: Ahhh.   JONES THE STEAM: Tell you what...lets all go home for a nice cup of tea.   OWEN: That's hardly a satisfying end to the narrative. Can't we blow something up? or lose a loved one through time.   JONES THE STEAM: if you like   IANTO: will that help with the fan base?   JONES THE STEAM: No not really....  Ill just go and  put the kettle on   IVOR: boo baaaa.   MUSIC. (Ivor the engine theme as base under the narrators final speech)   NARRATOR: And so we must leave this quiet corner of Wales and journey back to podcast land thanks for listening to my pointless ramblings over this last year.   Be seeing you   MUSIC TDP Closing music NOTE: Some of you have never seen Ivor the Engine and this wont have helped so here is a youtube First Episode for you to enjoy! <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fDWk0BCeblQ"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fDWk0BCeblQ" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

  
  

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• TDP 46: The Five Doctors

  28 February 2008 (5:01am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 14 minutes and 0 seconds

  Direct Podcast Download

  The Five Doctors was a special feature-length episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, produced in celebration of the programme's twentieth anniversary. It aired in the United Kingdom on November 25, 1983, although it had its world premiere in the United States, on the Chicago PBS station WTTW-TV and various other PBS affiliates on November 23, the anniversary date. n //&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = &amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;show&amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;; var tocHideText = &amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;hide&amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;; showTocToggle(); } //]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; Synopsis Someone is plucking all the incarnations of the Doctor out of time, and placing them in the Death Zone on Gallifrey where they will meet old friends and enemies and play out the deadly Game of Rassilon, for the ultimate prize. But to lose is to win, and he who wins shall lose... Plot The Fifth Doctor, Tegan and Turlough are taking a break on the Eye of Orion, one of the most tranquil spots in the universe, when the Fifth Doctor suddenly collapses. Tegan and Turlough bring the Fifth Doctor back into the TARDIS, where they discover to their distress that he is literally fading away. The Fifth Doctor manages to set the TARDIS controls for a destination and the ship dematerializes. In a hidden chamber, a dark figure is manipulating the controls of a time scoop and kidnapping the Doctor's previous incarnations out of the time stream along with some of his former companions. The First Doctor is taken while he is walking in a rose garden, the Second Doctor and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart from a UNIT reunion and the Third Doctor while he is out driving his roadster, Bessie. Also taken out of time are Sarah Jane Smith and the Doctor's granddaughter Susan Foreman. The Fourth Doctor and Romana are taken while punting along the River Cam, but whoever is doing this is frustrated as the two are trapped in the time vortex by a time eddy and unable to rematerialize. All of them, save the Fourth Doctor and Romana, are deposited on a desolate, rocky landscape -- the Death Zone on Gallifrey. Meanwhile, in the Capitol on Gallifrey, the High Council of Time Lords, headed by Lord President Borusa and consisting of Chancellor Flavia and the Castellan, watches in concern. The Eye of Harmony is being drained by whoever is taking the Doctor out of time, endangering all of Gallifrey. Despite Borusa's misgivings, the High Council has unanimously voted to call in the Master to assist by going into the Death Zone to help the Doctors. Offered a pardon and a new cycle of regenerations, the Master accepts, and is given a copy of the Seal of the High Council by the Castellan to prove his bona fides, and a matter transmitter (transmat) recall device. He is then teleported via transmat to the Death Zone. In the Zone, the Doctors face various dangers. The First Doctor and Susan are pursued by a Dalek through a hall of mirrors, finally escaping when they push the Dalek into a dead end, where the discharge of its energy weapon ricochets back and destroys it. The Second Doctor and the Brigadier escape from a squad of Cybermen, and the Third Doctor rescues Sarah from her fall down an embankment. Sarah is mildly confused, as she had seen the Third Doctor regenerate into the Fourth (Planet of the Spiders), but is glad to see the Doctor she once knew. The Second and Third Doctors explain to their companions that in Gallifrey's past, known as the Dark Time, the Time Lords misused their powers. A device called the Time Scoop was used to pluck beings out of their times and place them in the Death Zone, where they would fight each other in a sort of gladiatorial game. The Doctors' goal now is to reach the Dark Tower, where the Time Lord founder Rassilon is entombed, although there is some doubt as to whether Rassilon is actually dead. The Master meets and tries unsuccessfully to convince the Third Doctor that he is there to help. He is then forced to flee when thunderbolts fall from the sky. The Third Doctor only sees this as confirmation that this is all a plot of the Master's. The First Doctor and Susan find the TARDIS and the presence of the First Doctor seems to stabilize the Fifth for the moment. Together, they scan the tower and find three entrances -- one at the apex of the tower, the main gate at the base, and one underground, but a force field prevents the TARDIS's entry. The Fifth Doctor takes Tegan and Susan to go to the main gate, but encounters the Master, who has no better luck convincing the Fifth Doctor than he did the Third. At that moment, the two are surrounded by Cybermen, and when they try to run away, the Master is knocked out by a cybergun blast. The Fifth Doctor finds the Master's recall device on his unconscious body, and transmats himself to the Capitol. The Master, confronted by the Cybermen, offers himself as a guide to the Tower. In the Capitol, the Doctor is informed of the situation by the High Council. The Doctor realizes not only that he has done the Master an injustice, but also that they were found too easily by the Cybermen. He opens the recall device and finds a homing beacon inside. The Castellan, who gave the Master the device, is arrested and his quarters ordered to be searched. There is found a box containing the Black Scrolls of Rassilon -- forbidden knowledge from the Dark Time. Borusa destroys the scrolls before anyone can examine them and orders the Castellan taken to the mind probe for interrogation. However, as the Castellan is escorted outside, there is a shot. The Doctor rushes out to find the Castellan dead, and the Captain of the guard reporting that he was shot while trying to escape. The Doctor voices his concerns to Chancellor Flavia: the Castellan was stubborn, but not a traitor. There is more to this than meets the eye. The Second Doctor and the Brigadier are exploring a series of caves when they encounter a Yeti left over from the games. Taking refuge in an alcove, the Doctor tries to chase the Yeti off with a firework, succeeding only in maddening it, and causing it to collapse the entrance to the alcove. However, the Doctor detects a breeze from further back and discovers the underground entrance to the Tower. On the surface, the Third Doctor and Sarah come across a Raston Warrior Robot, according to the Doctor the most perfect killing machine ever devised. Able to move with blinding speed and fire bolts of metal at its targets, it detects its victims by motion. The Doctor and Sarah are unable to move without attracting the robot's attention, but luck is on their side when a squad of Cybermen come over the ridge and are rapidly eliminated by the robot. Taking advantage of the distraction, the Doctor and Sarah run past the robot's position, taking some rope and spare bolts from the robot's cave. Reaching a cliff face just above the Tower, the Doctor uses the rope and bolts to form a grappling hook, and he and Sarah abseil across to the top of the Tower. Tegan and Susan have told the First Doctor what happened to the Fifth Doctor. The First Doctor decides to head for the main gate himself, with Tegan insisting on accompanying him. Opening the main gate through the means of a keypad hidden under a bell, they find a chessboard floor pattern blocking their way. The First Doctor determines that the chessboard is a trap -- electrical bolts will destroy anyone attempting to cross unless they find the safe path. The Master appears at this point, warning them that the Cybermen are close behind. While the Doctor and Tegan hide, the Master lures the Cybermen onto the chessboard where they are killed. The Master tells the Doctor, "It's as easy as pie", then blithely steps across the board and moves into the Tower. The Doctor realizes that the Master means the Greek letter pi, and that the safe path is calculated by means of the mathematical constant. He and Tegan make their way across the trap. In the Zone, the TARDIS is being surrounded by Cybermen who start to assemble a bomb to blow it up. Inside, Turlough and Susan watch helplessly. The Second and Third Doctors encounter more obstacles while moving separately through the Tower, with the mind of Rassilon exuding an intensifying feeling of fear. They also encounter what appear to be their previous companions: the Third meeting Captain Mike Yates and Liz Shaw; the Second meeting Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot. The Doctors soon realize that the 'companions' are just phantoms designed to impede their progress through the Tower, and the spectres vanish with a scream. Finally, all three Doctors reach the tomb where Rassilon's casket lies. While the Brigadier, Sarah, and Tegan get re-acquainted, the three Doctors try to translate an inscription written in Ancient Gallifreyan on a pedestal near a control panel. The Fifth Doctor finds that Borusa has vanished from the Council chamber, but the guards insist that the President could not have gotten by them at the only entrance. The transmat is out of power, so the Doctor deduces that there must be a secret door. He finds it hidden behind a painting of Rassilon playing the harp. The key to opening the door is a series of notes played on the actual harp standing before the painting -- notes indicated by the sheet music in the painting itself. The Doctor enters the secret chamber, finding the dark figure that had taken his other selves out of time: Borusa. The Lord President is not satisfied with ruling Gallifrey for his lifetimes -- he wants to be President Eternal. Borusa has determined that Rassilon discovered the secret of immortality, and he means to claim it, sending the Doctors into the Zone to clear the way for him. Using the Coronet of Rassilon, Borusa overwhelms the Fifth Doctor's will, thus forcing the latter to obey his commands. In the tomb, the Doctors have deciphered the inscription: Rassilon had discovered immortality and will share it with whomever overcomes the obstacles to the tomb and takes the ring from his body. However, one line troubles the First Doctor: "To lose is to win and he who wins shall lose." The Master steps out of the shadows to claim immortality for himself, yet is jumped from behind by the Brigadier and tied up by Sarah and Tegan. The Third Doctor fixes the control panel by reversing the polarity of the neutron flow, allowing the TARDIS to transport itself to the tomb (just seconds before the Cybermen's bomb detonates). The Second Doctor contacts the Capitol and the Fifth Doctor answers, still under Borusa's control. He tells his other selves to await their arrival. He and Borusa transmat over to the tomb. Borusa paralyzes the Doctors' companions with a command and tries to control the minds of the Doctors as well, but fails as all four Doctors combine their wills against him. However, a booming voice echoes through the chamber -- the voice of Rassilon, demanding to know who disturbs him. Borusa steps forward to claim immortality and while the other Doctors protest, the First Doctor holds the others back and says to the projection of Rassilon that Borusa deserves the prize. Borusa takes the ring from the body and puts it on. He finds himself paralyzed, then transformed into one of several stone faces carved into the side of the casket. Rassilon sends the Master back to his own time, then frees the Fourth Doctor from the time vortex and returns to eternal rest. The First Doctor smugly tells the Fifth that he finally understood the proverb. The 'prize' was yet another trap -- a means for Rassilon to eliminate whoever sought immortality. The Doctors and the companions say their good-byes to each other and re-enter the TARDIS save for the Fifth Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough. As those three watch, the others are transported back to their proper times. Chancellor Flavia arrives with guards and tells the Doctor that with Borusa's disappearance, the Council has appointed the Doctor as President. The Doctor appears reluctant, but Flavia tells him he cannot refuse an order of the Council or it will attract the severest penalties. The Doctor orders Flavia back to the Capitol, saying that he will travel there in his TARDIS and that she has full powers until his return. Once in the TARDIS, though, he reveals to Tegan and Turlough that he has no intention of returning. Tegan asks if the Doctor really intends to go on the run from his own people in a rickety old TARDIS. The Doctor replies, smiling, "Why not? After all, that's how it all started." Cast The Doctor -- Peter Davison, Jon Pertwee, Patrick Troughton, Richard Hurndall, Tom Baker, William HartnellTegan -- Janet FieldingTurlough -- Mark StricksonSarah Jane Smith -- Elisabeth SladenSusan -- Carole Ann FordThe Brigadier -- Nicholas CourtneyThe Master -- Anthony AinleyBorusa -- Philip LathamRomana -- Lalla WardChancellor Flavia -- Dinah SheridanThe Castellan -- Paul JerrichoCyber Leader -- David BanksCyber Lieutenant -- Mark HardyRassilon -- Richard MathewsJamie -- Frazer HinesZoe -- Wendy PadburyColonel Crichton -- David SavileLiz Shaw -- Caroline JohnCaptain Yates -- Richard FranklinVoice of K9 -- John LeesonDalek Voice -- Roy SkeltonDalek Operator -- John Scott MartinSergeant -- Ray FloatRaston Robot -- Keith HodiakCommander -- Stuart BlakeTechnician -- Stephen MeredithGuard -- John TallentsCyber Scout -- William Kenton Cast notes The role of the First Doctor was played by Richard Hurndall, as William Hartnell, who originally played the role, died in 1975. William Hartnell does make an appearance, however, in a pre-titles sequence taken from the end of The Dalek Invasion of Earth.Tom Baker declined to reprise his role as the Fourth Doctor, as he did not want to reappear in the series so recently after his departure (a decision he would later say that he regretted); so his appearance in the story was pieced together from footage filmed for the unaired serial Shada.The scene with Jamie and Zoe was originally written with Zoe and Victoria Waterfield in mind. The Doctor would have realised the truth when Victoria called Lethbridge-Stewart "Brigadier", since Victoria had only met the Brigadier when he was a Colonel in The Web of Fear. However, Deborah Watling was unable to make the filming dates. Frazer Hines was able to free himself up for a day's shooting, so Jamie was written in instead.In the original drafts of the script, the Doctor/companion combinations were very different. Before Tom Baker decided not to appear, the Fourth Doctor would have been paired with Sarah, the Third Doctor with the Brigadier and the Second Doctor with Jamie.[1] When Baker declined to appear and Frazer Hines was unable to meet the production dates due to other commitments, the scripts had to be altered. However, Hines was able to step in later for a cameo appearance, as noted above.John Levene was asked to appear as Sergeant Benton but objected to the way in which the character interacted with the Second Doctor and declined to participate. The scene was filmed with an unnamed sergeant in place of Benton.[2] Continuity This is only the second time in the series' history that there was a pre-credits sequence. Castrovalva (1982) was the first such story. Subsequently, Time and the Rani (1987) and Remembrance of the Daleks (1988) also featured pre-credits teasers. The pre-credits sequence became a regular occurrence starting with the 2005 series episode The End of the World.This serial also featured the debut of the new TARDIS console and room, the first redesign since 1977. This console would remain until the end of series production in 1989.This serial ended fan speculation as to whether or not Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee's Doctors were regenerations or merely "changes of appearance". It also explicitly indicated in dialogue that the Davison incarnation of the Doctor was in fact the fifth, officially contradicting the Morbius Doctors speculation that had circulated since the The Brain of Morbius serial that there had been additional incarnations of the Doctor prior to Hartnell.When asked by the Third Doctor as to whether he has regenerated again, the Master says, "Not exactly", referencing his stealing of Tremas's body as seen in the Fourth Doctor story The Keeper of Traken (1981).This is the first time it is suggested that a new cycle of regenerations can be bestowed on a person (in this case the Master), implying that it could be possible to circumvent the twelve-regeneration limit established in The Deadly Assassin. However, the Master is occupying a non-Time Lord body, so whether this can be applied to a Time Lord who has already reached his thirteenth incarnation is unclear. Years later, however, the episode "Utopia" shows the Master regenerating and in the following episode "The Sound of Drums" indicates that he had been "resurrected" (the Master's own word, left unexplained) by the Time Lords to fight in the Time War, suggesting a new regeneration cycle was indeed bestowed upon him.Three incarnations of Borusa previously appeared in The Deadly Assassin, The Invasion of Time and Arc of Infinity.Dinah Sheridan makes a guest appearance as Flavia. The character has subsequently been mentioned in spin-off fiction as becoming President of the High Council and then subsequently removed from office due to a scandal (as detailed in the New Adventures novel, Happy Endings). In the new series, a musical cue composed by Murray Gold with ethereal sounding vocals is jokingly referred to as "Flavia's Theme" by the production team, who say it is Flavia's voice singing out from the time vortex.One of the jewels from the Coronet of Rassilion would later play an important part in the Big Finish Productions Bernice Summerfield adventure The Crystal of Cantus.No explanation is given for companion Kamelion's absence from this story.The First Doctor does not quite recognise the Master ("Do I know you?"), and has to be reminded of their time at the Academy together. The Third Doctor does recognise him, however, though it seems not as easily as usual.The Mind Probe would later be used as a plot device in the Torchwood episode Sleeper. Retroactive perspectives This story takes place after The Dalek Invasion of Earth from the point of view of the First Doctor and Susan, given Susan's mature appearance and the implication that they have been separated for some time.Although it is never made clear exactly where this story takes place within the Second and Third Doctors' chronology, it is made clear that it takes place after the events of The Three Doctors. The Second Doctor mentions Omega while reminiscing with the Brigadier, and also makes a comment about his own replacement being "unpromising" when he is in UNIT headquarters and meets Lethbridge-Stewart's successor. The Third Doctor also refers to "that fellow in the check trousers and black frock-coat? when he meets the illusions of Mike Yates and Liz Shaw. The familiar and mock-antagonistic way that the Second and Third Doctors interact also suggests that The Five Doctors takes place after the events of The Three Doctors for them both. Since the First Doctor refers to the Second as "the little fellow", it is reasonable to assume that the story takes place later in his chronology as well.The Second Doctor's method of determining that Jamie and Zoe are phantoms, which references the events of The War Games, is, seemingly, a continuity error, (subsequently rendering the Second Doctor's earlier meeting with the Brigadier in this story a continuity error). The memories of Jamie and Zoe's travels with the Doctor, as opposed to their respective initial adventures with him in their own home eras (The Highlanders and The Wheel in Space) were wiped in The War Games when they were returned to their own times at a moment just after they had left in the TARDIS. There are various fan explanations for this and it is noted that it is the Brigadier only that they should not have recognised as neither of them would remember meeting him in The Web of Fear and The Invasion respectively. (see Season 6B)This story takes place some time between The Time Warrior and Planet of the Spiders from the Third Doctor's point of view, as he recognises Sarah Jane, for whom events take place after K-9 and Company.The Third Doctor reacts to Sarah's mimed description of the Fourth Doctor by saying, "Teeth and curls?" and telling her the change has not happened yet for him. Although the Third Doctor may just be interpreting her gestures, his accuracy has led some fans to believe that it implies a previous unseen encounter with the Fourth Doctor. According to Terrance Dicks on the DVD commentary, the line was supposed to be Sarah's, but Pertwee negotiated with Elisabeth Sladen for him to say it instead, leading to the problem. In the short story The Touch of the Nurazh by Stephen Hatcher from the anthology Short Trips: Monsters, an injury makes the Third Doctor begin to regenerate into the Fourth but the process is reversed. This is witnessed by Jo Grant, and the theory is that she subsequently describes the Fourth Doctor's appearance to the Third.This story occurs after Mawdryn Undead from the Brigadier's point of view, given that he recognises Tegan and later the Fifth Doctor.At the start of the episode, Sarah Jane Smith is shown with K-9, a direct reference to the spin-off pilot of two years earlier, K-9 and Company. The two characters later returned in the Tenth Doctor story School Reunion. Production The working title for this story was The Six Doctors. It would have been written by former script editor Robert Holmes and would have featured the Cybermen and their kidnapping of the five incarnations of the Doctor; in their attempt to extract Time Lord DNA to turn themselves into "Cyberlords", the twist being that the First Doctor and Susan would actually be android impostors (the former being the "Sixth Doctor" of the title) and the Second Doctor would have saved the day. However, Holmes dropped out at an early stage and another former script editor, Terrance Dicks, was brought in instead. Some elements of this plotline would be reused in Holmes's own The Two Doctors.The original script featured an appearance by the Autons, last seen in Terror of the Autons. After being dropped into the Death Zone, Sarah would have been attacked by a group of them before being rescued by the Third Doctor. However, due to budgetary restrictions, the scene was dropped and replaced in the finished version.Just before she meets the Third Doctor, Sarah falls a few feet down what fans have generally considered a rather unconvincing slope. In the novelisation, Sarah actually steps off a cliff. This was what was originally intended in the script, but for budgetary reasons the sequence was changed.Nathan-Turner's first choice of director for the story was Waris Hussein, who had directed the first ever Doctor Who serial, An Unearthly Child, in 1963. However, Hussein was in America at the time and was unable to accept the offer.[3] Nathan-Turner then asked another veteran director, Douglas Camfield, to direct but he also declined. It has been suggested[citation needed] that Camfield was offended to be second choice or that he was angered that Nathan-Turner had not asked him back to Doctor Who before, but there is no known evidence to support this suggestion. Camfield was also very ill with heart disease, and this may have had an impact on his decision not to direct the production. He died of a heart attack early in 1984.The programme is officially a co-production with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, although the production team were not aware of this during production and the agreement in effect amounted to little more than a pre-production purchase pact.The story was prepared in two formats: the ninety-minute version and a four-part version, the latter designed for international distribution or repeat broadcasting in the ordinary series run. The episode breaks were, respectively: Sarah falling down the slope, the Cybermen placing their bomb outside the TARDIS while Susan and Turlough watch; and the Master appearing behind the First Doctor and Tegan while in the Dark Tower.In the various publicity photos of the five Doctors from this story, a waxwork model of Tom Baker from a 1980 Doctor Who Exhibition in Madame Tussaud's was used. According to producer John Nathan-Turner, Baker had agreed to do the photocall for the 20th anniversary but, suspecting that he might not turn up, Nathan-Turner organised for the waxwork to be on location.[4]This is the only programme from the classic series of Doctor Who for which all recorded and filmed material, including alternate and unused takes, fluffed scenes and so forth, still exists in broadcast-quality format. This allowed for the creation of the 1995 version of the story.The end credits featured a specially mixed version of the theme music, which began with Delia Derbyshire's original 1960s arrangement and then segued into the Peter Howell arrangement being used by the series at the time. This arrangement was only used on this one occasion and was the last time that the Derbyshire version was heard during the show's original run. A unique arrangement of the opening credits music was also used, which ended in a brief coda phrase that was never used in any other serial. Outside references The Brigadier references "Guy Fawkes" and "Halloween".The Third Doctor's line, "Scarecrow!" (aimed at the Second Doctor), is an in-joke, referencing the fact that Jon Pertwee played Worzel Gummidge.Some of the inscriptions on the tombstone when they reach Rassilon's Tower are mathematical symbols. In print Doctor Who book The Five Doctors Series Target novelisations Release number 81 Writer Terrance Dicks Publisher Target Books Cover artist Andrew Skilleter ISBN 0 426 19510 8 Release date 24 November 1983 Preceded by Arc of Infinity Followed by Mawdryn Undead A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in November 1983; it was the only Target novelisation to be published before its story was transmitted. Broadcast, VHS and DVD releases The Five Doctors was first broadcast in the United States on the actual date of the programme's 20th anniversary. The broadcast in the United Kingdom was delayed two days so it could coincide with the BBC's Children in Need charity night. There were a few scenes in the BBC broadcast that had not been shown in the US airing.The story was first released VHS and Betamax in September of 1985. This version was also released on Laserdisc in 1994.It was rereleased on VHS in 1990 without 2 minutes of edits present in the earlier tapes and discs. To date, this is the only release of the story as originally broadcast.A Special Edition of the episode, with updated special effects, surround-sound compatibility and an alternate editing of the raw material was released on VHS in 1995 in a box set with the video of The King's Demons and a limited edition postcard album. Since about 2000, this version has been turning up frequently in the syndication package instead of the original.This was the first Doctor Who serial to be released on DVD, on November 1, 1999. Some of the special effects were further enhanced and the voice of Rassilon was noticeably different. The Region 1 version has a commentary track by Peter Davison and writer Terrance Dicks.On 22 August 2005 it was announced that The Five Doctors would be the first Doctor Who story to be made available to download to mobile phones, in a deal between BBC Worldwide and the technology firm Rok Player.This story will be rereleased on a 2 disc 25th Anniversary special edition DVD on 3rd March 2008. [edit] References ^ Briggs, Nick, "Last Orders", Doctor Who Magazine, #229, 30th August 1995, Marvel Comics UK Ltd., p.36, quote of Nicholas Courtney (who did not specify a companion for Troughton)^ Lyons, Steve and Chris Howarth, "The Good Soldier" (interview with John Levene) Doctor Who Magazine, #230, 27 September 1995, Marvel Comics UK Ltd., p.44^ Walker, Stephen James; David J. Howe (2006). Talkback: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Doctor Who Interview Book: Volume One: The Sixties. England: Telos Publishing Ltd., p. 30. ISBN 1-84583-006-7. ^ Rawson-Jones, Ben. "Cult Spy: 'Doctor Who' in Need?", Digital Spy, 2007-11-18. Retrieved on 2007-11-18.  External links The Five Doctors at bbc.co.ukThe Five Doctors at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)The Five Doctors at the Doctor Who Reference GuideScript to Screen: The Five Doctors, by Jon Preddle (Time Space Visualiser issue 43, March 1995) Reviews The Five Doctors reviews at Outpost GallifreyThe Five Doctors reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings GuideThe Five Doctors: The Collector's Edition reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide 130 - The Five Doctors Doctor Who telemovie The Doctors inside the Tomb of Rassilon Doctor Peter Davison (Fifth Doctor) Richard Hurndall (First Doctor) Patrick Troughton (Second Doctor) Jon Pertwee (Third Doctor) Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor, archive footage only) William Hartnell (First Doctor, pre-titles clip) Companion Janet Fielding (Tegan Jovanka) Mark Strickson (Vislor Turlough) Carole Ann Ford (Susan Foreman) Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith) Lalla Ward (Romana II, archive footage only) Writer Terrance Dicks Terry Nation (The Dalek Invasion of Earth segment) (uncredited) Douglas Adams (Shada segments) (uncredited) Director Peter Moffatt John Nathan-Turner (uncredited) Richard Martin (The Dalek Invasion of Earth segment) (uncredited) Pennant Roberts (Shada segments) (uncredited) Script editor Eric Saward Producer John Nathan-Turner Executive producer(s) None Production code 6K Series Season 20 Length 90 mins Originally broadcast November 23, 1983 (first global) November 25, 1983 (first UK) Chronology ? Preceded by Followed by - The King's Demons Warriors of the Deep

  
  

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• TDP 45: Dead Man Walking Torchwood 2.7 AND Voyage of the Damned on DVD! (fixed)

  27 February 2008 (9:50am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 7 minutes and 37 seconds

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  "Dead Man Walking" is the seventh episode of the second series of British science fiction television series Torchwood. It was broadcast by BBC Three and BBC HD on February 20, 2008[1]; it will make its terrestrial debut on BBC Two on February 27. The team is still recovering after the events of "Reset". Owen Harper, shot dead, is about to be opened up for autopsy by Martha Jones. Jack however tells everyone to leave him alone until he returns. Jack runs to a place where he talks to a girl, a fortune teller. She says he owes her a favour, and appears to have a tarot card with Jack's face on it. The young girl tells him where to find what it is he is looking for, though as he leaves she is seen holding a tarot card depicting the Grim Reaper. Jack goes to the location where the girl had sent him, which is an abandoned church called St. Mary's. It is also the home of many Weevils. He manages to locate the box which holds the item he desires, and returns to the hub and shows the astonished team exactly what he had found. He holds up a resurrection glove, similar to the one that was used by Suzie and Gwen. Gwen immediately objects to what Jack is about to do, reminding him of what had happened before with Suzie, though Jack ignores her and hopes to bring Owen back for two minutes or so for everybody to say their goodbyes to him. He resurrects Owen, who is confused and scared. Toshiko tells Owen that she loves him, and Jack tries to prepare Owen for death. The connection is lost, Owen stops breathing, and Jack holds Owen's hand, believing he is dead. We then hear Owen's voice saying that he will need his hand back, and it is obvious that the plan has backfired. As before with Suzie, the glove has brought Owen back from beyond death permanently, although this time there is no obvious source. No energy is being drained from Jack, as Suzie was draining energy from Gwen, but Owen is getting energy from somewhere. Toshiko tells Owen she didn't mean what she told him before (that she loves him) and Owen says that this is a textbook reaction to grief, but does not want to discuss it further, changing the subject and leaving the room. Owen then finds himself occasionally having visions of himself in a place shrouded in darkness and hearing eerie whispers. He also temporarily loses control of his body during which his pupils dilate and he speaks in an unknown language. Although he has been put in quarantine, Owen escapes and goes out to a bar in Cardiff, where he discovers that he is no longer able to digest drinks, or pump blood (in order to have sex), as he is now the walking dead, and his life processes have stopped. Jack catches him and they have a bar brawl which results in them both being put in a police cell. During their time in the cell, Owen intentionally vomits the drinks that would have otherwise been stuck in his stomach and starts to panic about death. He and Jack bond, and Jack reveals that he once dated Marcel Proust and that his immortality, which Owen is coveting in his position, is not as good as Owen suspects. They then leave after Jack reveals his thoughts on immortality. Once outside they encounter numerous Weevils that chase Owen and Jack until they are cornered on a rooftop. They are surprised that instead of killing them, the Weevils bow to Owen who again temporarily loses control of his body and addresses the Weevils in the same unknown language. Upon analysis, it is found that Owen's cells are changing slowly, and upon 100% transformation something will happen. Research shows that a similar situation occurred in legend, and that Death itself comes back with the revived and searches for 13 victims whose consumed souls will enable Death to remain in the world; Death would otherwise quickly perish. The story says that 'faith' was what stopped it. Believing this legend is in the process of repeating, Owen suggests that he must have his neural pathways closed by being embalmed in order to stop Death from using him as a gateway. During the embalming process, the resurrection gauntlet comes to life and attacks Martha before being destroyed, draining the life from her and reducing her to an old woman. Owen shoots the gauntlet, and as his cells fully change, he loses control again, and the gauntlet transforms into a dust which appears to possess him. He speaks in the same voice as he did when changed earlier, and says 'I will walk the earth forever, and my hunger shall know no bounds' - a phrase attributed earlier to Death. Death escapes from Owen and heads to a hospital, being drawn to those close to death, and begins taking their souls. Martha is also brought to the hospital in her heavily aged state, where a nurse says that as her red blood cell count is low and as she is over eighty, her chances of survival are slim. The team evacuates everyone from the building while Death, after taking twelve souls, chases after a young leukaemia patient who had been accidentally left behind. Owen saves the child and helps him and Tosh to escape. Ianto, who is waiting with Martha, explains to the team that the 'faith' which defeated Death before was in fact the resurrected child, whose name was Faith. Owen then realizes that he himself is the only one who can fight the Grim Reaper as he is already dead and therefore has nothing to lose. After kissing Tosh (and stealing her lockpicking/sealing gadget), Owen locks the other members of the team out of the hospital and begins a brawl with Death, eventually consuming its energy and forcing it back into the darkness. Upon returning to the Hub, Martha explains to Owen that now the energy keeping him 'alive' is dissipating but could take an unknown amount of time to do so, anywhere between 30 minutes and 30 years, or even longer. Jack explains to Toshiko that you can never defeat death, only escape it. The episode ends with Owen asking Jack to let him work again, as by doing his job as a doctor he can try and repay the lives of those lost when Jack brought Owen back. Cast Captain Jack Harkness -- John BarrowmanGwen Cooper -- Eve MylesOwen Harper -- Burn GormanToshiko Sato -- Naoko MoriIanto Jones -- Gareth David-LloydMartha Jones -- Freema AgyemanRhys Williams -- Kai OwenLittle Girl -- Skye BennettNurse -- Joanna GriffithsJamie Burton -- Ben WalkerHen Night Girl -- Lauren PhillipsDoctor -- Golda RosheuvelHospital Patient -- Janie BoothPolice Officer -- Rhys Ap WilliamWeevil -- Paul Kasey (uncredited) Continuity The use of a second resurrection gauntlet leads to many references to that used by Suzie Costello in "Everything Changes" and "They Keep Killing Suzie". Ianto reprises his line "That's the thing about gloves - they come in pairs..." from the latter episode.Martha Jones aged rapidly like the Doctor in "The Sound of Drums". Outside references The unknown language that Owen speaks during his possesion is made up of part of the 'seven words' used in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant novels by Stephen R Donaldson. The words melenkurion, abatha, duroc, minas, mill and khabaal. Specifically, Owen recites the latter four over and over again, and Toshiko's translation device allocates the word duroc with hunger. Ironically, the seven words as originally used by Donaldson in his novels are to evoke Earthpower which by its very nature is a force for good in his fictitous Land. "Tell me, Doc, is it worth starting War and Peace?" is a repeat of a line from the series Cracker. Doctor Who: The Voyage Of The Damned (2007 Christmas Special) (Dr.Who)David Tennant & Kylie Minogue (11 customer ratings) PS10.99 Free DeliveryRRP: PS15.99 | You save: PS5.00 (31%) Pre-order. | Due for release on 10/03/2008 Special Features  Including Time Crash! and Christmas ConfidentialReview  The latest Doctor Who Christmas Special star Kylie Minogue alongside David Tennant!When the Doctor's tardis crash lands on the Titanic he discovers a plot to destroy the human race... Can he save the world again? (yes)

  
  

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• TDP 44: RESET Torchwood 2.6

  22 February 2008 (7:31am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 14 minutes and 26 seconds

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  "Reset" is the sixth episode of the second series of British science fiction television series Torchwood, which was broadcast by BBC Three on 13 February 2008, right after the broadcast of "Adam" on BBC Two.[1] This episode featured Doctor Who companion Martha Jones in the first of three episodes. Contents1 Synopsis 2 Cast3 Continuity4 Production5 References6 External links //&lt;![CDATA[ if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = &quot;show&quot;; var tocHideText = &quot;hide&quot;; showTocToggle(); } //]]&gt; Synopsis A series of seemingly professional murders in Cardiff prompts Jack to call in UNIT medical specialist Martha Jones for help. She informs him that there have been similar murders throughout the UK. Both Owen and Jack flirt with Martha, causing Gwen to show some jealousy, though she and Martha end up clicking together as great friends. Jack is more open and light- hearted when Martha arrives, dropping hints about their travels with the Doctor. They discover that one of the victims had been cured of diabetes and another of HIV. With this information they trace the killings back to a medical centre named The Pharm. One woman had been attacked but survived and was in a hospital. She has a seizure after admittance and fly-like creatures rise out of her mouth and try to enter Owen and Martha, but die before they get the chance. Martha has no choice but to go undercover as Samantha, a hepatitis sufferer, in order to investigate the centre's real purpose. While there, she discovers that The Pharm is responsible for the drug "Reset" which is what cured the previously incurable diseases. But the problem with Reset is that it works by releasing alien parasites, called Mayflies, into the human bloodstream - the Mayfly larvae proceed to "reset" the human body, eliminating even incurable diseases such as HIV. The downside to the drug is that the Mayfly larvae eventually hatch and eat the person from the inside. Martha is caught snooping around the mayfly laboratories and the medical director examines her and states that her white blood cells have mutated due to "travel in time and space'. He is curious to see how her immune system will react to Reset and injects her with it.When Torchwood catches the Pharm-hired assassin who is carrying out the murders, they find that he has a mayfly in him as well, after Owen tries to use alien technology to get it out of him. He screws up and the fly busts out of the assassin's stomach instead. They use the body to get into the Pharm, and Owen and Jack find the medical director and Martha while Ianto, Gwen and Tosh find 'research labs' where alien life-forms are being held captive. The larvae in Martha have killed each other off until only one is left, and Owen manages to use the alien gun to extract it from her safely. He, Martha and Jack meet up with the other three by the Torchwood van and shut down the Pharm. The medical director corners them with a gun and points it at Martha, asking if they really believed he would just step aside and let them get away with that. Owen steps in front of Martha and tries to reason with the man, whom he had formerly respected. He says that they are both rational men, but the medical director shoots him anyway. Jack then shoots him as Martha tries to treat Owen back. After she injects him near the heart, a look of peace comes over Owen's face, and the next second Martha, in tears, says 'He's dead.' Cast Captain Jack Harkness -- John BarrowmanGwen Cooper -- Eve MylesOwen Harper -- Burn GormanToshiko Sato -- Naoko MoriIanto Jones -- Gareth David-LloydMartha Jones -- Freema AgyemanAaron Copley -- Alan DalePlummer -- Jacqueline BoatswainMarie -- Jan AndersonBilly -- Rhodri MilesMike -- Michael SewellPoliceman -- John Samuel WorseyWeevil -- Paul Kasey (uncredited) Cast Notes Freema Agyeman has been added to the opening credits as of this episode. Continuity The same newspaper showing Margaret Blaine as the new mayor of Cardiff, as seen in "Boom Town", is attached to the door as Martha Jones enters the Torchwood reception.A variation of Martha's Theme, composed by Murray Gold for Doctor Who, appears as the character's motif.Several references are made to Martha's previous adventures with Jack in Doctor Who, including working under the same Doctor; "the end of the world"; and Jack's recent bad experience with a politician. Jack comments that he relied on Martha to save the world.Martha has earned her medical degree, and is a member of UNIT. It is hinted that Martha became a member of UNIT under the recommendation of the Doctor.The episode shares themes with the spin-off novel Slow Decay (specifically, aliens being used by human doctors for medical purposes).While undercover at the Pharm, Martha uses the name "Samantha Jones". A different Samantha Jones was the Eighth Doctor's first companion in the Eighth Doctor Adventures.Martha states her family are still recovering after the events in "Last of the Time Lords". Production The song "Feel Good Inc." by Gorillaz plays as Martha and Owen study the Mayfly. Also, the song Freakin' Out by Graham Coxon plays in the information centre as Ianto lets Martha into the hub. 19 - "Reset" Torchwood episode Owen examines the Mayfly that he extracted from the Pharm's hired killer. Writer J.C. Wilsher Director Ashley Way Script editor Brian Minchin Producer Richard Stokes Chris Chibnall (co-producer) Executive producer(s) Russell T. Davies Julie Gardner Production code 2.6 Series Series 2 Length 50 mins Originally broadcast 13 February 2008 Chronology ? Preceded by Followed by - "Adam" "Dead Man Walking" IMDb profile

  
  

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• TDP 43: ADAM Torchwood 2.5

  15 February 2008 (1:38pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 7 minutes and 21 seconds

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  Torchwood encounter an alien, Adam, who can manipulate the memories of any person he touches. He implants false memories into the team, making them believe they have known him for three years. As a side effect Gwen loses all memory of her fiance Rhys and treats him like a stalker. Adam also reveals, alters, and completely fabricates other memories. Jack is haunted by memories of his brother, Grey; Toshiko becomes more confident due to her "love" for Adam; and Owen becomes a geek with an unrequited crush on Toshiko. After Ianto discovers Adam's secret, Adam implants a belief in Ianto, accompanied by terrible memories, that he is a serial killer. Jack recognises the threat and realises that the solution is to give the team short-term amnesia pills to erase their memories of the past forty-eight hours. However he is also faced with the knowledge that if he takes the pill he will lose all memories of his father. Toshiko takes the pill knowing that she will go back to being the person who had no flat warming because she had no friends to invite, and is reluctant to let Adam go. [edit] Cast * Captain Jack Harkness -- John Barrowman * Gwen Cooper -- Eve Myles * Owen Harper -- Burn Gorman * Toshiko Sato -- Naoko Mori * Ianto Jones -- Gareth David-Lloyd * Rhys Williams -- Kai Owen * Adam -- Bryan Dick * Weevil -- Paul Kasey * Jack's Father -- Demetri Goritsas * Jack's Mother -- Lauren Ward * Young Jack -- Jack Montgomery * Gray -- Ethan Brooke * Young Adam -- Rhys Myers * Youth -- Lloyd Everitt * Weevil -- Paul Kasey * Dead woman -- Jo McLaren [edit] Continuity * The opening montage features the Dalek-enhanced Thompson submachine guns created for "Evolution of the Daleks". * The Boeshane Peninsula, first mentioned in "Last of the Time Lords", is depicted here; and reference is made to the creatures who attacked Jack's family, first mentioned in "Captain Jack Harkness", and to Jack's loss of his brother Gray (first mentioned in "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang") during the attack. * Ianto remembers falling in love with Lisa, a character seen in the episode "Cyberwoman". * Adam states he used to reside in the The Void, the nothingness between dimensions. * During flashbacks to Jack's childhood, we never hear his name being said so his true name is never revealed

  
  

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• TDP 42: Meat, Special Stuff? Torchwood 2.4

  7 February 2008 (3:12pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 6 minutes and 37 seconds

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  17 - "Meat" Torchwood episode The ever growing alien provides a seemingly unlimited supply of meat. Writer Catherine Tregenna Director Colin Teague Script editor Brian Minchin Producer Richard Stokes Chris Chibnall (co-producer) Executive producer(s) Russell T. Davies Julie Gardner Production code 2.4 Series Series 2 Length 50 mins Originally broadcast 6 February 2008 Chronology ? Preceded by Followed by - "To the Last Man" "Adam" IMDb profile "Meat" is the fourth episode of the second series of British science fiction television series Torchwood, which was broadcast by BBC Two on 6 February 2008.[1] Contents [hide] 1 Plot2 Cast3 Continuity4 Outside references5 References6 External links //&amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = &amp;amp;quot;show&amp;amp;quot;; var tocHideText = &amp;amp;quot;hide&amp;amp;quot;; showTocToggle(); } //]]&amp;amp;gt; [edit] Plot Rhys Williams is out driving when he is telephoned by a work mate to inform him that one of their firm's lorries has crashed. He drives to the site of the crash and see that one of his employees and friend has died. Torchwood appears on the scene and Rhys spots Gwen. The Torchwood team confiscates the meat that the lorry was transporting when they suspect it of being alien. Gwen recognises the lorry as one from Rhys' firm. Back at the hub Toshiko rings Rhys' office for information pretending to be the police. At home Rhys texts Gwen asking for her to come home. He attempts to get her to confess to being at the crash site but she is evasive. He sees Gwen meeting up with Jack near the lift in Roald Dahl Plas and follows her to a factory. While there he is captured by a group of men and taken into the factory. Jack and Gwen see this and mistake his actions for collabaration. The men show Rhys that they have captured a live large creature which is the source of the meat and which continues to grow despite them cutting chunks of its flesh away while it is still alive. He agrees to join them. Back at their flat Rhys and Gwen argue over her being at the crash and Gwen admits to the nature of her work for Torchwood. Rhys is disbeliving till she shows him around the Hub. With Rhys' help the team manages to inflitrate the factory so they can free the alien creature. The team hides in one of Rhys' vans and Rhys drives them to the factory where the team sneaks in. They locate the creature and plan to stun gun the men and sedate it so they can move it back to the hub till the Rift reopens. They confirm that the creature is sentient, but the men discover them and in the fights Rhys is shot. The creature becomes distressed and Owen has no other option but to euthanise it when it poses a threat to them by struggling. They are able to stun the men and feed them amnesia pills. Back at the Hub Owen patches up Rhys' wound and Jack orders Gwen to give Rhys a pill too. She finds that she cannot bring herself to do so and Jack relents, disappointed about this. [edit] Cast Captain Jack Harkness -- John BarrowmanGwen Cooper -- Eve MylesOwen Harper -- Burn GormanToshiko Sato -- Naoko MoriIanto Jones -- Gareth David-LloydRhys Williams -- Kai OwenPoliceman -- Colin BaxterRuth -- Patti ClareVic -- Garry LakeGreg -- Gerard CareyDale -- Matt Ryan [edit] Continuity The Pterodactyl makes a brief appearance in this episode, its first of this series. [edit] Outside references When it is suggested that the team drive into the meat factory hidden in the back of a van, Gwen derisively replies "What is this, Scooby-Doo?", referencing the children's TV series. Early reviews of Torchwood detractingly compared it to Scooby-Doo.[2]Ianto quips "Listen to Ahab", a reference to the Whaler captain who was obsessed with a white whale, in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick.When Toshiko mentions that the creature could have enough meat to feed the world, Ianto jokes that they could release a single. [edit] References ^ BBC - Press Office (17 January 2008). "Week 6". Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-06.^ "Metro Life, TV guide, Pick of the Day: Torchwood, BBC2, 9pm", Metro, Associated Newspapers, 2008-01-16, p. 28. Retrieved on 2008-01-16.

  
  

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• Classic Series actor passes away.

  7 February 2008 (2:31pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 seconds

  Kevin Stoney Classic Series actor passes away. Kevin Stoney, the acclaimed actor who portrayed two of the greatest villains in the original series of Doctor Who, has died at the age of 86. Stoney first appeared in Doctor Who as Guardian of the Solar System Mavic Chen, confronting William Hartnell's Doctor in the 1965 story The Daleks' Master Plan. Three year's later, he returned to battle Patrick Troughton as Tobias Vaughn in the Cyberman epic The Invasion. Stoney's last contribution to Doctor Who came in 1975, playing the Vogan Tyrum in Revenge of the Cybermen. The actor was also well known for roles in such classic series as Blake's 7, I, Claudius and The Tomorrow People.

  
  

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• TDP 41: To the Last Man Torchwood 2.3

  1 February 2008 (1:10pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 8 minutes and 23 seconds

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  To the Last Man (Torchwood)Jump to: navigation, search15 - "To the Last Man"Torchwood episodeWriter     Helen RaynorDirector     Andy GoddardScript editor     Brian MinchinProducer     Richard StokesChris Chibnall (co-producer)Executive producer(s)     Russell T. DaviesJulie GardnerProduction code     2.3Series     Series 2Length     50 minsOriginally broadcast     30 January 2008Chronology? Preceded by     Followed by -"Sleeper"     "Meat"IMDb profile"To the Last Man" is the third episode of the second series of British science fiction television series Torchwood, which was broadcast by BBC Two on 30 January 2008.[1]Contents[hide]    * 1 Plot    * 2 Cast          o 2.1 Cast notes    * 3 Production    * 4 Continuity    * 5 Errors    * 6 References    * 7 External links[edit] PlotA time rift is causing 1918 and 2008 to bleed together. Tommy Brockless, a young First World War soldier shell-shocked from his experience in the trenches, is the key to "stitching" the hole in time. He is abducted by Torchwood in 1918, and held in cryogenic storage until the time comes for him to save the world. He is awoken for one day each year for a medical check-up, meaning he experiences the 90 year period of his freezing as around three months.Toshiko becomes infatuated with him, and the two share a brief and doomed romance. Owen, noticing this and having experienced something similar (cf. "Out of Time"), warns Tosh about the eventuality of saying goodbye. Jack and Ianto discuss Jack's own displacement in time, revealing (in an inordinate number of words) that Jack does love Ianto in a way, and it culminates in a very sexy kiss.However, with a rift opening in time, and with the apocalyptic threat of the years 1918 and 2008 colliding, Tommy must return to 1918 to seal the rift, never to see Toshiko again. However, history records that Tommy will be sent back to the western front, and break down again, resulting in his execution for 'cowardice'.The writer has used this episode to draw attention to the British army's slow appreciation and recognition of the psychological trauma inflicted by the First World War, classing many shell-shocked soldiers as cowards.[edit] Cast    * Captain Jack Harkness -- John Barrowman    * Gwen Cooper -- Eve Myles    * Owen Harper -- Burn Gorman    * Toshiko Sato -- Naoko Mori    * Ianto Jones -- Gareth David-Lloyd    * Tommy Brockless -- Anthony Lewis    * Gerald Carter -- Roderic Culver    * Harriet Derbyshire -- Siobhan Hewlett    * Nurse -- Lizzie Rogan    * Foreman -- Ricky Fearon[edit] Cast notes    * Although credited, Kai Owen does not appear as Gwen's fiance Rhys Williams.[edit] ProductionThe title of - and dialogue within - the episode is a reference to Field Marshal Douglas Haig's Order of the Day on 11 April 1918, in response to the German Spring Offensive: "There is no other course open to us but to fight it out. Every position must be held to the last man: there must be no retirement. With our backs to the wall and believing in the justice of our cause each one of us must fight on to the end."[2]"Tommy Atkins" or simply "Tommy" was a common slang term for a British soldier, possibly dating back to the 18th Century, but is particularly associated with the First World War.The song "One Of These Mornings" by Moby plays towards the start and at the end of this episode. The song "She's Got You High" by Mumm-Ra plays in the pub as Toshiko and Tommy play pool.News 24 stock footage is used to depict the Iraq War, again with the BBC logo omitted as it has been in Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures episodes and in more recent Doctor Who episodes when news reports have been included as part of the story.[edit] Continuity    * Tommy remarks on how ridiculous it is that he has to save the world in his pyjamas. The Doctor does just that in the Doctor Who episode "The Christmas Invasion", which in turn is a reference to Arthur Dent.    * Tommy is described by the phrase '(a) stitch in time', this is used as the name for Bilis Manger's antique shop in the series 1 episode End of days. Curiously, Manger has the ability to travel through time, whilst Tommy, now in possession of a rift manipulator, can presumably do the same.    * Jack Harkness's suggestion that "more than 300" shell shocked British soldiers were executed is false. Total British military executions numbered 346, of which 40 were for murder, treason, or mutiny. The remaining 306 were for desertion, cowardice, and other offences, and while many can now be attributed to shell shock, many cannot, although all 306 were posthumously pardoned in 2006.[edit] Errors    * Tommy incorrectly describes himself as a "private officer," a non-existent rank or designation; the correct term is "private soldier" or simply "private."    * Toshiko drops her bag when Tommy carrys her up on the pier, then in the same scene the bag is back on Toshiko's shoulder.[edit] References   1. ^ BBC - Press Office (17 January 2008). "Week 5". Press release. Retrieved on 2006-01-23.   2. ^ Schools History: Special order of the Day - The First World War - April 1918[edit] External links    * Torchwood at bbc.co.uk    * Episode Guide at Unreality PrimetimeThis Doctor Who-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.     

  
  

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• TDP 40: The Time Meddler

  31 January 2008 (1:00pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 8 minutes and 11 seconds

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  Special Features  Commentary Verity Lambert Obituary Photo Gallery Subtitle Production Notes Subtitles pdf files of Radio Times billings "The Lost Twelve Seconds" - 12 lost seconds recreated using off-air audio recording and the script Stripped for action - a look at the first Doctor's comic strip adventures Restoration featurette The TARDIS arrives on an English coastline in the year 1066. Exploring, the Doctor discovers that one of his own people, the Monk, is conspiring to wipe out the Viking fleet and thus allow King Harold to face the forces of William of Normandy with a fresh army at the Battle of Hastings. The Doctor succeeds in thwarting the Monk's plans and leaves him trapped in England. Synopsis The Doctor, Vicki, and new companion Steven Taylor arrive in Saxon Northumbria on the eve of the Viking and Norman invasions. It is 1066, a pivotal moment in British history, and the hand of a mysterious Monk is at work in the nearby monastery. The Monk is actually a time/space traveller from the same planet as the Doctor, and is attempting historical alterations. The Doctor prevents this and traps the Monk in 1066 by removing a critical component of his TARDIS. Plot The First Doctor and Vicki are surprised to find Steven Taylor aboard the TARDIS. In a disorientated state on Mechanus, he stumbled aboard the ship and has stowed away. They are grateful he survived the collapse of the Mechanoid city and help nurse him back to health, but when the TARDIS lands on a rocky beach and they all step outside Steven takes some convincing that the TARDIS has really been able to travel in space and time. They have in fact arrived in 1066 on the coast of Northumbria, and their arrival has been witnessed by a Monk who does not seem fazed by the materialisation. The TARDIS is soon after spotted by a Saxon villager called Eldred who runs to tell the headman of his village, Wulnoth, about it. The Doctor establishes the century from a discarded Viking helmet and heads off to the village while Steven and Vicki explore the cliffs above. The Doctor encounters Edith, Wulnoth's wife, and convinces her he is a harmless traveller while probing her for more information. He soon finds out it is 1066, since Harold Godwinson is on the throne and has not yet faced Harold Hardrada at Stamford Bridge let alone William the Conqueror in the Battle of Hastings. He then turns his attention to the nearby monastery, at which monks are chanting despite only one of them ever being seen, especially after the chanting seems to slow down as if played back from a recording at the wrong speed. He determines to visit the building. When he gets there the Monk lets him in without revealing himself and then allows the Doctor to prowl around. He finds a gramophone playing the monastic chanting, and the Monk also has modern conveniences such as a toaster and a manufactured teapot. The Monk soon has the upper hand and manages to trap the Doctor in a makeshift cell. Steven and Vicki have meanwhile encountered Eldred and noticed his possession of a wristwatch that the Monk dropped earlier. They spend the night in a clearing and the next morning head off back to the TARDIS, little realising Wulnoth has overheard them. Within minutes they are ambushed by the Saxons and taken to the village council. After a heated discussion they convince Wulnoth they are but travellers and are given some provisions to travel on, though Vicki is equally heartened to hear from Edith that the Doctor passed by her hut on his way to the monastery. Steven and Vicki decide to visit the monastery next to try and find their missing friend. The Monk tries to dissuade them from entering but gives himself away deliberately by describing the Doctor too accurately, and so Steven and Vicki decide he must be a prisoner inside the monastery. They decide to break in after dark, which delights the Monk as he prepares the same trap for them that caught the Doctor. The Monk has meanwhile been surveying the seas with binoculars and is pleased to finally sight a Viking ship on the horizon. Soon the Vikings land and two small groups are sent to search the area, with one group of three heading toward the Saxon village. One of the Vikings finds and attacks Edith, leaving her traumatised, and in response some of the Saxons go hunting for the invaders. The three Vikings are drunk when they are found and the giant that attacked Edith is cut down, though his companions Sven and Ulf manage to flee. Eldred too has been badly wounded and Wulnoth takes him to the monastery for help. At the Monk's lair Steven and Vicki have stolen in under cover of darkness. They too find the gramophone and are stunned. The Monk has his trap prepared but cannot spring it due to the arrival at the door of Wulnoth and the injured Eldred, whom Wulnoth insists be taken into the Monk's care. Steven and Vicki have meanwhile found the cell empty bar the Doctor's cloak and they then manage to leave the monastery via a secret passage. The Doctor has actually taken the same passage himself and returns to Edith in the Saxon village. He soon hears of the Viking invasion scouting party and, upon leaving Edith's house, decides to head back to the monastery to track down Steven and Vicki, having learned they have gone there. Steven and Vicki have meanwhile found to their dismay that the TARDIS has been submerged beneath the incoming tide. Afraid that the Doctor may have had to leave in it, they resolve to check for him at the monastery anyway, especially after they discover an atomic bazooka trained out to sea from the clifftop near where the TARDIS was. The Monk is intent on using the Vikings for his own ends and, once Wulnoth has departed his monastery, produces an elaborate checklist that builds to a meeting with King Harold himself. There is another knock at the monastery door and this time it is the Doctor who has the upper hand when the door is answered. Fooled into thinking he is being held at gunpoint, the Monk is marched back inside and is about to answer a few questions when there is yet another knock at the door. When the Doctor and Monk answer, they are overpowered by the two Vikings, Sven and Ulf. In the ensuing confrontation the Monk is able to slip away, leaving the Doctor as the Viking prisoner. It is a state of play that does not last long. The Doctor knocks out Sven and elsewhere the Monk does the same to Ulf and securely ties him up. The Monk uses his freedom to persuade the villagers to light beacon fires on the cliff tops, lying that he is expecting materials by sea to enhance the monastery, when in fact he wishes to lure the Viking fleet to land nearby. Wulnoth says he will light the fires, but does not do so as he realises the danger. Steven and Vicki return to the monastery via the secret passage and investigate the crypt, where a heavy power cable emanates from a sarcophagus. When they look inside, they discover that it is a TARDIS of the Monk's very own - he must come from the same place as the Doctor (though the term Time Lord is not used). The Monk has meanwhile returned to the monastery and is once more under the Doctor's control. He reveals his plan is not to help the Vikings but to lure them to the coast where he hoped to destroy the invasion fleet with atomic bazookas. This would prevent the Viking invasion and thereby shore up King Harold to such an extent he would not then lose the Battle of Hastings. In short, the Monk is a Time Meddler who left his and the Doctor's own planet some fifty years after the Doctor himself. Steven and Vicki have found further evidence of his meddling in his TARDIS: a journal recording his meeting with Leonardo da Vinci to discuss powered flight, providing anti-gravitational discs to help the ancient Celts build Stonehenge, and using time travel to collect a fortune in compound interest from a bank. The Doctor denounces the Monk for seeking to alter history and forces him to reveal his TARDIS, where they find Steven and Vicki. Together the time travellers piece together the Monk's immoral plot, which the Monk insists is intended to stabilise England and benefit Western civilisation. The Vikings have meanwhile freed themselves from their bonds and decide to avenge themselves on the monks who have imprisoned them. Eldred spots them and, despite his injuries, flees to the village where he raises Wulnoth and a squad of Saxons to deal with the marauders. At the monastery the tables have turned. Ulf and Sven have formed a contrived alliance with the Monk and have tied up the Doctor's party while the three of them take the bazooka shells down to the cannon on the beach. The scheme is foiled however when the Saxons arrive and engage the fleeing Vikings in a nearby clearing, presumably killing Sven and Ulf in battle. The Monk hides while this fighting rages, little knowing that the Doctor and his friends have been freed and are tampering with his TARDIS. With his scheme in ruins, the Monk decides to leave and returns his TARDIS, though the Doctor has gone and left a note assuring the Monk his meddling days are ended. When the Monk looks inside his TARDIS he realises the Doctor has taken the dimensional control and the interior of his ship has shrunk beyond use, leaving him stranded in 1066 with an angry band of Saxons nearby. The tide having gone out, the Doctor and his friends are free to leave this primitive time in their TARDIS, and journey onward to the stars. Cast Dr. Who -- William HartnellVicki -- Maureen O'BrienSteven -- Peter PurvesMonk -- Peter ButterworthEdith -- Alethea CharltonEldred -- Peter RussellWulnoth -- Michael MillerSaxon Hunter -- Michael GuestViking Leader -- Geoffrey CheshireUlf -- Norman HartleySven -- David AndersonGunnar the Giant -- Ronald Rich Cast notes Features a guest appearance by Peter Butterworth - see also Celebrity appearances in Doctor Who.William Hartnell does not appear in episode 2 as he was on holiday. A pre-taped recording of his voice is played when the Doctor is locked in a cell. Continuity Vicki and the Doctor discuss Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright's departure as seen in The Chase and the Doctor refers to Susan's departure as seen in The Dalek Invasion of Earth. The Doctor later misses Barbara's knowledge of history.Vicki reveals she would like to return to New York after seeing it briefly from the Empire State Building during the events of The Chase. The Doctor, and the Daleks, would return to New York and the Empire State Building onscreen, but without Vicki in the two-part story "Daleks in Manhattan" and "Evolution of the Daleks".The Time Meddler is the first example of what is known in Doctor Who as the 'pseudo-historical' story, which is one that uses the past as a setting for a science fiction story, as opposed to the pure historical stories, which are set in the past but have no science-fictional elements attached to them besides the presence of the regular characters.This is also the first time we meet another member of the Doctor's race (although they are not yet identified as Time Lords), from a time 50 years after the Doctor left his homeworld (which is not named in this story). The spin-off novels, which are of debatable canonicity, establish that the Monk and the Doctor attended the Academy as schoolmates.As the Monk has his own craft much like the Doctor's, and it is referred to by the same name, this story appears to contradict Susan's original claim to have invented the name 'TARDIS' from the craft's initials (in An Unearthly Child episode one). All future references likewise seem to belie Susan's claim.For that matter, this is the first story in which the acronym TARDIS is said to stand for "Time and Relative Dimensions in Space", rather than the singular 'Dimension' as had been used in An Unearthly Child. This was an error made by Maureen O'Brien during recording, but was retained throughout much of the series' history, with occasional exceptions. The original 'Dimension' was firmly re-established in the first episode of the revived 2005 series, "Rose" and so far maintained thereafter.The Monk's name, as given in later novels - Mortimus - is not revealed in this story. He is simply The Monk, The Meddling Monk or the titular Time Meddler. The canonicity of non-broadcast stories is unclear. The character would make one return appearance on televsion, however, in the epic The Daleks' Master Plan. Production The working title for this story was The Monk.The four episodes of the serial had individual titles. They were, respectively, "The Watcher", "The Meddling Monk", "A Battle of Wits", and "Checkmate".During production of this story, new producer John Wiles began taking over production duties.William Hartnell, displeased at the number of changes undergoing the production, play-acted throwing a temper tantrum during the rehearsal of this story.Episodes one, three, and four were reported missing from the BBC Film and Videotape Library following an audit in 1978 (see Doctor Who missing episodes). Edited telerecordings of all four episodes were returned to the BBC from Nigeria in 1985, and complete copies of episodes one and three were returned in 1992. A short sequence from episode four remains missing from the otherwise complete print of all four episodes; the announced 2008 Region 2 DVD release is scheduled to include a recreation of this missing sequence, which was removed by censors and runs 12 seconds in duration, depicting an act of violence.[1] In print Doctor Who book The Time Meddler Series Target novelisations Release number 126 Writer Nigel Robinson Publisher Target Books Cover artist Jeff Cummins ISBN 0 491 03337 0 Release date 15th October 1987 (Hardback) March 1988 (Paperback) Preceded by Terror of the Vervoids Followed by The Mysterious Planet A novelisation of this serial, written by Nigel Robinson, was published by Target Books in October 1987. Broadcast,VHS and DVD releases This story was repeated on BBC2 in 1992.It was released on VHS in November 2002.It will be released on Region 2 DVD in the United Kingdom on February 4, 2008.

  
  

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• TDP 39: Sleeper Torchwood 2.2

  25 January 2008 (2:09pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 7 minutes and 7 seconds

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  Plot Two burglars break into a flat owned by a woman called Beth and her boyfriend. There's a struggle, a flash of light and soon Torchwood are on the scene investigating the grisly fate suffered by the burglars. Beth cannot remember events and is taken into custody by Torchwood, who suspect she is not of this earth. When they take her to a cell, she passes a Weevil and it cowers in her presence. Captain Jack, after flirting with Ianto, decides to take drastic measures and subject Beth to a mind probe. Despite no initial reaction, the probe eventually uncovers alien technology buried under the skin of her right forearm. It emerges that she is an alien 'sleeper agent', yet to be activated and oblivious to its real identity having been given memory implants. Around Cardiff, other sleeper agents are suddenly activated, with their right arms transforming into bayonet-like weapons. They carry out a series of suicide bombings at key locations, paving the way for their leader - a former doting husband - to head for a base containing nuclear warheads. Beth manages to escape and is found with her ailing husband in hospital. She is struggling to keep her human identity and instinctively stabs him in his bed. Captain Jack manages to track down the leading sleeper agent to the base moments before he can detonate the nuclear weapons. Jack is stabbed in the process and the agent warns him that there are others of his kind. Back at Torchwood, Beth turns the gun on Gwen, forcing the others to shoot and kill her. Gwen believes that Beth knew this would be the case and wanted to be killed. [edit] Cast Captain Jack Harkness -- John BarrowmanGwen Cooper -- Eve MylesOwen Harper -- Burn GormanToshiko Sato -- Naoko MoriIanto Jones -- Gareth David-LloydJanet the Weevil -- Paul KaseyBeth Halloran[2] -- Nikki Amuka-BirdMike Halloran -- Dyfed Potter  Cast notes Although credited, Kai Owen does not appear as Gwen's fiance Rhys Williams. Outside references Owen calls Gwen "Jessica Fletcher", the lead character from television series Murder, She Wrote.

  
  

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• TDP 38: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Torchwood 2.1

  19 January 2008 (2:40pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 9 minutes and 2 seconds

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  Synopsis Captain Jack returns, as the Torchwood team reunite to fight a rogue Time Agent. The mysterious Captain John Hart, Captain Jack's old partner in more ways than one, is determined to wreak havoc, and needs to find something hidden on Earth. But with Gwen's life in danger, and cluster bombs scattered across the city, whose side is Jack on? [2] [edit] Plot At night, a red sports car races through Cardiff, driven by an alien Blowfish. At a crossing, he stops to let an old lady cross the street. The Torchwood van stops and asks the lady if she saw the Blowfish. She points them in the right direction. The team catch up with the blowfish and shoot the tyres, forcing him to leave the car. He flees into a home where he shoots a resident and holds another hostage. The team hold him at gunpoint and the Blowfish dares Ianto to shoot him, but Ianto hesitates. A shot is heard, killing the Blowfish. When Ianto turns around, he sees Jack, who fired the shot. He greets the team with the words, "Did you miss me?" When they return to Torchwood, the team want to know where Jack has gone, but he once again keeps them in the dark. He only tells them that he has seen the right doctor. When asked by Ianto why he returned he says he "came back for you (Ianto)", but then widens this statement to include the whole team. He takes Gwen to the side to tell her he has seen the end of the world. He then shows signs of having fallen for Gwen, and jealousy when he realises Gwen is going to marry Rhys because "nobody else would have her", but he covers this up by saying they should go "back to work". Tosh notices that there has been Rift activity. Meanwhile, a man, Captain John Hart, walks through the Rift at the top floor of a multi-storey car park. He notices a man is held at knife-point, and intervenes by grabbing the mugger's throat and holding him over the edge. The man pleads with Hart to stop, but he says "no" and drops him to his death. Hart then turns to the victim and tells him that he was never here, and to go. Hart then goes to a nightclub and tells everyone to leave by pulling out two side-arms in front of a bouncer, causing everyone to panic and ran out. Torchwood Three sees the body of the dead mugger on the street and Tosh notices traces of Rift energy from his neck. Jack then gets a message on his wrist device, where a hologram appears of Hart telling him to come to the nightclub, alone. He does, but the rest of his team follow him in a taxi. When Jack arrives in the club, he and Hart approach each other and kiss, but then proceed to fight. They then stop for a drink. Hart tells him that the Time Agency is gone, and that he has been to several rehabs for drink, drugs, sex and murder. Hart sees the others and realises that Jack has a new team now, called Torchwood. Jack explains that Hart was his partner. Hart also tells the rest of the team more about Jack than Jack himself said. He then asks the question "What are you doing here?" He then says that it was about time he would ask the question. They enter Torchwood Three station and John is checked for weapons. He has many, including several concealed knives and pistols, detected by Gwen. Hart says that there are several deadly radiation cluster bombs scattered all over Cardiff that could endanger everyone on Earth. Tosh finds the locations of three bombs all over the city. Gwen organises the team to go searching for the bombs in teams of two; Jack and Ianto, Owen and Tosh, and Gwen and Hart. Jack has problems with this and talks to Gwen alone. Gwen explains that she could get to know Hart better and to learn what he is really up to. Jack agrees and gives Gwen three rules on how to handle Hart: she should keep him in front of her at all times, she should never trust him and she should not let him kiss her. The teams splits up and Gwen and Hart are in the container docks. After some flirting from Hart, they find a cluster bomb in a container. However, once Gwen has it, Hart kisses her. Gwen realises that he has paralysed her with the kiss. Hart throws away her phone and tells Gwen she has two hours before her organs shut down and she dies. He then runs away. Meanwhile, Owen and Tosh are in an abandoned building and find the bomb, but Hart arrives, knocks out Tosh and shoots Owen in the leg. Jack and Ianto are in an office building searching for the other bomb, where Jack asks Ianto out on a date. He explains that John Hart is someone reminding him of his past and wants to be done with him. Ianto accepts. They then split up, while Jack goes to the roof. Ianto hears a noise and then realises it is Hart, holding him at gunpoint. Hart tells Ianto that Owen and Gwen are in trouble and he gets him to run to rescue them. Jack finds the last cluster bomb and is confronted by Hart again. Hart wants the cluster bomb, but Jack refuses. Hart wants Jack to join him running the Galaxy. Jack admits he isn't tempted, and throws the bomb over the edge. Hart then pushes Jack off the roof to another of his "deaths". Hart gets the remaining bomb and tells the "dead" Jack that rehab never worked. He then goes back to Torchwood Three. Ianto goes to Owen and helps Tosh dress his wound. They then go to the docks and eventually find Gwen just in time and inject her with an anti-toxin. At dawn, Hart goes to the corpse of the Blowfish, who worked for him, and takes out a small pyramid shaped object. He is then suprised to see the rest of the team, holding him at gunpoint, and realises that Jack is immortal. Hart then tells the truth; there are no cluster bombs. He was looking for a diamond that belonged to a lover of his once, but he killed her. The "bombs" are actually a device that would lead him to the location of the diamond. However, the woman's hologram says there is no diamond. A device shoots into Hart's chest, and the hologram explains that the device is a bomb that locks into the DNA of whoever killed her and it can't be removed. There are ten minutes until the bomb goes off, but Hart cuffs himself to Gwen. She has a plan that could kill her. Tosh says that the Rift is still open from Hart's arrival. Gwen takes Hart there, but Jack and Owen stay behind and quickly work on a solution. They arrive at the car park, quickly followed by Jack and Owen, who inject Hart with the DNA of all Torchwood members, which will temporarily confuse the bomb. The bomb releases itself and they throw it through the Rift. Just as it explodes, they are shifted back in time to the same moment Hart arrived. Hart, impressed, agrees to let Gwen go and reluctantly agrees to go back home. Before he disappears, he says, "By the way, I found Gray". Jack, shocked, is asked who or what "Gray" is. He just says that it's nothing. [edit] Cast Captain Jack Harkness -- John BarrowmanGwen Cooper -- Eve MylesOwen Harper -- Burn GormanToshiko Sato -- Naoko MoriIanto Jones -- Gareth David-LloydCaptain John Hart -- James MarstersRhys Williams -- Kai OwenPC Andy Davidson -- Tom Price (uncredited)Elspeth Morgan[3] -- Menna TrusslerBlowfish -- Paul KaseyMugger -- Crispin LayfieldVictim -- Nathan RyanHologram Woman -- Inika Leigh WrightMiss Styles[4] -- Sarah Whyte [edit] Continuity This episode features the first Time Agent to be seen since Jack's introduction in the Doctor Who episode "The Empty Child". Time Agents were first mentioned in the 1977 Doctor Who serial The Talons of Weng-Chiang. The Time Agency is revealed no longer to exist by Captain John, who invites Jack to join him "back in the old routine" as they would "be Emperors".Captain John's "lover," who appears in the puzzle-box hologram, is said by John to have owned an Arcadian diamond. The planet Arcadia was last mentioned by the Tenth Doctor in the Doctor Who episode "Doomsday", and first appeared in the Virgin New Adventures novel Deceit.A "Missing" poster[5] on the Torchwood website suggests that Jack went missing in February, indicating Jack has been missing for some time before his return.When John handcuffs himself to Gwen, he refers to the cuffs being "deadlock sealed", a term used in Doctor Who to mean something cannot be unlocked by sonic screwdriver. (Torchwood Three possess a lockpick with a similar functionality to the screwdriver.) Captain Jack returns, as the Torchwood team reunite to fight a rogue Time Agent. The mysterious Captain John Hart is determined to wreak havoc, and needs to find something hidden on Earth. But with Gwen's life in danger, and cluster bombs scattered across the city, whose side is Jack on?

  
  

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• TDP 37 Seadevils, silurians and Mat. Oh my!

  9 January 2008 (3:03pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 24 minutes and 36 seconds

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   Doctor Who And The Silurians: Summoned by the Brigadier to an underground research centre at Wenley Moor, the Doctor and Liz Shaw learn from its director, Dr Lawrence, that work on a new type of nuclear reactor is being hampered by inexplicable power losses and by an unusually high incidence of stress-related illness amongst staff. Investigating a nearby cave system, the Doctor discovers it is the base of a group of intelligent reptiles, termed Silurians, who went into hibernation millions of years ago but have now been revived by power from the research centre. The Doctor strives for peace between reptiles and humans and manages to gain the trust of the old Silurian leader, but then a rebellious young Silurian seizes power and releases a deadly virus that threatens to wipe out humanity. The Doctor finds an antidote, but the Silurians retaliate by taking over the research centre and preparing to destroy the Van Allen Belt, a natural barrier shielding the Earth from solar radiation harmful to humans but beneficial to reptiles...The Sea Devils: The Doctor and Jo visit the Master in his high-security prison on an island off the south coast of England and hear from the governor, Colonel Trenchard, that ships have been mysteriously disappearing at sea. Investigating, the Doctor learns from Captain Hart, commander of a nearby Naval base, that the sinkings have centred around an abandoned sea fort. He and Jo then visit the fort and are attacked by what one of the men there terms a Sea Devil - an amphibious breed of the prehistoric creatures encountered by the Doctor shortly after his exile to Earth.The Master, aided by a misguided Trenchard, is stealing equipment from the Naval base in order to build a machine to revive the Sea Devils from hibernation. The Doctor takes a diving bell down to the Sea Devils' underwater base to try to encourage peace...Warriors Of The Deep: The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough arrive at an underwater Sea Base on Earth, where a scientific and military team led by Commander Vorshak are monitoring a rival power bloc. The team undergo regular missile launch test sequences to ensure that they are ready at all times to combat an attack. Three Silurians led by Icthar - the surviving member of a Silurian triad - revive a colony of Sea Devil Warriors in order to invade the base and use its weapons to attack the opposing power bloc, thus provoking a global war that will allow the reptiles to conquer the Earth...

  
  

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• William Hartnell - One Hundred Years

  8 January 2008 (9:29am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 seconds

  William Hartnell - One Hundred YearsSpecial EventsJanuary 8, 2008  *  Posted By Shaun LyonWilliam Hartnell, the actor who originated the role of the Doctor in the 1960s, playing the first incarnation of the character for BBC Television from 1963 to 1966, was born exactly 100 years ago today. For many of the original Doctor Who fans who were children in the 1960s, he remains the definitive Doctor. Emerging from a difficult family background about which he was later evasive, Hartnell held down a succession of short-term odd jobs before turning to acting in the 1920s. He enjoyed success as a touring repertory actor, and in the 1930s began appearing in films, particularly the "quota quickies" companies were obliged to release to fulfil their obligations to promote British film. Here Hartnell developed his talents as a light comedy actor, but it was not until the Second World War that his reputation began to flourish. After being invalided out of the army, he appeared as the sergeant in the well-received propaganda piece The Way Ahead, and this helped him to develop a reputation for such tough-guy roles that won him many major supporting parts. Of all the actors to have played the Doctor he had the most successful film career, with major roles in landmark films such as Brighton Rock, as the eponymous sergeant in Carry On Sergeant and, cast against type in a sensitive character part, in the film version of This Sporting Life. It was this role that led producer Verity Lambert to offer him the part of the Doctor. Although Hartnell was initially uncertain about it, Lambert and director Waris Hussein persuaded him to accept the part, and it became the role for which he is best remembered, making him a household name in 1960s Britain. Hartnell became incredibly attached to the role and particularly enjoyed the attention and affection it brought him from children, groups of whom would follow him around his local village. He would often happily open fetes and other functions in costume and character as the Doctor. Although ill health forced him to reluctantly relinquish the part in 1966, he remained fond of the series and in 1972, with his health rapidly deteriorating even further, battled his failing memory to film one final performance as the character in the tenth anniversary special The Three Doctors, which aired between December 30, 1972 and January 20, 1973. It was his final professional performance; he died on April 23, 1975, aged 67. In celebration of his centenary, the Plymouth Who fan group are holding an event to mark his life and work this coming Sunday, January 13 at The Astor Hotel in Plymouth. The event runs from 1pm to 5pm and features a screening of one of the most popular stories of Hartnell's era, The War Machines, which introduced Anneke Wills in the role of companion Polly. Wills will be a special guest at the event and will take part in a question-and-answer session with fans. There will also be Hartnell-themed quizzes as part of the day's festivities. For more information about the event, please see the Plymouth Who website. With thanks to Paul Hayes for the tribute.

  
  

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• TDP 36: Voyage of the Damned

  31 December 2007 (2:34pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 11 minutes and 2 seconds

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  "Voyage of the Damned" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is 71 minutes long and was broadcast on BBC One at 6:50pm on 25 December 2007. It is the third Christmas special of the revived Doctor Who series by Russell T. Davies, and the first episode to be made available for free on the internet by the BBC iPlayer service immediately after its first showing (the internet version is available in the UK only). The episode introduces a new variation on the opening and closing Doctor Who theme tune and companion Astrid Peth and is dedicated to the memory of the founding producer of Doctor Who, Verity Lambert. On its original airdate, 25 December 2007, "Voyage of the Damned" attracted 13.8 million viewers at its peak, with an overnight rating of 12.2 million viewers earning the episode 50% of the total television audience. It was the second most-watched program of the day, being beaten by the 8 p.m. episode of EastEnders. These were the highest viewing figures for Doctor Who since 1979's City of Death. Contents 1 Synopsis2 Plot3 Cast 3.1 Cast notes 4 Continuity5 Outside references6 Pre-broadcast publicity7 Reception8 References9 External links //<![CDATA[ if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = "show"; var tocHideText = "hide"; showTocToggle(); } //]]>  Synopsis This story continues from the final scene of "Last of the Time Lords" and "Time Crash", in which a luxury space cruiser called the Titanic breaches the walls of the TARDIS console room. The Doctor teams up with Titanic waitress Astrid Peth in order to fend off a new enemy called the Host.  Plot As the Doctor leaves Earth, the bow of the Titanic crashes through the TARDIS' wall. Though momentarily stunned, he quickly pushes some buttons to repair the TARDIS walls and push the ship out. The TARDIS then materialises aboard the ship. The Doctor soon learns the Titanic is a large luxury spaceship from the planet Sto, orbiting present-day Earth. He decides to stow away to enjoy the party, only confessing his unauthorized status to lively waitress Astrid Peth, who reveals her own desire to travel the stars. Astrid has found her new job disappointing, as she is not allowed off the ship to visit destination planets. The Doctor cheers her up by sneaking her onto an excursion to London via teleport, along with couple Morvin and Foon Van Hoff, and a small alien with a red head, called Bannakaffalatta. This is not a problem since London is all but deserted, an atmosphere of fear having been cultivated from the alien attacks on the previous two Christmases. Queen Elizabeth, Nicholas Witchell, and newspaper seller Wilfred Mott are among the few that remain. Ship's historian and guide Mr Copper gives the excursion party a bizarrely inaccurate explanation of human society, especially Christmas, despite the fact that he claims to be an expert on the planet. Meanwhile, on the Titanic's bridge, Captain Hardaker dismisses all the officers so they can take a break. Only one, Midshipman Frame, refuses to go, citing the rule that at least two officers must be present on the bridge. The party returns to the ship just as Hardaker reveals his true motives and commits an act of sabotage, causing meteors to collide with the ship. Midshipman Frame is shot and wounded when he attempts to prevent the disaster. Hardaker is killed in the resulting collision, as are the bulk of the crew and passengers. The meteors cause three major hull breaches, one of which sucks the TARDIS into space. The Doctor notes that it will just land on Earth automatically. With the teleport system offline and the engines losing power, the Titanic is heading for an extinction-level collision with the Earth. The Doctor makes contact with the injured Midshipman Frame, and leads a small group of survivors in a climb through the shattered vessel to reach him. Complicating matters are the Host, information androids resembling angels that have been reprogrammed to kill everyone onboard. The Doctor's party is harassed by Host all the way, and the Doctor's sonic screwdriver proves to be useless against them. Bannakaffalatta reveals to Astrid that he is actually a cyborg, something considered shameful in the society on Sto. Bravely, he saves the party from a Host attack by transmitting an electromagnetic pulse from his cybernetic implants, killing himself in the process. The Van Hoffs also die: Morvin falls from the ledge into the nuclear engines, and Foon subsequently commits suicide while pulling a surviving Host down with her. The Doctor makes a grim promise that "no more" will die. The survivors take Bannakaffalatta's EMP unit with them as their only effective weapon against the Host. The Doctor sends the remaining survivors on ahead with the EMP unit and the sonic screwdriver, while he attempts to reach the place from which the Host are controlled. Using a security protocol, he convinces the Host to take them to their leader. This turns out to be the cruise line's owner, Max Capricorn, who is hiding in an indestructible impact chamber on Deck 31. Capricorn is also revealed to be a cyborg, a human head set in a small wheeled vehicle. Having been forced out by the company's board of directors, he is seeking revenge. The collision of the Titanic into a heavily-populated world will not only break the company, but see the board charged with murder. Outnumbered by Host and faced with death, the Doctor is saved by Astrid, who has made a short-range teleport to his position. She rams Capricorn with a fork-lift truck until both are forced off a precipice and fall into the fiery engine of the ship. Assuming control of the Host upon Capricorn's death, the Doctor grimly makes his way to the bridge just as the ship plunges into Earth's atmosphere. Working with Frame, he uses the heat from the re-entry to try to re-start the ship's engines, but discovers that they are headed straight for one of the few places in London currently inhabited: Buckingham Palace. Calling through with a security code, he manages to get the Queen out of the building, which the Titanic narrowly misses as the ship pulls up, now back under control. The Queen, in her dressing gown, is heard thanking the Doctor as he pilots the ship back into space. With the danger over, the Doctor suddenly realises that there might be hope for Astrid after all. A safety feature of the ship's teleport system is that in case of accident, it automatically holds in stasis the molecules of the affected passenger. As she was wearing a teleport bracelet at the time of her death, her pattern might still be stored in its buffers. However, despite desperate efforts, only a shadow of Astrid can be generated due to extensive damage to the teleport system. The Doctor watches her dissipate into motes of light that float free into space. This way, she can at least fulfill her dream of exploring the universe, forever. The Doctor teleports back to earth with Mr Copper, who is no expert on Earth, but a former salesman who lied his way onto the ship to explore the stars. The Doctor leaves him on the planet to build a new life, funded by the ship's expenses card, which contains PS1,000,000. The Doctor then heads off in the TARDIS, alone. [edit] Cast The Doctor -- David TennantAstrid Peth -- Kylie MinogueMax Capricorn -- George CostiganMr Copper -- Clive SwiftRickston Slade -- Gray O'BrienMidshipman Alonzo Frame -- Russell ToveyFoon Van Hoff -- Debbie ChazenMorvin Van Hoff -- Clive RoweBannakaffalatta -- Jimmy VeeCaptain Hardaker -- Geoffrey PalmerWilfred Mott -- Bernard CribbinsChief Steward -- Andrew HavillEngineer -- Bruce LawrenceNicholas Witchell -- HimselfThe Host -- Paul KaseyKitchen Hand -- Stefan DavisNewsreader -- Jason MohammadAlien Voices -- Colin McFarlane, Ewan BaileyVoice of the Queen -- Jessica Martin [edit] Cast notes Clive Swift previously appeared as Jobel in Revelation of the Daleks.Geoffrey Palmer previously appeared in Doctor Who and the Silurians and The Mutants. His son, Charles Palmer, directed four episodes of Series 3.Bernard Cribbins previously appeared in the 1966 film Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD, based on the 6-part TV story The Dalek Invasion of Earth shown 2 years previously. He also appeared in the Big Finish Productions story Horror of Glam Rock.Jimmy Vee previously appeared as the Moxx of Balhoon in "The End of the World", the Space Pig in "Aliens of London" and the Graske in the interactive special "Attack of the Graske". In The Sarah Jane Adventures, he appeared as the Child Slitheen in Revenge of the Slitheen and The Lost Boy, and reappeared as the Graske in Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?.Jessica Martin played Mags in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.Yamit Mamo performed the songs "My Angel Put the Devil in me" and "The Stowaway" on the Series 3 soundtrack, the latter being specially composed for this episode.Kylie Minogue has previously been referenced as a real person in the Doctor Who universe, in "The Idiot's Lantern" (2006) - with the Doctor exclaiming that '"It's never too late, as a wise person once said... Kylie, I think!"', in reference to her 1989 hit single "Never Too Late".Composer Murray Gold makes a cameo appearance in this episode[3] along with arranger Ben Foster and singer Yamit Mamo.[4]Queen Elizabeth II was previously played by uncredited extra Mary Reynolds in Silver Nemesis and appears in person (in archive footage) in "The Idiot's Lantern". [edit] Continuity Although the special takes place aboard an otherworldly namesake of the famed ocean liner, the RMS Titanic and its sinking was mentioned previously within the series in Robot (1974), The Robots of Death (1977), The Invasion of Time (1978), "Rose" (2005) and "The End of the World" (2005). The Titanic also appeared in the Virgin New Adventures book The Left-Handed Hummingbird, written by Kate Orman, and the 1989 Doctor Who Magazine comic strip Follow That TARDIS!.This episode introduces a new variation of the Doctor Who theme tune arranged by Murray Gold. It features a musical nod to Peter Howell's 1980s version.[4]London has been evacuated due to alien attacks the previous two Christmases - referring to "The Christmas Invasion" and "The Runaway Bride". Clips from each of these episodes appear as part of news footage.The BBC broadcast near the end makes matter-of-fact statements about alien invasions and the London public (due to the evacuation and the dialogue from the street vendor), a difference to previous episodes where the public is either in denial or it's covered up; most recently in "The Sound of Drums", where the Master stated the government "told you nothing".Earth was previously referred to by its Gallifreyan name "Sol 3" in The Deadly Assassin and Last of the Time Lords. Earth was also previously refered to as a "Level 5" civilization in City of Death. This episode also marks the first time in the revived series of Doctor Who that the Doctor has referred to Gallifrey as being in the constellation of Kasterborous.Excluding Jack Harkness's repeated deaths, Astrid is the first companion to die in the revived series (and the first since Kamelion in 1984's Planet of Fire), although she is partially resurrected. She is also the first alien companion since Kamelion, and the first in the revived series to never set foot in the TARDIS.The Doctor previously had a close encounter with Queen Elizabeth II in the Seventh Doctor story Silver Nemesis.Once again, the Doctor uses the phrase "allons-y" ("let's go" in French). He previously said it in "Army of Ghosts", "Evolution of the Daleks" and "42". He was surprised when told by Midshipman Frame that Frame's first name is Alonzo, and was quoted saying "You're kidding me!?". He indicated that there is "something else I've always wanted to say", and as he starts to steer the ship, he yells "Allons-y Alonzo". In "Army of Ghosts", when he thought of using "allons-y", he thought the name Alonzo would go nicely with it, and later asked Yvonne Hartman whether Torchwood has anyone named Alonzo.The Doctor notes that "this suit is bad luck", he previously wore it in "Rise of the Cybermen"/"The Age of Steel" and "The Lazarus Experiment". Both times he had been attending a seemingly normal party which goes wrong.Just like in the 2005 & 2006 Christmas specials, it is revealed at the end that the 'snow' falling is actually something else (debris from the Titanic). The Doctor wonders if it will ever snow for real. In "The Christmas Invasion", the 'snow' was ash from the Sycorax spaceship, and in "The Runaway Bride", the Doctor uses 'basic atmospheric excitation' supplied by the TARDIS to make it snow.The Doctor refers to himself as being 903 years old, contradicting the serial Time and the Rani where he states his age as 953.The waitress Astrid's name is an anagram of TARDIS. This caused wild speculation among fans, with some believing that Astrid herself would be revealed as the TARDIS.  Outside references Cover versions of "Winter Wonderland" and "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" are heard aboard the Titanic, and the Captain refers to "Silent Night". The incidental music in the pre-title sequence features the tune of "Jingle Bells".One scene is set in the fictitious Donovan Street, named after Jason Donovan, Kylie Minogue's former Neighbours co-star and collaborator on 1988 Number One hit duet "Especially For You".The Host stuttering over the name "Max" is a reference to 1980s virtual presenter Max Headroom.Russell T. Davies included a line from The Lion King in the script for this episode. He previously referenced The Lion King in "The Christmas Invasion".This episode is dedicated to the memory of Verity Lambert, the first producer of Doctor Who, who died on 22nd November 2007 - a day before Doctor Who's 44th anniversary.The Doctor states he was present "at the very start" of Christmas, and that he "got the last room" - this refers to the Gospel story of Jesus's birth, in which there was "no room at the inn" at Bethlehem for Mary and Jospeh on the night of his birth. (Luke 2:7).The Doctor mentions protocol 42, a number meant to be the answer to everything from the book Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy (Incidentally, the Special is the 42nd episode of the new series). He then tries protocol 1, which turns out to be the correct one. This is also the confidential password for the restricted site for the game Starship Titanic. Pre-broadcast publicity Kylie Minogue was initially reported by tabloid newspapers to be appearing in this episode.Russell T Davies dismissed this story, but a statement by Minogue indicated that she would be in the episode. The BBC officially confirmed her role in early July.On 19 July 2007, The Sun published a photograph of an actor on set in Wales, in make-up, supposedly playing a red, spiky creature called "Porg".On 20 July 2007, the Paisley Daily Express reported that David Tennant's mother, Helen McDonald, had died from cancer,and SyFy Portal noted that filming had been delayed by one week so Tennant could attend his mother's funeral.The Series 3 Doctor Who soundtrack includes a track named "The Stowaway", which Amazon.co.uk have confirmed is a song appearing in this episode, in the same vein as "Song for Ten" and "Love Don't Roam" in previous Christmas specials (both of which were on the original soundtrack).The full song was released online at SilvaScreen Records' MySpace page.On the 4 December 2007, Radio Times mentioned that the gold creatures are new monsters and are referred as 'the Hosts'On December 8, the BBC released a series of three short clips, showing the Doctor, Astrid and the Titanic floating in space, above the Earth. This was accompanied by a 90-second long trailer for the episode in British cinemas, which was released on the BBC website on December 14th. Reception A scene where the Doctor is lifted through the ship by the angelic Host caused offence to the group Christian Voice. Before its broadcast, the episode drew criticism from Millvina Dean, the last living survivor of the 1912 Titanic sinking, who stated that it was "disrespectful to make entertainment of such a tragedy".[16] The organisation Christian Voice expressed offence at the religious imagery of a scene in which the Doctor is lifted through the ship by robot angels. The episode's Christmas Day UK broadcast received 13.8 million viewers, an audience narrowly exceeded by the 13.9 million who watched the BBC soap EastEnders.[18] The average across all 70 minutes was 12.2 million viewers. This was the highest total of viewers for the new series, exceeding the previous record set by "Rose", and the highest for Doctor Who overall since 1979 (specifically, the final episode of "City of Death" which aired while rival network ITV suffered programming disruptions due to a strike). Gareth McLean, reviewing a preview screening for The Guardian's TV and radio weblog, appreciated the episode's use of "the disaster movie template" and came to a favourable overall conclusion: "For the most part, The Voyage of the Damned is absolutely smashing." Its main flaw, in his view, was the "blank and insipid" acting of Kylie Minogue.[20] James Walton of The Daily Telegraph called the episode "a winning mixture of wild imagination and careful writerly calculation".

  
  

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• TDP 35: Pre Christmas Show Tribute to Verity Lambert

  20 December 2007 (12:48pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 8 minutes and 10 seconds

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  Verity Ann Lambert, OBE (27 November 1935 - 22 November 2007) was an English television and film producer. She is best known as the founding producer of the science-fiction series Doctor Who, a programme which has become a part of British popular culture. Lambert was a pioneer woman in British television; when she was appointed to Doctor Who in 1963 she was the youngest producer, and only female drama producer, working at the BBC.[1] Lambert began working in television in the 1950s, and continued to work as a producer up until the year she died. After leaving the BBC in 1969, she worked for other television companies, notably Thames Television and Euston Films in the 1970s and 80s. She also worked in the film industry, for Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment, and from 1985 ran her own production company, Cinema Verity. In addition to Doctor Who, she produced Adam Adamant Lives!, The Naked Civil Servant, Rock Follies, Minder, Widows, G.B.H., Jonathan Creek and Love Soup. The British Film Institute's Screenonline website describes Lambert as "one of those producers who can often create a fascinating small screen universe from a slim script and half-a-dozen congenial players."[2] The website of the Museum of Broadcast Communications hails her as "not only one of Britain's leading businesswomen, but possibly the most powerful member of the nation's entertainment industry ... Lambert has served as a symbol of the advances won by women in the media"[3]. News of her death came on the 44th anniversary of the first showing of Doctor Who. Contents [hide] 1 Early career in independent television2 BBC career3 Thames Television and Euston Films4 Cinema Verity5 References6 External links //&lt;![CDATA[ if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = &quot;show&quot;; var tocHideText = &quot;hide&quot;; showTocToggle(); } //]]&gt; [edit] Early career in independent television Lambert was born in London, the daughter of a Jewish accountant, and educated at Roedean School.[4] She left Roedean at sixteen and studied at the Sorbonne in Paris for a year, and at a secretarial college in London for eighteen months.[5] She later credited her interest in the structural and characterisational aspects of scriptwriting to an inspirational English teacher.[6] Lambert's first job was typing menus at the Kensington De Vere Hotel, which employed her because she had been to France and could speak French.[5] In 1956, she entered the television industry as a secretary at Granada Television's press office. She was sacked from this job after six months.[5] ABC Television's studios at Didsbury in Manchester, where Lambert worked in the late 1950s. Following her dismissal from Granada, Lambert took a job as a shorthand typist at ABC Television.[5] She soon became the secretary to the company's Head of Drama, and then a production secretary working on a programme called State Your Case.[5] She then moved from administration to production, working on drama programming on ABC's popular anthology series Armchair Theatre. Armchair Theatre was overseen at the time by the company's new Head of Drama, Canadian producer Sydney Newman. On 28 November 1958, while Lambert was working as a production assistant on Armchair Theatre, actor Gareth Jones died off-screen just prior to a scene in which he was to appear during a live television broadcast of the hour-long play "Underground". Lambert had to take control of directing the cameras from the studio gallery as director William Kotcheff hastily worked with the actors during a commercial break to accommodate the loss.[7] In 1961 Lambert left ABC, spending a year working as the personal assistant to American television producer David Susskind at the independent production company Talent Associates in New York.[5] Returning to England, she rejoined ABC with an ambition to direct, but got stuck as a production assistant, and decided that if she could not find advancement within a year she would abandon television as a career.[5] [edit] BBC career In December 1962 Sydney Newman left ABC to take up the position of Head of Drama at BBC Television, and the following year Lambert joined him at the Corporation. Newman had recruited her to produce Doctor Who, a programme he had personally initiated. Conceived by Newman as an educational science-fiction series for children, the programme concerned the adventures of a crotchety old man travelling through space and time with his sometimes unwilling companions in a machine larger on the inside than the out. The show was a risk, and in some quarters not expected to last longer than thirteen weeks.[8] Although Lambert was not Newman's first choice to produce the series -- Don Taylor[9] and Shaun Sutton[10] had both declined the position -- the Canadian was very keen to ensure that Lambert took the job after his experience of working with her at ABC. "I think the best thing I ever did on that was to find Verity Lambert," he told Doctor Who Magazine in 1993. "I remembered Verity as being bright and, to use the phrase, full of piss and vinegar! She was gutsy and she used to fight and argue with me, even though she was not at a very high level as a production assistant."[9] When Lambert arrived at the BBC in June 1963, she was initially given a more experienced associate producer, Mervyn Pinfield, to assist her. Doctor Who debuted on 23 November 1963 and quickly became a success for the BBC, chiefly on the popularity of the alien creatures known as Daleks. Lambert's superior, Head of Serials Donald Wilson, had strongly advised against using the script in which the Daleks first appeared, but after the serial's successful airing, he said that Lambert clearly knew the series far better than he did, and he would no longer interfere in her decisions. The success of Doctor Who and the Daleks also garnered press attention for Lambert herself; in 1964, the Daily Mail published a feature on the series focusing on the perceived attractiveness of its young producer: "The operation of the Daleks ... is conducted by a remarkably attractive young woman called Verity Lambert who, at 28, is not only the youngest but the only female drama producer at B.B.C. TV... [T]all, dark and shapely, she became positively forbidding when I suggested that the Daleks might one day take over Dr. Who."[11] Lambert oversaw the first two seasons of the programme, eventually leaving in 1965. "There comes a time when a series need new input," she told Doctor Who Magazine thirty years later. "It's not that I wasn't fond of Doctor Who, I simply felt that the time had come. It had been eighteen very concentrated months, something like seventy shows. I know people do soaps forever now, but I felt Doctor Who needed someone to come in with a different view."[12] In the 2007 Doctor Who episode "Human Nature", the Doctor (as John Smith) refers to his parents as Sydney and Verity, a tribute to both Newman and Lambert.[13] She moved on to produce another BBC show created by Newman, the swashbuckling action-adventure series Adam Adamant Lives! (1966-67). The long development period of Adam Adamant delayed its production, and during this delay Newman gave her the initial episodes of a new soap opera, The Newcomers, to produce.[14] Further productions for the BBC included a season of the crime drama Detective (1968-69) and a twenty-six-part series of adaptations of the stories of William Somerset Maugham (1969). During this period, Lambert was obscurely referenced in Monty Python's 1969 sketch "Buying a Bed," which featured two shop assistants called Mr. Verity and Mr. Lambert, named after her.[15] In 1969 she left the staff of the BBC to join London Weekend Television, where she produced Budgie (1970-72) and Between the Wars (1973). In 1974, she returned to the BBC on a freelance basis to produce Shoulder to Shoulder, a series of six 75-minute plays about the suffragette movement of the early 20th century. [edit] Thames Television and Euston Films Teddington Studios in London, where several Thames Television dramas overseen by Lambert, such as Rock Follies, were produced in the 1970s. Later in 1974 Lambert became Head of Drama at Thames Television, a successor company of her former employers ABC. During her time in this position she oversaw several high-profile and successful contributions to the ITV network, including The Naked Civil Servant (1975), Rock Follies (1976-77), Rumpole of the Bailey (1978-92) and Edward and Mrs Simpson (1978). In 1976 she was also made responsible for overseeing the work of Euston Films, Thames' subsidiary film production company, at the time best known as the producers of The Sweeney. In 1979 she transferred to Euston full-time as the company's Chief Executive, overseeing productions such as Quatermass (1979), Minder (1979-94) and Widows (1983). At Thames and Euston, Lambert enjoyed the most sustained period of critical and popular success of her career. The Naked Civil Servant won a British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) for its star John Hurt as well as a Broadcasting Press Guild Award and a prize at the Prix Italia;[16] Rock Follies won a BAFTA and a Royal Television Society Award,[17] while Widows also gained BAFTA nominations and ratings of over 12 million -- unusually for a drama serial, it picked up viewers over the course of its six-week run.[7] Minder went on to become the longest-running series produced by Euston Films, surviving for over a decade following Lambert's departure from the company.[18] Television historian Lez Cooke described Lambert's time in control of the drama department at Thames as "an adventurous period for the company, demonstrating that it was not only the BBC that was capable of producing progressive television drama during the 1970s. Lambert wanted Thames to produce drama series 'which were attempting in one way or another to tackle modern problems and life,' an ambition which echoed the philosophy of her mentor Sydney Newman."[7] Howard Schuman, the writer of Rock Follies, also later praised the bravery of Lambert's commissioning. "Verity Lambert had just arrived as head of drama at Thames TV and she went for broke," he told The Observer newspaper in 2002. "She commissioned a serial, Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill, for safety, but also Bill Brand, one of the edgiest political dramas ever, and us... Before we had even finished making the first series, Verity commissioned the second."[19] Lambert's association with Thames and Euston Films continued into the 1980s. In 1982, she rejoined the staff of parent company Thames Television as Director of Drama, and was given a seat on the company's board. In November 1982 she left Thames, but remained as Chief Executive at Euston until November of the following year, to take up her first post in the film industry, as Director of Production for Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment. Her job here was somewhat frustrating as the British film industry was in one of its periodic states of flux, but she did manage to produce some noteworthy features, including the 1986 John Cleese film Clockwise. Lambert later expressed some regret on her time in the film industry in a feature for The Independent newspaper. "Unfortunately, the person who hired me left, and the person who came in didn't want to produce films and didn't want me. While I managed to make some films I was proud of -- Dennis Potter's Dreamchild, and Clockwise with John Cleese -- it was terribly tough and not a very happy experience."[5] [edit] Cinema Verity In late 1985 Lambert left Thorn EMI, frustrated at the lack of success and at restructuring measures being undertaken by the company. She established her own independent production company, Cinema Verity. The company's first production was the 1988 feature film A Cry in the Dark, starring Sam Neill and Meryl Streep and based on the "dingo baby" case in Australia. Cinema Verity's first television series, the BBC1 sitcom May to December, debuted in 1989 and ran until 1994. The company also produced another successful BBC1 sitcom, So Haunt Me, which ran from 1992 to 1994. Lambert executive produced Alan Bleasdale's hard-hitting drama serial G.B.H. for Channel 4 in 1991, winning critical acclaim and several awards.[20] Lambert's relationship with Bleasdale was not entirely smooth, however -- the writer has admitted in subsequent interviews that he "wanted to kill Verity Lambert"[21] after she insisted on the cutting of large portions of his first draft script before production began. However, Bleasdale subsequently admitted that she was right about the majority of the cut material, and when the production was finished he only missed one small scene from those she had demanded be excised.[21] A less successful Cinema Verity production, and the most noted mis-step of Lambert's career, was the soap opera Eldorado, a co-production with the BBC set in a British expatriate community in Spain. At the time it was the most expensive commission the BBC had given out to an independent production company.[22] Launched with a major publicity campaign and running in a high-profile slot three nights a week on BBC1, the series was critically mauled and lasted only a year, from 1992 to 1993. Lambert's biography at Screenonline suggests some reasons for this failure: "With on-location production facilities and an evident striving for a genuinely contemporary flavour, Lambert's costly Euro soap Eldorado suggested a degree of ambition ... which it seemed in the event ill-equipped to realise, and a potentially interesting subject tailed off into implausible melodrama. Eldorado's plotting ... was disappointingly ponderous. As a result, the expatriate community in southern Spain theme and milieu was exploited rather than explored."[2] Other reviewers, even the best part of a decade after the programme's cancellation, were much harsher, with Rupert Smith's comments in The Guardian in 2002 being a typical example. "A PS10 million farce that left the BBC with egg all over its entire body and put an awful lot Equity members back on the dole... it will always be remembered as the most expensive flop of all time."[23] In the early 1990s, Lambert attempted to win the rights to produce Doctor Who independently for the BBC; however, this effort was unsuccessful because the Corporation was already in negotiations with producer Philip Segal in the United States. Cinema Verity projects that did reach production included Sleepers (BBC1, 1991) and The Cazalets (BBC One, 2001), the latter co-produced by actress Joanna Lumley, whose idea it was to adapt the novels by Elizabeth Jane Howard. Lambert continued to work as a freelance producer outside of her own company. She produced the popular BBC One comedy-drama series Jonathan Creek, by writer David Renwick, ever since taking over the role for its second series in 1998. From then until 2004 she produced eighteen episodes of the programme across four short seasons, plus two Christmas Specials. She and Renwick also collaborated on another comedy-drama, Love Soup, starring Tamsin Greig and transmitted on BBC One in the autumn of 2005. In 1973, Lambert married television director Colin Bucksey (a man ten years her junior), but the marriage collapsed in 1984, and they divorced in 1987.[24][4][25] She had no children, once telling an interviewer, "I can't stand babies -- no, I love babies as long as their parents take them away."[3] In 2000 two of her productions, Doctor Who and The Naked Civil Servant, finished third and fourth respectively in a British Film Institute poll of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century.[26] In the 2002 New Year's Honours list Lambert was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to film and television production,[27] and the same year she received BAFTA's Alan Clarke Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television.[28] She died of cancer five days before her 72nd birthday.[29] She was due to have been presented with a lifetime achievement award at the Women in Film and Television Awards the following month.[30]

  
  

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• TDP 34: The Unquiet Dead

  8 December 2007 (10:27am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 13 minutes and 56 seconds

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  Synopsis The Ninth Doctor and Rose arrive in Cardiff on Christmas Eve, 1869 and discover that something is making the dead come back to life. The time travellers team up with a world-weary Charles Dickens to investigate Gabriel Sneed, the local undertaker and his servant girl Gwyneth -- and come face to face with the ghostly Gelth. Plot In a funeral parlour during the Victorian era, a young man named Redpath grieves over the open casket containing his dead grandmother. Closing his eyes in sorrow, he does not see a blue, glowing vapour wash over the corpse and enter it. The old woman's eyes snap open and she grabs Redpath by the throat, killing him. Gabriel Sneed, the undertaker, rushes in and tries to close the lid on the reanimated corpse but she knocks him unconscious to the floor before getting up and wandering out onto the street, wailing. Sneed regains consciousness and calls for his servant girl, Gwyneth. This is not the first corpse in the funeral home to come alive, and Gwyneth tells Sneed that they need to get help. Sneed protests that it is not his fault, and they have to get the dead woman back. Riding in the hearse, Sneed orders Gwyneth to use her clairvoyant abilities to seek the dead woman out, and Gwyneth focuses on the old woman's last desire: to see Charles Dickens, who is giving a reading in a music hall in town. Dickens himself is in a melancholic mood as he waits for his stage call. He feels old, is estranged from his family and his imagination is growing thin. He feels that he has seen all there is to see. In the TARDIS, the Doctor and Rose are having a rough ride. As the ship shakes and they hold onto the console, the Doctor aims the TARDIS for Naples in 1860. When they land, Rose is about to rush out when the Doctor tells her that she would start a riot in her 21st century clothing. Rose returns more suitably dressed in an off-the-shoulder gown, and the Doctor compliments her, saying she is beautiful... for a human. They step out into the snow-covered streets of history, the Doctor realising when he buys a newspaper that his aim was a bit off -- it is Christmas Eve, 1869, and they are in Cardiff, not Naples. In the music hall, Dickens gives a reading of A Christmas Carol, but stops short as the dead woman in the audience starts to glow blue. The vapour pours out of her mouth, an ethereal gas with a vaguely human shape that sweeps around the hall and sends the audience running in a panic. The screams attract Rose and the Doctor as well as Sneed and Gwyneth. Dickens accuses the Doctor of being responsible for the illusion, as the vapour completely leaves the dead woman's body to be sucked into a gas lamp, and the body collapses. Sneed and Gwyneth carry the limp body out. Rose goes in pursuit, and Sneed chloroforms her, bundling her into the hearse with the dead woman. The Doctor commandeers Dickens's coach, but the great writer's protests vanish when the Doctor discovers who he is and gushes over his literary genius. When the Doctor tells him about Rose, Dickens chivalrously joins the chase. Rose awakens in the locked viewing gallery of the funeral parlour, not seeing another gaseous entity take over young Redpath's body. As the Doctor and Dickens arrive at the parlour and force their way in, Redpath and his grandmother come to life again, approaching Rose menacingly. The gas lamps in the house flicker, and the Doctor realises there is something living in the pipes. He hears Rose's cries and breaks the door down, pulling her away from the corpses. He asks them who they are, and the corpses cry that they are dying because the Rift is failing and these forms cannot be sustained. Then the blue vapours stream out of the dead, and the bodies collapse once more. Sneed explains that the house has had a reputation for being haunted, which is why he managed to buy it so cheaply. The Doctor explains that the house is built on the rift the aliens were referring to -- a break in spacetime that is growing. These entities are from across the universe. Dickens is still sceptical, refusing to believe that there are ghosts in the gas pipes. The Doctor tells him that as dead bodies release gas when they decompose, they are ideal vehicles for these gaseous aliens. Dickens tells the Doctor, shakily, that if what he has seen is true, then perhaps his entire life, spent fighting against injustice and for social causes in what he thought was the real world, has been for nothing. Rose, in the meantime, talks to Gwyneth, finding out that she was taken in by Sneed when she was twelve, after her parents died. Although they initially get along well, Gwyneth sees the future in Rose's mind but is shocked when she sees the things Rose has experienced with the Doctor, mentioning the big bad wolf. She apologises, admitting her clairvoyance and saying that her abilities have been growing stronger recently. The Doctor has been listening, and surmises that Gwyneth's abilities are due to her growing up in this house over the rift, and she is the key. He suggests they hold a seance. Gwyneth manages to summon the aliens, who speak through her. They are the Gelth, a species whose bodies were destroyed by the Time War and left them facing extinction in a gaseous state. The few Gelth remaining need to come through the rift and take over dead bodies to survive. Rose is repulsed by the idea, but the Doctor insists that they have to help. Gwyneth will stand at the spot of the rift down in the morgue and allow the Gelth to use her as a bridge. Rose continues to protest: she knows the Gelth do not succeed, because the future does not have walking dead, but the Doctor tells her that time is constantly in flux, and the future can be rewritten; nothing is safe. In any case, Gwyneth wants to help her "angels". The Doctor warns the Gelth that this is only a temporary solution--once they possess the bodies, he will transport them to another place where they can build permanent ones. However, when Gwyneth stands at the rift, and the Gelth begin to come through her, the numbers are much more than they originally implied. The Gelth show their true colours -- they do not just want bodies that are already dead, they are willing to kill to supply themselves with more hosts and occupy the planet. Gwyneth stands motionless at the position of the rift as the Gelth continue to stream in. Sneed has his neck snapped by a reanimated corpse and is taken over. Dickens, overwhelmed, runs in fear as the Doctor and Rose are backed up into a corner. The Doctor apologises to Rose that she is going to die over a century before she was born, but she tells him that she wanted to come. The Doctor holds her hand as they prepare to go out fighting together, and he tells Rose he is glad he met her. Outside, Dickens sees a pursuing Gelth get sucked into a gas lamp on the street, and has a brainstorm. He rushes back into the house, turning off the flames and turning up the gas. He goes down into the morgue, doing the same, telling the Doctor what he is doing. The Doctor realises that by filling the house with gas, the Gelth will be sucked out of the dead bodies like poison from a wound. This is exactly what happens, the Gelth pouring out of the collapsing corpses and swirling around in the confines of the morgue. The Doctor tells Gwyneth to send them back, but she says she is only strong enough to hold them here, and takes out a box of matches from her apron. The Doctor tells Dickens to get Rose out of there before the two succumb to the gas fumes, and tries to convince Gwyneth to leave the Gelth to him. As he touches her neck, however, he discovers the truth of the matter, and reluctantly leaves. Gwyneth lights a match, and the house and the Gelth are consumed in fire. The Doctor tells Rose that when he checked Gwyneth's pulse, he realised that she was dead. He thinks Gwyneth died the moment she stood in the rift. Rose does not understand -- Gwyneth spoke to them and saved them. In response, Dickens quotes Shakespeare, that "there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy" (Hamlet: Act 1, scene V). Rose looks sadly at the ruins of the funeral home--a servant girl saved the world, and nobody will ever know. Dickens thanks the Doctor as they stand in front of the TARDIS. The things he has seen tonight have given him hope that there is more to learn. He plans to patch things up with his family and finish The Mystery of Edwin Drood, identifying the murderer as a blue elemental. He asks the Doctor if his books will last, and the Doctor assures a smiling Dickens that his work will last forever. Inside the TARDIS, Rose asks if Dickens writing about what they just experienced will change history. The Doctor tells her that Dickens will never get to write his story, as he dies the following year. Right now, however, they have made him more alive than he has been in a long time. Dickens watches in wonderment as the TARDIS fades away before his eyes. He laughs out loud, and walks through the streets of Cardiff, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, and declaring, "God bless us, everyone!" Cast Doctor Who -- Christopher EcclestonRose Tyler -- Billie PiperGabriel Sneed -- Alan DavidRedpath -- Huw RhysMrs Peace -- Jennifer HillGwyneth -- Eve MylesCharles Dickens -- Simon CallowStage Manager -- Wayne CaterDriver -- Meic PoveyThe Gelth -- Zoe Thorne Cast notes Simon Callow, who plays Dickens, has also written extensively about the writer and is well known for playing Dickens on television as well as in a one-man show. See celebrity appearances in Doctor Who.Eve Myles, who plays Gwyneth, subsequently stars in the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood as Gwen Cooper. There is supposedly no connection between the two characters other than both characters living in Cardiff.[1].

  
  

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• TDP: I have a cold

  30 November 2007 (8:00am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 3 minutes and 47 seconds

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  Sorry. no show this week. feeling a bit ill. I will try and get onto the Podshock live show on sunday night if my voice is upto it.heres hoping

  
  

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• TPD Promo

  26 November 2007 (8:43pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes and 42 seconds

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  New Promo - The Tin Dog Podcast.Hope you all like it.Feel free to use it anywhere you like.

  
  

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• TDP 33: Time Crash (Fixed)

  25 November 2007 (10:24am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 10 minutes and 33 seconds

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  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn_NDKNlUa8cut and paste the above link into your browser to see Time Crash "Time Crash" Doctor Who charity special "What!?" The Tenth Doctor meets the Fifth Doctor. Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor) Peter Davison (Fifth Doctor) Writer Steven Moffat Director Graeme Harper Producer Phil Collinson Executive producer(s) Russell T Davies Julie Gardner Length 8 Minutes Originally broadcast November 16, 2007 Chronology ? Preceded by Followed by - "Last of the Time Lords" "Voyage of the Damned" "Time Crash" is a "mini-episode" of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One as part of the 2007 appeal for the children's charity Children in Need on 16 November. It was written by Steven Moffat and starred David Tennant and Peter Davison as the Doctor.[1] The episode depicts an encounter between the Doctor's fifth and tenth incarnations, played by Davison and Tennant respectively. "Time Crash" was a ratings success, with a viewership of 10.9 million and a 45% share of the total television audience that night, making it both the most watched portion of the 2007 Children in Need special and the most watched Doctor Who episode since the show's 2005 revival.[2] //&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = &amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;show&amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;; var tocHideText = &amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;hide&amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;; showTocToggle(); } //]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; Plot After saying farewell to Martha, the Doctor sets off on his travels when the TARDIS encounters a problem, the result of which involves the Fifth Doctor appearing in the console room. The Tenth Doctor is gleeful at the meeting, but the Fifth Doctor is initially baffled, assuming his future incarnation is a deranged fan, possibly from LINDA. The Tenth Doctor explains that he forgot to put up the shields after rebuilding the TARDIS and it collided with the Fifth Doctor's TARDIS (its earlier self) in the timestream. This is generating a paradox at the heart of the ship powerful enough to rip a hole in the universe the (exact) size of Belgium. The Cloister Bell signals the impending end. However, without a thought, the Tenth Doctor manipulates the TARDIS controls to manipulate a supernova into exact counterbalance; it cancels out the black hole caused by the paradox, so that all matter remains constant. This amazes the Fifth Doctor, but he quickly realises that the Tenth Doctor 'came up with' the solution only because he remembered this encounter. The Fifth Doctor says his farewells, and the Tenth Doctor tells the Fifth of the personality traits that he retained from his fifth self, also telling him he loved being him and that he was "his" Doctor. As he departs, the Fifth Doctor reminds the Tenth to raise his shields again, but too late; as he is doing so, the hull of the RMS Titanic crashes through one of the TARDIS walls, as originally seen at the end of the last series. Cast The Doctor -- David TennantThe Doctor -- Peter Davison Cast notes Freema Agyeman appears, uncredited, as Martha Jones in footage from "Last of the Time Lords" at the start of the episode, adding to the established events depicted then.At 56 on the date of filming, Davison -- still the current record holder for the youngest actor to play the Doctor -- was older than William Hartnell was when he began his run as the First Doctor - at 55 the oldest anyone has been when they first played the Doctor. From an in-character point of view, the aged appearance of the Fifth Doctor was explained away as an effect of the merge. Continuity Both the Fifth Doctor and the Tenth Doctor make references to each other's respective storylines throughout the episode. The Tenth Doctor mentions Nyssa and Tegan, the Mara, Time Lords wearing silly hats, as well as commenting at length on the Fifth Doctor's clothing. The Fifth Doctor asks the Tenth Doctor if he's connected with LINDA and uses the phrase "Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey" first heard in "Blink", also by Steven Moffat. Other elements from the series such as Zeiton crystals, the helmic regulator and the thermobuffer are also mentioned. Both Doctors refer to common elements throughout the series such as the Cybermen and the Master. The Fifth asks if the Master still has "that rubbish beard" (referencing the fact that actors Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainley portrayed the character with a beard), and the Tenth replies "No, no beard this time... well, a wife" (referring to Lucy Saxon). The Fifth Doctor also notes that the TARDIS's "desktop theme" has been changed, accounting for its radically different appearances throughout the series. The Tenth Doctor offers to help the Fifth Doctor fix the problem caused by the TARDIS merge through his sonic screwdriver, which the Fifth Doctor declines. The latter's own sonic screwdriver was destroyed in the serial The Visitation, as then-producer John Nathan-Turner saw it as an "easy way out" for writers to resolve any difficult situation the Doctor faced. The sonic screwdriver would never appear in the show again until the TV movie in 1996. During the original run of Doctor Who, the Doctor met different incarnations of "himself" in three stories: The Three Doctors (1973), The Five Doctors (1983) and The Two Doctors (1985). The Children in Need special Dimensions in Time (1993) also featured all the five surviving Doctors at the time, with specially made busts standing in for the remaining two. In the Comic Relief sketch Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death (1999), also written by Moffat, the Doctor regenerated four times, resulting in five different actors playing the role. Multi-Doctor stories have also appeared in Doctor Who spin-off media. There were also several instances of the incidental music changing to a style more heavily favoured during the time that Peter Davison's episodes were produced. This differed greatly from the orchestral style of music now favoured by the programme. Chronology It is never explicitly stated where the Fifth Doctor's segment fits into his own continuity. From the Tenth Doctor's perspective, the special takes place at the very end of "Last of the Time Lords", immediately prior to the RMS Titanic crashing into the TARDIS. Production The episode was directed by Graeme Harper on October 7, 2007, who twenty-three years previously had directed Peter Davison's last regular appearance in Doctor Who in the serial The Caves of Androzani.[3] It was officially announced by the BBC on October 21.[1] According to the Doctor Who Confidential episode featuring behind-the-scenes footage, the Fifth Doctor's coat and trousers are originals taken from the Blackpool Doctor Who exhibition. The trousers had been previously altered in order to fit Colin Baker for the regeneration scene in The Caves of Androzani (and the opening of The Twin Dilemma). The jumper was knitted especially for this episode, and the hat was a new roll-up panama hat with an original band added on. David Tennant mentioned in an interview the morning after airing that the Tenth Doctor's speech complimenting the Fifth Doctor's sense of style and personality was written by himself, and that the Fifth was his favourite Doctor.[citation needed] Previous Doctor Who charity specials transmitted over the years include the aforementioned Dimensions in Time, Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death and "Doctor Who: Children in Need". The first two are generally not regarded as canonical by Doctor Who fans, but the last one is, directly connecting "The Parting of the Ways" with "The Christmas Invasion". The anniversary special The Five Doctors was broadcast on Children in Need night for its United Kingdom premier broadcast.[4] Broadcast, reception and release The episode was introduced by Terry Wogan and John Barrowman, who plays Captain Jack Harkness; Barrowman had just performed the song "Your Song". Children in Need was the most-watched television programme of the night, with an overnight rating of 9.4 million viewers, and figures peaked between 8:15pm and 8:30pm, when "Time Crash" was aired, with a total of 10.9 million viewers. The episode is therefore the most-viewed since the show's revival in 2005, surpassing the revival's premiere, "Rose", which achieved a rating of 10.8 million viewers.[2] Calls also peaked during the episode's airing.[5] When the episode was replayed later that night it garnered an audience of 2.5 million viewers.[6] Critical reaction was positive, with reviewers calling it the highlight of the Children in Need special.[7][8] Steven Moffat was praised for his writing of the episode, which was characterized as witty and clever.[7][9] The performances of both Peter Davison and David Tennant were also well-received.[10][8] See also Blinovitch Limitation Effect

  
  

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• Verity Lambert - 1935 - 2007

  23 November 2007 (4:14pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 minutes and 0 seconds

  Verity Lambert - 1935 - 2007 Original Doctor Who producer passes away. It's with great sadness that we have to announce the first producer of Doctor Who, Verity Lambert has passed away. Verity Doctor Who when the series began in 1963. During her career, she also produced dramas including The Newcomers, Adam Adamant Lives!, Minder and Quatermass. In 1985, Verity formed her own independent television company, Cinema Verity. She produced the second series of Jonathan Creek and recently completed the second series of BBC One's Love Soup. In January 2002, Lambert was awarded an OBE in recognition of her services to film and television. Shortly before she died she was given the Working Title Films lifetime achievement award at the 2007 Women In Film And Television Awards. Russell T Davies, Lead Writer and Executive Producer of Doctor Who, said: "There are a hundred people in Cardiff working on Doctor Who and millions of viewers, in particular many children, who love the programme that Verity helped create. This is her legacy and we will never forget that." Jon Plowman, Executive Producer, BBC Comedy, said: "Verity was a TV giant. Her career spanned the eras, from first episodes of Doctor Who and Minder through to Jonathan Creek and the forthcoming series of Love Soup. "She was extraordinary - very keen to get shows right and to encourage people, as she did for me in my early days. She never held back in her praise and was not jealous of anyone else's success - she enjoyed watching people grow up around her." Jane Tranter, Controller, BBC Fiction, said: "Verity was a total one-off. She was a magnificently, madly, inspirationally talented drama producer. During her long and brilliant career there was no form of drama that was beyond her reach and that she didn't excel at. From the early episodes of Doctor Who to the still to be transmitted comedy drama Love Soup, via Widows, Minder, GBH, Eldorado and Jonathan Creek (to name but the tiniest handful of credits) - Verity was a phenomenon." Today (Friday) is the 44th anniversary of her first ever episode of Doctor Who. Doctor Who's first producer dies Verity Lambert joined the BBC in 1963 as its youngest producer Doctor Who's first producer, and the BBC's first female TV producer, Verity Lambert, has died aged 71. She was also the youngest person to take charge of a BBC television show when the sci-fi drama started in 1963. Lambert also produced dramas including Minder, Quatermass, Rumpole of the Bailey and Jonathan Creek, while her company made 1990s BBC soap Eldorado. She was made an OBE in recognition of her services to film and television in January 2002. 'Total one-off' Lambert oversaw the first two series of Doctor Who before leaving in 1965. Russell T Davies, the current writer and executive producer of Doctor Who, said: "There are a hundred people in Cardiff working on Doctor Who and millions of viewers, in particular many children, who love the programme that Verity helped create." CAREER HIGHLIGHTS 1963 - Doctor Who (pictured) 1975 - The Naked Civil Servant 1976 - Rock Follies 1983 - Widows 1986 - Clockwise 1991 - GBH 1991 - Sleepers 2001 - The Cazalets "This is her legacy and we will never forget that," he added. In 1985 Lambert formed her own independent television company, Cinema Verity, which went on to make the sitcom May to December and the short-lived soap Eldorado. Most recently she completed the second series of BBC One's Love Soup. Jane Tranter, controller of BBC Fiction said: "Verity was a total one-off. She was a magnificently, madly, inspirationally talented drama producer." Lambert had been due to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Women in Film and Television Awards next month. Her death comes the day before the 44th anniversary of the very first episode of Doctor Who.

  
  

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• TDP 32: Destiny of the Daleks

  17 November 2007 (8:00am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 12 minutes and 10 seconds

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  Davros Awakes! Destiny Of The Daleks and Davros Boxset for November. Destiny of the Daleks, starring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor and Lalla Ward as a newly regenerated Romana, is set to be released on DVD by 2Entertain. When the Doctor and Romana arrive on Skaro, they find themselves caught in the middle of in an interplanetary war between the Daleks and the robotic Movellans. Can Davros, creator of the Daleks, give the Doctor's greatest enemies the edge they need? The single-disc (not double, as previously reported) contains all four episodes plus the following extras: Commentary - With actors Lalla Ward and David Gooderson, director Ken Grieve.Terror Nation - documentary about writer Terry Nation, creator of the Daleks, and his work on Doctor Who. With contributions from producers Barry Letts and Philip Hinchcliffe, script editor Terrance Dicks, director Richard Martin and Dalek voice artiste Nicholas Briggs.Directing Who - director Ken Grieve recalls his time on this story.CGI Effects - providing the option to watch the story with seventeen of the original video effects sequences replaced by CGI versions.Trails and Continuity - BBC One trails and continuity announcements from the story's transmission, including the specially shot trailer heralding the return of the Daleks.Photo Gallery - production, design and publicity photos. Prime Computer Adverts - Australian TV adverts for Prime Computers, starring the Doctor and Romana.Coming Soon - trail for forthcoming DVD boxset release of Doctor Who and the Silurians, The Sea Devils and Warriors of the Deep.Easter Egg Destiny Of The Daleks will be available from 26 November. The story will also form part of a special Davros boxset, collecting all the other adventures featuring the evil genius, plus extra material. More on these extras soon!

  
  

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• TDP 31: 1.02 The End of the World

  9 November 2007 (4:18pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 13 minutes and 55 seconds

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  Synopsis The Ninth Doctor takes his new companion, Rose, on her first trip through time, 5 billion years into the future. There, on a space station called Platform One, he and Rose are on hand with a group of alien races to witness the Sun expand and swallow the Earth. However, someone is planning to sabotage the event with deadly robotic spiders.  Plot "Welcome to the end of the world." Following "Rose", the Doctor asks Rose where she would like to go on her first trip in the TARDIS, and she selects the future. The Doctor takes her to the year 5.5/Apple/26 (five billion years in her future) onto a space station named Platform One orbiting the Earth. In the eons since Rose's time, the Earth has emptied, mankind having left it long ago and the planet taken over by the National Trust. Although the expansion of the Sun takes millions of years, gravity satellites held the effects back, and the trust also restored the "classic" positions of the continents on Earth. Now that the money has run out, the Earth will be allowed to be swallowed up by the Sun at last. Platform One is where the extraterrestrial rich of the universe will witness the end of the world, which will occur in about an hour. The station has automated systems and is staffed by blue-skinned humanoids. On encountering the Steward, who manages Platform One, the Doctor persuades him that he and Rose are invited guests by using a piece of "psychic paper" that makes people see what the Doctor wants them to see. The other guests arrive, including the diminutive Moxx of Balhoon, the Face of Boe, living humanoid trees from the Forest of Cheem (whose ancestors originated on Earth) and, from Financial Family Seven, a group called the Adherents of the Repeated Meme. Rose watches in fascination as the last living human arrives -- the Lady Cassandra O'Brien Dot Delta Seventeen, who is just a piece of stretched-out skin with eyes and a mouth, mounted on a frame and connected to a brain jar. The skin needs to be constantly moisturised by her attendants. The guests exchange gifts: Jabe of the Forest of Cheem gives the Doctor a cutting taken from her grandfather; the Doctor gives her the gift of air from his lungs. The Moxx gives the gift of bodily salivas, and the Adherents of the Repeated Meme hand out gifts of "peace" in the form of metal spheres, even to the Steward. Cassandra gives her own gifts: the last ostrich egg, and an "iPod" (a Wurlitzer jukebox) from ancient Earth. Rose is a bit overwhelmed when the jukebox plays "classical" music -- the song "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell -- and leaves the hall. She has a brief conversation with a station plumber, Raffalo, who is investigating a blockage. At first she is comforted by the familiarity of Raffalo's matter-of-fact, working-class manner. But when Raffalo explains that she is from Crespallion, which is part of the Jaggit Brocade, affiliated to the Scarlet Junction, in Complex 56, Rose realises how far she is from home, and with a man she does not even know. Rose leaves, and does not see Raffalo spot some small, spider-like robots in the ducts, which rapidly grab her and pull her inside. Meanwhile, the spiders are being disgorged from the metal spheres gifted by the Adherents of the Repeated Meme to the various guests, and soon infiltrate the entire station, sabotaging its systems. The Doctor finds Rose, and when Rose asks him where he is from, the Doctor brushes her questions off, getting defensive and angry. When the Doctor alters Rose's mobile phone so she can talk to her mother in the past, another fact sinks in -- her mother is long dead. The Doctor jokes that if Rose thought the telephone call was amazing, she should see the bill. Suddenly, a tremor shakes the station, and the Doctor observes that it was not supposed to happen. The Steward, investigating the cause of the tremor, is killed when a spider lowers the sun filter in his room, exposing him to the direct heat of the Sun's rays. The Doctor also starts to look into the tremor, and Jabe offers to show him where the maintenance corridors are while Rose goes to speak to Cassandra. Rose finds that Cassandra has had 708 operations to keep her alive, and considers herself the last "pure" human -- the others who left "intermingled" with other species and she considers them all mongrels. Her 709th operation, to bleach her blood, is next week. Disgusted that humanity has come to this, Rose insults Cassandra and storms off, only to be met by the Adherents, who knock her out. In the corridors, Jabe quietly tells the Doctor that she scanned him earlier, and was astonished to discover what he was and that he still even exists. She genuinely sympathises with him, putting a hand on his arm, and the Doctor is briefly moved to tears. They then continue to the bowels of the station, where they find one of the spiders. Jabe captures it with a liana, a long, vine-like appendage which she usually keeps hidden out of courtesy. As the station's systems continue to be sabotaged and, as a "traditional ballad" -- Britney Spears's "Toxic" -- plays on the jukebox, Rose wakes to find herself trapped in a room with a lowering sun filter. The Doctor hears her cries for help and manages to raise the filter, but Rose is still locked in. Returning to the main hall, the Doctor releases the spider to seek out its master. At first it focuses on the Adherents of the Repeated Meme, but the Doctor points out that repeated memes are just ideas, and the Adherents are remote-controlled droids. He deactivates them and the spider scurries over to Cassandra. Cassandra has her attendants hold the others at bay, saying that the moisturiser guns can also shoot acid. She reveals that her operations cost a fortune, and she was hoping to create a hostage situation whereby she could later seek compensation. Now she will just let everyone burn and take over their corporate holdings. Cassandra orders the spiders to shut off the force field protecting the station, then uses an illegal teleportation device to transport herself and her attendants away. With only a few minutes left until the Sun incinerates Earth and the station, the Doctor and Jabe rush back down to the air-conditioning chamber. The restore switch for the computer systems is at the other end of a platform blocked by giant rotating fans. The Doctor protests that the rising heat will burn the wooden Jabe, but she insists on staying to hold down the switch that slows the fans. The Doctor makes it nearly to the end before Jabe catches fire and burns. He closes his eyes and concentrates, making it past the last fan and throwing the reset switch. The force fields come up around the station just in time, as the Earth explodes into cinders. The station's systems start to self-repair. However, several of the guests are now dead (including the Moxx but not the Face of Boe), burned alive as the Sun's rays burst through cracks in the windows. The Doctor is furious, and after finding Cassandra's teleportation feed inside the ostrich egg, reverses it to bring her back. She quickly regains her poise and starts taunting the Doctor, saying that he cannot do anything about her. However, the Doctor calmly notes that he has transported Cassandra back without her moisturising attendants. In the raised temperature, she begins to dry out. Cassandra begs for mercy and Rose asks the Doctor to help her, but the Doctor coldly says that every thing has its time, and every thing dies. Cassandra's skin stretches and tears, her innards exploding and leaving only her brain tank and empty frame. Rose is sad that in all the danger, the Earth's passing was not actually witnessed by anyone. The Doctor takes her back to the present in the TARDIS, telling her that people think things will last forever, but they don't. He reveals to her that his home planet was burned like Earth, but in a war, and that he is the last survivor of the Time Lords. Rose says that he still has her, and he smiles as she offers to buy him some chips -- they only have five billion years before the shops close. Cast Doctor Who -- Christopher EcclestonRose Tyler -- Billie PiperSteward -- Simon DayJabe -- Yasmin BannermanMoxx of Balhoon -- Jimmy VeeCassandra -- Zoe WanamakerJackie Tyler -- Camille CoduriRaffalo -- Beccy ArmoryComputer Voice -- Sara StewartAlien Voices -- Silas Carson, Nicholas Briggs Cast notes Cassandra is a CGI creation voiced by actress Zoe Wanamaker. Writer Russell T. Davies revealed that Cassandra was inspired by the appearance of various female celebrities at the Oscars. He said, "It was horrific seeing those beautiful women reduced to sticks. Nicole Kidman struck me in particular." Wanamaker reprised the role of Cassandra in the 2006 series' first episode, "New Earth."[1] See also Celebrity appearances in Doctor Who. Continuity The new TARDIS console has a rather thrown-together appearance and includes the use of a bicycle-pump like mechanism, identified as a "vortex loop" in "Attack of the Graske" (2005).[2] Some earlier serials have stated that the Eye of Harmony on Gallifrey is the power source for the TARDIS. If it were destroyed along with Gallifrey, this may imply a certain amount of bodging was done to overcome the problem.The Doctor explains that the TARDIS's telepathic field is what gives Rose the ability to understand and be understood by the aliens. This concept was first introduced in the Fourth Doctor serial The Masque of Mandragora (1976), described by the Doctor as a "Time Lord gift" he shares with his companions.The concept of a Doctor-supercharged communications device first appeared in The Three Doctors (1972-73), where the Second Doctor modifies the Brigadier's radio telephone to allow him to contact his men through interference generated by antimatter.[3] The Doctor also gives the Brigadier a "space-time telegraph" which he uses to summon the Doctor to assist with the events of Terror of the Zygons (1975).[4] In the "unofficial" animated webcast Scream of the Shalka (2003), the Doctor uses a mobile phone that is part of the TARDIS to communicate with the outside world even while falling into a black hole.This is the fourth time in the series that Earth has been burned by the Sun, the other occasions being sometime after the 30th century in The Ark in Space (1975)[5], two million years from the present in The Mysterious Planet (1986)[6] and ten million years from the present in The Ark (1966).[7]The other guests attending Platform One, as announced by the Steward, include the brothers Hop Pyleen, inventors and copyright holders of hyposlip travel systems from the exalted clifftops of Rex Vox Jax; the cybernetic hyperstar Cal "Sparkplug" MacNannovich (plus guest); the avian Mr and Mrs Pakoo; the chosen scholars of Class Fifty-five of the University of Rago Rago Five Six Rago; and the Ambassadors from the City State of Binding Light (oxygen levels must be monitored strictly at all times in the Ambassadors' presence).[8]In conversation with the Moxx of Balhoon, the Face of Boe mentions the "Bad Wolf scenario." On the BBC's Bad Wolf website, it was listed as "the classic bad wolf scenario".[9] (The subtitles of the DVD release give the phrase as "bad-move scenario", but this is probably an error.) The phrase "Bad Wolf" is a recurring theme in the 2005 series.The Steward informs the Doctor that teleportation is banned under "Peace Treaty 5.4/Cup/15" (presumably the name of the treaty followed by the year it was enacted). How exactly this dating system works is never explained.The Doctor tells Jabe that he was once on another "unsinkable" ship and wound up clinging to an iceberg, an apparent reference to having been on the RMS Titanic when she sank. Which incarnation of the Doctor did this is not specified, although the Seventh Doctor was on board the Titanic in the Virgin New Adventures novel The Left-Handed Hummingbird by Kate Orman (which is of uncertain canonicity).[10] He did not, however, wind up on an iceberg in that story. In the Fourth Doctor story The Invasion of Time (1978),[11] the Doctor claims that he "wasn't responsible" for the disaster. In "Rose", Clive, a conspiracy theorist, shows Rose a photograph of the Ninth Doctor with "the Daniels family of Southampton", on the eve of their scheduled voyage on the Titanic. For an unspecified reason, they canceled their trip and survived.[12] At the end of "Last of the Time Lords" the Tenth Doctor and the TARDIS are hit by the bow of the Titanic, which smashes through the TARDIS's walls.The Doctor pilots the TARDIS to two time periods before its eventual arrival five billion years in the future: the year 2105, which he claims is slightly boring, and the year 12005, which he calls the New Roman Empire. The Doctor previously visited the 22nd century in The Dalek Invasion of Earth.This episode is the first episode to appear in the year five billion timeline.The Face of Boe is revealed to be from the Silver Devastation, which is where Professor Yana reveals he is "from" in the episode "Utopia". Production According to the DVD commentary, many of the Platform One interiors were filmed at the Temple of Peace in Cardiff, Wales. Sets were also built and painted to match the Temple's marble interiors.In the documentary series Doctor Who Confidential, Russell T. Davies joked that that there would never be such an expensive episode again (because of the large amount of CGI special effects). Both Cassandra and the robotic spiders -- other than an inactive one -- are completely CGI generated creatures. The documentary also reveals that there are 203 visual effects shots in this episode, compared to "about 100" in the film Gladiator.[13]The "iPod" (a Wurlitzer jukebox) that Cassandra unveils plays "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell and later "Toxic" by Britney Spears. "Toxic" was not actually released as a 7" 45 rpm vinyl single. The production team mocked up a 7" single for use in the episode.Jabe's scan of the Doctor displays an animation by Drew Berry of translation, a process wherein a protein molecule is synthesised according to the genetic code carried by messenger RNA. A production sketch of the scanner drawn by Matthew Savage shows a scan of the Doctor indicating nine different DNA samples -- one for each incarnation.[14]  Broadcast This episode begins with a cold open, which from here on became a standard feature. This is a first for the series, which previously used pre-credits teaser sequences sparingly in special episodes such as the post-regeneration Castrovalva (1982); the 20th anniversary special, The Five Doctors (1983); and the 25th anniversary story, Remembrance of the Daleks (1988).According to a March 2006 interview with Russell T Davies, he requested for this episode to be broadcast back-to-back with "Rose", but the request was given to the BBC too close to transmission.[15] However, the American Sci-Fi Channel did run the two episodes consecutively.

  
  

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• TDP 30: 1.01 Rose

  4 November 2007 (8:00am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 14 minutes and 40 seconds

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  Rose Tyler is a shop assistant at Henrik's, a department store in present-day London. One evening, she is about to go home when the security guard passes her a packet containing lottery money, presumably to be given to whoever runs the staff syndicate. Rose goes to the basement to find Wilson, the chief electrician, but he is nowhere to be found. She hears a noise and goes to see what it is, entering a room filled with plastic store dummies. The door slams shut, locking her in, and the mannequins come to life, backing her into a corner. Before the lead one can strike her, someone grabs Rose's hand: a tall, strange-looking man in a leather jacket and crew cut, who tells her to run. Rose and the stranger burst through another set of doors and race down the corridors of the basement, pursued by the dummies. They reach the lifts, and a mannequin's arm lunges through the closing doors. The stranger grapples with the arm, and with a jerk, yanks it off. The doors shut, and the stranger tosses the now lifeless plastic arm to Rose. She still believes that it is some kind of student prank, but the stranger shakes his head. They are living plastic, and Wilson is dead. Reaching the ground level, the stranger disables the lift buttons with a pen-like device that projects a high-pitched whine. The stranger explains the plastic creatures are being controlled by a relay on the roof, and he is going to destroy it with an explosive device. He ushers Rose out and before he goes back into the building, he introduces himself as the Doctor. He asks for her name, and she tells him it is Rose. "Nice to meet you, Rose," the Doctor says, adding, "Run for your life!" Rose reaches the other side of the street, still holding onto the arm, and looks up at the Henrik's building as the top floors and roof explode. She runs off in the confusion, not noticing an anachronistic police box standing off to the side. Later, Rose watches the report of the fire on television at her council flat, her mother Jackie telling friends on the telephone about her daughter's narrow escape. Rose's boyfriend Mickey arrives, expressing concern, but she tells him she is fine. Rose asks him to dispose of the plastic arm, which Mickey tosses in a rubbish bin at the foot of Rose's block of flats when he leaves. The next morning, Jackie suggests Rose take a new job or ask for compensation. Rose hears someone at the door, and peeks through the cat flap to see the Doctor's face. The Doctor seems as startled to see her -- he appears to have gotten the wrong signal. Rose drags him in, wanting answers so she can tell the police. Jackie is fascinated by the new arrival and tries, awkwardly, to seduce him. The Doctor simply says "No," and steps away, to Jackie's irritation. Rose fixes coffee while the Doctor waits in the living room, peering at his own reflection in the mirror as if for the first time and looking at everything. The Doctor hears a scuttling behind Rose's sofa, and when he looks, the plastic arm which has somehow returned leaps up to strangle him. Rose thinks the Doctor is just play acting with the arm until it attacks her. Jackie, drying her hair in the other room, hears nothing as the Doctor and Rose crash around with the arm. Managing to pull it away from Rose, the Doctor uses the same pen-like device -- his sonic screwdriver -- to shut it down. Rose follows the Doctor as he leaves. The Doctor tells her that the plastic arm was fixed on him as a target and only attacked Rose because she got in the way. It was controlled by something that projected life into the arm by thought, and he simply cut off the signal. Their purpose is to destroy the human race. Rose does not believe him, but the Doctor notes that she's still listening. She asks the Doctor once again who he is as he walks towards a police box. The Doctor tells her that it's like when you are a child and are first told the world revolves. You cannot quite believe it because everything looks like it is standing still. He takes her hand, telling her that he can feel it, the Earth turning, the world itself spinning around the Sun, everyone falling through space and clinging to the surface of this tiny planet, and if they let go... That's who he is. The Doctor tells Rose to forget him and go home. She walks away but when she hears a strange, grating sound and runs back, the Doctor and the police box have disappeared. Rose goes to Mickey's flat and uses his computer to search the Internet for information about the Doctor. She finds a website, "Who is Doctor Who?", which features a picture of the Doctor together with an appeal for anyone who has seen him to contact the site's maintainer, a man called Clive. Rose goes to see Clive at his house in suburban London while Mickey waits, suspicious, in the car outside. In his study, Clive tells Rose that the name of the Doctor keeps cropping up through the years in diaries, journals and conspiracy theories. No names, just the Doctor, perhaps a title that is passed along from father to son. He shows her photographs that show the Doctor in the crowd at the Kennedy assassination, at Southampton on the eve of the Titanic's sailing, and in a drawing from 1883 that was washed up on the coast of Sumatra after the eruption of Krakatoa. Clive explains that the Doctor is a name woven throughout history, bringing storms in his wake, death his constant companion. As Mickey waits impatiently outside, he goes to investigate a plastic rubbish bin that he saw moving on its own, but it is empty. As he tries to return to the car, he finds his hands stuck to the lid, the plastic stretching but not letting him go. He is yanked into the bin, which shuts with a loud belch. Clive warns Rose that they are all in danger. He believes that these pictures all portray the same man, and that the Doctor is an immortal alien. Rose thinks Clive is delusional. She returns to Mickey's car and tells him to drive somewhere for lunch, not realizing he has been replaced by an auton. At the restaurant, "Mickey" wants to know more about the Doctor. The auton isn't quite perfect, and stutters, but she does not want to discuss the Doctor, saying she thinks he is dangerous. A waiter offers Mickey and Rose champagne. "Mickey" says they did not order any -- then looks up and sees the waiter is the Doctor. The Doctor pops the cork on the bottle, sending it flying into "Mickey"'s head, which absorbs it, then spits it out. "Mickey" morphs his hand into a heavy spade-shape, slicing the table in half. The Doctor gets "Mickey" in a choke hold and manages to pull his head off. The headless auton rampages through the restaurant. Rose tells the other patrons to run, then follows the Doctor, who is holding onto the head. Reaching the yard, the Doctor seals the door behind them with the sonic screwdriver, but the auton is soon pummeling it with inhuman force. The Doctor suggests they go into the police box standing there. Rose incredulously follows him in, but stops short as she sees the interior. She runs around the box, assuring herself of its ordinary size before going in again just as the auton breaks through. Inside the much larger interior of the ship, the Doctor assures Rose that nothing can get through the doors. He attaches the plastic head to the console, telling Rose that the head can be used to trace the signal back to the source. Rose asks if the ship and the Doctor are alien and he answers yes to both questions. The ship is his TARDIS -- Time and Relative Dimension in Space. Rose chokes back a sob, and asks if "they" have killed Mickey. The Doctor is taken aback as he had not considered this, and Rose is shocked he has not. "Mickey"'s head starts to melt, and the Doctor frantically runs to the console, trying to lock on to the signal before it fades. The TARDIS starts up, and then stops. The Doctor rushes through the doors, with Rose shouting that it is not safe. When she follows him, however, they are not in the yard anymore but on the banks of the River Thames. The Doctor says the TARDIS is able to disappear and reappear in a different place. He is angry because he has lost the signal. Rose is worried about the automaton, but the Doctor says it would have melted along with the head. Rose mutters that she is going to have to tell Mickey's mother that he is dead, and when the Doctor asks who, Rose realizes the Doctor has forgotten Mickey again. They have a confrontation about his lack of empathy, the Doctor shouting that he is more concerned about saving the life of "every stupid ape blundering about on top of this planet." Rose asks if the Doctor's an alien, why he sounds like he's from the North. The Doctor retorts that lots of planets have a North. This seems to defuse the tension. Rose stares at the exterior of the TARDIS and asks what a police public call box is. The Doctor, cheerful again, explains that it is a disguise, a telephone box for the police from the 1950s. Rose, curious again, asks what the living plastic creatures have against the Earth. The Doctor replies that they love the Earth because it has plenty of pollutants. The Nestene Consciousness -- the intelligence animating the plastic -- lost its food supply during a war, when all its protein planets rotted. Earth is dinner. Rose asks if there is any way to stop it, and the Doctor produces a clear cylinder of blue liquid. "Anti-plastic," he announces. However, the Doctor has to find the Consciousness. He wonders aloud that the transmitter to control the plastic has to be huge, and round... Rose indicates behind him, and after a few puzzled glances over his shoulder the Doctor notices the London Eye. Hand in hand, they run across the bridge to it. Rose spots a hatchway that leads below the Eye, and they both go below to find a giant vat of pulsing, molten plastic -- the Nestene Consciousness. The Doctor wants to give it a chance and applies for an audience, citing Convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation. The vat roars its assent in an unintelligible alien language. Rose spots the real Mickey, sitting terrified on one of the walkways. The Nestenes kept him alive to maintain the replica. The Doctor tells the Consciousness to leave Earth, brushing aside its claims of constitutional rights and characterizing its actions as an invasion. The Doctor pleads on humanity's behalf -- they are primitive, but capable of much more. However, two autons grab hold of the Doctor, one removing the container of anti-plastic from his jacket. The Doctor protests that the vial was just insurance and he is not their enemy. The Consciousness responds by unveiling the TARDIS, and makes an accusatory howl. The Doctor admits that it is his ship, but says that it was not his fault -- he fought in the war, but he could not save the Nestenes' world. The Consciousness does not believe the Doctor and goes to the final phase of the invasion. Bolts of electricity stab up across the London Eye as it pulses a signal across London. Rose tries to warn her mother on her mobile phone, but the call breaks up and Jackie, who is about to enter a shopping centre called the Queen's Arcade, cuts it off. Clive and his family are also at the arcade when the shop dummies come to life, crashing through the windows. Clive realizes that all the stories he has read are true, just as a mannequin's hand flips open, revealing a weapon. He looks on sadly as the auton shoots him point-blank. People scream as the automatons start killing everyone in sight. Beneath the Eye, the stairs back up to the surface collapse. Rose and Mickey rush to the TARDIS, but the door is locked. As she and the Doctor lock eyes helplessly, outside in the streets the massacre continues. Jackie is trapped by a group of mannequins in wedding dresses, who prepare to shoot her. Mickey tells Rose to abandon the Doctor, but Rose rushes up a flight of stairs to a chain on the wall. She may have no A-levels, no job and no future, but she has a bronze medal in under-sevens gymnastics. She frees the chain with a blow from a fire axe, and swings across to knock the auton holding the anti-plastic over the railing. While the Doctor flips the one holding him over as well, the anti-plastic falls into the vat, causing the Consciousness to writhe in pain. The Eye stops transmitting, and the autons across London jerk spastically and drop, including the ones menacing Jackie, leaving the streets scattered with debris and the dead. The Nestenes' vat explodes as Rose, Mickey and the Doctor enter the TARDIS and it dematerialises. The TARDIS rematerialises on a side street, Mickey stumbling out, still terrified. Rose calls up her mother on her mobile phone and smiles in relief as she hears Jackie's voice. Rose hangs up without saying anything, and tells the Doctor that he would have been dead if not for her. The Doctor smiles from the TARDIS doorway in agreement and thanks her. He then offers to take her with him to see the universe -- Mickey is not invited. Rose asks if it will always be this dangerous, and the Doctor gleefully answers yes. Rose hesitates but declines, saying that she has to find her mother and look after Mickey. The Doctor nods, disappointed and closes the door. The TARDIS dematerialises with a rush of wind filling the empty space where it was. As Mickey and Rose turn to leave, the TARDIS appears again. The Doctor pops his head out and asks Rose if he had mentioned that the TARDIS also travels in time. Rose smiles, turning to Mickey to kiss him goodbye, then runs happily into the TARDIS. Cast Doctor Who -- Christopher EcclestonRose Tyler -- Billie PiperJackie Tyler -- Camille CoduriMickey Smith -- Noel ClarkeClive -- Mark BentonCaroline -- Ellie GarnettClive's Son -- Adam McCoyAutons -- Alan Ruscoe, Paul Kasey, David Sant, Elizabeth Fost, Helen OtwayNestene Voice -- Nicholas Briggs

  
  

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• TDP 29: DVD Box set review and Scream of the Shalka

  31 October 2007 (8:03am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 16 minutes and 34 seconds

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  Scream of the Shalka was a flash-animated serial based on the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was produced to coincide with the 40th Anniversary of the series and was originally posted in six weekly parts from 13 November to 18 December 2003 on BBCi's Doctor Who website. Although it was intended to be an "official" continuation of the television series that had ended in 1989, the revival of the programme in 2005 relegated it, and its "Ninth Doctor", to unofficial status. The serial was scripted by veteran Doctor Who writer Paul Cornell, with Richard E. Grant providing the voice for the Ninth Doctor and Derek Jacobi as the voice of an android made in the image of the Doctor's old enemy, the Master. This performance followed years of rumours that Grant would play the Doctor in a film or new series, and indeed he had appeared as the Tenth "conceited" Doctor in the Comic Relief special Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death in 1999. The Doctor's companion for this adventure, Alison Cheney, was voiced by Sophie Okonedo who a year later would be nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in Hotel Rwanda. Previous Doctor Who webcasts had had limited animation and were little more than a series of illustrations. Earlier in 2003, BBCi had had some success with the original animated webcast Ghosts of Albion. The animation for that story was provided by Manchester-based animation studio Cosgrove Hall, who were also hired to animate Scream of the Shalka. This story was the first officially-licensed, fully-animated Doctor Who story. //&lt;![CDATA[ if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = &quot;show&quot;; var tocHideText = &quot;hide&quot;; showTocToggle(); } //]]&gt; Synopsis The Doctor confronts Prime, War Chief of the Shalka Confederation, and her minions The TARDIS materialises in the village of Lannet in Lancashire, disgorging an annoyed Doctor, who has apparently been transported here against his will. He discovers the village silent, its inhabitants all living in fear except for a barmaid, Alison Cheney. An alien race calling themselves the Shalka have taken up residence beneath Lannet in preparation for a wider invasion. Despite his initial reluctance to get involved, the Doctor finds himself having to save the world again, aided by Alison and an old enemy who has become an ally. Cast The Doctor -- Richard E. GrantAlison Cheney -- Sophie OkonedoDawson/ Greaves -- Conor MoloneyMax -- Andrew DunnJoe -- Craig KellyMathilda Pierce -- Anna Calder-MarshallThe Master -- Derek JacobiPrime -- Diana QuickMajor Kennet -- Jim NortonCaretaker -- David Tennant Continuity Grant's incarnation of the Time Lord (often referred to as the "REG Doctor" or the "Shalka Doctor" by fans) has since appeared in an online short story, The Feast of the Stone by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright, although no further stories are planned.Major Kennet looks over a UNIT file with the Doctor.Toward the end of the Eighth Doctor Adventures novel range, the "expanded canon" began to consciously diverge, with the audio plays and novels intentionally contradicting each other. In the final Eighth Doctor novel, The Gallifrey Chronicles, the idea is put forward that each of the separate narrative threads -- presumably books, comics, and audios, as implicitly suggested in Zagreus -- has led to a different ninth incarnation of the Doctor. The implication here, though not explicitly stated, is that the three Doctors are the televised Ninth Doctor, Rowan Atkinson's Doctor from The Curse of Fatal Death, and the Shalka Doctor. Some fans have used this "expanded timeline" theory to fit Scream of the Shalka into overall continuity.[citation needed] Shalka Doctor Who race Shalka Type Bioplasmic entities Affiliated with Shalka Confederacy Home planet Unknown First appearance Scream of the Shalka The Shalka appear to be a serpentine alien race made of living rock and magma, but they are actually bioplasmic entities, living plasma, their physical appearance merely a "crust" concealing their true forms. They breathe volcanic air and prefer high temperatures, being most comfortable underground where lava meets metamorphic rock. They communicate through high-pitched screaming, which they can use for a variety of effects, like tunneling through rock or mentally controlling other life forms. They also use sound as a part of their technology. The Shalka arrived on Earth via meteorite, initially landing near Mount Ruapehu, New Zealand, subsequently establishing a beachhead for their planned invasion of Earth beneath the Lancashire town of Lannet. They also created a stable wormhole for landing their invasion force, which could also be converted into a black hole to dispose of their enemies, as they tried to do with the Doctor. As they claimed to have done to billions of planets before, they intended to implant Shalka larvae into key segments of the population, mind controlling them into emitting a scream that would destroy the ozone layer. In this way, the Shalka intended to raise the surface temperature of the planet to the point where the human race would perish but the Shalka could thrive. The Shalka would then live beneath the surface, with the rest of the universe believing that Earth's inhabitants had died of self-inflicted ecological damage. The Doctor defeated their plans with the help of the British military and a Lannet barmaid named Alison. Production Doctor Who had suspended production in 1989, and aside from charity specials, had only resurfaced as an American-funded television movie in 1996, which did not garner enough ratings to go to a regular series. When Shalka was announced in July, 2003 for planned broadcast in November, the possibiliy of Doctor Who returning to television screens still seemed remote and BBC Worldwide were continuing to shop around for another possible movie deal. As a result, BBCi announced, with BBC approval, that the Doctor appearing in Shalka would be the "official" Ninth Doctor. However, events rapidly overtook this. In September Lorraine Heggessey, the Controller of BBC One, managed to persuade BBC Worldwide that as their plans for a Doctor Who film were nowhere near fruition, BBC television should be allowed to make a new series. A deal with Russell T. Davies to produce the new series was quickly struck, and on September 26, the BBC announced that Doctor Who would be returning to BBC One in 2005, produced by BBC Wales. As a result, the "official" nature of the Shalka webcast was in doubt from even before it was webcast. After the webcast, in February 2004, plans for sequels or a DVD release were indefinitely shelved. For a period, it was unclear if the new television Doctor would be the Ninth or Tenth Doctor, but this was ultimately settled in April 2004 when in an interview with Doctor Who Magazine, Davies announced that the new television Doctor (played by Christopher Eccleston), would be the Ninth Doctor, relegating the Richard E. Grant Doctor to unofficial status. Davies later commented that Grant had never been considered for the role in the television series, telling Doctor Who Magazine: "I thought he was terrible. I thought he took the money and ran, to be honest. It was a lazy performance. He was never on our list to play the Doctor."[1] Production notes The working title for this production was Servants of the Shalakor. This original story outline is included in the BBC Books novelisation (see below).Appearing in an uncredited cameo role in the serial as a caretaker was actor and Doctor Who fan David Tennant, who in April 2005 was announced as the Tenth Doctor in the television series proper. He was not originally cast in the production, but Tennant happened to be recording a radio play in a neighbouring studio, and when he discovered what was being recorded next door managed to convince the director to give him a small role.Derek Jacobi would later play the Master again in the 2007 episode "Utopia".In the pub scene, the Cosgrove Hall Studios logo can briefly be seen on beermats, advertising "Volunteer Ale."The font used in titles and end credits (Industria) was the one used on the BBC's lines of Doctor Who video releases and spin-off novels at the time. It continues to be used on the classic series DVD releases.In 2006 Cosgrove Hall was again to create a Doctor Who related animation, the two missing episodes of The Invasion for that serial's DVD release. In 2007, some of the animation staff from these two productions went on to develop The Infinite Quest, a 13-part serial to be aired as part of the second series of Totally Doctor Who. A behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the Invasion episodes entitled Flash Frames includes footage from Scream of the Shalka -- the only footage from the production to see DVD release. In print Doctor Who book Scream of the Shalka Series Past Doctor Adventures Release number 64 Featuring Shalka Doctor The Master and Alison Writer Paul Cornell Publisher BBC Books ISBN ISBN 0-563-48619-8 Set between Unknown Number of pages 288 Release date February 2004 Preceded by Deadly Reunion Followed by Empire of Death The novelisation of Shalka was written by Paul Cornell, the first novelisation of a Doctor Who serial (the 1996 television movie notwithstanding) in nearly a decade (and the last so far, although novelisations based upon episodes of the spinoff The Sarah Jane Adventures were announced in 2007). The book also includes a feature on the making of the webcast, as well as the original Servants of the Shalahoa story outline. Given that the BBC and the producers of the televised Doctor Who have discounted Scream of the Shalka as being part of the franchise's continuity, this is one of the few Doctor Who novels for which the canonicity (or in this case, lack thereof) has firmly been established. DVD release The British Board of Film Classification has cleared all six episodes of the serial for release on DVD, but the BBC has made no announcement about release of the story. As of March 2007, only clips from the serial have been released to DVD, as part of Flash Frames, a documentary on the DVD release of the restored The Invasion. Scream of the Shalka webcast Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka at the Internet Movie DatabaseScream of the Shalka, on the BBC websiteScream of the Shalka at the Doctor Who Reference GuideScream of the Shalka theme music Scream of the Shalka novelisation

  
  

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• TDP 28: 8th Doctor Overview (inc. Big Finish)

  21 October 2007 (6:00am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 28 minutes and 48 seconds

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  TitleSerialSerial #Broadcast Doctor Who: The Movie 8A * 160 27 May 1996 1 BBCi Webcasts Shada Big Finish Audios "Season 27" Storm Warning Sword of Orion The Stones of Venice Minuet in Hell Big Finish Audios "Season 28" Invaders From Mars The Chimes of Midnight Seasons of Fear Embrace the Darkness The Time of the Daleks NeverLand Big Finish Audios "Season 29" Zagreus Scherzo The Creed of Kromon The Natural History of Fear The Twilight Kingdom Big Finish Audios "Season 30" Faith Stealer The Last Caerdroia The Next Life Big Finish Audios "Season 31" Terror Firma Scaredy Cat Other Lives Time Works Something Inside

  
  

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• TDP 27: Seventh Doctor Overview

  13 October 2007 (6:00am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 18 minutes and 56 seconds

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  The Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy 1987-1989Spoons. Braces. Cartmel masterplan. Panama hat. Umbrella. Ace! Rrrrrolling rrrrrrs. Professor! Wicked! Cliffhanger. Pullover. Dark and mysterious. Burnt toast. Season Twenty-Four - 1987 Time And the Rani Paradise Towers Delta And the Bannermen Dragonfire Season Twenty-Five - 1988 Remembrance of the Daleks The Happiness Patrol Silver Nemesis The Greatest Show In the Galaxy Season Twenty-Six - 1989 Battlefield Ghost Light The Curse of Fenric Survival

  
  

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• TDP 26: Sixth Doctor Overview

  6 October 2007 (4:00am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 24 minutes and 19 seconds

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  The Sixth Doctor Colin Baker 1984-1986Brash. Cat badge. Video nasty. Cancelled. Hiatus. Doctor in distress. Valeyard. Carrot juice. Carrot juice. Carrot juice Season Twenty-One - 1984 The Twin Dilemma Season Twenty-Two - 1985 Attack of the Cybermen Vengeance On Varos The Mark of the Rani The Two Doctors Timelash Revelation of the Daleks Season Twenty-Three- 1986 The Trial of a Timelord: The Mysterious Planet Mindwarp Terror of the Vervoids The Ultimate Foe

  
  

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• The winner is...

  5 October 2007 (2:51pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes and 39 seconds

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  the Winner is...Not The Fox Theme... The winner is a version I just found after posting the others. its a mix from an unused Dr Who project. mixed again with my the Dalek time machine fxid like to thank you all for emailing me with your comments and thoughts.I will be using these themes in future but as I record so far in advance you may not hear it for a month or so.it really means a lot that people took timeout of their day to email me.regardsTDps.6th Doctor review goes live Saturday 6th Oct.

  
  

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• Choose My New Theme Tune

  2 October 2007 (6:24am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 6 minutes and 31 seconds

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  I have uploaded a new podcast (the review of the 6th Doctor will be live later in the week... don't worry) but I need your feedback about this episode. You see I think I need a theme tune. So ive edited 5 and put them into tonights cast and I'd like you to listen to them and email me with your thoughts. 1) the sound FX im already using 2) An edited version of the Fox Movie/8th Doctor Music 3) Edited version of the Fist 9th doctor ie Richard E Grants Music from Scream of the salkra (kind of funky) 4) My own creation using bits of ALL the theme tunes I had access too... 5) Mark Gatis lovely version of the tune from Dr who night. come on guys... I trust your opinions. tin-dog@hotmail.co.uk what do you think? which should it be?

  
  

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• TDP 25: Fifth Doctor Overview

  27 September 2007 (6:00am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 24 minutes and 46 seconds

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  The Fifth Doctor Peter Davison 1982-1984 Cricketer. Brave heart, Tegan. Pleasant, open face. Wet vet. Kamelion. Celery. Master's cunning disguises. Season Nineteen - 1982 Castrovalva Four To Doomsday Kinda The Visitation Black Orchid Earthshock Time-Flight Season Twenty - 1983 Arc of Infinity Snakedance The Guardian Trilogy: Mawdryn Undead Terminus Enlightenment The King's Demons 20th Anniversary Special The Five Doctors Season Twenty-One - 1984 Warriors of the Deep The Awakening Frontios Resurrection of the Daleks Planet of Fire The Caves of Androzani

  
  

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• TDP 24: Part Two - Fourth Doctor Overview

  19 September 2007 (8:29am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 32 minutes and 5 seconds

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  Season Twelve - 1974-75 Robot The Ark in Space The Sontaran Experiment Genesis of the Daleks Revenge of the Cybermen Season Thirteen - 1975-76 Terror of the Zygons Planet of Evil Pyramids of Mars The Android Invasion The Brain of Morbius The Seeds of Doom Season Fourteen - 1976-77 The Masque of Mandragora The Hand of Fear The Deadly Assassin The Face of Evil The Robots of Death The Talons of Weng-Chiang Season Fifteen - 1977-78 Horror of Fang Rock The Invisible Enemy Image of the Fendahl The Sun Makers Underworld The Invasion of Time Season Sixteen - 1978-79 The Ribos Operation The Pirate Planet The Stones of Blood The Androids of Tara The Power of Kroll The Armageddon Factor Season Seventeen - 1979-80 Destiny of the Daleks City of Death The Creature from the Pit Nightmare of Eden The Horns of Nimon Shada Season Eighteen - 1980-81 The Leisure Hive Meglos The E-Space Trilogy Full Circle State of Decay Warriors' Gate The Keeper of Traken Logopolis

  
  

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• TDP 23: Part One - Fourth Doctor Overview

  10 September 2007 (5:06am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 35 minutes and 8 seconds

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  Season 12 Title Serial Serial # Broadcast # Eps Robot 4A 75 28 Dec 74 - 18 Jan 75 4 The Ark in Space 4C 76 25 Jan 75 - 15 Feb 75 4 The Sontaran Experiment 4B 77 22 Feb 75 - 01 Mar 75 2 Genesis of the Daleks 4E 78 08 Mar 75 - 12 Apr 75 4 Revenge of the Cybermen 4D 79 19 Apr 75 - 10 May 75 4 Season 13 Title Serial Serial # Broadcast # Eps Terror of the Zygons 4F 80 30 Aug 75 - 20 Sep 75 4 Planet of Evil 4H 81 27 Sep 75 - 18 Oct 75 4 Pyramids of Mars 4G 82 25 Oct 75 - 15 Nov 75 4 The Android Invasion 4J 83 22 Nov 75 - 13 Dec 75 4 The Brain of Morbius 4K 84 03 Jan 76 - 24 Jan 76 4 The Seeds of Doom 4L 85 31 Jan 76 - 06 Mar 76 6 Season 14 Title Serial Serial # Broadcast # Eps The Masque of Mandragora 4M 86 04 Sep 76 - 25 Sep 76 4 The Hand of Fear 4N 87 02 Oct 76 - 23 Oct 76 4 The Deadly Assassin 4P 88 30 Oct 76 - 20 Nov 76 4 The Face of Evil 4Q 89 01 Jan 77 - 22 Jan 77 4 The Robots of Death 4R 90 29 Jan 77 - 19 Feb 77 4 The Talons of Weng-Chiang 4S 91 26 Feb 77 - 02 Apr 77 6 Season 15 Title Serial Serial # Broadcast # Eps Horror of Fang Rock 4V 92 03 Sep 77 - 24 Sep 77 4 The Invisible Enemy 4T 93 01 Oct 77 - 22 Oct 77 4 Image of the Fendahl 4X 94 29 Oct 77 - 19 Nov 77 4 The Sun Makers 4W 95 26 Nov 77 - 17 Dec 77 4 Underworld 4Y 96 07 Jan 78 - 28 Jan 78 4 The Invasion of Time 4Z 97 04 Feb 78 - 11 Mar 78 6 Season 16 Title Serial Serial # Broadcast # Eps The Ribos Operation 5A 98 02 Sep 78 - 23 Sep 78 4 The Pirate Planet 5B 99 30 Sep 78 - 21 Oct 78 4 The Stones of Blood 5C 100 28 Oct 78 - 18 Nov 78 4 The Androids of Tara 5D 101 25 Nov 78 - 16 Dec 78 4 The Power of Kroll 5E 102 23 Dec 78 - 13 Jan 79 4 The Armageddon Factor 5F 103 20 Jan 79 - 24 Feb 79 6 Season 17 Title Serial Serial # Broadcast

  
  

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• TDP 22: Bumper Episode Total History of the Daleks. (With Tin Dog)

  25 August 2007 (7:52pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 42 minutes and 41 seconds

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  All 3 historys of the Daleks. in one! All presented by Tin Dog (and NOT G. Chase)see last 2 eps for full notes

  
  

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• TDP 19: Infinite Quest & Christmas thoughts

  13 July 2007 (6:50am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 12 minutes and 0 seconds

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  The Infinite Quest Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor) Companion Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones) Writer Alan Barnes Director Gary Russell Length 13 episodes, approx 3:30 each Originally broadcast 2 April - 30 June 2007 30 June 2007 (full story) The Infinite Quest is an animated serial based on the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was aired in twelve weekly parts (three and a half minutes each) starting 2 April 2007[1] as a segment of the children's spin-off show Totally Doctor Who. However, on Totally Doctor Who, it was revealed that the final episode (after episode 12) will be shown at the end of the "Omnibus" episode, thus increasing the total to thirteen parts, making the compiled series the equivalent length of a standard episode of Doctor Who.[2][3] The compiled story was broadcast on 30 June 2007, coinciding with the finale of Series 3.[4] Contents [hide] 1 Synopsis2 Plot3 Voices 3.1 Cast notes 4 Continuity5 Outside references6 Production7 References //&lt;![CDATA[ if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = &quot;show&quot;; var tocHideText = &quot;hide&quot;; showTocToggle(); } //]]&gt; [edit] Synopsis The Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones set off on an adventure through space to find the datachips to unlock The Infinite, a huge spaceship that can grant people their heart's desire. However, the evil Baltazar is also searching for the ship. [edit] Plot The Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones, animated. An alien named Baltazar has set his sights on Earth, planning to compress its population into diamonds. The Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones arrive on his ship to stop him. The Doctor threatens him with a spoon, which Baltazar cuts in half with his metal claw hand. The spoon happens to be made of a special fungus, which when introduced to the metal ship quickly begins to rust it. As the ship falls apart, the Doctor frees Baltazar's huge metallic bird, Caw, who carries Baltazar away. The Doctor muses that Baltazar will end up on the ice prison planet Volag-Noc at some point. Some time later, Caw takes the Doctor and Martha to his home planet, where he gives Martha a brooch as a gift. He also spits up a datachip, explaining that it and three others like it hold the location of The Infinite, an ancient spaceship that can grant people their heart's desire. Each datachip leads to the next one. At first unwilling to search for it, the Doctor is forced to when Caw notes that Baltazar has a copy of the datachip. As the two set off on their quest, Caw is revealed to be working for Baltazar. The first chip leads to the planet Boukan, where the pirate captain Kaliko is raiding the living oil rigs they find there. She is wearing the next datachip as an earring. Assuming the Doctor and Martha to be spies for the oil companies, Kaliko tells her crew of skeletons to throw them overboard, unaware that her first mate, Mr. Swabb Mate, is in fact the spy. Swabb stages a mutiny and has the oil rigs shoot down the ship, but their poor aim causes them to scatter the crew in doing so. After Swabb is knocked out, the Doctor reveals the reason for their visit to Kaliko. She tries to escape in a pod, but is found murdered after landing near the TARDIS. With nothing left to do, the Doctor and Martha take her datachip and follow it to the next one. The next chip is on the planet Myarr, being used as a necklace by a lizard alien named Mergrass. Mergrass has been hired to advise the Mantasphids, alien bugs, on military strategy against the humans attacking them, but in reality is little more than a gun-runner. During an attack by the humans, a pilot is captured. He reveals that the Mantasphids invaded the planet for its fertile dung, and that the humans were there first. To rid themselves of the bugs, the humans have decided to bomb the entire area. The Mantasphid Queen turns to Mergrass for help, but is unwilling to pay him for it, and as such he refuses to arm the weapons he provided her with. As Mergrass leaves, the Doctor is forced to defuse the situation by impersonating the supposed pirate-master of the Mantasphid, which proves successful. Quickly telling the pilot to work with the Mantasphid for the benefit of both species, he follows after Mergrass. By this point, Mergrass has also been killed, so again the Doctor and Martha take the left-behind datachip and head for the next plant. The final datachip is on the ice prison planet Volag-Noc. Upon arriving, the Doctor is quickly identified as a wanted criminal and dumped in a cell with a damaged robot. Martha is taken to the Governor of the facility, a human named Gurney. He has the final datachip locked in a safe. As they discuss things, both Martha and the Doctor discover that Gurney isn't the Governor, but one of the prisoners. The robot Locke who is sharing the Doctor's cell is in fact the Governor, and the Doctor shouldn't have been put in the cell in the first place. Locke decides that all the prisoners are irredeemable and orders their execution, giving Gurney a chance to shoot Locke and escape with the datachip. The Doctor manages to prevent the prisoners' execution. On the surface, Martha catches up to Gurney, but can do little to stop him without a weapon. At the same time, however, Baltazar arrives riding Caw. Gurney shoots down Caw, but is apparently dispatched by Baltazar off-screen. Caw dies from the damage caused by Gurney's shot while the Doctor and Martha comfort him. Baltazar then takes the two hostage, forcing the Doctor to show the way to The Infinite. He also reveals that Martha's "brooch" is actually Squawk, Caw's child, which flies to the body of his parent. Once the Doctor locks in The Infinite's location, Baltazar takes control of the TARDIS -- as flying the TARDIS involves little more than a button-press, he no longer needs the Doctor. He leaves the Doctor to perish in the snow. On The Infinite, Baltazar orders Martha to find the hold, which she does by accidentally falling through the deck. In the hold, Martha finds the Doctor waiting for her, but quickly realises that it is a creation of the ship: the ship is doing as promised. The real Doctor is close by, however, riding a matured Squawk. He quickly knocks Baltazar out and comes to Martha's aid. The Doctor informs her she just has to reject the vision, which she does, causing it to fade away. The Infinite tries to find the Doctor's heart's desire but he wards it off. He explains that for him it has been nearly three years, in which time he weened Squawk and helped re-establish Volag-Noc, making sure to tone down the somewhat homicidal Governor. He further explains that the heart's desires granted by The Infinite are little more than illusions, the last spark of whatever powerful being died within its walls. Baltazar has not yet realised this; he is standing in a treasure, oblivious to Martha's warnings about the illusion. The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to vibrate the wreckage, causing the ship to fall apart. He and Martha flee in the TARDIS, leaving Baltazar to rely on Squawk, who has been trained by the Doctor to take Baltazar back to Volag-Noc. With the day saved, the Doctor and Martha resume their adventures. [edit] Voices The Doctor -- David TennantMartha Jones -- Freema AgyemanBaltazar -- Anthony HeadCaw / Squawk -- Toby LongworthCaptain Kaliko -- Liza TarbuckSwabb -- Tom FarrellyThe Mantasphid Queen -- Lizzie HopleyMergrass -- Paul ClaytonPilot Kelvin -- Steven MeoControl Voice -- Barney HarwoodGurney -- Stephen GreifLocke / Warders -- Dan Morgan [edit] Cast notes Anthony Head previously appeared in the Series 2 episode "School Reunion" as Mr Finch. He was also the Doctor's adversary in the Excelis Dawns, Excelis Rising, and Excelis Decays audio dramas produced by Big Finish. Head had auditioned for the role of the Eighth Doctor in the 1996 Doctor Who television movie. Head also narrates series 3 of Doctor Who Confidential and the BBC Audio release Doctor Who: Project Who?.Freema Agyeman's voicing of Martha Jones in the first episode of The Infinite Quest was her second televised appearance in the role, aired the day before her second appearance in the actual series. [edit] Continuity The Doctor states in both the first and third episode that the serial takes place in the 40th century, 200 years before the events of "42".Caw indicates that some time has passed between the first and second episode, in which time Baltazar has gone to prison, supposedly sold out by Caw, and has since got out again.Also in the second episode the Doctor names various other beings from the same time as The Infinite including the Racnoss, the Nestenes, and the Great Vampires.Most episodes re-use music that had been previously used in Doctor Who.While walking the ice cold wastes of the prison planet in his regular clothes, the Doctor seems quite unaffected by the cold. This was a trait shown by the Second Doctor in The Tomb of the Cybermen and the Fourth Doctor in The Seeds of Doom and The Hand of Fear.In episode 11, when the Doctor inserts the last chip into the TARDIS console, it projects a star chart map and planet systems around the top half of the room in a similar fashion to that in the 1996 film. [edit] Outside references In the first episode, the Doctor compares Baltazar to Napoleon Bonaparte, Boudica, and Blackbeard. The former appeared in The Reign of Terror while the latter appears as a fictional character in The Mind Robber.In the same episode, the Doctor refers to Delia Smith, Fanny Cradock, and Madame Cholet from The Wombles as among Earth's greatest chefs.In the second episode, Martha refers to Bill Oddie, who played the pirate captain Red Jasper in the Big Finish audio adventure Doctor Who and the Pirates. [edit] Production One segment of The Infinite Quest is shown each week during Totally Doctor Who, having begun on 2 April. The serial, animated by Firestep, is the second officially licensed, animated Doctor Who serial, the first being the flash-animated Scream of the Shalka (2003). Missing episodes of the 1968 serial The Invasion were also animated for that serial's 2006 DVD release. Both of these animations were produced by Cosgrove Hall. The BBC describes Firestep as "the creative team behind previous Doctor Who animated adventures for the BBC."[2] An earlier animated series based on Doctor Who, to be produced by Nelvana for CBS, was planned in the 1980s, but fell through.[5] Production art had been drawn up by Ted Bastien.[6] Three limited animated webcasts - Death Comes to Time, Real Time, and Shada - were made and 'cast' on the BBC Website before Scream of the Shalka.[7]

  
  

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• TDP 18: Last of the Time Lords

  3 July 2007 (7:03pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 13 minutes and 46 seconds

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  The Doctor, newly rejuvenated, shows the Master the power of the human race. A year after the events of "The Sound of Drums", Earth has been closed to all species and labelled as in "terminal extinction". Martha returns to Britain, having travelled the world since teleporting away from the Valiant at the moment of the Master's triumph. Her TARDIS key, still generating a perception filter, has kept her hidden all this time. She meets Thomas Milligan, a doctor-turned-freedom-fighter, who can lead her to one Professor Docherty. Martha herself has become a figure of hope against the Master, rumoured to be the only one capable of killing him. Meanwhile, on the Valiant, the Master is keeping the aged Doctor in a 'dog-kennel' tent as his humiliated prisoner, Martha's family as his servants, and Captain Jack Harkness in chains. Lucy Saxon is still his companion, but shows evidence of physical and emotional abuse. The Master shows the Doctor the world he has created: the new Time Lord Empire. Across the planet, warships are being built to wage war on the rest of the universe. The Doctor has "only one thing to say", but the Master doesn't want to hear it. After a failed attempt by the Jones family, Jack, and the Doctor to gain control by stealing the Master's laser screwdriver, the Master sends out a transmission intended for Martha. Watching in Docherty's lab, she sees the Master suspend the Doctor's capacity to regenerate and age him by a further nine hundred years, shrinking him into a tiny, frail creature. Instead of being dismayed, Martha draws hope from the Doctor's continued survival. Though the Toclafane have proven to be virtually invincible, Martha reveals that she stumbled upon one that was struck by lightning, and with the data gathered from the incident Docherty is able to replicate the required conditions. Upon examining the sphere thus captured, they make a horrifying discovery: the Toclafane contain the conscious remains of the humans from the year 100 trillion. There was no Utopia, only more darkness, and with everything dying around them the humans cannibalised and regressed themselves, becoming the child-like Toclafane. The Master brought them back in time using the TARDIS, which could only travel between Utopia and present-day Earth. The contradiction of the Toclafane killing their own ancestors is made possible by the paradox machine built by the Master. Martha is horrified when the Toclafane quotes young Creet that she met on Malcassairo, telling her that the Toclafane have shared memories of the last of humanity. When questioned as to why it wishes to kill its own ancestors, the Toclafane responds, "Because it's fun" followed by maniacal laughter. Tom subsequently shoots it dead. When Docherty asks if the rumours about Martha are true, Martha reveals a gun, developed by Torchwood and UNIT, purportedly able to kill a Time Lord and prevent the ensuing regeneration. Martha has retrieved three of the four chemicals needed for the gun from their hiding places around the world, and has returned to London to find the fourth. After Martha and Thomas depart for a shelter in Bexley to hide, Docherty (who is desperate for information regarding her missing son) reveals their whereabouts to the Master. The Master thus comes to Earth's surface to capture Martha, killing Tom, destroying the special gun and taking her back to the Valiant. He intends to execute her before the Doctor and her family, at the moment his fleet is launched. As the clock counts down, Martha reveals the real reason she travelled the globe. It wasn't for a fictional anti-regeneration gun, or to fight back, but merely to talk. She told everyone about the Doctor; specifically, she told everyone to think of the Doctor at the same time the Master plans to launch his fleet. Docherty's betrayal was expected, engineered by Martha so that she would be brought on board the Valiant to rejoin the Doctor. Combined with the Master's Archangel satellite network, which the Doctor has had an entire year to get in tune with, this has the effect of charging the Doctor with the combined psychic energy of the people of Earth. This enables the Doctor to restore his youthful physiognomy and end the Master's control. As the Master cowers, the Doctor says the words the Master was afraid to hear: "I forgive you." With the Master out of the picture, Jack rounds up some soldiers to destroy the paradox machine, but is delayed by the Toclafane. The Master, using Jack's vortex manipulator, teleports himself and the Doctor to Earth, threatening to detonate his fleet and take the Earth with it. The Doctor knows that the Master can't kill himself, and manages to teleport both himself and the Master back to the Valiant just as Jack destroys the paradox machine, rewinding time to just after the US President is killed and just before the Toclafane arrive. All those on the Valiant remember the events due to being at "the eye of the storm", but nobody else will know of the Master's reign of terror in "the year that never happened". The Master, now defenceless, is handcuffed and stands before the Doctor. The Doctor announces that, since the Master is a Time Lord, he is the Doctor's responsibility and will be imprisoned on board the TARDIS. Francine Jones is talked out of shooting the Master, but Lucy Saxon, with a glazed expression, seizes a gun herself and shoots him. Rather than be a prisoner for the rest of his lives, the Master lets himself die, refusing to regenerate despite the Doctor's desperate pleas. Just before dying in his opponent's arms, the Master muses on the constant drumming in his head, wondering if it will finally stop, and with a smile says, "I win", leaving the Doctor to weep for his lost adversary and fellow Time Lord. The Doctor cremates the Master's body on a pyre. However, after he leaves, a female hand wearing red nail polish is seen taking the Master's ring from the burnt-out pyre, with malevolent laughter echoing in the background. In Cardiff, Jack decides to remain behind to look after his team, "defending the Earth". The Doctor disables Jack's vortex manipulator to keep him from jumping through time unsupervised. The Doctor then tells Jack there's nothing that can be done about his immortality: it seems likely he'll never be able to die -- though he isn't sure about aging. Thinking about what he might look like millions of years from now, Jack confesses his vanity and recalls how, as the first person from the Boeshane Peninsula to join the Time Agency, his good looks earned him the nickname "the Face of Boe". With the TARDIS repaired, the Doctor is ready to move on. Martha, however, has decided to stay so she can look after her family and finally qualify as a medical doctor. She gives the Doctor her phone so they can keep in touch and says she will see him again, but when someone is in love and it's unrequited, they have to get out: "this is me getting out". Leaving in the TARDIS, the Doctor begins to relax in the console room chair -- until the ship is suddenly shaken with great force, and the bow of a ship smashes through the TARDIS' wall. Picking up a lifebelt, he finds "Titanic" written on it, to which he can only respond, "What?!" [edit] Cast The Doctor -- David TennantMartha Jones -- Freema AgyemanJack Harkness -- John BarrowmanThe Master -- John SimmLucy Saxon -- Alexandra MoenFrancine Jones -- Adjoa AndohClive Jones -- Trevor LairdTish Jones -- Gugu Mbatha-RawThomas Milligan -- Tom EllisProfessor Docherty -- Ellie HaddingtonLad -- Tom GoldingWoman -- Natasha AlexanderToclafane voices -- Zoe Thorne, Gerard Logan, and Johnnie Lyne-Pirkis [edit] Cast Notes Reggie Yates is credited as playing Leo Jones; however, the character Leo only appears in this episode as background. The audio commentary for the episode mentions that Leo was originally scheduled to appear, but Yates was double-booked. [edit] Continuity In the episode's commentary, writer Russell T. Davies called the implication of Jack's nickname ("the Face of Boe") "a theory" as to the Face of Boe's origins, prompting Executive Producer Julie Gardner to urge him to "stop backpedaling" about the two characters being the same. There was much laughter. Davies also mentioned the addition of a line in "Gridlock" in which the Face of Boe calls the Doctor "old friend", suggesting a strong connection between him and the Doctor.[2]The Master makes reference to the Sea Devils and the Axons.[3] The Doctor also makes references to the Axons and the Daleks.Earth is referred to as Sol 3, the third planet from the star Sol, as it was in The Deadly Assassin.[3] Sol is the Latin name for the Sun, and is often used in science fiction.The Master's laser screwdriver is said to be isomorphically controlled, a property the Doctor attributed to the TARDIS in Pyramids of Mars; although other characters, such as Romana, have operated the TARDIS.Clips from "Smith and Jones", "Utopia" and "The Sound of Drums" are used in this episode.After receiving a great amount of psychic energy, and rejuvenating himself, the Doctor says the line: "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry", a frequently used catchphrase of his.Martha mentions that she once met William Shakespeare ("The Shakespeare Code").When the Master is shot by Lucy Saxon he says, "It's always the women." He was previously shot by Chantho in "Utopia".The Doctor's severed hand from "The Christmas Invasion", "Utopia", "The Sound of Drums" and various Torchwood episodes can be seen at the end of the episode inside the TARDIS.At the end of the episode, the Doctor says "What?!" three times, after the RMS Titanic crashed through the TARDIS wall, which was his response to Donna at the end of "Doomsday", when she appeared onboard the TARDIS.This does not appear to be the Doctor's first encounter with the Titanic. In "The End of the World" the Ninth Doctor stated that he had been onboard an "unsinkable" ship and that he "ended up clinging to an iceberg". In "Rose", Clive shows Rose evidence that someone that looked like the Ninth Doctor prevented a family from boarding the ship. The Doctor has also been on the Titanic in novels (for example, the Seventh Doctor in the Virgin New Adventures The Left-Handed Hummingbird), but the canon of the novels is in question.The hand seen picking up the Master's ring leaves open the possibility of reintroducing the character at a later date, although Russell T Davies stated in the podcast for this episode that this would not occur in the 2008 series.[4]

  
  

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• TDP 17: The Sound of Drums

  28 June 2007 (7:03am GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 11 minutes and 10 seconds

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  The sky rips open above the Valiant. The Doctor, Martha, and Jack materialise in a London alleyway, having used Jack's Vortex Manipulator, repaired by the Doctor, to escape the Futurekind in the year 100 trillion. Seeing "Vote Saxon" posters everywhere, and Saxon himself on a giant TV screen, the Doctor and Martha realise that the new Prime Minister, the mysterious "Mr Saxon", is the Master. In 10 Downing Street, the Master speaks briefly with Tish Jones, who is unsure of her duties in her new job there. Next he enters the newly rebuilt cabinet room. After calling the cabinet members traitors, because they abandoned their parties to join his electoral bandwagon, he puts on a gas mask and activates jets of poisonous gas. As the cabinet collapses, the Master beats his hand on the table, drumming out a four-beat rhythm. Journalist Vivien Rook obtains an interview with Master's wife, Lucy Saxon, as a pretext to warn Lucy that "Saxon" did not exist eighteen months ago -- his entire life before that is a fabrication. Mrs Saxon turns to the Master, who is now standing by the door. He confirms that Saxon doesn't exist, and then introduces his "friends", four floating, metallic spheres, which materialise and kill Vivien. The Master promises his wife that "everything will end tomorrow". Meanwhile, the Doctor, Martha and Jack have gone to Martha's flat to find out more about the Master's "Saxon" persona. Part of his apparently varied history is the Archangel network, a mobile phone network which Saxon was in charge of launching. The Master then makes a televised announcement about the Toclafane, the spheres seen earlier, saying that first contact will take place the following morning. The Doctor is surprised; the name Toclafane is that of a Gallifreyan fairytale villain, not a real alien race. As the Master makes his speech, the Doctor discovers a bomb on the back of Martha's TV. They make it outside just as her flat explodes. Martha rings up her mum to check on her; Francine asks Martha to come to her house, claiming that she plans to get back together with Clive. She passes the phone to Clive, who tries to warn Martha away; however, the "sinister woman" is listening and orders police to arrest the entire Jones family. Martha hurriedly drives to the scene with the Doctor and Jack. On the way she phones Tish in Downing Street, just as Tish is dragged away by guards. Martha arrives at Francine's house, but the police open fire on her car and she is forced to drive away. As the Doctor, Jack, and Martha abandon the car, Martha phones Leo to warn him, and is relieved to learn that he is in Brighton. Saxon interrupts the conversation and the Doctor takes the phone. He tells the Master about the Time War and how it ended. The Master reveals that he was resurrected by the Time Lords in order to fight in the war, but ran away in fear. He then informs the Doctor that they are now Britain's most wanted terrorists and tells them to run, noting that Jack's friends have been sent on a wild-goose chase in the Himalayas. One of the Toclafane appears before the Master, asking if the "machine" is ready. The Master confirms it will reach critical mass at 8:02 AM, two minutes after first contact. The Toclafane warns of an impending "terrible darkness" and suggests that they flee, but the Master merely reminds it of its deadline. As they hide in an abandoned building, the Doctor gives Martha and Jack some insight into the Master's background, explaining that Time Lords on Gallifrey stare into the time vortex at the age of eight: some are inspired, some run away, and some are driven mad. The Doctor ran and never stopped, but he believes the latter happened to the Master. After Jack receives a posthumous message from Vivien Rook to Torchwood about the Archangel network, the Doctor discovers that the Master is transmitting a mysterious four-beat rhythm that subliminally persuaded people to vote for him, which also kept the Doctor from previously detecting the Master. The Doctor then adds a perception filter to the TARDIS keys, allowing the trio to move about unnoticed. While the TARDIS crew look on, US President Arthur Winters arrives in Air Force One. He tells the Master that UNIT now controls the operation. Citing a 1968 United Nations protocol, Winters insists on moving first contact to the neutral ground of the UNIT aircraft carrier Valiant and conducting the meeting himself. The Master brings Martha's family along, and the Doctor and friends follow using Jack's Vortex Manipulator. Onboard the Valiant, they find the TARDIS, its cloister bell ringing and the interior glowing an ominous red. It has been "cannibalised" by the Master into a paradox machine, set to go off at 8:02 AM. The trio head for the room where first contact is being made. The Doctor has a plan: if he can get his TARDIS key around the Master's neck, everyone will see him for what he really is. When first contact begins, the Toclafane complain that the President is not the Master. The Master reveals himself and has his friends kill the President. The Doctor is captured by guards, and the Master temporarily "kills" Jack with his laser screwdriver, which is also equipped with LazLabs genetic manipulation technology. Coupled with biological data from the Doctor's severed hand, stolen in the previous episode, it allows the Master to artificially age the Doctor by 100 years. The Master brings in Martha's family to witness his triumph. With the paradox machine ready, the Master tells the people of Earth that it's "the end of the world" and plays "Voodoo Child". The machine activates, creating a massive rift above the Valiant from which six billion Toclafane emerge. He orders them to kill one tenth of the Earth's population. He refuses to reveal the Toclafane's true identity to the aged Doctor, saying that the revelation would break the Doctor's hearts. Whilst the Master is distracted, Martha glances mournfully at the Doctor, Jack, and her family, then teleports to Earth using the Manipulator, promising to return as she watches the Toclafane descend. The Master and his wife look down on "his new dominion", with the aged Doctor between them, forced to confront his failure to stop the Master.

  
  

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• TDP 16: The Road to Utopia

  18 June 2007 (8:50pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 17 minutes and 39 seconds

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  Captain Jack Harkness reunites with the Doctor and the TARDIS is thrown out of control to the end of the universe. They meet Professor Yana, who is working on a means to save the remnants of humanity while a race known as the "Futurekind" attempt to thwart his plans.Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor) Companions Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones) John Barrowman (Jack Harkness) Writer Russell T. Davies Director Graeme Harper Executive Producer(s) Russell T. Davies Julie Gardner Production code 3.11 Series Series 3 Originally broadcast 16 June 2007 Preceded by "Blink" Followed by "The Sound of Drums" This is Derek Jacobi's third involvement in Doctor Who and second time playing the Doctor's nemesis. The first was in the September 2003 audio drama Deadline,[3] where he played a screenwriter who believes himself to be the Doctor. The second was several months later, in the webcast Scream of the Shalka, where he played an android version of the Master.[4] David Tennant also had a minor, uncredited role in Scream of the Shalka.John Bell is a nine-year-old who won a Blue Peter competition to appear in this episode.[5]

  
  

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• TDP 15: Blink and you might miss it!

  11 June 2007 (7:02pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 12 minutes and 36 seconds

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  In an old, abandoned house, the Weeping Angels wait. Only the Doctor can stop them, but he is trapped in time. However, when people start disappearing, a young woman called Sally finds cryptic messages bleeding through from 1969 a messages from a mysterious stranger called the Doctor. But can she decipher them before the Angels claim their best prize yet?190 - Blink Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor) Companion Martha Jones Writer Steven Moffat Director Hettie MacDonald Script Editor Helen Raynor Producer Phil Collinson Executive Producer(s) Russell T. Davies Julie Gardner Production code 3.10 Series Series 3 Length 45 minutes Originally broadcast 9 June 2007 Preceded by "The Family of Blood" Followed by "Utopia" Part of the story of "Blink" is based on Moffat's own Ninth Doctor short story from the Doctor Who Annual 2006 called "What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow". It is now available on the BBC website. "

  
  

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• TDP 14: Family Blood

  3 June 2007 (2:50pm GMT)
  Episode Duration: 0 days, 0 hours, 11 minutes and 19 seconds

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  It is 1913 in England and war has come a year in advance as the terrifying Family hunt for the Doctor. When John Smith refuses to accept his destiny as a Time Lord, the women in his life AC/i?1/2i?1/2 Martha and Joan AC/i?1/2i?1/2 have to help him decide.Cast The Doctor AC/i?1/2i?1/2 David TennantMartha Jones AC/i?1/2i?1/2 Freema AgyemanJoan Redfern AC/i?1/2i?1/2 Jessica HynesJeremy Baines AC/i?1/2i?1/2 Harry LloydTim Latimer AC/i?1/2i?1/2 Thomas SangsterHutchinson AC/i?1/2i?1/2 Tom PalmerRocastle AC/i?1/2i?1/2 Pip TorrensJenny AC/i?1/2i?1/2 Rebekah StatonMr. Clark AC/i?1/2i?1/2 Gerard HoranLucy Cartwright AC/i?1/2i?1/2 Lauren WilsonPhillips AC/i?1/2i?1/2 Matthew WhiteVicar AC/i?1/2i?1/2 Sophie Turner

  
  

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