Programme of the Year

From Outpost Gallfrey: Doctor Who has been named best programme of 2008 at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, a significant annual gathering of members of the British television industry.

According to the report on the BBC News website, the show's parent channel, BBC One, was named terrestrial channel of the year. Doctor Who Confidential broadcaster BBC Three took the prize for best digital channel.

The winners of these awards are selected by a panel made up of journalists and television executives. This is the second year in a row that Doctor Who has won the award for best programme.

Doctor Who Christmas Special 2007: Voyage of the Damned

The episode continues from the end of the third series finale "Last of the Time Lords", when the TARDIS collided with the Titanic. To investigate further, the Doctor runs the TARDIS's self-repair programme and boards the Titanic, where he discovers that the "ship" is an interstellar cruiser from the planet Sto. Modelled after the Earth ocean liner of the same name, the ship is orbiting present-day Earth to observe "primitive cultures"–specifically, Christmas. He decides to stow away, only telling waitress Astrid Peth (Kylie Minogue). The Doctor joins Astrid on a brief excursion to Earth, along with married couple Morvin and Foon Van Hoff (Clive Rowe and Debbie Chazen), an alien with a spiked red head named Bannakaffalatta (Jimmy Vee), and historian and guide Mr Copper (Clive Swift). However, the populace of London fled in fear of a third consecutive extraterrestrial attack, and only a few people remain in the city, most notably a newspaper seller called Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins).

After the party return from the excursion, the ship's captain, Hardaker (Geoffrey Palmer), dismisses all his officers to commit an act of sabotage; he magnetises the hull of the ship, causing meteors to collide with it. The resulting collision kills most of the passengers on-board and draws the ship to an extinction level collision with Earth. The Doctor makes contact with Midshipman Alonzo Frame (Russell Tovey), a crew member who survived the collision, to help him stabilise the ship.

En route to the bridge, the Doctor's party are repeatedly attacked by the Host, androids resembling angels who were programmed to kill survivors of the collision. The Doctor breaks from the party and attempts to reach the control point for the Host. He is taken to the Host's leader, former cruise line owner Max Capricorn (George Costigan). He was bitter about being forced out of his own company and plotted the Titanic's inevitable collision with Earth to bankrupt the company. To save the Doctor, Astrid rams Capricorn with a forklift. Astrid and Capricorn ride off a precipice to their deaths.

The Doctor uses the Host to reach the bridge, where he uses the heat from entry into the Earth's atmosphere to restart the ship's engines. After stabilising the ship, the Doctor realises that the teleport bracelet Astrid was wearing backed-up her molecular pattern. However, the damaged system can only partially regenerate Astrid. The Doctor reluctantly allows her to dissipate into atoms, so she can fulfil her dream of exploring the universe. The party then amicably part ways, vowing not to forget the Doctor's and Astrid's actions.
Cast
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companion Kylie Minogue (Astrid Peth)
Guest stars
George Costigan – Max Capricorn
Clive Swift – Mr Copper
Gray O'Brien – Rickston Slade
Russell Tovey – Midshipman Alonzo Frame
Debbie Chazen – Foon Van Hoff
Clive Rowe – Morvin Van Hoff
Jimmy Vee – Bannakaffalatta
Geoffrey Palmer – Captain Hardaker
Bernard Cribbins – Wilfred Mott
Nicholas Witchell – Himself
Paul Kasey – The Host
Jessica Martin – Voice of the Queen

Production
Writer Russell T. Davies
Director James Strong
Script editor Brian Minchin
Producer Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s) Russell T Davies
Julie Gardner
Production code 4.X
Series Series 4
Length 72 minutes
Originally broadcast 25 December 2007

Doctor Who Series 30/4 Episodes: #1 Partners in Crime

The episode primarily focuses on Donna Noble (Catherine Tate), a previous companion who appeared in "The Runaway Bride". After her encounter with the Doctor (David Tennant), she became disenchanted with normal life and regretted declining his invitation to travel in the TARDIS. She started investigating conspiracy theories in the hope she would find him. She confides her regrets to her grandfather Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins), an amateur astronomer who met the Doctor shortly before the episode's events.

The episode concerns Adipose Industries, which is marketing a diet pill to London's population with the slogan "the fat just walks away". Believing the treatment to be otherworldly, the Doctor and Donna investigate the company separately, and find that the slogan is literal—the pills use latent body fat to parthenogenetically create the Adipose, small white aliens which spawn every night, removing a little of the host's body fat each time. In an emergency, multiple Adipose can spawn by using all of the body's organic tissue, killing the host. When the Doctor and Donna meet, they are confronted by Miss Foster (Sarah Lancashire), an alien who is exploiting Britain's overweight population to create the Adipose for the Adiposian First Family. Miss Foster mentions that the Adipose species "lost" their breeding planet and hired Foster to find a replacement; she chose Earth, knowing that it was illegal.

Foster accelerates her plans, feeling threatened by the Doctor's invocation of galactic law and fearing he may inform the "Shadow Proclamation", an interplanetary police force.[6][7] Throughout London, the Adipose begin to spawn, soon numbering several thousand. The Doctor and Donna prevent total emergency parthenogenesis occurring, while the remainder make their way to Adipose Industries. The Adiposian First Family use their spaceship to collect the Adipose, but kill Foster to hide any evidence they used Earth illegally. The Doctor refrains from killing the Adipose because they are children; Donna notes that his previous companion Martha Jones made him more human, citing his infanticide of the Racnoss in their previous encounter.[8]

At the end of the episode, Donna accepts an offer to travel in the TARDIS. She makes a detour to leave her car keys in a safe location for her mother Sylvia (Jacqueline King), and asks a blonde woman to help Sylvia find the keys. The woman turns towards the camera, revealing her to be Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). She fades as she walks away from the area. In the final scene, Donna asks the Doctor to fly by her grandfather, Wilfred, who sees her and celebrates on his allotment.
Cast
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companion Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)
Guest stars
Billie Piper – Rose Tyler
Sarah Lancashire – Miss Foster
Bernard Cribbins – Wilfred Mott
Jacqueline King – Sylvia Noble
Verona Joseph – Penny Carter
Jessica Gunning – Stacey
Martin Ball – Roger Davey
Rachid Sabitri – Craig Staniland
Chandra Ruegg – Claire Pope
Sue Kelvin – Suzette Chambers
Jonathan Stratt – Taxi driver

Production
Writer Russell T Davies
Director James Strong
Script editor Lindsey Alford
Producer Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s) Russell T Davies
Julie Gardner
Production code 4.1[1]
Series Series 4
Length 50 minutes
Originally broadcast 5 April 2008

Doctor Who Series 30/4 Episodes: #2 The Fires of Pompeii

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 "lost". They operate secretly; the Sybilline Sisterhood act as their proxies. They use the Sisterhood, which incorporates 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. The Doctor attempts to leave, but Donna convinces him to save Caecilius' family, whom he then takes on board the Tardis. The family, The Doctor, and Donna then watch Pompeii's destruction from a vantage point. The Doctor assures the family that Pompeii is never forgotten before leaving with Donna.

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, whose statues are in the form of the Doctor and Donna.
Cast
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companion Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)
Guest stars
Peter Capaldi – Caecilius
Tracey Childs – Metella
Phil Davis – Lucius
Sasha Behar – Spurrina
Francesca Fowler – Evelina
Lorraine Burroughs – Thalina
Victoria Wicks – High Priestess
Francois Pandolfo – Quintus
Karen Gillan – Soothsayer
Phil Cornwell – Stallholder

Production
Writer James Moran
Director Colin Teague
Script editor Brian Minchin
Producer Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s) Russell T. Davies
Julie Gardner
Production code 4.2
Series Series 4
Length 50 minutes
Originally broadcast 12 April 2008

Doctor Who Series 30/4 Episodes: #3 Planet of the Ood

The Doctor uses the TARDIS to land at a random point in time and space. On leaving the TARDIS, he and Donna find an injured Ood, a species the Doctor previously encountered in "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit". Just before dying, the Ood's eyes turn red and it makes a lunge for the Doctor, startling him with its ferocity. The Doctor muses that they were being influenced by the Devil on their previous encounter, and concludes that on this occasion they must be being influenced by a different and closer being. The Doctor and Donna find an industrial complex controlled by Ood Operations, who have been selling the Ood as a servant race since 3914.[1] The Doctor locates their position: the Ood-Sphere in the year 4126.

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)[2] 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 find a batch of uncultivated Ood. Instead of a translation sphere, they hold a "hind brain" that gives them individuality, and once removed, they become subservient; 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 consciousness. 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, an activist for "Friends of the Ood", had 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-Donna" in the Ood's song; stating that "the Wind, the Ice and the Snow" shall remember and honour their names forever, but comments that the Doctor's song may soon end.
Cast
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companion Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)
Guest stars
Tim McInnerny – Klineman Halpen
Ayesha Dharker – Solana Mercurio
Adrian Rawlins – Dr Ryder
Roger Griffiths – Commander Kess
Paul Clayton – Mr Bartle
Paul Kasey – Ood Sigma
Tariq Jorden – Rep
Silas 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 minutes
Originally broadcast 19 April 2008

Doctor Who Series 30/4 Episodes: #4 The Sontaran Stratagem

Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) calls the Doctor (David Tennant) to ask for assistance during an investigation by UNIT. Minutes after the TARDIS materialises in contemporary Britain, Martha authorises the raid of an ATMOS (Atmospheric Omission System) factory. The Doctor introduces his companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) to Martha and UNIT; Donna instantly befriends Martha, but is concerned about UNIT's ethics and asks the Doctor why he is associated with them; the Doctor ambiguously replies he used to work for them in the late twentieth century.

ATMOS is marketing a satellite navigation system developed by child prodigy Luke Rattigan (Ryan Sampson). The system also reduces carbon dioxide emissions to zero; UNIT requested the Doctor's help because the technology is not contemporary and potentially alien. UNIT are also concerned about fifty-two deaths occurring spontaneously and contemporaneously several days before the narrative. The Doctor travels to Rattigan's private school to investigate the system, and discovers that the episode's events are being influenced by the Sontarans.

The Sontarans depicted in the episode are part of a battlegroup led by General Staal, "the undefeated" (Christopher Ryan). Instead of an instant invasion, they are tactically approaching an invasion with a combination of human clones, mind control, and ATMOS; Martha is captured by two of the controlled humans and cloned to provide a tactical advantage against UNIT.

A subplot depicts Donna returning to her home to warn her mother Sylvia (Jacqueline King) and grandfather Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins) about the Doctor, having been advised to do so by Martha. Concerned about the implications of telling the truth, Donna reneges from warning her mother. At the end of the episode, the Doctor investigates the ATMOS device attached to Donna's car and discovers a secondary function: the device can emit a poisonous gas. Wilfred attempts to take the car off the road, but is trapped when Staal activates all 400 million ATMOS devicesinstalled in cars worldwide. The episode's cliffhanger depicts Donna shouting for help while the Doctor stares helplessly at a street full of cars emitting the gas, while on their ship orbiting the planet, the Sontarans prepare themselves for battle.
Cast
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companions Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)
Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones)
Guest stars
Christopher Ryan – General Staal
Rupert Holliday Evans – Colonel Mace
Dan Starkey – Commander Skorr
Bernard Cribbins – Wilfred Mott
Jacqueline King – Sylvia Noble
Eleanor Matsuura – Jo Nakashima
Ryan Sampson - Luke Rattigan
Christian Cooke - Ross Jenkins
Clive Standen - Private Harris
Wesley Theobald - Private Gray
Ruari Mears - Clone

Production
Writer Helen Raynor
Director Douglas Mackinnon
Script editor Nikki Smith
Producer Susie Liggat
Executive producer(s) Russell T. Davies
Julie Gardner
Phil Collinson
Production code 4.4
Series Series 4
Length 1st of 2-part story, 45 minutes
Originally broadcast 26 April 2008

Doctor Who Series 30/4 Episodes: #5 The Poison Sky

Following from the previous episode, Sylvia Noble (Jacqueline King) manages to free Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins) from the car by smashing the window with an axe. The Doctor (David Tennant) sends Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) back to the TARDIS while he sets off to figure out what the Sontarans are up to. After studying the gas, UNIT determines that it will need to reach 80% density to become lethal. Elsewhere, Martha Jones's clone (Freema Agyeman) informs the Sontarans of UNIT's defence systems and helps them to teleport the TARDIS to their orbiting ship. Realising that he is trapped, the Doctor attempts to goad General Staal (Christopher Ryan) into revealing their plan: Staal is smart enough not to fall prey to this ploy, but the Doctor does trick him into moving the TARDIS out of the main war room, placing Donna in a position to help.

Against the Doctor's advice, UNIT decides to use nuclear weapons against the Sontarans; however, Martha's clone has covertly copied the launch codes, and stops every attempt they make to fire the weapons. This in itself shows a hidden agenda, since the Doctor knows a nuclear strike would not have harmed the Sontarans in the first place. This, combined with the unidentifiable elements in the gas, suggest that the Sontarans have an interest in keeping anything from disrupting the atmospheric conversion. At the same time, the Sontarans, under Commander Skorr "the Bloodbringer" (Dan Starkey), mobilize a contingent of troops to protect the factory. With the Sontarans' ability to jam most conventional firearms by expanding the copper-lined bullets, the UNIT troops are quickly slaughtered and the factory is secured.

Luke Rattigan (Ryan Sampson) leaves the Sontaran mothership to gather his students, explaining that he plans to have the Sontarans take them to another planet and begin the human race anew. The students merely laugh him off, even when he brandishes a gun. When he returns to report his failure, the Sontarans likewise ridicule his efforts, admitting that they had planned to kill his students and never intended to take him anywhere. Rattigan teleports back to his mansion before they can kill him, and the Sontarans lock the teleport pods behind him. Back in his own quarters, he lies sobbing on the ground.

Meanwhile, the Doctor instructs Donna on how to reopen the teleport pods. As she makes her way through the ship, UNIT begins a counterattack, loading their weapons with non-copper bullets and using the aircraft carrier Valiant to clear the gas. The counterattack is a success, and the UNIT troops are able to put the Sontarans on the defensive. The distraction allows the Doctor to make his way to the cloning room where Martha is being held. Having figured out long before that the clone wasn't the genuine article, he severs its connection to Martha, leaving it to die. Martha convinces the clone to betray the Sontarans in its last moments, and the clone reveals that the poison gas is actually "food" for Sontaran clones: they are converting the planet into a giant breeding world. With Donna's help, the Doctor is able to reactivate the teleport pods, allowing him to rescue Donna, steal back the TARDIS, and teleport into Rattigan's mansion.

With the terraforming equipment Rattigan's students built, the Doctor builds his own atmospheric converter, igniting the atmosphere to clear out the poison gas as shown in the picture. However, he knows the Sontarans won't accept defeat so easily, and teleports to their ship with the converter, planning to give them the choice between retreat or death. Staal chooses the latter, content with the knowledge that the Doctor will die with them. At the last moment, Rattigan teleports himself to the Sontaran ship and sends the Doctor back to Earth, sacrificing himself to destroy the Sontarans.

With the day saved, Martha says goodbye to Donna and the Doctor in the TARDIS and prepares to head home. However, before she can leave, the TARDIS suddenly springs to life, locking the doors and piloting itself to an unknown destination as the jar containing the Doctor's severed hand bubbles.
Cast
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companions Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)
Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones)[1]
Guest stars
Billie Piper - Rose Tyler
Christopher Ryan – General Staal[1][2]
Rupert Holliday-Evans – Colonel Mace[2]
Bridget Hodgson - Captain Price
Dan Starkey – Commander Skorr[2]
Bernard Cribbins – Wilfred Mott[1][2]
Jacqueline King – Sylvia Noble[1][2]
Ryan Sampson – Luke Rattigan
Christian Cooke - Ross Jenkins
Clive Standen - Private Harris
Wesley Theobald - Private Gray
Meryl Fernandes - Female Student
Leeshon Alexander - Male Student
Kirsty Wark - Herself
Lachele Carl - US Newsreader
Jack Steed - Lieutenant Skree[3]

Production
Writer Helen Raynor
Director Douglas Mackinnon
Script editor Nikki Smith
Producer Susie Liggat
Executive producer(s) Russell T. Davies
Julie Gardner
Phil Collinson
Production code 4.5
Series Series 4
Length 2nd of 2-part story, 45 minutes
Originally broadcast 3 May 2008[2]

Doctor Who Series 30/4 Episodes: #6 The Doctor's Daughter

Continuing from where "The Poison Sky" left off, the TARDIS kidnaps the Doctor (David Tennant) and his companions Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) and Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) and violently whisks them away to the planet Messaline in the midst of a generations-long war between humans and the Hath, fish-like humanoids. Upon leaving the TARDIS, they are confronted by armed men working for General Cobb (Nigel Terry), who force the Doctor's hand in a progenation machine, which uses his DNA to create an adult soldier within moments — Jenny (Georgia Moffett), the episode's titular character. Martha is subsequently captured by the Hath, whereas the Doctor, Donna, and Jenny are imprisoned by the humans because of the Doctor's pacifist attitude. Each of the primary characters learns about the war from its belligerents; the Hath and humans were initially meant to live on a peaceful colony, but were divided over a dispute about "the Source", believed by each side to be the breath of their creator. When the Doctor unwittingly reveals the location of the Source, the two sides race to claim it first.

The Doctor is initially dismissive of Jenny, his biological daughter, but becomes enamoured as the episode progresses. Donna is also distracted from the war by a series of numbered plaques on their journey. When they reach the location of the Source, it turns out to be a terraforming device within a colonising spaceship. Donna and the Doctor discover that the plaques represent the date building was completed, which was a mere seven days previous; the humans and Hath have bred so many generations through the progenation machines that their own history degraded into myth. The original casus belli was a power vacuum caused by the death of the mission commander.

Both the human and Hath forces converge at the Source concurrently. The Doctor declares the war to be over, and releases the terraforming agent; everyone present lays down their weapons, with the exception of Cobb, who tries to shoot the Doctor but Jenny steps in the way. After she collapses in the Doctor's arms, he finally tells her she is his daughter and that they have only got started. He tells her that they can go anywhere, if she holds on. She dies in his arms. Enraged, the Doctor holds Cobb at gunpoint, but refuses to shoot, asking the colonists to create a pacifist society.

At the end of the episode, the Doctor takes Martha home. Martha warns Donna that life with the Doctor can be dangerous, but Donna nevertheless resolves to stay with the Doctor indefinitely. Concurrently, on Messaline, Jenny revives in front of Cline and a Hath. She escapes Messaline, determined to follow in her father's footsteps by resolving disputes and fighting villains (and a whole lot of running).
Cast
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companions Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)
Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones)[1]
Guest stars
Georgia Moffett – Jenny
Nigel Terry – Cobb
Joe Dempsie – Cline
Paul Kasey – Hath Peck
Ruari Mears – Hath Gable
Akin Gazi – Carter
Olalekan Lawal Jr. – Soldier

Production
Writer Stephen Greenhorn
Director Alice Troughton
Script editor Lindsey Alford
Producer Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s) Russell T Davies
Julie Gardner
Production code 4.6
Series Series 4
Length 45 minutes
Originally broadcast 10 May 2008

Doctor Who Series 30/4 Episodes: #7 The Unicorn and the Wasp

The episode sees the Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) arrive at a dinner party hosted by Lady Eddison (Felicity Kendal) and her husband, Colonel Hugh (Christopher Benjamin). One of the guests is none other than Agatha Christie (Fenella Woolgar). Looking at a newspaper, the Doctor finds that it is the day of Agatha Christie's famous unexplained disappearance (December 8, 1926). Just as this revelation is made, another guest, Professor Peach (Ian Barritt), is found by Eddison's friend and companion Miss Chandrakala (Leena Dhingra) in the library, murdered with a lead pipe; Donna alludes to the similarity to the boardgame Cluedo. The Doctor finds morphic residue on the floor while examining the scene, meaning that one of the guests isn't human.

Aided by Agatha, the Doctor interviews the guests while Donna goes looking for clues. She investigates a locked room, which the butler explains Lady Eddison had sequestered herself in while recovering from a bout of malaria contracted in India forty years earlier and they had left locked after her recovery. Donna is attacked by a giant wasp after tracing a buzzing sound to a window. She scares it off with a magnifying glass. It escapes and apparently retakes human form before they can catch up, killing Miss Chandrakala along the way. Her last words are "The poor little child." At this point it becomes clear that the murder is being played out like one of Agatha's novels.

While the three mull over the evidence they've gathered thus far, the Doctor is poisoned with cyanide; however, it is not as fatal for him as it is for humans, and an odd combination of ingredients with a shock (in the form of a kiss) from Donna allows him to detoxify himself. In return, the Doctor "poisons" the guests' dinner with pepper; naturally this is not harmful to humans, but it acts as an insecticide to wasps. A buzzing sound can be heard moments later, to which Lady Eddison exclaims, "It can't be!" The lights are blown out by a sudden wind and they again fail to ascertain the identity of the alien. Roger Curbishley (Adam Rayner), Lady Eddison's homosexual son, is murdered in the confusion, and Lady Eddison's necklace, 'The Firestone,' is stolen.

In the sitting room, the Doctor and Agatha reveal several secrets about the guests and hosts. Robina Redmond (Felicity Jones) is a thief called 'The Unicorn' who coveted the Firestone and stole it in the confusion. Colonel Hugh is not actually wheelchair bound as he appears to be; he faked the condition to make sure Lady Eddison did not leave him. The truth of Lady Eddison's bout of malaria is also revealed; she was actually made pregnant by an alien known as a Vespiform, who gave her the Firestone necklace. The necklace is psychically linked to her son, whom she had given up for adoption and never saw again. Her son is actually the Reverend Golightly (Tom Goodman-Hill), who had come to associate Agatha Christie's novels with the way the world must work because Lady Eddison had been reading one when his alien biology was awakened in a moment of anger, and had killed those who were working against him in the manner of one of her novels.

Golightly, now enraged once more at being discovered, transforms into his wasp form. Agatha snatches the Firestone, and Golightly pursues her since she is now linked to it. The Doctor and Donna follow after her. Agatha leads the creature to the Silent Pool, where Donna throws the necklace into the water. Golightly follows it in and thus drowns. Still linked to the necklace, Agatha nearly dies as well, but Golightly chooses to release her as his last act. The trauma causes amnesia, and the Doctor deposits her at the Harrogate Hotel ten days later, explaining her disappearance.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor produces one of Agatha's novels, Death in the Clouds, and points to the copyright page in the front. The publication date is listed as the year five billion; Agatha Christie is quite literally the most popular novelist of all time. The cover features a giant wasp, suggesting that the amnesia was not total (although the wasp in the novel is in fact of the normal variety--it only seems large against its background due to forced perspective).
Cast
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companion Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)
Guest stars
Fenella Woolgar – Agatha Christie
Felicity Kendal – Lady Clemency Eddison
Felicity Jones – Robina Redmond
Christopher Benjamin – Colonel Hugh
Tom Goodman-Hill – Reverend Golightly
Ian Barritt – Professor Peach
David Quilter – Greeves
Adam Rayner – Roger Curbishley
Daniel King – Davenport
Charlotte Eaton – Mrs Hart
Leena Dhingra – Miss Chandrakala
Alexander McDonald – Footman (uncredited)[1]

Production
Writer Gareth Roberts
Director Graeme Harper
Script editor Lindsey Alford
Producer Susie Liggat
Executive producer(s) Russell T Davies
Julie Gardner
Phil Collinson
Production code 4.7
Series Series 4
Length 45 minutes
Originally broadcast 17 May 2008

Doctor Who Series 30/4 Episodes: #8 Silence in the Libary

The Doctor and Donna arrive in the 51st century at a planet-sized book repository simply called "The Library", summoned by an anonymous request for help on the Doctor's psychic paper. However, they find it completely devoid of humanoid life, and the Library's computers even claim as such, though when the Doctor widens the search for non-humanoid life, the Library's computers claim over "a million million lifeforms" exist. A Node, an information drone which presents a donated human face to the user to facilitate communication, warns them to count the shadows, which appear despite the lack of objects to cast them. As they try to search for answers, they meet a team of explorers, led by archaeologist River Song, who have come to ascertain the meaning of the Library's final communication, which states "4022 saved, no survivors". River Song seems to know the Doctor, has a diary with a cover matching the Doctor's TARDIS, and even possesses a sonic screwdriver. She also later displays knowledge of the TARDIS's "emergency program one". She only admits that she will know the Doctor in his relative future, refusing to disclose more for fear of spoilers. Professor Song also recognises Donna's name, but avoids explaining why Donna was not present when she knew the Doctor.

The Doctor organises the team to make sure the area is well lit as he explains that they are surrounded by Vashta Nerada, microscopic carnivorous creatures that disguise themselves as shadows to hunt and latch onto their prey. He notes that they are usually nowhere near as aggressive or numerous as the ones here seem to be. Before he can fully explain, however, Miss Evangelista wanders off and is stripped to the bone in moments. The Doctor and Donna learn that the exploration team wears communication devices which link to their nervous systems for thought-based communication. As a side-effect, these devices tend to pick up an imprint of the user at the moment of death, creating a short-lived "Data Ghost" of that person's consciousness.

Curiously, the Library's operations seem to be tied to the imagination of a young girl; she sees the Doctor and Donna through the eyes of a security camera when they first break into the central room, the exploration team appears on her television when the Doctor attempts to hack the Library computers, and books fly from the shelves when she fiddles with the television's remote control. The girl is under the observation of Dr. Moon, a child psychologist, at the request of her dad, but Dr. Moon insists to the girl that what she imagines in her nightmares is in fact real, while the real world is a lie. He also states that there are people in her library who need to be saved.

The team's investigation is interrupted when a shadow of Vashta Nerada latches onto the pilot, Dave. Although the Doctor attempts to save him by sealing him inside his suit, the creatures manage to get inside, eat him alive, and then animate his suit in order to chase the other explorers. The Doctor attempts to teleport Donna back to the TARDIS while he leads the rest of the team to safety, but something goes wrong with the teleport and Donna fails to materialise properly. As the team races away from the possessed suit, the Doctor is horrified to find a Node with Donna's face on it, which claims that Donna has left the Library and has been saved. The show ends in a cliffhanger as the Doctor is forced to leave the Node behind, but is trapped by the approaching suit on one side and the Vashta Nerada shadows on the other.
Cast
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companion Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)
Guest stars
Alex Kingston – Professor River Song
Colin Salmon – Dr Moon
Eve Newton – The Girl
Mark Dexter – Dad
Sarah Niles – Node 1
Joshua Dallas – Node 2
Steve Pemberton - Strackman Lux
Talulah Riley – Miss Evangelista
Jessika Williams – Anita
O-T Fagbenle – Other Dave
Harry Peacock – Proper Dave

Production
Writer Steven Moffat
Director Euros Lyn
Script editor Helen Raynor
Producer Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s) Russell T. Davies
Julie Gardner
Production code 4.8
Series Series 4
Length 1st of 2-part story, 45 minutes
Originally broadcast 31 May 2008

Doctor Who Series 30/4 Episodes: #9 Forest of the Dead

Immediately following the events of the previous episode, "Silence in the Library", the Doctor and the exploration team manage to escape the Vashta Nerada and take refuge in a well-lit room. As they work out a plan, the Doctor is concerned about how he can trust River Song, so she whispers a single word in his ear which convinces him: his real name (the name is not revealed to the audience). Donna Noble finds herself at a care home named "CAL", apparently two years later, with Dr Moon treating her. He introduces her to another man, Lee, and is later seen visiting the married Donna and her family. However, Donna keeps noticing that something is wrong; she seems to skip from one place to another instantaneously at a whim, only to be reminded of the journey by Dr Moon, who does this frequently by ending his sentences with "...and then you remembered/forgot"). Meanwhile, the little girl watches both the Doctor and Donna by switching channels on her television.

In the library, the Doctor discovers that the moon is sending out electromagnetic signals that are interfering with his sonic screwdriver. Strackman Lux explains that the moon is a virus scanner for the planet-side computer core. The Doctor briefly interrupts this signal, and suddenly appears in Dr Moon's place next to Donna; Dr Moon is quite literally the "doctor moon". The Doctor then understands that the message "4022 saved" did not mean they were rescued, but that their teleport patterns were saved to the library's hard drive. They are found once more by the Vashta Nerada suit and forced to flee, but the Doctor stays behind to reason with it. Through the communicator on the suit, the Vashta Nerada explain that the library is their "forest"; the paper of the countless books in the library was made from trees filled with Vashta Nerada spores, from which they hatched after being shipped to the library. They manage to kill Other Dave and resume the chase. River still laments the non-appearance of the Doctor she knew, recalling him making whole armies run away and opening the TARDIS with a snap of his fingers. Anita notices she has two shadows, and the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to tint her visor to attempt to trick the Vashta Nerada into thinking they are already in there.

In the computer core, the truth of the situation is revealed to Donna by none other than Miss Evangelista. She reveals that her Data Ghost was captured by the library's wireless internet, but was corrupted and caused her face to become severely disfigured while increasing her intelligence, leaving her "brilliant but unloved" and able to see the false reality for what it really is. She points out that all the children are merely identical copies, and gets Donna to remember the library. However, the young girl, watching from her television, does not want Donna to know and uses her television remote control to injure one of Donna's children as a diversion. Donna leaves Miss Evangelista behind, but her acceptance of the simulated reality is nevertheless shaken, and her invented children disappear when confronted with the fact that they do not exist. The little girl, increasingly frustrated by events, "switches off" her father and throws the remote control to the floor, activating the computer's self-destruct mechanism. Dr Moon attempts to protect the girl as he is programmed to do, but he is also switched off.

To stop the self-destruct, the Doctor, River Song, and Lux make their way to the computer core. Here, Lux reveals the meaning of CAL: it is an acronym for the name Charlotte Abigail Lux, his grandfather's daughter, who was wired into the computer as a child because she was dying. In this manner, Charlotte could live forever with the sum total of human knowledge to pass the time. However, storing the patterns of 4022 unique people has filled her computer core, and is preventing normal operations. The only way to set things right is to reintegrate them in the library. As CAL cannot do this alone, the Doctor prepares to wire his own mind into the system as extra memory, though it will surely kill him. As he works, he uses his screwdriver to un-tint Anita's visor to reveal a skeleton inside - she had been dead for some time now. He speaks with the Vashta Nerada and insists that in exchange for getting to keep their forest, he will get to save the people in the computer core. The Vashta Nerada initially refuse, but when the Doctor tells them to search for his name in the library's archives, they immediately reconsider and give him a day to clear the planet. River, unwilling to let the Doctor die, which would rewrite history and erase their time together, knocks him out and takes his place, rescuing those trapped in the computer at the cost of her life instead of his.

As the rescued humans are teleported home, Donna meets up with the Doctor. Having been unable to find her husband from the virtual world, the pair walks to the TARDIS, unaware that he is in the next group being teleported out. As the Doctor mournfully leaves River's diary and her sonic screwdriver in the library, he realises the reason why his future self gave her the sonic screwdriver in the first place: it holds a communication device with a Data Ghost. He uses it to bring River back to life inside the computer. After returning to the TARDIS, he decides to test what River Song said about his future: he opens and closes the TARDIS doors by snapping his fingers, then continues his adventures. Meanwhile, River Song appears in the virtual world, where she is greeted by Charlotte and Dr Moon. Anita, the two Daves and Miss Evangelista (her face restored) also appear, their Data Ghosts having been saved in uncorrupted form by Charlotte and brought into the computer for eternity. Josh and Ella, the homogeneous children from CAL's world, are seen to live with Charlotte and River.
Cast
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companion Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)
Guest stars
Alex Kingston – River Song
Colin Salmon – Dr Moon
Harry Peacock – Proper Dave
Steve Pemberton – Strackman Lux
Jessika Williams – Anita
O-T Fagbenle – Other Dave
Eve Newton – The Girl
Mark Dexter – Dad
Jason Pitt – Lee
Eloise Rakic-Platt – Ella
Alex Midwood – Joshua
Talulah Riley – Miss Evangelista
Jonathan Reuben - Man

Production
Writer Steven Moffat
Director Euros Lyn
Script editor Helen Raynor
Producer Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s) Russell T. Davies
Julie Gardner
Production code 4.9
Series Series 4
Length 2nd of 2-part story, 45 minutes
Originally broadcast 7 June 2008

Doctor Who Series 30/4 Episodes: #10 Midnight

The Doctor and Donna take a holiday on the crystalline planet Midnight, which orbits close enough to its sun that the Xtonic radiation exposure would vaporise any living thing walking unprotected on its surface. Donna opts to relax at a spa while the Doctor takes a four-hour shuttle bus ride to the Sapphire Waterfall. Other passengers include the Cane family — Val, Biff, and their teenage son Jethro — Professor Hobbes and his assistant Dee Dee Blasco, and businesswoman Sky Silvestry. The staff are the driver Joe, trainee mechanic Claude, and a steward who is only referred to as 'the Hostess'.
The trip initially goes smoothly despite the shuttle being rerouted to a new course, but suddenly the shuttle stops. The Doctor checks with the shuttle's driver and mechanic, confirming that there's nothing wrong with the vehicle. He convinces them to open the shutter to look outside, and the mechanic believes he sees a shadow moving towards the bus. The crew calls for a rescue vehicle while the Doctor returns to the main cabin.
A few moments later, something begins knocking on the shuttle's hull, copying the passengers when they knock back. The knocking moves around the shuttle, making its way towards Sky Silvestry, apparently the most frightened of the lot, and dents the door she is standing by. The lights then temporarily fail and the shuttle is violently rocked. When the lights are restored, the seats near Sky have been ripped off the floor and she is cowering in the corner. An attempt to speak to the cabin crew reveals that their cabin has also been ripped away, exposing Joe and Claude to the deadly sunlight.
Sky initially remains motionless, but is coaxed into turning around by the Doctor. Attempts to get her to speak only cause her to repeat what she is told, making it clear that Sky is no longer in control. The delay between Sky's repetitions becomes shorter, until eventually she begins speaking in exact unison with the passengers. Cabin fever sets in, and the passengers contemplate throwing her outside. The Doctor's attempts to calm the situation fail when the passengers become suspicious of him, especially when he is unwilling to reveal his name. This is only amplified when Sky focuses solely on repeating the Doctor's words.
As the Doctor tries to reason with Sky, she begins speaking his words first, and the Doctor quickly becomes the one doing the repeating. Sky is now able to move, while the Doctor is paralysed. Most of the passengers reason that whatever was in Sky has now passed into the Doctor, while the hostess and Dee Dee reason that this is just the next step: stealing the voice of another. The other passengers refuse to listen and begin to drag the Doctor towards the nearest door after being goaded by Sky. However, the hostess realises that Sky is not talking in her own voice when she uses two phrases the Doctor had used earlier. Before the other passengers can throw the Doctor out, she sacrifices herself by dragging Sky out of another door. The Doctor slowly recovers, and as the passengers wait for the rescue shuttle, he realises that no one knew the hostess's name. At the spa, a mournful Doctor reunites with Donna. When she tries to imitate one of the Doctor's phrases, he quickly tells her not to do that.
Cast
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companion Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)
Guest stars
Billie Piper – Rose Tyler
Lesley Sharp – Sky Silvestry
Rakie Ayola – Hostess
David Troughton – Professor Hobbes
Ayesha Antoine – Dee Dee Blasco
Lindsey Coulson – Val Cane
Daniel Ryan – Biff Cane
Colin Morgan – Jethro Cane
Tony Bluto – Driver Joe
Duane Henry – Mechanic Claude

Production
Writer Russell T. Davies
Director Alice Troughton
Script editor Helen Raynor
Producer Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s) Russell T. Davies
Julie Gardner
Production code 4.10
Series Series 4
Length 45 minutes
Originally broadcast 14 June 2008

Doctor Who Series 30/4 Episodes: #11 Turn Left

While visiting a market on the planet of Shan Shen (may be written as Xiang Xien) with the Doctor, Donna Noble is offered a free fortune reading. The fortune-teller presses Donna to reveal her past and focuses on a point where she was driving to her temporary job at H. C. Clements, despite her mother's desire that she take a permanent job nearby. As a large beetle-like creature climbs onto Donna's back, the teller convinces Donna to change her mind in the past, taking a right at the road junction per her mother's wishes instead of a left to H. C. Clements.

The narrative turns to the alternative history created by Donna's choice, far bleaker than the course of events established in previous episodes. The Doctor dies permanently during the Racnoss's attack on London ("The Runaway Bride"), killed by the water pressure before he could regenerate, because Donna was not there to convince him to leave. Royal Hope Hospital is taken to the moon and returned ("Smith and Jones"), but only one person, Martha's fellow medical student Oliver Morgenstern, survives. Martha Jones, Sarah Jane Smith, and her friends are among the dead (Sarah Jane apparently having foiled Florence Finnegan's plan). The Titanic crashes into the centre of London, wiping out the city and irradiating most of southern England ("Voyage of the Damned"). In the United States, 60 million people are turned into creatures made of fat, known as Adipose ("Partners in Crime"). The Sontarans' attempt to turn Earth into a breeding world ("The Poison Sky") is stopped by Jack Harkness and his remaining Torchwood team of Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones. Gwen and Ianto are killed, however, and Jack is transported to Sontar.

Throughout all these events, Rose Tyler keeps appearing before Donna. Aware of the events to come, she steers Donna away from mortal danger,e.g. she tells her to go to a hotel at Christmas, (forseeing the Titanic attack, as the parallel world is ahead of the normal world) but refuses to give her name. After the latest tragedy, Rose urges Donna to come with her, even though she will die. Donna initially refuses, but three weeks later, as she and her grandfather talk about recent events, the stars begin disappearing throughout the sky. Donna tells Rose that she is ready.

Rose escorts Donna to a UNIT base where the dying TARDIS is being used to help power a makeshift time machine. Rose uses the system to show Donna the beetle that crawled onto her back during the fortune-telling. It is in temporal flux and cannot be removed, but Rose explains that Donna herself is also a point of flux. In order to set things right, they prepare to send her back in time to stop herself from going right. Donna agrees to go, but when she asks if she will get to live this time, Rose remains silent. Donna is sent back in time, but ends up half a mile away and with only four minutes to spare. Finding herself short of the mark on the road leading from the right of the critical intersection, Donna remembers what Rose said about her death and throws herself in front of a removal van. Traffic backs up to the intersection and the past Donna turns left, unwilling to wait for it to clear. As the future Donna lies on the ground, Rose leans over and whispers two words to pass on to the Doctor.

Back on Shan Shen, the beetle falls off of Donna's back and the fortune teller flees in terror, frightened by Donna's strength of will. When the Doctor nonchalantly walks in, he explains that the beetle normally affects only the person it attaches to (the universe merely compensates), but in Donna's case it created a parallel world. The Doctor is curious about the other alternate realities that seem to form around Donna ("Forest of the Dead"). He ponders the coincidences surrounding Donna and himself, as if something is binding them together. When Donna insists that she is nothing special, the Doctor tells her that she is brilliant, which triggers her fading memories of Rose. She tells him about Rose's warning that "the darkness is coming" and that it is affecting all worlds. At his insistence, Donna tells him the words Rose said; "Bad Wolf". The Doctor instantly recognizes this as a message from Rose, and horrified, runs outside to find that the words "Bad Wolf" are everywhere, even on the TARDIS. Inside the Cloister Bell is ringing and the TARDIS's interior is glowing red. When Donna asks about the meaning of "Bad Wolf", the Doctor replies, "It's the end of the universe."
Cast
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companions Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)
Billie Piper (Rose Tyler)[1]
Guest stars
Bernard Cribbins – Wilfred Mott
Jacqueline King – Sylvia Noble
Joseph Long – Rocco Colasanto
Noma Dumzwemi – Capt. Magambo
Chipo Chung – Fortune Teller
Marcia Lecky – Mooky Kahari
Suzann McLean – Veena Brady
Natalie Walter – Alice Coltrane
Neil Clench – Man in Pub
Clive Standen – Private Harris
Bhasker Patel – Jival Chowdry
Catherine York – Female Reporter
Ben Righton – Oliver Morgenstern
Loraine Velez – Spanish Maid
Jason Mohammad – Studio News Reader
Sanchia McCormack – Housing Officer
Lawrence Stevenson – Soldier #1
Terri-Ann Brumby – Woman in Doorway
Lachele Carl – Trinity Wells
Paul Richard Biggin – Soldier #2[2]

Production
Writer Russell T. Davies
Director Graeme Harper
Script editor Brian Minchin
Producer Susie Liggat
Executive producer(s) Russell T. Davies
Julie Gardner
Phil Collinson
Production code 4.11
Series Series 4
Length 50 minutes
Originally broadcast 21 June 2008

Doctor Who Series 30/4 Episodes: #12 Stolen Earth

At the beginning of the episode, which directly follows the episode "Turn Left", the Earth is teleported out of its spatial location shortly after the Doctor and his companion Donna Noble arrive to investigate Rose Tyler's warning. The Doctor contacts the Shadow Proclamation, a universal police force, to find Earth. They determine that twenty-seven missing planets—including Earth, Adipose III, Pyrovillia,and the Lost Moon of Poosh—reorganise when placed near each other. Donna mentions the disappearance of bees on contemporary Earth; this allows the Doctor to trace the planets to the Medusa Cascade, an interuniversal rift.

On Earth, a Dalek force, led by their creator Davros and the red Supreme Dalek, quickly subjugate Earth. Military bases, including UNIT's headquarters in New York City and the aircraft carrier Valiant, are destroyed. Davros, who was thought to have perished at the beginning of the Time War, was saved by Dalek Caan, who randomly entered the conflict after performing an emergency temporal shift. The power needed to enter the Time War—which is "time-locked", preventing time-travellers entering the conflict—caused Caan to become precognitive and insane.

The Doctor's former companions Captain Jack Harkness, Martha Jones, Sarah Jane Smith, and Rose Tyler, who have all encountered the Daleks before, hide in various places: Jack takes refuge in Torchwood with his team Ianto Jones and Gwen Cooper; Martha uses Project Indigo—an experimental teleport device scavenged from the Sontarans—to escape UNIT with the "Osterhagen Key", a device designed to be used as a last resort; Sarah stays in her home with her son Luke Smith and supercomputer Mr Smith; and Rose tracks down Donna's mother Sylvia Noble (Jacqueline King) and grandfather Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins). They are contacted by former Prime Minister Harriet Jones (Penelope Wilton) through a secret "sub-wave network" designed by Mr Copper—a humanoid alien who met the Doctor in "Voyage of the Damned"—[11]to contact the Doctor's companions in a dire situation. They attempt to contact the Doctor by amplifying the sub-wave signal using Mr Smith and the spatiotemporal rift in Cardiff. The Doctor and the Daleks receive the transmission and trace the signal. Harriet Jones is exterminated, and the Doctor is able to locate Earth in a temporally desynchronised pocket universe.

At the end of the episode, the Doctor travels into the pocket universe and receives the sub-wave signal. After Davros hijacks the signal, the Doctor breaks communication and attempts to convene with his companions. The TARDIS lands on a street where Rose is waiting for the Doctor. He runs to embrace her, but is hit by a Dalek extermination ray. Rose, Jack, and Donna help the Doctor into the TARDIS, where the Doctor begins to regenerate.
Cast
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companions Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)
Billie Piper (Rose Tyler)
Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones)
John Barrowman (Jack Harkness)
Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith)
Guest stars
Penelope Wilton – Harriet Jones
Gareth David-Lloyd – Ianto Jones
Eve Myles – Gwen Cooper
Tommy Knight – Luke Smith
Bernard Cribbins – Wilfred Mott
Jacqueline King – Sylvia Noble
Adjoa Andoh – Francine Jones
Julian Bleach – Davros
Michael Brandon – General Sanchez
Andrea Harris – Suzanne
Lachele Carl – Trinity Wells
Richard Dawkins – Himself
Paul O'Grady – Himself
Marcus Cunningham – Drunk Man
Jason Mohammad – BBC newsreader
Paul Kasey – Judoon
Kelly Hunter – Shadow Architect
Amy Beth Hayes – Albino Servant
Gary Milner – Scared Man
Nicholas Briggs – Dalek voices
Alexander Armstrong – Mr Smith[1]

Production
Writer Russell T. Davies
Director Graeme Harper
Script editor Lindsey Alford
Producer Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s) Russell T. Davies
Julie Gardner
Production code 4.12
Series Series 4
Length 1st of 2-part story, 45 minutes
Originally broadcast 28 June 2008

Doctor Who Series 30/4 Episodes: #13 Journeys End

Continuing from the end of "The Stolen Earth", the Doctor (David Tennant) is regenerating inside the TARDIS. Once his body is healed, he halts the transformation by transferring the remaining energy into his severed hand. The TARDIS is captured by the Daleks and transported to the Dalek Crucible. Powerless, the Doctor and his previous companions Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) and Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) leave the TARDIS, but Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) is unwittingly locked in. The Daleks send the TARDIS to be destroyed; in the process, Donna collapses by the Doctor's severed hand and touches it. The stored energy flows into her then back into the hand, forming a new Doctor, who saves the TARDIS from destruction. Concurrently, Torchwood employees Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) and Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd) find safety in an impenetrable time bubble; Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) is saved from a Dalek extermination by Rose's ex-boyfriend Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke) and mother Jackie Tyler (Camille Coduri) and surrender themselves to get aboard the Crucible; and Martha Jones teleports to a Schloss sixty miles from Nuremburg which houses a UNIT station.

Aboard the Crucible, the Doctor and Rose are taken to Davros (Julian Bleach), creator of the Daleks. Davros explains that the twenty-seven stolen planets form a compression field for energy which can cancel the electrical energy of atoms. The resulting "reality bomb" has the potential to destroy all matter in every universe; reality itself would be destroyed. After the device is tested, the Daleks receive two transmissions: Sarah, Mickey, Jack, and Jackie threaten to use an explosive crystal to destroy the Crucible, and Martha threatens to use the Osterhagen Key — a last resort device which would destroy Earth. The Daleks teleport all five to Davros' chamber; Davros uses their actions to challenge the Doctor:

"The man who abhors violence [...] but this is the truth: you take ordinary people and fashion them into weapons. [...] How many have died in your name? The Doctor, the man who keeps on running, never looking back because he dare not, out of shame. This is my final victory, Doctor. I have shown you yourself."

Davros prepares to detonate the reality bomb seconds before the TARDIS materalises in the room. The other Doctor and Donna try to attack Davros but are quickly immobilised. Just before the bomb detonates, Donna becomes imbued with Time Lord knowledge as a side effect of the creation of the other Doctor. She uses a control panel to stop the detonation and disable Davros' guards. The two Doctors and Donna return the stolen planets to their original locations; Davros asks the precognitive Dalek Caan why he did not foresee this. Caan explains that he realised the Daleks' evil and conspired to destroy the entire race.

Before Earth can be relocated, the control panel is destroyed by a Supreme Dalek. As the Doctor prepares the TARDIS, the other Doctor fulfills Dalek Caan's foretelling, destroying the Daleks and triggering the Crucible's destruction. The Doctor offers to save Davros; he refuses, labelling the Doctor as "the Destroyer of Worlds". The companions flee into the TARDIS before the Crucible is destroyed and — aided by Sarah's computer Mr Smith, her robotic dog K-9, and the spatio-temporal rift in Cardiff — "tow" the Earth back into its original orbit.

In the dénouement of the episode, the Doctor parts ways with his companions: Sarah returns home to her son Luke; Martha and Mickey leave with Jack; and the Doctor returns Rose and Jackie to the alternative universe they were trapped in in "Doomsday". The Doctor forces the other Doctor to stay in the parallel universe as punishment for committing genocide and to requite Rose's love. After departing, Donna becomes overwhelmed by the Time Lord knowledge. The Doctor is forced to erase her memories of him, and explains to her mother Sylvia (Jacqueline King) and grandfather Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins) that she will die if she remembers him. As the Doctor leaves, Wilfred promises to remember the Doctor on his granddaughter's behalf. The episode concludes with the Doctor in the TARDIS, left alone with his thoughts.
Cast
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companions Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)
Billie Piper (Rose Tyler)
Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones)
John Barrowman (Jack Harkness)
Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith)
Guest stars
Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith)
Camille Coduri – Jackie Tyler
Adjoa Andoh – Francine Jones
Gareth David-Lloyd – Ianto Jones
Eve Myles – Gwen Cooper
Thomas Knight – Luke Smith
Bernard Cribbins – Wilfred Mott
Jacqueline King – Sylvia Noble
Julian Bleach – Davros
Valda Aviks – German Woman
Shobu Kapoor – Scared Woman
Elizabeth Tan – Anna Zhou
Michael Price – Liberian Man
Barney Edwards, Nick Pegg, David Hankinson, Anthony Spargo – Dalek Operators
Nicholas Briggs – Dalek Voice
John Leeson – Voice of K-9
Alexander Armstrong – Mr Smith[1]

Production
Writer Russell T. Davies
Director Graeme Harper
Script editor Lindsey Alford
Producer Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s) Russell T. Davies
Julie Gardner
Production code 4.13
Series Series 4
Length 2nd of 2-part story, 65 minutes
Originally broadcast 5 July 2008