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After
15 years without a regular series, it was announced in
September 2003 that Doctor Who would finally go back into
production as a flagship show helmed by acclaimed writer
and long time fan Russell T Davies, starring Christopher
Eccleston and pop star Billie Piper. 
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Rose is menaced
by a clockwork robot |
The premiere of the first episode 'Rose' in March 2005
saw the show become an instant smash hit with children,
adults and critics alike, and it went on to win a plethora
of awards (including three BAFTAs) and once again retake
it's place in the public consciousness, thrilling and
inspiring the next generation.
Although the series was a total revamp and is vastly different
in tone and style to it's predecessor, the show embraced
the key concepts and icons of it's past with the Daleks,
Cybermen, K9 and erstwhile companion Sarah Jane Smith
all making a reappearance alongside new terrors such as
the Slitheen and the Krillitanes.
Now into it's fourth decade, Doctor Who continues to adapt
and evolve with changing times and taste and now seems,
like Sherlock Holmes or Batman, to be part of a pantheon
of modern day heroes whose stories will never cease to
be told.
Stories:
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The
Crippingwell Horror (or The Angels of Crippingwell/Charles
Dickens) |
by: Mark
Gatiss
Episodes:
1
Submitted for:
Series 1
Story:
The Doctor takes Rose back to the year 1860 to show
her the past. Rose is shocked
that everyone they meet seems to have bad breath. Though
the Doctor intends to visit
Naples in Italy to see the famous invasion by Garibaldi,
they arrive in Cardiff instead.
Attending a reading by Charles Dickens, a woman in
the audience asks the famous
author if he believes in life after death. Dickens says
no, which doesn't explain how
how the woman's little brother Davy, killed by diphtheria,
appeared at her window the
night before? Dickens learns she is a maid at the nearby
"a spiritualist hotel", and reveals he came
here deliberately to debunk tales of a haunted house
next to the Crippingwell Cemetery, where Davy was buried.
Dickens has Gwyneth take him to the house and the
Doctor and Rose tag along. The
hotel is run by the formidable Mrs Plumchute and the
maid Gwyneth (whose little brother Davy was buried in
the cemetery next door). On an upper floor is a genuine
psychic called Noah Sneed who believes he has made contact
with the spirits of the dead.
The Doctor, Rose and Dickens meet Miss Pendragon who
claims to have built a rattling,
hissing steam-driven, brass-and-valves Ectoplasm Machine
which can draw ghosts out of
the walls. When Dickens challenges this, the Doctor
and Rose discover that the
Ectoplasm Machine is in fact a sophisticated weapon
- and the ghosts are in reality
alien creatures made of gas. The machine allows the
aliens to inhabit the bodies of
the dead and thus invade planets with non-gas inhabitants.
Pendragon and Davy are the
test subjects, corpses possessed by the aliens.
Escaping back to the TARDIS, Rose insists they leave
rather than return to face the
danger - as she is from 2005, she knows the aliens cannot
harm Earth in 1860. The
Doctor sends the TARDIS to 2005 and they see on the
screen mobile corpses swarming
out of the house as the years fly by. Finally, the TARDIS
stands in a barren
wilderness. With Rose finally understanding that history
is always changing, the
Doctor sends the TARDIS back to 1860 to confront the
aliens.
With the help of Dickens and Rose, the Doctor manages
to sabotage the Ectoplasm
Machine and freeze the gas aliens in the pipes, defeating
them.
Notes:
This story underwent several rewrites and eventually
became 'The Unquiet Dead'
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more complete?
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The
New Team (or Pompeii) |
by: Paul
Abbott
Episodes:
Submitted for: Series
1
Story: The TARDIS arrives in Pompeii
79 AD. Rose feels intimidated by Jack, who gets on very
well with the Doctor and can share interstellar information
with him and knows stories about the Time Lords.
As the Doctor struggles to regain the TARDIS before
the volcano erupts, Jack uncovers information that Rose
is, in fact, a secret experiment by the Doctor to psychically
breed the perfect companion. Jack is left with a dilemma
of whether or not to tell Rose the truth.
Notes:
Russell T Davies asked Abbot to write for the new series
and was impressed when Abbot already had a storyline
about the truth about Rose. RTD was dismayed by the
deconstruction of Rose's character, but was still impressed.
However, Abbot's writing commitments with 'Shameless'
meant he could not write the episode and RTD took over,
intending to focus more on the volcano eruption as a
story, before scrapping the whole idea to have a rematch
with Margaret Blaine in Cardiff for 'Boomtown'.
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more complete?
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Absence
of the Daleks |
By:
Rob Shearman
Episodes:
1
Submitted for:
Series 1
Story: A
sadistic, childlike alien is trapped in a bunker by a
millionare. I manages to escape and the Doctor must stop
it before it kills all the inhabitants.
Notes: During
pre production of Series 1 Rob Shearman was commissioned
to write a Dalek script based on his Big Finish play 'Jubilee'.
Several drafts into the script Hancocks, who look after
the rights to the Daleks, refused permission for them
to be used. Shearman then had to hastily rewrite 'Dalek',
removing the Dalek and replacing it with another villain, the childlike Toclofane that was suggested to him by Russle T Davies.
The rights dispute was eventually settled (which the Sun
newspaper claimed was due to their 'save our daleks' campaign)
and the Dalek was reinstated. The Toclofane were set to one side and eventually appeared in Series 3's 'The Sound of Drums' and Last of the Time Lords.
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complete?
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Untitled
(Queen Victoria/Werewolf) |
By:
Episodes:
1
Submitted for:
Series 2
Story:
Notes: An unknown writer was commissioned
to write a story that involved Queen Victoria, a werewolf
and 'kung foo monks'. Upon submission it was discovered
that the story didn't contain the werewolf or the monks.
It was then dropped and 'Tooth and Claw' was
hurriedly written to replace it.
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complete?
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1920s |
By:
Stephen Fry
Episodes:
1
Submitted for:
Series 2/3
Story:
It is revealed that a well-known British legend has alien
origins, and the TARDIS makes an arrival on an alien planet.
Notes: Acclaimed writer
and actor Stephen Fry approached the production team in
the summer of 2005, and was commissioned for Episode 11
of Series 2. It was soon clear that his story would be
too expensive for the allocated slot, and it was held
back for Series 3. By June 2006, it became apparent that
Fry was too busy on other projects to carry out necessary
rewrites and the idea was shelved.
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complete?
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Rose
Tyler: Earth Defence |
By:
Russell T Davies
Episodes:
1
Submitted for:
Bank Holiday Special(s)
Story:
After being forced to leave the Doctor, Rose is sinking
into despair despite the best efforts of her friends
and family. A genuine alien threat strikes the alternate
Earth and Torchwood is unable to stop it, but Rose is.
Jackie convinces Rose that the
Doctor would not want her to waste her life worrying
about him, and she embraces her new life in a new universe.
Notes: The cast and crew of Doomsday
found the departure of Rose Tyler heartbreaking, and
RTD suggested a special May Day holiday movie showing
Rose's further adventures. Just as The Runaway Bride
would deal with the Doctor recovering, Rose Tyler -
Earth Defence would show Rose moving on with her life.
This special was hoped to become an annual event. It
got as far as being commisioned by Controller of BBC1
Peter Fincham.
However, the production team rapidly had second thoughts.
Not only could the special remove the impact of Doomsday,
another Rose adventure might make it difficult for viewers
to accept the new companion Martha Jones. What's more,
with Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures and the animated
K9 spin-off, RTD was worried they were approaching Doctor
Who overkill and decided to cancel the project for the
foreseeable future.
He was also mildly concerned that the title could be
compacted into RTED, which was a vowel away from being
his nickname!
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more complete?
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