Doctor Who 2002

 

By 2002, Doctor Who’s success was rising, two successful seasons in a row with two Doctors and two epic finales. This was helped by the fact that two Spin Off shows had just been created, with two of Doctor Who’s most interesting characters with Captain Vince Bannerman and Sarah Jane Smith leading the shows.

As he started to plan for Series Three, executive producer Russell T. Davies faced another Doctor Who tradition: the arrival of a new companion. This was after he had already revitalised the Doctor. Jane Danson's portrayal of Rose Tyler had been a huge hit; Davies knew her replacement would need to be just as likable and adaptable without being a straight-forward replica. Early concepts, including a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl, were abandoned in light of this. Another idea was a Victorian or early twentieth-century maid, based on the Doctor and Reinette's exchange in 2001's The Girl in the Fireplace, however Jane Tranter, the BBC's Controller of Drama Commissioning, disapproved of this idea.

Last but not least, Davies created Chantelle Jones, a medical student who would rely more on her book smarts than her intuition. Similar to Rose in 2000, Davies was determined that the new companion be the main focus of Chantelle's first story, which would be the Series Three opener. In a similar fashion to how
Judy Tyler and Aidan Smith made their debuts in Rose, it would also introduce Chantelle's family, which included her younger brother Nathan, older sister Alison, and divorced parents Jason and Francine. Davies, however, had determined that, in comparison to Rose's supporting coterie, Chantelle's would be less prominent.

Naomie Harris was cast as Chantelle, Adjoa Andoh would play Francine, Trevor Laird would play Jason, Sophie Okonedo would play Alison and Ashley Walters would play Nathan.

Another loose story arc would take place this season, like the phrase Bad Wolf and the word Voidwatch another word would be thrown about foreshadowing an important character. The third episode Gridlock would re-introduce The Face of Boe from the episodes The End of The World and Body Swap, as such Gridlock would take place on Coffra where Body Swap was set. Gridlock would see a dying Face of Boe reveal to the Doctor that he was wrong to believe himself to be the last surviving Time Lord. Finally, a critical plot point in Human Nature / The Family Of Blood revealed that Time Lords could alter their genetic structure to become human. This transformation was affected by the Doctor using a device called a chameleon arch, with his true identity concealed in a receptacle resembling a fob watch.

This would set up the finale and would see the return of Captain Vince Bannerman, played by Jonathan Kerrigan, him travelling with the Doctor was hinted at in the finale of Voidwatch Series One.

Directors for the series included Joe Ahearne, Graeme Harper, Julie Edwards and Hettie MacDonald, the series would air from August 3rd - October 26th with a Christmas Special on Christmas Day.

This year’s Christmas Special was particularly a story Davies wanted to tackle, as a fan of the 1972 disaster movie The Poseidon Adventure, in which an ocean liner flipped over after being hit by a freak wave, forcing a few intrepid survivors to manoeuvre through the upside-down vessel and escape via the hull before it sank. However, Davies this time imagined the idea, in space as it would be suitable for hooking in viewers on Christmas Day. Davies decided to add another interesting element to the story by having the ship in question be the Titanic, with this Davies decided to have a one-off companion for the special and pop sensation Kylie Minogue was cast as Astrid Peth.

Smith and Jones

By Russell T Davies

The Doctor goes undercover at the Royal Hope Hospital in London, where he meets medical student Chantelle Jones. The entire hospital is transported to the Moon by the Judoon, a brutal outer-space police

force-for-hire, who are searching for the blood-sucking Florence Finnegan. Mrs Finnegan is a Plasmavore—an internal shape-changer—and has been assimilating the human blood of hospital workers to avoid detection. The Doctor, an alien, allows her to drink his blood and she is detected as non-human, and executed. Chantelle revives the Doctor using CPR. The Doctor stops Finnegan's attempt to destroy her Judoon pursuers along with half of Earth with a magnetic pulse from an MRI machine in the hospital when he shuts the machine down. The Doctor invites Chantelle to join him for a trip in the TARDIS in return for saving his life.

The Unquiet Dead

By Mark Gatiss

The Doctor and Chantelle travel back to Cardiff in 1869, where a funeral parlour, run by Gabriel Sneed with his clairvoyant servant girl Gwyneth, contains corpses which have been animated by a mysterious

blue vapour. Sneed and Gwyneth kidnap Chantelle, and the Doctor teams up with Charles Dickens to track her down. In the funeral parlour, the group is reunited and the Doctor determines that the blue vapour is the result of a being trying to cross a rift in the spacetime the parlour is built on. They are revealed to be the Gelth, who animate bodies until they can build their own, and are using Gwyneth as a bridge. The Gelth lie about their numbers and intentions, intending to kill billions of living humans, and not just inhabit existing corpses. Gwyneth volunteers to ignite the gas which Dickens flooded the cellar with, closing the rift and trapping all the Gelth. The Doctor, Chantelle, and Dickens escape before the parlour is engulfed in flames.

Gridlock

By Russell T Davies

The Doctor takes Chantelle to an undercity on the planet Coffra in the year 5,000,000,053. 24 years earlier, a virus mutated which killed nearly everyone on the planet. The undercity was sealed off to save it from the virus, its system being maintained by the Face of Boe and his nurse Novice Hame, but they did not have enough power to reopen it. Chantelle is kidnapped by two motorists in flying cars to grant them access to the fast lane on the Motorway. The fast lane is infested by crab-like Macra, old enemies of the Doctor and the former rulers of an empire in this galaxy who have since devolved to feeding on the car fumes. Aided by the Face of Boe, who uses the last of his life, the Doctor finds a way of restoring power to the system which opens the roof of the Motorway, finally freeing the trapped inhabitants and saving Chantelle and her kidnappers from the Macra. Before dying, the Face of Boe tells the Doctor he is not alone.

Operation: Exterminate

By Steve Lyons

The Doctor and Chantelle investigate disappearances in Phoneix, Arizona 1953. Dr. Halen, a scientist

working with the US Government to make new weapons, comes to the city to offer work. The Doctor volunteers for a 'scientific job' in the sewers after hearing that not everyone who goes down there returns. Chantelle is captured by a pig slave, commanded by the Daleks, to be used as a subject in the Daleks' final experiment in their underground laboratory. Dalek Sec of the Cult of Skaro merges his body with Halen, becoming a human-Dalek hybrid.

Mutually Assured Destruction

By Steve Lyons

The Doctor frees a group of the kidnapped humans, including Chantelle, from the Daleks' laboratory. The Daleks plan to implant the other kidnapped and mind-wiped humans with Dalek ideas and Dalek DNA to create a new stage of Dalek evolution. Sec hopes to give emotions to this new race of Dalek humans after these were originally removed from the Daleks. The other Daleks betray and murder Sec, as this action would no longer make Daleks "supreme". The Doctor interferes with the Daleks’ laboratory adding Time Lord DNA to the awakened Dalek-human army controlled by Dalek Caan. The Dalek-humans betray and kill two of the remaining Daleks, and Caan destroys the army and escapes from the Doctor.

The Lazarus Experiment

By Stephen Greenhorn

76-year-old Professor Richard Lazarus demonstrates his experiment where he uses hypersonic sound waves to restore his youth and cheat death. The experiment mutates his DNA, unlocking dormant genes in his body and turning him into an evolutionary throwback that drains life energy from his victims. The Doctor reflects the energy of Lazarus' sonic micro-field manipulator onto Lazarus, causing him to flee to Southwark Cathedral. The Doctor uses the acoustics of the cathedral to create sound waves from the church organ, which causes Lazarus to fall from the bell tower, finally killing him. The Doctor invites Chantelle to travel with him full-time rather than her just being a passenger.

Lost Frequencies

By Paul Abbott

The Doctor and Chantelle land on a spaceship called the Icarus II, which has been lost for a few months. The ship’s crew are stalked by a monstrous beast on the ship called a Vorlax which lurks in the deeper levels of the ship, later the last of the ship’s power cuts out and the Vorlax now roams free around the ship and more people are massacred. The Vorlax then destroys several machinery which causes the ship to catch fire, after the Doctor uses the escape pod to eject the Vorlax into space he gets the crew into the TARDIS and takes them back to Earth.

Human Nature

By Paul Cornell

The Doctor is pursued by the Family of Blood, entities who hope to use his power of regeneration to live forever. To escape them, he transforms himself into a human and invents a new identity called John Smith, who becomes a schoolteacher in 1913 England who dreams of his life as the Doctor and writes these dreams down in a journal. The Doctor's true self is hidden in a fob watch, which when opened will turn Smith back into the Doctor. Chantelle takes care of Smith while she is undercover as a maid. After two months, the Family arrive and take over the bodies of four humans. When the fob watch goes missing, taken by one of the schoolboys who is slightly psychic, Chantelle tries prompting Smith to recall his past, inadvertently revealing his true identity to the Family. The Family hold Chantelle and Smith's date, Nurse Joan Redfern, hostage at the village dance, hoping to force Smith to change back to the Doctor.

The Family of Blood

By Paul Cornell

Timothy Latimer, a telepathic student who can hear the voices in the fob watch, distracts the Family by

briefly opening the fob watch, which he is keeping hidden from the Family, allowing Smith, Chantelle and Redfern to escape the dance hall. They flee to an abandoned house after the Family attack the school, and are followed there by Latimer. The Family bombard the village with their spaceship to draw the Doctor out. Smith opens the fob watch, becoming the Doctor again. The Doctor overloads the Family's spaceship while misdirecting them. He gives them the eternal life they wished, while imprisoning the Father in unbreakable chains, the Mother in the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy, and the Daughter in every mirror. He suspends the Son in time, and dresses him up as a scarecrow. Redfern turns down the Doctor's invitation to go travelling with him.

Blink

By Steven Moffat

The Doctor and Chantelle are sent back in time to 1964 by the stonelike Weeping Angels. The Doctor records a message containing half of a conversation to be included as Easter eggs on DVDs published by another of the Angels' victims. In 2002 London, photographer Sally Sparrow investigates an abandoned house, finding a message from the Doctor and taking a key from an Angel's hand. The Angels follow Sally,

who discovers the TARDIS in a police impoundment garage. The Angels take the TARDIS back to the house. Sally and her friend's brother Larry have the other half of the conversation with the Doctor's message from one of the DVDs. He tells them to send the TARDIS back to him in 1964. The Angels have locked the entrances to the house, so Sally and Larry flee to the cellar, where they find the TARDIS. Using the key to get inside, Larry inserts the DVD, functioning as a control disc, into a slot on the console. The TARDIS departs for 1964, and Sally and Larry are left behind in the cellar, but find the Angels, now all looking at each other, have been frozen because of their biological defence mechanism that turns them to stone when observed. A year later, Sally gives a transcript of the message to the Doctor before the Angels attack him.

Utopia

By Russell T Davies

After landing the TARDIS in Cardiff to refuel, the Doctor sees Captain Vince Bannerman racing towards the TARDIS and departs. Vince grabs onto the outer shell, causing the TARDIS to fly to the end of the universe trying to shake him off. Vince dies on the journey but revives seconds later as he cannot stay dead. As they explore the planet Malcassairo, the Doctor, Vince and the Doctor's companion Chantelle encounter Padra, a lone human running for his life from cannibalistic humanoids called the Futurekind.

The Doctor, Vince and Chantelle help Padra reach a missile silo where a rocket intends to transport the

last of the human race to "Utopia". While there they meet the elderly Professor Yana, played by Derek Jacobi, and his insectoid assistant Chantho. The Professor asks the Doctor to look at their rocket engine to determine why it will not launch, and the Doctor helps him repair it and give it power. During the repairs, the Professor repeatedly hears a rhythmic drumbeat he has heard his entire life. When the rocket is ready to launch, the refugees board it. One of the Futurekind shorts the system out, filling the room with the rocket couplings with deadly radiation. Vince is enlisted to fix the couplings.

While Vince is inside working, the Doctor admits he abandoned Vince purposely because of the immortality Rose granted to Vince. Vince readies the rocket for launch. Chantelle unintentionally draws attention to the Professor's fob watch, similar to the one which changed the Doctor from a Time Lord into a human. She rushes to tell the Doctor about the watch as the Professor hears voices coming from it.

The Doctor initiates the launch sequence of the rocket at the same time that the Professor opens the fob watch. A frantic Doctor runs back to the control room, but the Professor lets the Futurekind inside the silo. Chantho confronts the Professor. He responds that his name is the Master. Chantho and the Master both fatally injure each other. The Master leaves in the TARDIS, with the hand inside, and regenerates into a younger form, played by Aidan Gillen. The Doctor, Vince and Chantelle are stranded.

The Sound of Drums

By Russell T Davies

The Doctor, Vince, and Chantelle escape the Futurekind by using Vince's vortex manipulator to return to present-day London. They quickly learn that the Master has taken on the persona of Harold Saxon, and is the newly elected Prime Minister. The Master has created a phone network called Archangel which subliminally influenced the population to vote for him. After his election, he kills his entire cabinet with poisonous gas and a reporter who was investigating his fake identity. The three narrowly avoid a bomb placed in Chantelle's flat and learn that Chantelle's family has been kidnapped by the Master’s minions. The Master contacts them to gloat about his seeming victory, and reveals that the three are wanted criminals. He also asked him to let Vince know that he sent the Voidwatch team into "a wild goose chase in the Himalayas", guaranteeing no help from them.

Hiding in an abandoned building, the Doctor uses parts of Chantelle's laptop and his TARDIS keys to create perception filters so they can move about unnoticed. He explains some of the Master's past and tells them how, as a child, the Master looked into the time vortex and was driven mad. They see a TV report that the Master is planning to reveal humanity's first contact the next day with an alien race known as the Toclafane. UNIT takes over the meeting and moves it to the flying aircraft carrier Valiant. The Master accepts the changes and boards the Valiant with his wife Lucy. The Doctor, Chantelle, and Vince teleport aboard and discover that the TARDIS has been converted by the Master into a Paradox Machine that is building up power to be activated at the appointed time of first contact.

The Doctor, Chantelle, and Vince enter the bridge of the Valiant as the first four Toclafane appear on board. The Master orders the Toclafane to kill US President Winters. The Master reveals that he can see around the perception filters, and uses his laser screwdriver to kill Vince and artificially age the Doctor 100 years using Professor Lazarus's genetic manipulation technology and DNA he took from the Doctor's severed hand (which Vince took aboard the TARDIS). Vince, having been revived, gives Chantelle his vortex manipulator and tells Chantelle to get off the Valiant.

The Master brings Chantelle's family onto the bridge as the Paradox Machine activates. A massive rift opens above the Valiant, allowing six billion Toclafane to descend upon Earth and kill one-tenth of the Earth's population. Chantelle tends to the aged Doctor, and he whispers into her ear. She uses the vortex manipulator to teleport away, and promises to come back.

Last of The Time Lords

By Russell T Davies

A year after the Toclafane attacked Earth and the Master took over the planet, humanity is on the verge of extinction. After her escape from the Valiant, Chantelle has been travelling around the world and avoiding detection. She has been preparing the surviving humans to concentrate their thoughts on the word "Doctor" the moment of the completion of the countdown to the launch of a fleet of rockets the Master is readying to wage war. The Doctor meanwhile has been spending a year psychically integrating himself into the Master's Archangel network of satellites, which channels the collective psychic energy of the people to the Doctor. Chantelle creates a cover story about finding four components to a gun the Master is vulnerable to as part of a plan to have Professor Docherty lead Chantelle back to the Master.

Chantelle, together with Docherty and medic Tom Milligan, capture a Toclafane. Upon examination they discover the Toclafane are humans who took the rocket to Utopia in the future. They cannibalised their bodies into metal spheres and their minds regressed into children. The Master created the Paradox Machine to allow them to return to the past and kill their ancestors while avoiding the grandfather paradox. Chantelle and Tom leave to find the last component of the gun, and Docherty provides the Master with Chantelle's location in exchange for information on her own son.

After killing Tom and cornering Chantelle, the Master destroys the gun and takes her back to the Valiant so he can kill her in front of the artificially aged Doctor. Chantelle reveals the gun to be a hoax, and her travels to have been with the aim of focusing the collective psychic energy of the people to think of the Doctor. This energy rejuvenates him, allowing him to overcome his captivity and force the Master to cower in defeat. Vince sets off to destroy the Paradox Machine. 

The destruction of the machine causes time to snap back right before paradox was created and the Toclafane appeared. The Doctor and his allies consider the Master's fate before the Master is shot by his wife Lucy. The Master refuses to regenerate and dies in the Doctor's arms. After, the Doctor cremates his body on a funeral pyre.

The Doctor returns Vince to Voidwatcn. An unknown hand is seen picking up the Master's ring from the remains of the pyre. Chantelle decides to leave the Doctor to care for her family, who can still remember their captivity on the Valiant. She gives him her mobile phone in case she needs to contact him. As the Doctor prepares to travel, the bow of a ship called the Titanic bursts through a wall of the TARDIS control room.

Voyage of The Damned

By Russell T Davies

The Doctor repairs the damage to the TARDIS from crashing into the Titanic, before landing on the ship. He discovers it is not the RMS Titanic, but instead a duplicate starliner. The Doctor meets waitress Astrid Peth, before joining an excursion to London. The Doctor notes that London is abandoned. As part of cruise line owner Max Capricorn's revenge plot after Max's board votes him out of his company, Captain Hardaker drops the vessel's shielding, causing meteors to be pulled toward the ship. The vessel begins plunging toward the Earth. Max has the Heavenly Host androids kill any survivors. The Host takes the Doctor to Max Capricorn. Following the Doctor, Astrid uses a forklift to push Max into the ship's engine, seemingly killing herself too. Reaching the bridge, the Doctor uses the heat from the re-entry to restart and stabilise the ship. The Doctor retrieves Astrid's pattern from her teleport bracelet, before her ghostly remains dissipate into space.

Series Three received positive reviews of the season and the performances of French, Harris, Kerrigan and Gillen were all praised and the stories themselves were highly received, including Steven Moffat’s story Blink. However a few critics criticised the finale Last of The Time Lords saying it was the least satisfying finale of the revival so far and it was borderline anticlimactic but the reviews were generally positive.