Doctor Who 2003

 

2003 was an important year, Doctor Who was turning 40 Years old in November of that year. During that year as old fans reminisced about the adventures of Hartnell or Baker, a new generation of fans waited for the fourth series of the revival of Doctor Who as Michael French’s Tenth Doctor fought off monsters and villains old and new. Russell T Davies’ masterful storytelling was a main factor in the series’ success and the Fourth series was to see the show at the peak of it’s powers.

At the start of 2002, Russell T Davies decided to shake up his regular line-up of characters. Chantelle Jones, played by Naomie Harris, was a new companion who would be introduced during the Series Three premiere, Smith And Jones. However, as work on her episodes progressed, Davies had come to feel that the character would need a break from the TARDIS, in order to provide a realistic timeframe for her to resolve her unrequited romantic feelings for the Doctor. It was decided that Chantelle would return for a final two episodes in the fourth series, as Russell had something big planned.

With Chantelle’s departure, Russell decided to create a new companion for the opening episode of Series Four. However Mal Young suggested to Davies to bring back the character of Penny Carter from The Runaway Bride and after a meeting with Davies, Sarah Parish decided to return as Penny.

With this her mother Moira, played by Denise Black, returned and Davies brought in Bernard Cribbins as a recurring role playing Wilfred Mott. This was due to the fact that Michael Elphick who’d played Geoff Carter had passed away in 2002, so instead of recasting Elphick’s character Davies decided to ask Cribbins to reprise his role as Wilfred.

There was no denying that 2003 was an important year for Doctor Who and as it was the show’s 40th Anniversary, the BBC announced there would be three specials on November 22th - 6th December.

Davies also knew that Series Four’s finale had to be something extraordinary. Davies decided to incorporate many important elements from 2000 onwards into the series finale, with two spinoff shows already airing it was decided to crossover the spinoffs with the main show to set the stakes high enough for the finale Davies had planned. Davies also decided to make the villains for the finale the Daleks as he wanted to make the Daleks more of a threat than ever and decided to bring back their creator Davros, who hadn’t been seen since 1988’s Remembrance of The Daleks and due to it being the 40th year Davies wanted to bring back Davros and eventually thought of a story concept which was grand enough to include Davros.

Davies also came up with two other stories with one being a Doctor-lite and a Companion-lite story before the finale, Steven Moffat was asked to return for a two parter.

However 2003 was the beginning of the end, Russell T Davies announced he would be leaving Doctor Who after a few specials in 2004 to get the new production team ready for Series 5. Davies wasn’t the only one leaving, on 28th October 2003 Michael French won the best actor award at the NTA and he announced he would also be leaving alongside Davies in 2004. Mal Young, Matthew Robinson and Nicola Shindler were also departing.

The Series began filming in September 2002 and concluding in April 2003, Directors included James Strong, Euros Lyn, Douglas Mackinnon, Hettie MacDonald and Graeme Harper.

Fate Foretold

By Russell T Davies

Penny Carter gets a surprise party ready for her boyfriend, she gets everybody to be quiet as her boyfriend approaches the house and as he enters everybody jumps up and surprises him but behind him is another woman, Penny is left devastated.

Penny would then leave the party embarrassed and heartbroken and is on the phone to her friend in the rain as she passes an old police box.

The next day, Penny is driving with her mother Moira and they reach a T-junction. After some contemplating, she decides to turn left. But drives herself into danger as a giant dome descends over the suburb. The Police and the Army surround it but they can’t enter meaning everybody under it is trapped, there is an unknown danger in the dome and after a while the Doctor is reunited with Penny and they have a very quick catch up.

An alien, called a Vorkalor, has placed the structure to start a hunt and hunts the suburban residents down one at a time, The Doctor and Penny would end up stopping it and sending it back where it came from. At the end of the episode the Doctor offers Penny a trip into the stars, Penny accepts but has a request: To see her grandfather, Wilf, wave her off which the Doctor does so as the TARDIS flies into space.

Storm Warning

By Alan Barnes

After the TARDIS is attacked by Vortisaurs, the Doctor and Penny land on the R101 during the 5th October 1930, the day it’s gonna crash. The Doctor and Penny meet Charley Pollard, a self-described

"Edwardian adventuress." They become involved in a conspiracy aboard the ship involving a race of alien known as the Triskele and the government. It turns out the R101 had a mission to return the Triskele to it’s people after one crash landed on Earth. As Well as this, the Triskele want to find a new Lawgiver, the embodiment of wisdom and free will. 

However after the Lawgiver is accidentally shot, the Uncreators were able to break free and wreak havoc, using the British spy Peter Rathbone as their medium. Rebelling against their control, Rathbone shot the Uncreator Prime, with Lord Tamworth, captain of the R101, being declared the new Lawgiver. Tamworth decided against taking the ship back to England or becoming the official Lawgiver. Instead, he stayed on-board to assist in rebuilding the Triskele and their society. 

The R101 is then attacked by a Vortisaur and the R101 starts to crash down into the French countryside, the Doctor and Penny return to the TARDIS leaving Charley. Penny begs the Doctor to go back and save her. The Doctor relents and saves Charley.

The Suicide Expiditon

By Mark Gatiss

The Doctor and Penny land in World War II where a Nazi task force assaults the Natural History Museum in London, which had been overrun by monsters. The Doctor and Penny would  discover a secret chamber beneath the museum containing a device which can give anyone or anything immense power, luckily the Doctor destroys it before it falls into the wrong hands.

Campaign of The Sontarans

By Jed Mercurio 

The Doctor and Penny arrive back on Earth after receiving a call from UNIT, Minutes after the TARDIS materialises, UNIT authorises the raid of an ATMOS factory and it’s here the Doctor is reunited with Chantelle Jones. ATMOS is marketing a satellite navigation system developed by young prodigy Luke Langer. The system also reduces carbon dioxide emissions to zero; UNIT requested the Doctor's help because the technology may be alien, and they are also concerned about 52 early simultaneous deaths

that occurred spontaneously. The Doctor investigates the system at Langer's private school and discovers a plot by an alien warrior race known as the Sontarans. Instead of an outright invasion, they are taking control with a combination of human clones, mind control, and ATMOS.

Penny returns home to see Moira and Wilf. The Doctor and Chantelle investigate the ATMOS devices and discovers it can emit a poisonous gas. Wilfred attempts to take the car off the road, but is trapped when all 400 million ATMOS devices installed in cars worldwide are activated. The Doctor stares helplessly at a street full of cars emitting the gas, while the Sontarans prepare themselves for battle.

The Poisoned Earth

By Jed Mercurio

Moira frees Wilfred. The Doctor, Penny and Chantelle return to the ATMOS factory, where the Doctor warns UNIT not to engage the Sontarans. The Doctor tells Penny to stay in the TARDIS, but the Sontarans teleport the TARDIS aboard their ship. The Sontarans defeat UNIT at the factory and take over. UNIT eventually manages a counterattack. Finding the TARDIS missing, the Doctor tells Penny to re-engage the teleport pods. The Doctor and Chantelle enter the factory and learns from a soldier's clone that the gas is being used to convert Earth into a breeding world for the Sontarans. The Doctor tells Penny how to use the pods and teleport the TARDIS to Earth. The Doctor constructs an atmospheric converter at Langer's academy, which harmlessly ignites the gas and allows the humans to breathe. He calibrates the converter so it can ignite the Sontarans on board their ship, and teleports on board. The Doctor offers Staal the chance to retreat, but Staal encourages him to destroy them. At the last second Langer switches places with the Doctor, sacrificing himself to destroy the Sontarans. With the Earth saved, The Doctor, Penny, and Chantelle reconvene in the TARDIS and the Doctor offers Chantelle to travel with them for one adventure and he accepts.

The Doctor’s Daughter

By Stephen Greenhorn

The TARDIS takes the Doctor, Penny, and Chantelle to the planet Messaline. They are met by soldiers working for General Cobb. The soldiers force the Doctor into a progenation machine, which uses his DNA to generate a soldier who becomes the Doctor's daughter. The other occupants of the planet, the Hath, attack, taking Chantelle hostage. The Doctor and Penny are taken to see Cobb, and Penny names the Doctor's daughter "Jenny". Elsewhere, Chantelle tends to an injured Hath, and they take her back to their command center. The General explains that they were meant to live with the Hath, but a dispute arose over "the Source". The Doctor inadvertently reveals its location to the humans and the Hath, and the two sides prepare for battle. The Source turns out to be a terraforming device. The Doctor, Penny, Chantelle, and Jenny make their way to the Source before both armies arrive. The Doctor declares the war to be over and releases the terraforming agent. Cobb tries to shoot the Doctor, but Jenny takes the bullet to the chest and dies. Later, Jenny revives and commandeers a rocket to leave the planet. After this, the Doctor returns Chantelle home and they then have a nice farewell.

The Portrait of Oscar Wilde

By Gareth Roberts

The Doctor and Penny arrive at a house in 1887 where a party is taking place and meet Oscar Wilde, where Frances Richards has revealed Oscar’s portrait at the party. Later in the night everyone is enjoying themselves, however three guests are later trapped in paintings and Penny notices that Oscar’s portrait begins to move in the painting. The Doctor realises that an entity known as The Muralith is responsible, the Doctor realises that Oscar’s portrait has been possessed by the Muralith and the entity climbs out of the painting to try and possess Oscar. Oscar leads it to a river nearby and jumps in, where the Mutalith is destroyed upon impact with the river and the Doctor saves Oscar. The Doctor and Penny then say goodbye to Oscar and the Doctor tells Penny that he has a suspicion that Oscar’s best known work “The Picture of Dorian Gray” was inspired by these events.

Silence in The Library

By Steven Moffat

The Doctor and Penny are summoned to a planet-sized library in the 51st century. A scan for life shows the Doctor and Penny as the only humanoid life signs but trillions of nonhuman life forms they cannot

see or hear are present. A team of explorers led by Elara Deacon (who summoned the Doctor) arrives, and Elara acts like she knows the Doctor. She discovers the Doctor has not met her yet. The Library's operation system appears to be connected to the mind of the girl living in 21st-century Earth. The girl’s psychiatrist Dr. Moon visits the girl, telling her that the library is actually real, and he implores her to save the people in the library. 

The Vashta Nerada kill two of the team; the Doctor and Penny learn that the team are wearing communication devices which can store their thought patterns after death. The Doctor explains that the Vashta Nerada are creatures that appear as shadows. The creatures use Dave's suit to chase the others. The Doctor teleports Penny back to the TARDIS, but the teleport fails. The Doctor later finds an information node with Penny’s face which tells him Penny has been saved.

Forest of The Dead

By Steven Moffat

Strackman Lux explains that the Library was constructed by his grandfather, who had a giant computer constructed at Library's core to preserve Lux’s aunt Charlotte's mind. Charlotte "saved" the thousands of missing patrons' minds to the data core to escape the Vashta Nerada. Penny has also been uploaded to the simulation in the core. 

One of the dead team, Evangelista, reminds Penny her world is not real. After the Vashta Nerada kill more of the expedition, the Doctor discovers the Vashta Nerada’s forests were used to create the books of the Library. The Doctor tries sacrificing himself by giving the computer memory space from his mind to allow the patrons to be teleported back; Elara knocks the Doctor out and takes his place. The Doctor tries to stop her, but Elara insists that his death now would prevent her meeting him in her own past. 

As Elara initiates the connection, the patrons stored inside the computer re-materialise in the Library. The Doctor finds a data recorder inside the sonic screwdriver his future self gave Elara, which has preserved her consciousness, and he uploads her pattern, upon which Elara wakes up in the simulation with her dead crew mates.

Midnight

By Russell T Davies

The Doctor and Penny visit the resort planet Midnight, the surface of which is bathed in lethal radiation. The Doctor plans to take a shuttle tour to visit a waterfall made of sapphires, and decides to take the trip with other tour-goers. Mid-route, the shuttle stops; the Doctor joins Driver Joe and Mechanic Claude in the cockpit and they see all systems appear operational, but they are simply not moving. Joe calls in for a rescue shuttle. The Doctor returns to the cabin, before knocking begins on the sides of the shuttle. When the shuttle is rocked violently, the hostess finds the cockpit has been ripped out. Sky begins repeating what the Doctor and passengers are saying. Sky starts to only repeat what the Doctor says, and soon is speaking simultaneously with him, and eventually starts saying things before the Doctor repeats them. While most of the other passengers begin to sacrifice the Doctor, believing him to now be possessed, the hostess begins to believe in the Doctor. The hostess grabs Sky and sacrifices herself by pulling the two of them into the radiation. The Doctor returns to normal, and the shuttle passengers are rescued and returned to the resort.

Turn Left

By Russell T Davies

A fortune teller approaches Penny, who helps her recall what led to her meeting the Doctor. Penny remembers she was driving to get a new job, and turned left instead of right to get a temp position. When the fortune teller convinces Penny to turn right instead, a large beetle working for the Trickster attaches itself to her back. Penny's decision creates an alternate reality, where she never met the Doctor, so the Doctor drowned after killing the Racnoss children. Sarah Jane and Chantelle die. The spaceliner Titanic crashes into Buckingham Palace, destroying London, and Britain is placed under martial law. Rose appears to Penny to save her and her family from the destruction of London, but they are forcibly displaced. Explaining that the stars are going out in every universe, Rose insists that Penny travel back and turn left. Penny is transported back, and is hit by a passing truck, creating a traffic jam that causes her past self to turn left. As Penny dies, Rose whispers a message to her. The alternate universe disappears, and Penny wakes up. Penny recalls Rose's message was the words: "Bad Wolf". The Doctor announces that the universe is in danger.

The Stolen Earth

By Russell T Davies

The Earth is teleported out of its spatial location. In order to find the Earth, the Doctor contacts the Shadow Proclamation, a universal police force. The Doctor and Penny determine that 27 missing planets—including Earth and others they learnt were lost—automatically reorganise into a specific pattern when placed near each other. Penny mentions the disappearance of bees on contemporary Earth; this allows the Doctor to trace the planets to the Medusa Cascade, an inter-universal rift.

A Dalek force, led by their creator Davros and the Supreme Dalek, quickly subjugates Earth. Davros, who
was thought to have been killed in the Time War, was saved by Dalek Caan, who entered the conflict

after performing an emergency temporal shift. The power needed to enter the Time War caused Caan to become precognitive at the cost of his sanity.

The Doctor's former companions—who have all encountered the Daleks before—hide in various places in Britain. Chantelle, Captain Vince and Sarah Jane are contacted by former Prime Minister Vicky Harrington through a secret Sub-Wave Network to contact the Doctor's companions in an emergency, although Vicky is unable to reach Rose. They attempt to reach the Doctor by amplifying the Sub-Wave signal; Sarah Jane uses K-9’s power, and Vince and his Voidwatch team members Gwen and Ianto manipulate the Cardiff Rift. 

The Doctor, and consequently the Daleks, receive the transmission and trace the signal: the Daleks kill Vicky; and the Doctor locates Earth in a "pocket of time".

The Doctor travels into the pocket universe and receives transmitted images of his companions in the Sub-Wave signal. After Davros hijacks the signal and taunts the Doctor about his resurrection and imminent victory, the Doctor breaks communication and attempts to convene with his companions. He lands on the same street on which Rose is searching for him and runs to embrace her, but is suddenly shot by a Dalek. 

Vince teleports to the street and promptly destroys the Dalek. In the Voidwatch hub, Gwen and Ianto attempt to fight off a Dalek that corners them. Sarah Jane sets off in her car to find the Doctor but two Daleks find her and threaten to kill her. Vince helps Rose and Penny carry the Doctor into the TARDIS, where the Doctor begins to regenerate.

Journey’s End

By Russell T Davies

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor is regenerating. He halts the transformation by transferring the remaining energy into his severed hand. The regeneration has progressed enough to enable the Doctor's body to heal, but not change his physical appearance. Louise and Andy find safety in an impenetrable time lock and Sarah Jane is saved from Daleks by Rose's ex-boyfriend Aidan and her mother Judy.

The TARDIS is captured by the Daleks and transported to their flagship the Crucible. Sarah Jane, Aidan, and Judy surrender themselves to get aboard. The Supreme Dalek orders the TARDIS to be destroyed, with Penny Carter locked inside; in the process, Penny touches the severed hand, enveloping her in regeneration energy and causes the creation of a new Doctor (the Meta-Crisis Doctor), who saves the TARDIS from destruction.

Davros, creator of the Daleks, explains that the stolen planets form a "Reality Bomb" which would destroy all matter in every universe. To stop the bomb, Chantelle threatens to detonate nukes and destroy Earth. Davros mocks the Doctor for acting the champion of peace while turning those around him into weapons. The Supreme Dalek transports both groups in front of Davros. The Meta-Crisis Doctor and Penny also arrive and try to use a device to refocus the bomb onto the Daleks. Davros blasts them both with electricity. Penny becomes imbued with Time Lord knowledge that she gained during the Meta-Crisis Doctor's creation and disables the bomb and the Daleks. The two Doctors and Penny relocate the missing planets, but the control panel is destroyed before Earth can be relocated. Motivated by Dalek Caan's prophecy of the Daleks' extinction, the new Doctor destroys the Daleks and the Crucible. 

The Doctor offers to save Davros, who refuses. The companions flee into the TARDIS. They return the Earth back into its original orbit and then return home.

The Doctor returns Rose and Judy to the parallel universe in which they were previously trapped. He also sends the Meta-Crisis Doctor into the parallel universe to accompany Rose. After departing, Penny's human mind becomes overwhelmed by the Time Lord knowledge and starts to deteriorate. Against her wishes, the Doctor wipes her mind and brings her to Wilfred and Moira. The Doctor tells them that although Penny's life has been saved, she can never know the details of her time with him, or she will die. He then departs from the Carter household, alone.

The Deadly Domain

By Russell T Davies

The Doctor lands in a mansion where we later learn is the Toyroom and the Doctor is soon reunited with the Toymaker. We see the Doctor play three different games, the Doctor is put into a life-sized

version of ‘Cluedo’ where he has to figure out who the murderer is and finds it to be Miss Scarlett with the revolver in the library, during this he meets another prisoner of the Toymaker called Seeta Zanetti, played by Nina Sosanya. 

They are then thrown into a twisted version of ‘Hide and Seek’, we see that they have to hide until the countdown goes off and they have to hide from a clown called ‘Doodles’ and just when they're about to be found the countdown ends and they win the game. 

The Doctor and Seeta then have to play a puzzle game to advance into different escape rooms and if they don't get out by a certain time they will die, but they manage to get out of the last room unharmed. The Doctor and Seeta are then reunited with the Toymaker where Seeta witnesses the Doctor and the Toymaker play a guessing game where they have to try and guess which bag the TARDIS key is in, if the Toymaker wins he gets the key but if the Doctor wins he and Seeta can leave and the round is best of five, the Doctor wins three of the rounds to the Toymaker’s two rounds and wins. As the rules of the game stand, the Doctor and Seeta get to leave in the TARDIS as the Toyroom starts to implode. 

At the end of the episode Seeta is dropped off outside her house but she changes her mind at the last minute and she decides to go with the Doctor for a while.

Lurking in The Dark

By Russell T Davies

The Doctor and Seeta land on a dimly lit space station which is completely abandoned. The Doctor wants to explore, however Seeta has a bad feeling about it but eventually agrees to explore. After they walk around the corridors they hear the TARDIS dematerialise and the Doctor deduces that this was because of the TARDIS' HADs system, he says whatever is on the station is dangerous and they have to defeat it. The story then becomes a dark, space thriller and we eventually see the Doctor and Seeta split up. The story then splits into two different plotlines: The first plotline sees the Doctor in the upper half of the ship investigating what happened to the crew and that the cryogenic Chambers were activated 5 years ago and the Doctor tries to find out why, he then hears a voice, his voice, he then steps outside into the corridor and finds a humanoid creature made out of sentient goo screaming in agonising pain and it then takes the form of the Doctor but it looks so uncanny. 

The second plotline sees Seeta in the lower half of the ship where she finds an old lab and test results, she also hears running footsteps and decides to investigate and she finds a similar humanoid creature like the one the Doctor saw, it too also screams in agonising pain and it then takes the form of Seeta but again looking so uncanny.

The Doctor and Seeta then reunite and escape the imposter versions, they discuss what they've both found and then go into different rooms where goo versions of themselves wait. 

The Doctor meets a goo version of Seeta and tells him that his song is ending and Seeta meets a goo version of the Doctor and he tells her that something is waiting and hiding. The original Doctor and Seeta get out of the rooms and where the goo versions follow and we find out they are called 'The Masqueraders' and they are a race of sentient goo created by humans on this station. The Doctor and Seeta escape the Masqueraders and as they run into the lab the Masqueraders stop and that's when it all comes together. 

We learn that the crew created the sentient goo to create a new artificial race, however the humans mistreated them badly and they began to kill the crew. We then learn that the last remaining crew members froze themselves and the goo can't handle freezing temperatures, the Masqueraders learn they must get to the bridge to heat up the ship but the Doctor uses a cryogenic gun to block the Masqueraders in the corridor so he and Seeta can get to the bridge.

The Doctor and Seeta get there and disable and deadlock systems to turn the ship into a frozen space station, however because of this the Doctor, Seeta and the Masqueraders begin to freeze to death but the TARDIS soon materialises and the Doctor and Seeta get inside to escape as the Masqueraders freeze to death. 

At the end of the episode the Doctor and Seeta talk about the adventure and the Doctor says that something bigger is coming

The Day of Ashes

By Russell T Davies

Immediately after leaving the space station, the Doctor and Seeta are teleported to the Game Station to be put in deadly versions of TV game shows. After escaping Big Brother alongside a contestant called Lynda Moss, the Doctor found out where Seeta was and went to save her from The Weakest Link, hosted by a deadly Anne Droid; they were unsuccessful in preventing the Anne Droid from seemingly killing Seeta. Completely broken, the Doctor, along with Lynda, was arrested for breaking in and out of the games. However, he physically overpowered the guards and set off to stop the "entertainment".

Taking hostages in the control room, the Doctor found the TARDIS stowed away in an archive room. Using the TARDIS, he discovered the laser that "killed" the games' losers was teleporting them across space. 

Puzzled, the Doctor discovered that the Game Station was unknowingly broadcasting a secondary signal to an empty location of space, which was where all the losers ended up. Disabling the signal, the Doctor is horrified to find an old Gallifreyan ship. Establishing contact, the Doctor is horrified as Morbius. Establishing contact, the Doctor learned Morbius had taken Seeta hostage but promised to rescue her and stop him.

The Doctor goes to the TARDIS where he flies straight onto Morbius’ ship and rescues Seeta. The Doctor meets Morbius again who reveals he was resurrected, given a new regeneration cycle and fled the Time War. After he escaped, it’s discovered he had been shaping humanity for many centuries, converting the contestants into Time Lord/Human hybrids for his army and revealed he had absorbed the Time Vortex, becoming a god.

Knowing his fight against the Daleks was suicidal, the Doctor and Seeta gathered a possible resistance consisting of gameshow contestants and operatives. The Doctor built a delta wave generator, a device that would "fry the brain stems of every living thing within a thousand miles of the satellite", but was not able to perfect it to work only on the hybrid army.

After the resistance, including Lynda, were all killed, the Doctor was unable to bring himself to destroy Morbius, the hybrid army and the Earth with the delta wave generator, proudly telling Morbius that he would rather be "a coward" than a killer. Resigning himself to be killed, Morbius tells the Doctor to stand and watch as the universe crumbled. 

Seeta is shot with a beam of Time Lord energy as Morbius prepares to execute the Doctor, however Seeta becomes just as powerful as Morbius and the two have a massive battle. 

Morbius is weakened as Seeta uses her power to wipe out the hybrid army; she then collapses as she dies in the Doctor’s arms.

The Doctor then walks over to Morbius proclaiming that he lost as he too dies, the Doctor walks back to the TARDIS and dematerialises.

Series Four of Doctor Who was seen as the most popular season of the revival and critics praised the acting of French and Parish and the high stakes finale, critics and fans also praised Midnight, Turn Left and the two parter The Stolen Earth and Journey’s End.

The 40th Anniversary specials were also praised with the performances of French and Sosanya, alongside Murray Melvin as the Toymaker and Don Warrington as Morbius. The specials had successful reviews with the third special being particularly high in people’s opinions.