Aliens of London is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that was first broadcast on April 16, 2005. It is the first of a two-part story. The concluding episode, World War Three, was broadcast on April 23. Christopher Eccleston on set in London during filming for Doctor Who in 2004. ... Russell T. Davies, pictured in 2003. ... Keith Boak is a British television director, best known for his work on several popular continuing drama series during the 1990s and 2000s. ... Phil Collinson is a British television producer. ... Russell T. Davies, pictured in 2003. ... Mal Young (born in Liverpool, England, on January 26, 1957) is a British television producer and executive . ... This is a list of Doctor Who television serials. ... April 16 is the 106th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (107th in leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... The Unquiet Dead is an episode in the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who that was first broadcast on April 9, 2005. ... World War Three is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that was first broadcast on April 23, 2005. ... This is a list of Doctor Who television serials. ... A broadcast of the long-running and popular British science-fiction series Doctor Who. ... Main article: History of Doctor Who Doctor Who first appeared on BBC television on November 23, 1963. ... April 16 is the 106th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (107th in leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... World War Three is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that was first broadcast on April 23, 2005. ... April 23 is the 113th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (114th in leap years). ...

Synopsis

The Ninth Doctor takes Rose back to 21st century London, just in time to witness a spaceship crashing into the River Thames, triggering a worldwide state of alert and the closing off of the city. As the Doctor investigates the survivor of the crash, Rose finds problems closer to home. Christopher Eccleston on set in London during filming for Doctor Who in 2004. ... Rose Tyler is a fictional character played by Billie Piper in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... In calendars based on the Christian Era or Common Era, such as the Gregorian calendar, the 21st century is the current century, as of this writing. ... St. ... Length 346 km Elevation of the source 110 m Average discharge entering Oxford: 17. ...

Plot

First contact or something more sinister?

The TARDIS materialises on a street in Rose's council estate. The Doctor has taken Rose back home, some twelve hours after she left at the end of Rose, by his estimate. However, when Rose goes to see her mother, Jackie stares at her in shock, as they have in fact been gone for twelve months. In the interim, Rose was declared missing, her mother organised a search campaign with posters and her boyfriend Mickey was suspected of murder. Jackie does not understand why Rose cannot seem to tell her where she has been all this time, and blames the Doctor, accusing him of taking her daughter for immoral purposes. An alien spaceship crashes into the River Thames, sending the world into red alert, but all is not as it seems (from Doctor Who _ Aliens of London). ... An alien spaceship crashes into the River Thames, sending the world into red alert, but all is not as it seems (from Doctor Who _ Aliens of London). ... The Third Doctor emerging from the TARDIS (from the 1970 serial Spearhead from Space). ... Rose Tyler is a fictional character played by Billie Piper in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... The council house is a form of public housing found in the United Kingdom. ... Rose is an episode in the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who that was first broadcast on March 26, 2005. ... Jackie Tyler is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, played by Camille Coduri. ... 1942 US government war poster. ... Mickey Smith is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, played by Noel Clarke. ...

Rose and the Doctor talk on the roof of her tower block, where she expresses her frustration at not being able to tell her mother because she would not understand. Nobody else on Earth knows that there are aliens and spaceships and things... just as a massive cruiser-like spaceship roars overhead, trailing black smoke. The craft zooms through Central London, its wing cutting into the side of the Clock Tower that holds Big Ben, ringing the bell before it finally careens and splashes down into the River Thames. The river is cordoned off by soldiers from the Parachute Regiment, and the Doctor and Rose have to watch the events unfold on the television in Jackie's flat. The world is being put on red alert, divers have apparently recovered an alien body from the wreckage of the craft, but there is still no word from the Prime Minister. The body is placed under military supervision under the command of General Asquith and brought to the nearby Albion Hospital. The general examines the body and asks Dr Sato, the pathologist, whether the creature is a fake. She tells him that X-rays of the skull show wiring she has never seen before — no one could have made it up. A tower block, block of flats or apartment block is a high-rise apartment building. ... In popular fiction and conspiracy theories, life forms, especially intelligent life forms, that are of extraterrestrial origin, i. ... Ariane 5 lifts off with the Rosetta probe on 2nd of March, 2004. ... St. ... A clock tower is a tower built with a large clock face on one or more (often all four) of its sides so as to be visible to a large number of inhabitants of an area. ... The Clock Tower, colloquially known as Big Ben Big Ben is the colloquial name of the Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster in London, and an informal name for the Great Bell of Westminster, the largest bell in the tower and part of the Great Clock of Westminster. ... Length 346 km Elevation of the source 110 m Average discharge entering Oxford: 17. ... The Parachute Regiments display team, the Red Devils at an American airshow The Parachute Regiment is the main body of elite airborne troops of the British Army. ... Military diving is a branch of professional diving carried out by world armed forces. ... In the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister is the head of government, exercising many of the executive functions nominally vested in the Sovereign, who is head of state. ... General is a military rank used by nearly every country in the world. ... Anatomical pathology is the branch of pathology that is concerned with the diagnosis of disease based on the gross and microscopic examination of cells and tissues. ... In the NATO phonetic alphabet, X-ray represents the letter X. An X-ray picture (radiograph) taken by Röntgen An X-ray is a form of electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength approximately in the range of 5 pm to 10 nanometers (corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 PHz...

MP Joseph Green, a large, flatulent man and a minor member of government, is escorted to 10 Downing Street, and is met by Indra Ganesh, a Junior Secretary with the Ministry of Defence. Ganesh tells Green that with the Prime Minister missing and the Cabinet trapped outside London due to the gridlock, Green is now Acting Prime Minister. Ganesh hands Green a red box containing Emergency Protocols to deal with extraterrestrial incidents, and Green is met by Margaret Blaine of MI5 and Oliver Charles, Transport Liaison, both as rotund as Green is. Blaine reports that she escorted the Prime Minister this morning to his car, but according to Charles, the car has disappeared. The three government officials leave Ganesh and enter the Cabinet Rooms. Once inside, they look at each other and start laughing. A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to a parliament; in the Westminster system, specifically to the lower house. ... Flatulence is a mixture of gases that are produced by symbiotic bacteria and yeasts living in the gastrointestinal tract of mammals, and aerosolized particles of feces, and it is released under pressure through the anus with a characteristic sound and odor. ... 10 Downing Street, commonly known as Number 10, is the most famous street address in London. ... The Ministry of Defence building, Whitehall, Westminster, London The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and the headquarters of the UK military. ... Gridlock is a term describing an inability to move on a transport network. ... Current MI5 headquarters in Thames House, London MI5, officially called the Security Service, is one of the British secret service agencies. ...

The evening settles on Rose's estate, and people are holding alien-welcoming parties. The Doctor leaves Rose's flat, saying that he is not good with people. Rose thinks he is going to investigate the crash, but the Doctor tells her that he is not going to interfere with humanity's first contact with extraterrestrial life. To assure her he is not going to disappear, he gives her a TARDIS key. However, once downstairs, he enters the TARDIS and starts it up. Mickey spots the Doctor from his own flat and rushes down, too late as the TARDIS dematerialises. First contact is a term used to describe a first meeting of two previously unknown cultures. ...

The Doctor lands the TARDIS in a storage cupboard in Albion Hospital, and opens the door only to run into a group of soldiers, who level their rifles at him. At that moment, they hear a scream, and the Doctor immediately takes charge, barking out orders to lock down the perimeter. The Doctor finds Dr Sato cowering in the corner of an operating room. The supposedly dead alien had come back to life. The Doctor spots the alien, which looks like a pig in a spacesuit, and the creature flees in terror, only to be shot by a soldier. He angrily berates the soldier for killing the creature, protesting that it was only frightened. Examining the body with Dr Sato, the Doctor tells her that it is a real pig, its brain augmented by alien technology. Something else alien wanted to fake an alien crash landing, but for what reason? By the time Dr Sato asks the question, the Doctor is gone, to the echo of a dematerialising TARDIS. Binomial name Sus scrofa Linnaeus, 1758 Synonyms The domestic pig is usually given the scientific name Sus scrofa, though some authors call it , reserving for the wild boar. ... In the anatomy of animals, the brain, or encephalon, is the supervisory center of the nervous system. ...

Harriet Jones, a backbench MP, approaches Green, Charles and Blaine, wanting a report to be placed on the next Cabinet agenda, but is brushed off. She enters the empty Cabinet Rooms and opens the Emergency Protocols box to place her report there, but is intrigued enough to start reading. Later, she hears General Asquith complaining to Green, Blaine and Charles about their inaction, and hides in a side room. In the Cabinet Office, the three government officials seem to find Asquith's complaints amusing, and they all start to break wind, laughing. When Asquith threatens to relieve Green of his role as Acting Prime Minister and place the country under martial law, the three unzip the tops of their heads, a bright blue light shining through. As Harriet watches terrified through a crack in the door, General Asquith screams. A backbencher is a Member of Parliament or a legislature who does not hold governmental office and is not a Front Bench spokesperson in the Opposition. ...

Meanwhile, Mickey confronts Rose about where she's been with the Doctor, and tells her that the Doctor has abandoned her. Mickey, Jackie and Rose go to where the TARDIS was formerly parked. Rose's key starts to glow, followed by the TARDIS materialising before their eyes. Rose proceeds inside with Mickey, but Jackie is too overwhelmed by what she has seen, and exits the ship to run back to her flat. The Doctor confesses that he suspected the crash — it was too perfect a set-up. Mickey notes that it is an odd way to invade a planet by putting it on red alert. Mickey (whom the Doctor insists on calling "Ricky") and the Doctor exchange barbs, but the Doctor has more important things to do. While Mickey and Rose catch up, the Doctor modifies the TARDIS scanner to track the spacecraft back twelve hours before the crash and discovers that it was launched from Earth. Whoever these aliens are, they have been here for a while. The word barb can have many meanings: A backward-facing point on a fishhook, arrowhead, or similar implement, rendering extraction from the victims flesh more difficult. ...

Jackie sees a news report calling for anyone who has seen any evidence of the existence of aliens and calls the Emergency Alien Hotline to report that she has seen one — the Doctor, in a blue box he calls the TARDIS. This combination of key words triggers a Code 9 alert, and Ganesh rushes to tell General Asquith. Inside the Cabinet Office, the alien that was Oliver Charles puts on the general's skin, while Blaine remarks that they have do something about the "gas exchange" that is causing their flatulence. Ganesh tells Asquith about that the Doctor has been spotted, and when Blaine asks who this "doctor' is, Ganesh explains that the Doctor is the expert on aliens, one they desperately need. In the meantime, other alien experts from around the world, including the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, are being summoned to Downing Street. The United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (also known as UNIT) is a fictional military organization from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ...

When the Doctor, Rose and Mickey exit the TARDIS, they are immediately surrounded by armed soldiers, vehicles and a helicopter. Mickey runs away and escapes, but the Doctor and Rose are put into a limousine and escorted to 10 Downing Street. The police escort Jackie up to her flat and a full-figured, gassy police inspector assures Jackie that Rose is in position to help her country, and asks how she made contact with the Doctor. A helicopter is an aircraft which is lifted and propelled by one or more large horizontal rotors (propellers). ... A limousine (or limo) is a long luxury car, traditionally black in color. ...

At Downing Street, Ganesh, who has gathered all of the experts together, meets the Doctor and Rose. Ganesh tells them that their ID cards must be worn at all times, and ushers them into a room. Rose, however, is not cleared and thus not allowed in. Harriet Jones, who managed to sneak out of the Cabinet Rooms unseen, comes along at this point and offers to take care of Rose. She takes Rose to the Rooms and shows her Oliver Charles's empty skin. When they search the room for alien technology, they find the body of the Prime Minister stuffed in a cupboard. Ganesh enters at this point, and is aghast when he sees the Prime Minister's body. German identity document sample An identity document is a piece of documentation designed to prove the identity of the person carrying it. ...

At the briefing headed by Asquith and Green, the Doctor reads the reports and notices that three days before, a satellite picked up a blip of radiation under the North Sea. However, before anyone could investigate, the crash happened. The Doctor realises, however, that the reason someone would fake an alien invasion is so they can gather those who have experience and knowledge in fighting off aliens together in one place. The crash is not a diversion — it's a trap. A satellite is an object that orbits another object (known as its primary). ... Radioactive decay is the set of various processes by which unstable atomic nuclei (nuclides) emit subatomic particles (radiation). ... The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ...

In the Cabinet Rooms, Blaine enters, closing the door behind her. Ganesh states that it's impossible for the Prime Minister to be dead, as he was driven away from Downing Street that morning. Blaine smugly explains that the only reason that he thinks that is because she told him that earlier, and begins to unzip her head before a horrified Ganesh, Rose and Harriet. In Jackie's flat, the police inspector does the same, and in the briefing room so does General Asquith. The enormous, greenish aliens wriggle out of their skins, the one inhabiting Blaine attacking Ganesh and the one that used to be the inspector cornering Jackie in her kitchen. In the briefing room, the unmasked Asquith identifies himself and his cohorts as the Slitheen. With that introduction, Green activates a hand-held device that sends a deadly dose of electricity jolting through the experts' ID cards, including the Doctor's... The Slitheen are a fictional family of massive, bipedal extraterrestrials from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and adversaries of the Doctor. ...

Notes

1. The episode ends on a cliffhanger, the first since episode two of Survival in 1989. The story continues in World War Three.
2. A poster announcing Rose's disappearance states that she has not been seen since March 6, 2005. However, the BBC-produced "official" UNIT website at http://www.unit.org.uk/ indicates that the climatic events of Rose happened on March 26. The site also dates the events of this episode to June 28, 2006.
3. The Doctor tells Rose he is 900 years old, which contradicts the last on-screen mention age of the Doctor, at 953 in Time and the Rani. See "The Doctor's age".
4. When the Doctor complains of being slapped by Rose's mother, Rose amusedly remarks, "You're so gay!" This remark has caused some controversy in fan circles, some seeing it as an anti-homosexual slur. Davies, who is gay, wrote in an e-mail response that it was the way people talked, and claimed that he was trying to provoke discussion by using the phrase.[1] [2]
5. When the ship crashes into the clock tower, the image as broadcast appears to have been electronically flipped after filming, since both the numbers on the clock face and the text beneath it are backwards.
6. UNIT, the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, is mentioned as being among the experts on aliens, its first appearance on television since the 1989 serial Battlefield. The Doctor mentions having worked with them in the past, but that they wouldn't recognize him now, alluding to regeneration.
7. The scene where the pig-like "alien" is breaking thought the metal door with Dr Sato watching in shock is reminsicent of an almost identical moment in the 1996 Doctor Who television movie, in which the newly-regenerated Eighth Doctor breaks through the metal door of the morgue, terrifying a hospital worker.
8. The TARDIS key began as an ordinary-looking Yale key, then changed during the Third Doctor's last season into a more alien looking one which lasted through the Eighth Doctor's tenure. It has returned to looking like an ordinary key, except that it starts to glow when the TARDIS is arriving.
9. Mickey notes that he found out on the Internet that the Doctor had worked before for UNIT, among other things. A notation at http://www.whoisdoctorwho.co.uk/ implies that Mickey is the one who has been updating Clive's website since the latter's death in Rose.
10. A boy spray paints the words "BAD WOLF" on the side of the TARDIS while it is parked on the council estate, echoing the mentions of the "big bad wolf" in previous episodes. The fake alien, an augmented pig, may also be an allusion to the "bad wolf", as in the "Three Little Pigs". The three Slitheen, who are large in their human disguises, are also suggestive of the pigs of the folk tale. See Bad Wolf references in Doctor Who.
11. The TARDIS was previously defaced with chalk scribblings in The Time Warrior (1973) and The Leisure Hive (1980), graffiti in Paradise Towers (1987) and was painted pink in The Happiness Patrol (1988).
12. The Cardiff Royal Infirmary provided the setting for the fictional London Albion Hospital. The interior scenes at "10 Downing Street" were shot at Hensol Castle in Wales. The Doctor revisits the hospital in 1941 during the episodes The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances.
13. The entrance to the Prime Minister's residence was a redress of a similar-looking door in Central London.
14. Features guest appearances by Navin Chowdhry and Andrew Marr. See also Celebrity appearances in Doctor Who.

External links

• Episode trailer
• Cast list, on the BBC website
• Mock report from BBC News 24
• Doctor Who Confidential - Episode 4: I get a side-kick out of you