Doctor Who Logo 'The Stolen Earth'
(Story Code 4.12)

by Russell T. Davies
The Doctor and the 'Children of Time'

“He is coming: the Threefold Man. He dances in the lonely places. Oh, creator of us all – the Doctor is coming!” – Dalek Caan

After Donna’s encounter with Rose Tyler, she and the Doctor race for Earth in the TARDIS, only to find that everything is normal. But after the two travellers have re-entered the ship, the ground begins to shake alarmingly – and the sky changes… Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor and Donna are sent crashing about the console room; opening the doors, they are confronted by a vista of space, with rocky debris floating past. The Doctor tells Donna that they haven’t moved – the Earth has gone… Far across the universe: In New York, Doctor Martha Jones and her U.N.I.T. compatriots pull themselves up off the floor after the earthquake and take stock of their situation; in Cardiff, inside the Torchwood Hub, Captain Jack Harness, Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones investigate the cause of the tremors; in Ealing, London, Sarah Jane Smith, her adopted son Luke, and their computer, Mr Smith, attempt to determine the cause of the cross-dimensional spatial transference; while in Chiswick, London, Wilfred and Sylvia Noble look up at the night sky – where dozens of planets can now be seen spinning above the Earth. Elsewhere, Rose Tyler materialises in the street, carrying a huge gun. Looking up at the sky, she anticipates big trouble… Realising that the situation is more than he can handle alone, the Doctor decides to go to the universe’s authorities for help, and sets course for the Shadow Proclamation. At the Torchwood Hub, Jack and his friends detect an artificial atmospheric shell around all twenty-seven planets, with a huge space station in the centre. When U.N.I.T. control track two hundred objects heading for Earth, Martha tries calling the Doctor on her boosted mobile, but finds that something is blocking the signal. Rose makes her way through the streets of London, which are filled with panic-stricken people. After dealing with two looters in an electrical shop, Rose sees a newsflash reporting that a fleet of spaceships is approaching the planet. With no word from the Doctor, Martha calls Jack; he surprises her by commenting that he knows she has been promoted to Medical Director on the top-secret Project Indigo. At that moment, a communication from the approaching ships transmits across the airwaves – just one word: “Exterminate!” Both Jack and Sarah are filled with horror, and immediately break down in tears – they know that there is nothing they can do to stop them and their loved ones from dying… Rose looks up into the sky above London, as a massive Dalek Saucer appears and opens fire on the city. Aboard the space station, the Daleks receive their orders to commence the human harvest… With Dalek saucers attacking New York, U.N.I.T.’s General Sanchez declares an ‘Ultimate Code Red’: Earth is at war. Aboard the space station, the Dalek Supreme announces that the Crucible will soon be complete – the Daleks are now the masters of Earth! The TARDIS arrives at the Shadow Proclamation, a series of huge towers linked across a chain of asteroids hanging in space. Stepping from the TARDIS, the Doctor and Donna are met by an albino woman called the Shadow Architect, flanked by a squad of Judoon troopers. The Shadow Architect tells the Doctor that the whole universe is in outrage at the theft of twenty-four planets, which include Callufrax Minor, Jahoo, Shallacatop, Flane, Woman Wept and Clom. Donna asks if Pyrovillia has also been taken, but the Judoon commander replies that it is a cold case, having disappeared two thousand years ago. Deducing that certain planets have been taken out of time, the Doctor adds the Adiposian breeding planet to the list, as well as the lost moon of Poosh. Using the Shadow Proclamation’s computers the Time Lord creates a hologram of all twenty-seven worlds, watching as the three-dimensional image realigns itself into perfect orbital balance. Realising the planets are just like the pieces of an engine, a powerhouse, the Doctor is reminded of when someone tried to move the Earth once before… Back on Earth, the U.N.I.T. helicarrier Valiant is destroyed in battle against the Daleks. With military bases in North Africa and Japan destroyed, Martha and Jack realise that U.N.I.T.’s New York headquarters is the next target. Invoking Project Indigo, General Sanchez orders Martha to accompany him to the vault to don an experimental teleport device created from salvaged Sontaran technology. Hearing these events through Martha’s phone, Jack pleads with her not to use the dangerous device, but Martha knows she has no choice but to carry out her orders. General Sanchez hands Martha a small square of plastic, the Osterhagen key, and instructs her that if she cannot find the Doctor, she must use the device for the sake of the human race. Martha activates the teleport and vanishes, just as Daleks burst in and exterminate the general. Back at Torchwood, a distraught Jack tells Gwen and Ianto that Martha has been scattered into atoms – their friend is dead… As the Supreme Dalek gives the order to activate the Crucible, a wheelchair-bound figure in the shadows raises its cybernetic hand and asks if the Doctor has been sighted. Behind him, its outer casing shattered open, sits Dalek Caan, babbling insanely to itself of the imminent arrival of ‘The Threefold Man’… At the Shadow Proclamation, an albino servant girl observes that there was something on Donna’s back; telling Donna that she is “something new”, the girl is full of sorrow for her loss yet to come… While the Doctor ponders on odd things that have recently happened on Earth Donna reminds him that all the bees disappeared; the Doctor is overjoyed – some of the bees are aliens, and, having sensed danger, they will have returned to their homeworld of Malissa Majoria. Tracking the trail of the Tandoka Scale, the series of wavelengths used by migrant bees, the Doctor discovers that the transmat that moved the planets used the same wavelength – which means that he can use the TARDIS to follow the path and locate the stolen planets. With war now declared, the Shadow Architect attempts to seize the TARDIS for use in the forthcoming battle, but the Doctor and Donna manage to make a swift exit in the space-time ship. Meanwhile, on Earth, the Daleks begin herding the human population out of their homes, killing all resistance they encounter. On the run and armed with only a paintball gun, Wilf and Shirley soon find themselves face-to-face with a Dalek; they are saved by Rose, who asks for their help in contacting Donna so that she can find the Doctor. The TARDIS arrives in the Medusa Cascade, a huge gas cloud in the centre of a rift in time and space; however, there is no sign of the missing planets, and to Donna’s dismay, the Doctor is at a loss for what to do next… As the Daleks continue to ravage the Earth the Torchwood team resign themselves to their impending fate; in their loft, Sarah and Luke brace themselves for the end. However, at that moment both teams receive an incoming message over the subwave network – former Prime Minister Harriet Smith is attempting to contact them from her home, using sentient software developed by the Mr Copper Foundation to seek out anyone connected to the Doctor. Linking Torchwood’s computers and Mr Smith to her system, Harriet displays Jack and Sarah on her video screen – along with Martha, whose unstable teleport brought her to her mother’s house. Rose also picks up Harriet’s signal in the Nobel’s home in Chiswick, but without a webcam she can only watch and listen in via their laptop. Having dubbed them ‘The Doctor’s Secret Army’, Harriet reassures Jack, Sarah and Martha that the Daleks cannot detect the subwave network. Harriet announces that she has reformed, and now knows that only the Doctor can save the world. Between them, Jack and Luke suggest a plan to boost the subwave network through the Hub’s Rift Manipulator; then, by using Mr Smith to link all the world’s phone networks together, they can make billions of phones call the Doctor’s number. Their idea is put into motion, and soon arcs of electricity shoot up from the water tower and make their way through space… The signal finally reaches the phone inside the TARDIS, but the Doctor is unable to hear anyone on the line, and so he sets the TARDIS to follow the signal to its point of origin. Aboard the Crucible, the Daleks detects the boosted subwave signal and despatch a saucer to investigate; from his wheelchair, the shadowy figure observes that ‘The Children of Time’ are moving against them… As the Torchwood Hub controls explode and Mr Smith’s systems catch fire, Rose, Wilf and Sylvia all dial the Doctor’s number on their phones. With the TARDIS control room engulfed in flames, the Doctor continues to allow the signal to pull his ship to its source. Harriet transfers control of the subwave network to Torchwood, just as three Daleks force themselves into her home and gun her down. Buffeted by waves of power, the TARDIS finally materialises amongst the stolen planets; the Doctor explains to Donna that the entire Medusa Cascade was one second out of phase with the rest of the universe. Receiving the subwave signal, the Time Lord is delighted to see Jack, Sarah, Martha and the others appear on his console screen; elsewhere, Rose has to make do to with just watching as the man she loves enjoys a happy reunion with his friends. Aboard the Crucible, the Daleks intercept the subwave signal; while the insane Caan is ecstatic that ‘The Dark Lord’ has arrived, the wheelchair-bound man glides forward into the light and hijacks the signal; as he addresses his old enemy, the Doctor, his identity is finally revealed: Davros, creator of the Daleks, has returned! Aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor is shocked, having seen Davros die during the first year of the Time War at the Gates of Elysium as his command ship flew into the jaws of the Nightmare Child. Davros reveals that Dalek Caan saved him, when his temporal shift transported him through the time lock into the middle of the Time War. Peeling back his tunic to reveal the ravaged flesh beneath, the evil scientist shows how he has created a new race of Daleks from his own flesh. When the Doctor cuts the transmission and sends the TARDIS hurtling to Earth, the Daleks trace the subwave signal to Torchwood and then despatch a saucer to Cardiff. Once Mr Smith determines the TARDIS’ arrival point, Jack asks Martha for the base code on her Project Indigo teleporter; easily extrapolating the two numbers that U.N.I.T. could not decode, Jack inputs them into his wrist device, reactivating its teleport function; grabbing his Defabricator gun from its display case, Jack bids goodbye to Gwen and Ianto and then teleports away – just as the Dalek saucer lands on the plaza above the Hub… Leaving Luke at home with Mr Smith, Sarah drives off to find the Doctor; meanwhile, Rose contacts her Control team and gives them Mr Smith’s coordinates, instructing them to teleport her to the TARDIS’ landing site. The Doctor and Donna emerge from the TARDIS to find the streets deserted – except for Rose Tyler, who stands waiting nearby with a huge smile on her face; overjoyed, the Doctor immediately runs towards her – but just as the two friends are about to be reunited, a Dalek suddenly appears and blasts the Doctor a glancing shot with its deadly beam. Jack materialises and, taking stock of the situation, promptly destroys the Dalek and then instructs Donna and Rose to help him carry the injured Time Lord back to the TARDIS. Meanwhile, at the Hub, Gwen and Ianto grab machine guns to go out fighting as a Dalek arrives at the main door. In London, Sarah brakes to a halt as two Daleks prepare to open fire on her car. Inside the TARDIS, Jack, Rose and a confused Donna look on as the dying Doctor starts to regenerate…

David Tennant (The Doctor), Catherine Tate (Donna Noble), Billie Piper (Rose Tyler), Freema Agyeman (Doctor Martha Jones), John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Penelope Wilson (Harriet Jones), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Thomas 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 (Newsreader), Paul Kasey (Judoon), Kelly Hunter (Shadow Architect), Amy Beth Hayes (Albino Servant), Gary Milner (Drunk Man), Barney Edwards, Nick Pegg, David Harkinson, Anthony Spargo (Dalek Operators), Nicholas Briggs (Dalek Voice), Alexander Armstrong (Voice of Mr Smith)

Directed by Graeme Harper
Produced by Phil Collinson
Executive Producers Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner
A BBC Wales production


TX:
28th June 2008 @ 7.00 pm

Notes:
*Featuring the Tenth Doctor, Donna, Martha, Rose, Captain Jack, Gwen, Ianto, Sarah, Luke and Mr Smith

*Part two of a three part story

*As well as David Tennant and Catherine Tate, the opening titles credited Freema Agyeman, John Barrowman, Elisabeth Sladen and Billie Piper

*Penelope Wilson, Adjoa Andoh, Eve Myles and Gareth David-Lloyd were credited over the following scene, prior to Phil Collinson as Producer

*Immediately after the cliffhanger scene, the words ‘TO BE CONTINUED’ were superimposed over a black screen; no teaser clips of the next episode were featured…

*The number of the mobile phone Martha gave to the Doctor is 07700 900461