Voyage of the Damned ( TV story ) Voyage of the Damned was the third Christmas episode of BBC Wales " Doctor Who " . Kylie Minogue starred as one - off companion Astrid Peth . Peth ' s death at the conclusion of the episode was the first time a companion of the Doctor had died in the revived series . It marked the first appearance of Wilfred Mott , future companion to the Tenth Doctor and grandfather to Donna Noble . For a few months , " Voyage of the Damned " was the highest - charting episode in " Doctor Who " history . The second - most - watched programme of its week and indeed of the entire of 2007 , " Damned " took the crown from part two of " The Ark in Space " . However , it would be displaced about seven months later by " Journey ' s End " , which was the first episode of " Doctor Who " ever to win its week of original transmission . In the future story , " Turn Left , " in a world without the Doctor , Max ' s plan would have lead to not only the mass murder of London , but eventually concentration camps to remove non - native residents from the UK . Synopsis . A spacecraft set on an apocalyptic collision course with Earth , a host of killer robot angels and an evil severed - headed mastermind — it ' s just another Christmas for the Tenth Doctor . . . Plot . Inside the TARDIS , the Doctor checks on the controls as his time machine flies through time . Suddenly , hears a foghorn blows and to his shock something breaks through the wall of the TARDIS : the bow of a ship ! The Doctor asks " What ? " with increasing confusion as he examines a life presever , which bears the name " Titanic " on it . He flatly asks " What ? " before heading to the controls and grabbing a winding device . He winds it , pushing the ship out and repairing the damage . With the TARDIS fixed , the Doctor pilots inside the ship ; luckily , the TARDIS ended up inside the pantry . Exiting the pantry , he finds a room filled with people in fancy - dress . He then notices a little red alien walking around without arousing any panic from the rest of the passengers . The Doctor walks over to a window and goes " Oooh " The scene pulls back from the window , showing the ship is actually a spaceship replica of the infamous sunken vessel . A voice announces over the speakers that the ship has arrived at Sol 3 , which is known to its inhabitants as Earth ; the voice then welcomes everyone to Christmas . Sometime later , the Doctor reemerges into the dining area wearing a tuxedo . He meets lively waitress Astrid Peth , who informs him that the ship has come from planet Sto to observe the humans celebrating their holiday . The Doctor tells her he travels a lot , to which Astrid envies ; he reveals that he ' s a stowaway . Liking him , Astrid offers to get him a drink and not report him . Seeing a robot angel , the Doctor asks it for information ; the robot is called the Host , which gives information to tourists . The Doctor asks if the company that built the ship knows about why it ' s so famous . However , the Host starts sparking and the crewmen apologizes and remove it . It is taken below to be worked on , where complaints have been heard about a Host nearly breaking a woman ' s neck when asked to help fix her necklace . The mechanic promises to fix them , calling the Host useless junk . Elsewhere , the captain notes that Earth is a Level 5 planet ; so they don ' t have the ability to know that they ' re even there . He gives his men permission to have a drink due to the holidays , even dismissing his first mate . However , midshipman Alonzo Frame stays behind , informing the captain that at least two men are needed on deck at any given time . The captain congratulates him on being thorough . Back to the Doctor , he enjoys the company of Morvin and Foon Van Hoff , sharing a meal with them and talking about one of Foon ' s favourite shows " By the Star ' s Light " " ; " she won the trip by guessing a trivia question right on the phone . Hearing " Red 67 " called , the Van Hoffs tell the Doctor that means that they ' re going on a trip to Earth to see how the humans celebrate . The Doctor decides to join them , using his psychic paper ; he even makes Astrid his plus one to help her see another world . The ship ' s historian and guide , Mr Copper , tells the assembled people that they will be going to London in U . K . However , he then gives out - of - date and mangled information about the country and Christmas ; he thinks Santa Claus is their God and married to Virgin Mary , believes the people of the country UK kill and eat the people of Turkey ( instead of the bird ) every Christmas . The Doctor , unable to believe Copper ' s incompetence , asks where the man got his information from ; Mr . Copper explains he has a degree in Earthonomics . The red alien from earlier arrives , being one of the Red 67s ; however , the Doctor tells him it ' s a bad idea to go down to Earth as he ' s not even disguised and will cause a panic . However , Mr . Copper teleports them regardless of the Doctor trying to prevent mass hysteria , due to the crowds at Christmas time . They arrive in London , only to find the street totally deserted . The Doctor is surprised and suspicious as the streets should be filled with shoppers on Christmas Eve . Mr . Copper tells everyone that he has a card to pay for trinkets if they wish ; although he does warn them to watch out as " they start boxing any day now . " While Astrid is amazed by the sights and smells of the city , the Doctor notes that the pyramids and New Zealand would be better tourist spots on Earth . The Doctor and Astrid greet a newspaper stall owner named Wilfred . Curious about the empty street , the Doctor asks why London is vacant , to which Wilfred responds with laughter . Wilfred points up to the sky , stating everyone is worried about another alien attack at Christmas ; the Sycorax and Racnoss attacks the last two consecutive Christmases has put everyone in a state of fear . Aside from the Queen and her staff , BBC broadcaster Nicholas Witchell , and Wilfred himself , everyone has fled the city for the duration of the holiday due to the fear of another alien attack . In the middle of a conversation with the vendor , the party is returned to the ship due to a power failure . Wilf stands there , shocked at what he ' s just seen . The Doctor investigates the failure ' s cause , and discovers that meteor s are approaching , but the shields are offline . The Doctor warns Captain Hardaker , but is forced away from the computer by a steward , as he is unauthorised to use the system . The Doctor breaks free and tries to warn everyone , but is forcibly taken away from the singer ' s microphone and removed from the party followed by Astrid , the Van Hoffs , Bannakaffalatta and Mr Copper . The Doctor gasps to a guest to look out the window . One of the passengers , Rickston Slade , sees a tiny meteor smash through the window and follows the Doctor and the others attempting to warn the chief stewart , but they won ' t listen . Midshipman Frame tries to get the shields back online , but is shot by the Captain , who reveals that , already dying , he was offered a lot of money sent to his family to have the ship destroyed . Three meteors slam into the side of the starship " Titanic " , and wreck it . The Captain is killed in the resulting collision , as are the bulk of the crew and passengers . The " Titanic " s hull is holed in several places , and the TARDIS is left drifting in space , before automatically homing in for a landing on Earth . With the teleport system offline and the engines losing power , the " Titanic " heads for an extinction - level collision with the Earth . The Doctor makes contact with the injured Midshipman Frame , and leads a small group of survivors in a climb through the shattered vessel to reach him . During the journey , the Doctor questions Mr Copper ' s poor knowledge of Earth despite his supposed degree in Earthonomics and Mr Copper admits that , after spending his life as a travelling salesman with nothing to show for it , he acquired fraudulent credentials ; a crime for which he will be imprisoned for at least ten years when the facts come out during the ensuing investigation . Slade is also complicating matters by only being concerned with his own well being , and insulting the Hoffs at every opportunity . Complicating matters further are the Hosts , android servitors that had earlier started malfunctioning . Their sole function now is to kill the survivors scattered throughout the ship . The Doctor ' s party found a Host deactivated , so Morvin and Foon decide to fix it to help the party unaware that the Hosts have turned hostile . The rest of the party clear off debris to make a bigger gap for them to traverse . Foon admits that they only won the tickets because she phoned the competition five - thousand times , which equal to five - thousand Sto credits leaving them deeply in debt ( Foon noting that for the money she owes to the phone company she could have just bought the tickets ) . Morvin laughs at this , and tells her that they will find a way to pay it off . Bannakaffalatta reveals to Astrid he is actually a cyborg , something thought shameful on Sto . Astrid said that cyborgs have been given equal rights , and that he can live without shame on Sto . Midshipman Frame receives a call from the chefs of Kitchen Number 5 , and they give information about the deadlocked doors . Then , the three Hosts appear , and proceed to kill the chefs with their razor - sharp halos . Midshipman Frame hear their deaths over the telecom , and warns the Doctor that the Hosts have turned hostile . Then , the Host that Morvin and Foon were fixing reactivates . The Host proceeds to strangle Morvin , and the Doctor can ' t release it from Morvin as it ' s hands are deadlocked . The Host finally lets go , and proceeds to stalk the party . Mr Copper tries to make the gap he made bigger so they can fit the Hoffs through . The Doctor uses an information override , to learn where the Host ' s command structure originates from ( Deck 31 ) , before leaving . Mr Copper drops the gap , causing the rubble to crush the Host ' s head . The party reach the engine room , in which a there is a sheer drop with the nuclear engines below . The only way across is a narrow metal bridge . When Morvin said that he and Foon will go last over the bridge , a part of the floor gives away , which cause Morvin to fall to his death into the nuclear engines . Foon , devastated , blames the Doctor for his death as he promised her he ' d keep him alive . The Host then tries to break down the door , but stop . When the Doctor is left bewildered at why they stopped , Mr Copper said that they forgot the traditions of Christmas that angels have wings , to which the Host then fly down into the engine room , and proceed to throw their razor - sharp halos at the party , to which the party are able to block by hitting them back with pieces of metal . Bannakaffalatta then says that he is proud to be a cyborg , and saves the party by transmitting an electromagnetic pulse from his cybernetic implants . Bannakaffalatta used up all of his powers and dies in Astrid ' s arms . Then , a lone surviving Host appears . The Doctor guesses their security code number , to which the Host gives the Doctor three questions . The Doctor learns that the Host have been instructed by their leader to kill the survivors . The Host reminds the Doctor that he has used up his three questions , and prepares to kill the party with it ' s halo . Then , Foon seizes the Host with a piece of rope , and sacrifices herself by pulling herself and the Host into the nuclear engines . The Doctor then makes a grim promise that " no more " will die . The survivors take Bannakaffalatta ' s EMP unit with them as their only effective weapon against the Host . The Doctor sends the survivors , including Astrid , on ahead with the EMP unit and the sonic screwdriver . He tries to reach Deck 31 , from where the Host seem to be controlled . However , the Hosts corner him in a kitchen , narrowly avoiding death by using the security code number . While questioning the Host , he guesses that the Hosts were ordered to kill all passengers and crew , however he is a stowaway so falls into neither category so really should be taken to whomever is in charge . The Hosts confirm the Doctor is correct , and take him to their leader . This turns out to be the cruise line ' s owner , Max Capricorn , hiding in an indestructible " impact chamber " on Deck 31 . To the Doctor ' s surprise , the cyborg ' s tooth actually gleams . Capricorn is also a cyborg , in a small wheeled vehicle . Forced out by the company ' s board of directors after running the company into the ground , he is seeking revenge . The collision of the " Titanic " into a heavily populated world will not only break the company , but see the board charged with manslaughter , giving Capricorn his ultimate revenge , and allow him to retire in luxury to Penhaxico II . Outnumbered by the Hosts and faced with death , the Doctor is saved by Astrid , who has used a short - range teleport to arrive there . She rams Capricorn with a fork - lift truck . In the struggle , both are forced off a precipice , and fall into the fiery engine of the ship . Both Max and Astrid die . With the Hosts no longer under Capricorn ' s control , the Doctor grimly makes his way to the bridge with their help just as the ship plunges into Earth ' s atmosphere . Working with Frame , he uses the heat from the re - entry to try to start the ship ' s auxiliary engines , but discovers that they are headed straight for one of the few places in London currently inhabited : Buckingham Palace . Calling through with Security Code 771 , he gets the Queen out of the building , which the " Titanic " narrowly misses as the ship pulls up , now back under control . The Queen , in her dressing gown and curls , thanks the Doctor as he pilots the ship back into the sky . With the danger over , the Doctor suddenly realises that there might yet be hope for Astrid after all . A safety feature of the ship ' s teleport system is that , in case of accident , it automatically holds in stasis the molecules of the affected passenger . As she was wearing a teleport bracelet at the time of her death , her pattern might still be stored in its buffers . Despite desperate efforts , only a shadow of Astrid can be generated due to extensive damage to the teleport system , despite the Doctor ' s claims , " I can fix it , I can do anything ! " After a kiss to follow an old tradition , the Doctor watches her dissipate into motes of light that float free into space . This way , she can at least fulfil her dream of exploring the universe , forever . In the aftermath , the only survivors are the Doctor , Mr Copper , Alonso Frame and Rickston Slade , who is overjoyed at what happened , as he invested in all of Max Capricorn ' s rival companies , leaving him rich . Mr Copper notes that out of everyone , he isn ' t the one he would have chosen to survive . . . however , no - one should have the power to choose who lives or dies . The Doctor decides to save Mr Copper from prison , and uses the teleport to return to Earth . Frame salutes the Doctor as he leaves . Finding the TARDIS , the Doctor declines Copper ' s request to travel with him . When Mr Copper asks exactly what he ' s meant to do , the Doctor takes the ship ' s expenses card , prepared to put some money on it — but then realises he doesn ' t have to . Mr Copper , not understanding Earth currency , has already loaded it with £1 , 000 , 000 to cover the cost of " trinkets " . The Doctor explains to Mr Copper that a million pounds is the equivalent of 50 million credit s , and Mr Copper is overjoyed that he can afford a house and a garden . The Doctor tells Mr Copper to stay out of trouble , and have a nice life as Mr Copper dances away without any idea of where he ' s heading . . . but before he goes , he promises that he ' ll always remember Astrid . With a final look up to the stars where Astrid now floats away , the Doctor wishes Mr Copper a Merry Christmas , before leaving .