The Lodger ( TV story ) The Lodger was the eleventh episode of the fifth series of BBC Wales " Doctor Who " . Based on a comic strip of the same name , it was the third instance , after " Human Nature " and " Dalek " , of a story from another medium being directly adapted for television . It was also a companion - lite story , somewhat like " Midnight " . This adventure provided the first hints of the Silence ' s presence on Earth , though they were not seen until the following season . The audience is also introduced to a new problem for the TARDIS ; it cannot land somewhere where there has been numerous time loop s until the source creating them has been " removed " . " The Lodger " introduced recurring character Craig Owens and his girlfriend Sophie . Craig especially would play an integral part in the following series . The actor portraying his character , James Corden , was also a close friend of Matt Smith . They engaged in several humorous shenanigans on set , as seen in " Doctor Who Confidential " and in the extras for the series 5 releases . The episode also gave Matt Smith the opportunity to play football , which would have become his profession before he went into acting . Synopsis . A mysterious force blocks the TARDIS — with Amy inside it — from landing , keeping it stuck in a materialisation loop . It ' s up to the Doctor to work out what that force is , lest Amy be lost forever along with his home / motor . As he investigates , the Doctor learns of a house on Aickman Road , with a staircase which people walk up but never come back down . To solve this mystery , the Doctor must pass himself off as a normal human and share a flat with Craig Owens . Plot . The TARDIS materialises in a park in Colchester . The Doctor pops his head out and realises they have not arrived at the Fifth Moon of Sinda Callista , apologising to Amy for the mistake . Before he can pull his head back in to set the proper course , a jolt pushes the Doctor outside as the door closes and the TARDIS dematerialises , with a screaming Amy still inside . The Doctor is left on his back , looking completely shocked ; he begins worrying for both Amy and the TARDIS ' s safety . Later , a young man enters a house to help an elderly gentleman calling to him for assistance , so he goes up to the top floor flat . In the flat below , Craig Owens and his friend , Sophie , discuss their usual plans for the evening - " pizza , booze , telly . " She points out that a rot stain on the ceiling is growing before receiving a call from her friend Melina , who is upset over a recent break - up . Sophie would rather not bother going , asking Craig if he minds her skipping out on their plans ; he has no qualms with it . She packs up her things , ready to go comfort her friend . However , Sophie subtly tries to have Craig ask her to stay , but Craig points out that they ' re only having pizza . Unknown to Craig , Sophie glances back , sad ; she proceeds to leave . Once she has gone , Craig berates himself for being a coward ; he ' s in love with Sophie , but hasn ' t worked up the courage to tell her . Craig gets himself hyped up , determined to tell Sophie his feelings for her the next time they meet . Hearing the doorbell ring , Craig notices that Sophie forgot her keys to his flat ( as usual ) . Picking them up , he rushes to the door , opening it and saying " I love you . " However , he then realises it ' s not Sophie at the door , it ' s the Doctor — " Oh , that ' s good to know , cause I ' m your new lodger " . The Doctor takes Sophie ' s keys , thinking they are for him , but Craig takes them back and explains that he is not sure if he wants the Doctor here . Believing the problem may be about rent , the Doctor hands him a paper bag with some rent money in it — three thousand pounds ; he tells Craig he cannot tell if the amount is too much . The Doctor introduces himself , greeting Craig with cheek kiss ing , thinking it ' s how humans greet each other these days . Stepping into the entrance hallway , the Doctor wonders who lives in the upstairs flat ; Craig explains that he doesn ' t really know , but the tenant tends to keep to himself and stay quiet . At that point , a loud bang comes from the upstairs ; " Most of the time , " Craig quips . Proceeding into Craig ' s flat , the Doctor notices the rot stain on the ceiling and warns Craig to keep away from it , accidentally calling himself " the Rotmeister " because he ' s an expert in rot . Saying that he ' ll take the room , the Doctor is informed by Craig that he hasn ' t even seen it yet . Taken to the empty bedroom , the Doctor is told by Craig that he shared it with the owner , a good buddy of his , until a few months ago , when an uncle he never heard of left a ton of money in his will to him . The Doctor finds this oddly convenient , thinking to himself that he may have had a hand in it - time travel , both helpful and inconvenient depending on what the situation is . Using the psychic paper , the Doctor presents credentials and references to prove to Craig that his title is legit . To Craig ' s surprise , the Doctor has a reference from the Archbishop of Canterbury ; the Doctor explains that he ' s his patient ' s " special favourite " . To ease Craig ' s uncertainty , the Doctor prepares omelette s for the two of them , using a strange array of ingredients . He notices a picture of Sophie and Craig taped to the refrigerator and wonders who she is . Craig explains that they work together at a call centre . He quickly segues into a narrative about his job and how he could make their work more efficient , though his bosses won ' t listen to him because he is merely a phone drone . He absently wonders why he ' s telling the Doctor all about his life when they ' ve only just met . The Doctor half - jokes that he has a face people never stop blurting their plans out to . When Craig wonders where the Doctor ' s luggage is , the Doctor assures him that it will materialise if all goes according to plan , confusing Craig even further . Meanwhile , the TARDIS has attempted another landing at the park but fails . Inside the console room , Amy screams and grips the console as the equipment backfires and sends up sparks ; she yells at the time machine , demanding to know why it won ' t land . The TARDIS vanishes again , stuck in a materialization loop . After enjoying the omelettes , Craig wonders where the Doctor learned how to cook . The Doctor says Paris , in the 18th century , then corrects himself until he says the recent 20th century . Craig wonders if the Doctor is told he ' s weird and the Doctor responds by telling him people never stop . Craig explains he doesn ' t like travelling , prompting the Doctor explain it ' s obvious by the state of Craig ' s sofa ; he ' s starting to look like it . Amused , Craig decides that even through the Doctor is weird , he can cook , which is all he needs to know ; he gives the Doctor a set of keys . Craig then explains that if either of them needs time alone with a girlfriend or - after giving the doctor a look over - a boyfriend , they would respect each other ' s privacy and stay out of the flat for the night . The Doctor , not knowing what exactly Craig means agrees to shout " I was not expecting this ! " That night , the Doctor contacts Amy through an earpiece ; he asks her what she knows about what normal human men do , finding her answers - drinking and playing football - easy to do , but boring . Amy holds the phone to the TARDIS engine , letting the Doctor know it ' s stuck in a materialization loop to try landing ; he then gravely explains whatever is preventing it from landing is big — scary big . To stay incognito , he must avoid using alien tech like the sonic screwdriver , or risk alerting whoever lives on the second floor . He can only use the earpiece because anyone else hearing their conversation will think he ' s saying complete gibberish , due to a built - in scrambler . Meanwhile , a young woman is lured into the flat by a man who calls for her help . Craig overhears the Doctor through the wall , and just as the Doctor had told Amy , all that can be heard are silly sentences formed of random words . Craig speaks to Sophie over the phone , she warns him to be careful of the Doctor , suspecting that he might be a drug dealer because he happened to have three grand in a paper bag . Suddenly , the young woman in the upstairs flat screams , and everyone apart from the Doctor and Amy — time travel lers — become stuck in a time loop , where their actions are repeated over and over again . The TARDIS shakes more violently and the Doctor orders Amy to use the zigzag plotter on the console to stabilise it . After getting off the phone with her , he goes out and collects parts for a scanner , returning late at night with a cart full of junk . The next day , the Doctor showers ( singing opera ) while Craig impatiently waits in the hallway for his turn ; he knocks on the door , asking the Doctor how much longer he will take . The Doctor yells back " Sorry , I enjoy a good soak . " Hearing a loud bang from the floor above , Craig goes upstairs to check on the lodger ; an old man answers the door , telling Craig that he needs no help , sending him back downstairs . The Doctor realises Craig went to investigate the loud bang , and hurries to save him ; falling out of the shower , the Doctor scrambles to grab his sonic screwdriver . With his towel wrapped around him , the Doctor rushes to the hall , pointing the device ; however , he discovers that he grabbed Craig ' s electric toothbrush instead of the sonic screwdriver . Putting the silly moment behind them , the Doctor wonders about the upstairs lodger ; Craig explains that nothing was wrong . Craig proceeds back into their flat , while the Doctor heads up the stairs to check for any abnormalities . However , Sophie arrives to see Craig , meeting the Doctor ; he greets her , letting Sophie into Craig ' s flat . Sophie talks with Craig , telling him that he didn ' t mention that the Doctor was attractive . The Doctor picks up on Craig and Sophie ' s feelings for each other and wonders how there got to be so many human s if they ' re always like this — unable to express their feelings to each other . A phone call distracts Craig , while Sophie is left embarrassed . Before the Doctor can return to his bedroom to get dressed , Craig invites him to fill an open spot on his pub league football team , the King ' s Arms , which the Doctor agrees to after , initially mistaking a pub league for a drinking competition . While the Doctor dresses in a spare football outfit he tells Amy over the earpiece that if he stayed in the flat all the time , the " man " upstairs would get suspicious of him . Amy congratulates him on playing football , something normal . However , the Doctor is confused as to what it actually is , asking , " Is it the one with the sticks ? " Walking to the match , the Doctor is questioned again by Craig what his name is , but no avail . Sophie is okay with not knowing the Doctor ' s name , unlike Craig . The Doctor meets Craig ' s fellow football teammate , Sean , who asks him where he ' s strongest ; the Doctor responds " arms " . Craig then explains that Sean means where on the football field is the Doctor best at playing . Not knowing , the Doctor decides to find out by trying . As the match starts , the Doctor makes several kicks straight into the goal , showing incredible skill and talent ( growing to love the game ) , and earning cheers from the bystanders , who chant his name . By the end of the game , the Doctor has earned the admiration of the entire team , much to Craig ' s frustration . While the team celebrates its win , Sean says that with the Doctor , they ' ll annihilate the other teams . The Doctor mistakes this for actual kill ing and begins to give a speech , but then realises his mistake and offers his assistance in football whenever they need it . Just then , everyone apart from the Doctor becomes stuck in another time loop ( Craig gets stuck repeatedly having a soda explode in his face ) as an older woman is lured into the second story flat . The TARDIS simultaneously begins to shake violently , but the zigzag plotter does not work this time . The Doctor informs Amy that unless he discovers what is causing the time loops , she and the TARDIS could be thrown off into the time vortex without any hope for return . Later at the flat , Craig knocks on the Doctor ' s room , surprised to see him open it holding a traffic cone . Craig tells the Doctor that Sophie is coming over and asks the Doctor to keep out of the way for the evening ( he is planning to profess his love for Sophie ) . The Doctor insists that Craig will hardly know he ' s there , but is quickly distracted by a bang from upstairs — " That ' s the idea " . The Doctor slams the door in Craig ' s face before he can respond , returning to the scanner that he is constructing . Craig overhears the Doctor ' s exclamations , thinking he is even odder than he thought , but quickly dismisses the idea , deciding to return to his plans . As Craig and Sophie enjoy some wine by candle - light , she notices that the rot on the ceiling has gotten much larger since the previous day . Craig ignores her concern about the rot , beginning a prepared speech about his feelings for her . However , right as it seems Sophie has caught on and they are about to kiss , they surprised by the Doctor , who has appeared behind the sofa . He asks them where the " on switch " is on a regular screwdriver . Craig tries sending the Doctor away by asking if he had something to do elsewhere ; however , the Doctor says he has nothing planned . Sophie then invites the Doctor join them for some wine ; Craig sarcastically agrees . The Doctor and Sophie cannot pick up on Craig ' s frustration . While the Doctor continues inspecting a variety of electrical wires for the scanner , Sophie tells him of her dreams to go to Africa and work with animals . The Doctor uses reverse psychology to make Sophie admit she doesn ' t want to keep working in the call centre , thereby inspiring her to look at care programs to send her abroad . As Craig walks Sophie out , they talk about her dream and what could be keeping her here . Both unable to express their love , Sophie leaves . Unbeknownst to them , the " person " upstairs has overheard them and light crackles from behind the door . Elsewhere , the Doctor has returned to his room and finishes the scanner , but the readings for the second story appear normal , a fact which disturbs him . Over the earpiece , Amy complains that something being too normal is odd to " him " . Taking the snide remark in stride , the Doctor orders Amy to look up the building schematics while he recruits a spy . As Craig cleans up , he decides to investigate the rot ; he momentarily hesitates to touch it . However , remembering the Doctor ' s oddness has caused him nothing but headaches , Craig decides to ignore the warning and touches the rot . He instantly pulls his hand back in pain , but thinks nothing of it . The next morning , the Doctor has prepared breakfast for Craig ( likely as a way to apologise for the previous evening ) , but finds him in a near - death state in his bedroom . The Doctor examines Craig ' s hand to find that he ' s been poisoned by the rot ; frustrated by Craig ' s stupidity , the Doctor says he gave fair warning not to touch the obviously poisonous rot . He hits Craig ' s chest to make him breathe , mixes a remedy to reverse the enzyme decay , and encourages him to get some rest . Craig protests , as he has a business meeting to attend , but soon falls asleep . Waking mid - afternoon , Craig is horrified that he ' s late and rushes off to work . There , he finds the Doctor has rudely terminated one of Craig ' s clients , with the approval of his boss . Craig asks why the Doctor is there , to which his boss explains that the Doctor went to the planning meeting as Craig ' s representative ; thanks to him , they are now more efficient . Sophie brings the Doctor some tea and tells Craig that she is going to start working with animals as a volunteer , but Craig — blinded by anger — insists he is fine , disappointing her . Craig is told to return home by the Doctor as he looks pale ; Craig storms off in response . Humorously , the Doctor answers a call , asking the caller to hold for a moment so he can eat a biscuit . Upon returning home , Craig has had enough of the Doctor ' s mysteries and takes a spare key to the Doctor ' s room , unlocking it and discovering the scanner the Doctor has constructed . The Doctor returns home at the end of the day and happens upon a cat that he sent upstairs ; he learns from the cat that there are many people up there who have never come back down . Craig , who is playing darts , overhears the Doctor and looks out the peephole to see the Doctor speaking to the cat . This being the final straw with all his oddness , Craig opens the door and asks the Doctor to leave , babbling about how the Doctor ' s popularity has overshadowed him and driven Sophie away , even showing he knows about the odd device ; the Doctor tries passing it off as art . The Doctor tells Craig that he cannot see himself living anywhere else except this flat , just like him , calling a better town a dump to reinforce his statement . However , Craig remains insistent that the Doctor leave . Seeing that diplomacy cannot work , the Doctor grabs Craig by the collar , saying he is going to regret what he ' s about to do - " First , general background " . He headbutts Craig , who sees memories of the Doctor ' s past ; both are in pain from the headbutt and telepathic contact . Craig is shocked to learn that the Doctor is a time - travelling alien , to which the Doctor calls himself the " eleventh " . He then adds specifics with another headbutt , informing Craig about the TARDIS , unable to land . Craig then babbles about the Doctor using the non - technological technology of Lammasteen to build his scanner to keep it hidden . Writhing in pain , the Doctor grabs Craig ' s mouth , yelling for him to shut up . Once his headache passes , he shows Craig a note that was left to him by Amy , though he admits that " his " Amy hasn ' t written it . . . yet . Sophie comes to the flat to speak to Craig , but is drawn upstairs by a little girl asking for help . The Doctor calls Amy at the same time , asking if she found the schematics to the flat ; Craig can understand the Doctor ' s conversation now that he has some of the Doctor ' s knowledge . The Doctor goes on the explain the time loop is caused by people getting burned up in the upstairs flat , which is causing the rot in Craig ' s ceiling . However , a new time loop then starts ; Craig momentarily is stuck repeating his shock about the Doctor ' s comment , but snaps out of the time loop thanks to his knowledge about it . They rush out of the flat , finding Sophie ' s keys in the lock to the flat and realising she was lured upstairs . About to enter , they are contacted by Amy , who explains the building schematics don ' t have an upstairs . Opening the door , Craig and the Doctor discover that the flat is actually a spaceship . Sophie comes out of the shadows , screaming as an invisible force pulls her towards the control console . The Doctor manages to deactivate it . A hologram materialises inside the room , explaining that it is functioning as an auto - pilot . Posing as a rescue worker , the Doctor learns the spaceship crashed and the crew is dead , so the hologram is now testing humans in search of a suitable replacement . The Doctor calls it a " stupid " auto - pilot because it is unable to learn from its mistakes . Realising that the Doctor is an alien , the hologram begins pulling him to the console , thinking he is the correct pilot . Amy suggests that perhaps the Doctor could fly the ship safely , but the Doctor explains that he is too much for the ship and if he were to touch the console , it would not only blow up the ship , but the entire solar system . The Doctor remembers Craig ' s previous encounter with the " lodger " , and deduce s that Craig was told he wasn ' t needed because Craig possesses no desire to leave , Sophie , on the other hand , was pinpointed by the hologram as suitable as soon as she expressed some desire to travel to Africa . The Doctor encourages Craig to touch the console and focus on the reason he doesn ' t want to leave — Sophie . Craig confesses his love to Sophie and begs her to stay . She calls him an idiot and tells him that she loves him , too , before slamming her hand on top of his . This shuts the ship down , but also causes it to implode . The trio narrowly escapes into the street , where they see the spaceship appear in place of the false second floor before vanishing into oblivion . Craig is confused as to why the passers - by did not notice the top of the flat vanish . The Doctor explains a perception filter tricked their memories . Later , Craig and Sophie snog happily , deciding that they could do anything together with their lives . They proceed to continue snogging as the Doctor sneaks in to return his spare keys to the flat . However , when the Doctor turns to leave , he stopped by Craig . The Doctor promises the couple that he will come back , but Craig dismisses this , knowing it ' s not true because he ' s seen the Doctor ' s thoughts . Nevertheless , Craig still gives the Doctor a set of keys to the flat as a gift . Glad to have met a human friend who understands him , the Doctor accepts the keys . Reunited with Amy back in the TARDIS , the Doctor orders her to write the note to his past self , which will eventually direct him to the flat . While searching the Doctor ' s jacket pocket for a pen , she discovers the jewellery box containing her engagement ring . Stunned , she opens the case and examines it . Meanwhile , a crack develops in the apartment wall behind Craig ' s garbage can . The crack widens with brilliant light spilling out . In the TARDIS , Amy stares ahead with a very confused and scared look on her face . Story notes . Ratings . Official viewing figures was 5 . 98 million viewers . Home video releases . BBC Video - " Doctor Who Series Five - Volume Four " features " Vincent and the Doctor " , " The Lodger " , " The Pandorica Opens " and " The Big Bang " . It was released on Monday 6th September 2010 ( UK Only ) on DVD and Blu - ray . " The Lodger " was also included as part of the Complete Series Five Bluray set , released November 8th 2010 . This set was itself included in the Series 1 - 7 box set released in 2013 , and as part of " The Complete Matt Smith Years " in November 2014 . Online Streaming . In the US , this episode along with the rest of modern " Doctor Who " can be streamed on Amazon Prime . In the UK , the episode is on Netflix .