Nemesis of the Nimon

Nemesis of the Nimon was the first episode of Season 43 of Doctor Who. It was written by Paul Cornell and Caroline Symcox, directed by Gary Russell and featured Hugh Grant as the Doctor & Ingrid Oliver as Petronella Osgood.

## Nemesis of the Nimon

### Director

Gary Russell

Synopsis

On New Year's Eve, 2005, the Doctor lands at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore. But his unease at what he's done turns into fear. Sebastian Grayle: immortal, obsessed, ruthless, has come to the city to meet the Time Lord. To the Doctor, he's a complete stranger, but to Grayle, the Doctor is an old enemy.

An enemy that, many years ago, he finally succeeded in killing. And this is his only chance to gloat.

The Doctor and Osgood desperately search human history for the secret of Grayle's power and immortality. Their quest takes in four different time periods, the Hellfire Club, the court of Edward the Confessor, and the Time Vortex itself. And when the monsters arrive, the stakes are raised from the life of one Time Lord to the existence of all humanity.

Plot

The Doctor lands in Singapore on the eve of December 31st, 2005. A guy named Sebastian gloats to the Doctor that his master's have taken control of the world and created an alternative timeline and further explains that he is from the Doctor's future where he, Grayle, has killed him and walks off. Osgood finds him and after explaining who she is and the Doctor saying "Yes, I Know Who You Are", he invites her to the TARDIS to figure out what is going on. They hatch a plan to stop Grayle by preventing him from ever meeting his so-called "masters". They arrive at his old family home and rummage through his stuff, finding evidence to support the Doctor's theory of why Sebastian approached Alex earlier in the day.

The Doctor and Osgood arrive in 305 AD during the Roman empire on the advice that this was the first recorded instance of the surname Grayle throughout human history. They meet Decurian Graylisle (Grayle's earliest life) and after questioning him the Doctor decides to investigate this "temple" that he is so desperate to get to and they depart. The Doctor discovers it is a cult while Osgood is contacted by a mysterious voice. She finds the Doctor and informs him and they investigate it, in the process discovering that they have arrived at a point before Grayle became the man they met. A ceremony begins in the temple and Osgood and the Doctor discovers that Grayle had made a deal with the voice from the device Osgood heard earlier commanding him to gather the people in the temple as a sacrifice to them in order for them to grant him immortality. The Doctor tells the men to leave while he attempts to investigate the strange lights in the sky.

The Doctor attempts to talk Graylisle out of what he's doing by bargaining with him but he refuses. Osgood manages to save him but Graylisle escapes and the Doctor and Osgood are seemingly trapped.

The Doctor and Osgood manage to get into the TARDIS and escape. The Doctor deduces that Grayle will attempt to gain immortality again but seems to only be able to do so at certain times and the Doctor surmises that the ones offering him this power must be inhibited by something due to their location, hence the long waits between times. He finds that the beam attempting to get to Grayle originated in the Ordinand system, a system surrounded by black holes and planetary disturbances making it possible to only contact Earth every 750 years. They decide they need to stop his next attempt and next visit London in 1055 and visit the court of Edward the Confessor. They find a radioactive source in the court and suspect it is Grayle. After meeting Edward (who is already acquainted with the Doctor from another time) they quietly confront Grayle at his table in the court but he is still bent on executing his plan. Just then Osgood is poisoned from a drink she was having (orchestrated by Grayle secretly), and the Doctor rushes to treat her back in the TARDIS but is followed in by Grayle. They are arrested by Edward though after being tricked by Grayle and chained up in the dungeon. However, upon revealing his plan to take over Edward's throne and use holy metal (which the Doctor identifies as plutonium) and bring his masters to Earth and gain immortality, Edward reveals that they were suspicious of him and attempt to stop him but it is too late and Grayle attempts to summon his masters. The Doctor, however, manages to stop Grayle again but Grayle sends him to his death.

The Doctor barely manages to escape and Grayle falls into the river near the castle and they watch him escape. The Doctor explains his suspicions to Osgood and says they must go forward in time again to stop him. Then he and Osgood have a heart-to-heart chat about his actions and Grayle's intents and Osgood tries to reassure him over his actions of trying to kill Grayle but the Doctor is still suspicious. They land in 19th century Buckinghamshire as the TARDIS detects Grayle's presence there. After doing some exploring, they find themselves in Wickham caves, home of the Hellfire club. They are discovered by Richard Martin who reveals that they are in the club founded by sir Sebastian Grayle. He takes them to meet Sebastian. The Doctor, Charley and Grayle are reunited but in a strange gesture Grayle invites them to stay as guests and the Doctor accepts, and once alone, explains to Osgood that Grayle must be in a good mood because he feels invulnerable as his goal is probably close to fruition, which is the perfect time to start asking him questions, perhaps maybe being able to find out who his masters are.

At dinner, the Doctor accidentally insults Grayle's latest fiancee, Lucy, and Grayle challenges him to a duel, which he accepts. The Doctor and Grayle begin their duel and Grayle manages to injure him but the Doctor reveals his sword is a special one that is able to suck out alien energy, the one keeping Grayle young and immortal. Disgraced in loss, Grayle kidnaps Lucy and makes a getaway, planning to use her as a sacrifice for his masters as part of the final part of his plan because they need organic matter to feed on as passing through the black hole starves them. The Doctor, Osgood and Richard give chase and find Grayle but it is too late as the gate has opened. A giant metal egg appears and the Doctor recognises them as Grayle frees them, and Grayle's masters are revealed to be the Nimon, come to feast on the Earth.

The Nimon's require the psyionic oscillator, a gold coin that Grayle cannot find, when Lucy reveals that she and her father are thieves and the marriage was a ruse to knab Grayle's fortune and with any luck, Lucy's father, who was merely posing as Richard Martin, has made his getaway with the fortune. Grayle runs back to the house and encounters Lucy's father who begs for her safe release, while the Doctor investigates the weak Nimon's plan. Discovering what to do, and being joined by Lucy's father who was thrown back into the lair by Grayle, they escape to the TARDIS to enact the Doctor's plan while Grayle finds the oscillator and frees the Nimon. The Doctor gives Lucy instructions while inside the TARDIS but Grayle manages to get inside, and the Doctor seemingly sacrifices himself by flinging himself and the Nimon accompanying Grayle into the time vortex. Grayle continues his plan but Lucy delivers the Doctor's message to Osgood: "Fast return switch, three times fast". Knowing what to do, Osgood instructs Lucy to distract Grayle while she enacts a plan.

The Doctor carries out his plan and ends up in the third century in Rome again. He first talks to the cult that opposes the demon bull Mithras that he and Osgood met earlier and tells them that the very demon bulls they had sworn to destroy will be arriving shortly and to prepare for battle and finds Graylisle again. He discovers that all Graylisle really wanted was money to have an inheritance so that he could marry his beloved Julia and the Doctor gives him an inheritance. Just then the TARDIS arrives and Grayle steps out and confronts the Doctor but sees himself and the Doctor explains to Graylisle that this is who he becomes. The Nimon arrive but are immediately killed by the warriors with the Doctor having provided them with special weapons. Grayle attempts to kill the Doctor but Graylisle kills himself (Grayle), disgusted with his future self and fearing what it is he had become. The Doctor gives Graylisle quick instructions on how to finish off the machine to stop the Nimon from landing while he explains to Osgood that the timeline will then be corrected and they will drop off Lucy soon enough.

The Doctor and Osgood return to Singapore on New Year's Eve 2005 but the Doctor still has a strange feeling that something isn't right.

While there, the Doctor explains everything that happened to Rassilon

Lucy returns home to find her father despite him supposedly dying and suddenly sees a spectral image of what appears to be Osgood, but it reveals itself to be something else and feeds on her and her father before declaring its intent to find the Doctor....

Cast

The Doctor - Hugh Grant

Osgood - Ingrid Oliver

Sebastian Grayle - Stephen Perring

Lucillius / Richard Martin - Stephen Fewell

Edward the Confessor - Lennox Greaves

Edith - Sue Wallace

Marcus / Nimon Voice - Robert Curbishley

Lucy Martin - Justine Mitchell

Rassilon - Don Warrington

Waiter / Prisoner - Gareth Jenkins

Crew

Created by Sydney Newman, Donald Wilson and C.E. Webber

Executive Producers - Ira Steven Behr and Julie Gardner

Co-Executive Producers - Ronald D. Moore, D.C. Fontana, Robert Shearman, and Steven Moffat

Producer - Tony Redston

Script Editor - Paul Cornell

Consulting Producers - Nicholas Meyer and Russell T Davies

Writer - Paul Cornell and Caroline Symcox

Director - James Hawes

Director of Photography - Ernie Vincze

Production Designer - Chris Wilkinson

Visual Effects - The Mill

Make-Up - Davy Jones

Casting Director - Andy Pryor

Music - Murray Gold

Costume Designer - Emma Rosenthal

Edited by - Mike Jones

Original Theme Music - Ron Grainer

Title Sequence - BBC Wales VFX

Music conducted & orchestrated by Ben Foster

Memorable Quotes

To be added.

Background Information

To be added.

Development

To be added.

Pre-Production

To be added.

Production

To be added.

Post-Production

To be added.

Reaction

This episode received a 7-Day Viewing Figure from BARB of 7.24m viewers. It ranked at 16th over the week.

Story Notes

Continuity

Home Video Releases

To be added.