World War Three

World War Three was the fifth episode of Season 42 of Doctor Who. It was written by Russell T Davies, directed by Keith Boak and featured Hugh Grant as the Doctor & Stephen Fry as Sam Youto.

## World War Three

### Director

Keith Boak

Synopsis

With the threat of interplanetary war looming, the human race prepare for the end, little knowing their enemies lie at the heart of the British government. As the Doctor, Sam and new friend Harriet Jones battle for their lives in 10 Downing Street, the Slitheen family set their plans for the destruction of Earth into motion. With the world changing around him, the Doctor is powerless, and it seems only Bernice can save the world...

Plot

Deadly electricity courses through all of the alien experts in the room, killing them, but the Doctor, not being human, is not as affected as the rest. The Doctor grabs his own electrified identity badge and attaches it to the collar of the Slitheen that was masquerading as Asquith. Somehow, as the electricity courses through Asquith, it affects Green, Blaine and the police inspector threatening Rosie as well. The Doctor makes his escape, running down and attracting the attention of the Metropolitan Police squad below. Bernice comes into Rosie's flat and sees the police inspector alien paralysed by electricity. She knocks it aside with a chair and grabs Rosie's hand, pulling her out of there — but not before taking a photograph of the alien with her mobile phone. Harriet and Sam rush past the writhing Margaret Blaine alien, running down the corridors of 10 Downing Street with her in hot pursuit.

Green struggles and manages to remove the badge from Asquith's neck, and they hurriedly scramble into their skins just as the Doctor returns with the police squad. The Doctor tells the squad that the Acting Prime Minister is an alien, but is met with obvious disbelief. Green accuses the Doctor of having killed all the experts, and Asquith orders the police, under the authority of the Emergency Protocols, to execute the Doctor. The Doctor, apparently backed against a wall, says, "If I was you, if I was going to execute someone by backing them up against the wall, between you and me, a little word of advice — don't stand them against the lift!" and ducks into the lift before they can shoot him. He rides it up to the top floor.

Blaine continues to chase Harriet and Sam through No. 10, and the two seek refuge in one of the offices on the upper floor. In the meantime, Asquith tells the police to isolate the upper floors, and he and Green ride upstairs in the lift, removing their skins. They join Blaine, who is enjoying the hunt, and they sniff out Harriet and Sam's hiding places. They are about to strike when the Doctor comes in, spraying the Slitheen with a fire extinguisher, causing enough of a distraction for Harriet and Sam to duck around the aliens. They run towards the Cabinet Room to get the Emergency Protocols to see what procedures they have for fighting aliens.

The Slitheen are just about to follow them in, when the Doctor grabs a bottle of port from a side table, threatening to use his sonic screwdriver to "triplicate the flammability" of the alcohol. He asks them who they are and why they are invading. The Slitheen, held at bay for the moment, say that they are not invading, and the Slitheen is not the name of their species, but their family; Green formally introduces himself as Jocrassa Fel-Foth Passameer-Day Slitheen. They are here for business reasons, but before the Doctor can get them to tell what that is, the Slitheen realise that the Doctor's threat is a bluff. They prepare to end the hunt, but the Doctor observes that the Cabinet Room has a special feature — three-inch thick steel walls that can seal off the room, making it the safest place in Great Britain. He does just that, shutting the Slitheen out... but also cutting off any avenue of escape.

Satisfied that the Doctor no longer poses a threat, the Slitheen summon the rest of the family to Downing Street, and Asquith orders Price to keep the ground floor secure and await an emergency address from the Acting PM to the people of the world. Outside, Andrew Marr tries to make sense of the variety of people who are showing up: Group Captain Tennant James of the RAF; Ewan McAllister, Deputy Secretary for the Scottish Parliament; even Sylvia Dillane, Chairman of the North Sea Boating Club. All they seem to have in common is their remarkable girth and the fact that they've been invited to the upper levels of 10 Downing Street. They are all Slitheen in disguise, and when they get upstairs, they strip off their skin suits. Meanwhile, Bernice and Rosie have managed to make their way back to his flat, but the Slitheen who was Police Commissioner Strickland is still in pursuit, using his sense of smell to track Rosie.

In the Cabinet Room, the Doctor puts the Prime Minister and Indra Ganesh's bodies in the cupboard, and then checks for possible escape routes. Sam wonders how the Slitheen can fit inside smaller human skins. The Doctor explains that it is a function of the collars they wear — a compression field shrinks them down, leading to the gas exchange that causes their flatulence. The Prime Minister's skin was too small, even for them, which is why they did not use him as a disguise. The Doctor wonders why he finds Harriet Jones's name so familiar.

Harriet says she is not famous, but just a lifelong backbencher. The Emergency Protocols list all the people who could help, but they are all dead downstairs. Sam wonders if the Protocols have defence codes that they can use to launch nuclear weapons at the Slitheen. Harriet explains that due to the United Kingdom's past record, the release codes for a nuclear strike are in the hands of the United Nations, and a resolution has to be passed before the authorisations can be released. As they wonder what the Slitheen could be after, Sam's mobile phone beeps. It is Bernice, and he has sent a picture of the Slitheen in Rosie's kitchen.

He asks Bernice to go to the computer and log on to the UNIT website, using the password "buffalo" to gain access. As he does so, Rosie takes over the phone, pointedly telling the Doctor how dangerous his life is, and asking him if he can promise her that Sam will be safe. The Doctor does not answer. Once in, Bernice finds the signal that the Slitheen ship in the North Sea is pulsing out into space. The Doctor puts Bernice on the speakerphone and tries to decipher the signal. The doorbell to Rosie's flat rings and Rosie goes to answers it. It is Slitheen inspector Strickland, who unmasks and starts to break through the door. Bernice offers to fend off the alien with his bat.

Desperately, the Doctor and the others try to gather the information they know about the Slitheen so he can identify their race and hopefully their weakness. The various characteristics they have exhibited, including the fact that their gas smells like halitosis — calcium decay — helps the Doctor narrow it down to one planet — Raxacoricofallapatorius — and identify them as creatures of living calcium, which will be weakened by the compression. As the Slitheen crashes into the flat, the Doctor tells them through the phone to get into the kitchen and find anything with vinegar in it. Rosie dumps as many pickled foods into a measuring cup as she can and hurls the mixture at the Slitheen as it comes through. The acetic acid reacts with the creature, and it explodes.

In Downing Street, Green and Asquith sense the death of their brother. Green steps out onto the street and speaks to the media as Acting Prime Minister. He informs them of the death of the experts at the hands of aliens and that there are "massive weapons of destruction" capable of being deployed within 45 seconds above their heads. He urges the UN to pass a resolution and release the access codes that will allow the UK to launch a pre-emptive strike against the alien mothership. The Doctor, listening to the broadcast over Sam's phone, knows that Green is lying. He realises that is why the Slitheen made such a spectacle out of the crash — not just to attract the experts but to panic the world and make it more likely for the United Nations to acquiesce to Green's request.

He unseals the room long enough to confront the Slitheen outside. They will launch the missiles not into space but against other nations, triggering World War III. The Slitheen will then sell off the radioactive remains of Earth to the rest of the galaxy as a fuel source. The signal from their ship is an advertisement that the planet is for sale. The Doctor tells the Slitheen he will stop them. Blaine sneers, expressing disbelief that he could do anything whilst sealed inside the room. The Doctor says grimly, "Yes. Me." He seals the room again, as uncertainty flickers across Blaine's face, her confidence shaken by the Doctor's demeanour.

As morning breaks over London, the streets are deserted. The Slitheen gather, unmasked, in the Prime Minister's office to await the call from the UN Security Council in New York. Rosie calls the Doctor, and says there must be something he can do. The Doctor reluctantly admits there is an option, but he cannot guarantee Sam's safety. He could save the world, but he could lose Sam. Rosie protests, but without even hearing what the option is, Sam tells the Doctor to just go ahead and do it. Harriet steps in at this point and, as the only elected representative in the room, orders the Doctor to take action.

The Doctor tells Bernice to use the "buffalo" password to access the Royal Navy's systems. Bernice locates the HMS Taurean, a Trafalgar class submarine off the coast of Plymouth, and under the Doctor's instructions, remotely selects and launches a harpoon missile. The missile streaks inland, on a direct course for 10 Downing Street, as the UN concludes their debate. Persuaded by the "proof" that the UK has provided, they agree to release the nuclear missile codes.

The missile is picked up on radar, but Bernice stops the counter measures taking effect. The Doctor, Harriet and Sam take refuge in the cupboard, hoping to ride out the explosion. The police squad sergeant orders the evacuation of 10 Downing Street and goes upstairs to warn Green. When he sees the Slitheen in their true forms, he makes a hasty retreat. The surrounding streets are cleared as the missile starts its final descent, and as the Slitheen still scramble around trying to get into their skins, 10 Downing Street is reduced to rubble. Thanks to the small and sturdy walls of a cupboard, Harriet, Sam and the Doctor "ride out" the blast and survive. The Slitheen are not so lucky.

Harriet wonders how they will rebuild from this, and the Doctor suggests that she become Prime Minister. She goes off to speak to the press and emergency services, announcing proudly that the crisis has passed; mankind stands tall, proud and undefeated. As he and Sam leave quietly, the Doctor remembers now why Harriet's name was familiar. Harriet Jones will be a future Prime Minister, elected for three successive terms, and the architect of Britain's Golden Age.

Sam goes back to Rosie's flat and watches the aftermath on television. Rosie grudgingly admits that she can't get rid of the Doctor now since Sam is so infatuated with him, something which Sam denies. Rosie offers to cook for the three of them and get to know the Doctor better. The Doctor calls Sam on her mobile phone from the TARDIS, where he is cancelling the Slitheen "advertisement". When Sam tells him of his mother's offer, he refuses — Sam can stay there if he likes, but he has a universe to see. Rosie sees Sam packing and asks him not to go, but Sam doesn't answer.

Bernice stops by and speaks to the Doctor by the TARDIS. Bernice cannot believe that the papers, such as the Evening Standard, are already saying the whole incident was a hoax. The Doctor gives Bernice a compact disc containing a computer virus that will wipe all trace of the Doctor's presence on the Internet and asks her to use it. He also offers Bernice a place in the TARDIS, but Bernice says that she's done adventuring with him for now. Sam arrives with a backpack full of his belongings, tossing it to the Doctor and playfully telling him that he is now stuck with him. Sam says goodbye to Rosie, assuring her mother that the TARDIS is a time machine — he can travel all over the universe and be back within ten seconds.

Sam and the Doctor enter the TARDIS and it dematerialises. Rosie waits ten seconds, but it does not return, and she walks back towards her flat.

Cast

The Doctor - Hugh Grant

Sam Youto - Stephen Fry

Joseph Green — David Verrey

Rosie Youto - Siobhan Redmond

Harriet Jones — Penelope Wilton

Bernice - Julia Ormond

General Asquith — Rupert Vansittart

Sergeant Price — Morgan Hopkins

Andrew Marr — As himself

Margaret Blaine — Annette Badland

Strickland — Steve Spiers

Reporter — Jack Tarlton

Reporter — Lachele Carl

Spray Painter — Corey Doabe

Slitheen — Elizabeth Fost, Paul Kasey, Alan Ruscoe

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, Paul Cornell and Robert Shearman

Producer - Tony Redston

Script Editor - Russell T Davies

Writer - Russell T Davies

Director - Keith Boak

Director of Photography - David Odd

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 - Tony Cranstoun

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 6.72m viewers. It ranked at 27th over the week.

Story Notes

To be added.

Continuity

To be added.

Home Video Releases

To be added.