Life’s End (TV Story)

***Life's End*** was the fourth serial of Season 33 of *Doctor Who*. It was written by Paul Cornell, directed by Richard Holthouse and starred Nick Berry as the Ninth Doctor & Gillian Kearney as Lillian Truscott.

## Synopsis

The Doctor and Lillian arrive on Farkas where they discover the president of the planet to be terminally ill, but when beings known as the Gortons arrive to help the president everybody naturally wants their help but not the Doctor. He knows what they are capable of and he doesn't want the President ot get better but for the right reasons, Lillian challenges the Doctor on this but will the planet accept the help it's president needs?

## Plot

### Part One

A woman runs down a corridor, frightened and on the verge of tears, she frantically calls for a doctor to which a medical team comes to her aid and they enter a room and treat a severely ill man. We then see the TARDIS land on a street corner and the Doctor and Lillian step out as they discuss where they are and the Doctor remarks how futuristic everything is and he states that it can’t be Earth as nebulas can be seen from the sky, Lillian soon notices a hologram of a news report and we learn that President Holdar of Farkas has fallen ill to a fatal illness and will most likely be dead the end of the night.

Lillian says it’s awful and she asks because it’s the future surely fatal diseases must’ve been cured by now, the Doctor states however that all diseases on Earth had been cured, not every disease in the Universe has been cured. The Doctor and Lillian explore the planet a little more and the Doctor explains to Lillian the history of Farkas and how it used to be a world ruled by savages and beasts before humans arrived, Lillian soon notices a figure morphing into existence and another and then another, the Doctor soon notices this to and tells Lillian to get back and soon three aliens appear and attract the attention of the crowd, the Doctor knows what they are and is not happy to see them and he explains to Lillian that they’re a race known as the Gortons who ‘heal’ the dying by taking over dying bodies and use them for their own personal needs, the Gortons tell the people of Farkas that they can heal President Holdar and enter Farkas into a new age of good fortune.

The Doctor tells everyone they’re lying and they’ll use Holdar’s body for terrible things but naturally nobody believes him, Lillian says to the Doctor that maybe the Gortons have changed and they just want to use their powers to help but the Doctor remains adamant that they are dangerous, however a few government officials arrive and question the Gortons and they tell them what the told the citizens and the Doctor tries to convince them not to but Lillian tells them to accept their help much to the Doctor’s shock to which they do.

We then see a live broadcast of the Vice President of Farkas, Torish gives a speech as millions across the planet watch including the Doctor and Lillian and Torish confirms that Holdar will be given a second chance at life.

### Part Two

The Doctor is naturally furious at this and lays some of the blame on Lillian as if she had trusted his experiences with the Gortons none of this would’ve happened, Lillian then argues back and calls the Doctor ‘small-minded’ and he shouldn’t judge based on past experiences to which she storms off and the Doctor goes off in a different direction.

Holdar lays on his bed dying as the Gortons walk over and offer new life to Holdar, whilst this is going on we see the Doctor walking towards the Presidential palace and breaking in, he sneaks past guards and climbs up a pipe and enters a window determined to stop the Gortons.

Meanwhile, we see Lillian in a Cafe and drinking a cup of tea and watching the news and we see some people support aliens giving Holdar new life and some don’t because they are anti-alien, Lillian then overhears to people walking in and they talk about a man breaking into the palace and she realises this could be the Doctor and decides to stop him.

We see the Doctor sneak past guards to reach Holdar and Lillian also breaking into the palace to stop him using the excuse that she’s a nurse here to offer any support, the Doctor reaches Holdar and tells them what the Gortons do and Lillian soon bursts in and tells Holdar that if he wishes to have a second chance he should take it, Holdar then says he’ll take a second

opportunity and the lead Gorton takes over him and as soon as this happens Holdar becomes evil and sinister and the Doctor tells everyone this is what the Gortons do and they have to kill the Gorton so Holdar can die peacefully, he explains they are allergic to gases and they soon call upon the army to pump gas into the room which kills off the Gortons for good, the gas then clears and Holdar is helped back into bed and he dies peacefully, the Doctor and Lillian go back to the TARDIS and they both apologise to each other and the Doctor says he’s learned he can’t always judge due to experiences in the past.

## Cast

* The Doctor - Nick Berry
* Lillian Truscott - Gillian Kearney

To be added.