Rosa Parks (TV Story)

Matt Strevens

***Rosa Parks*** was the third serial of Season 55 of *Doctor Who*. It was written by Malorie Blackman, directed by Lee Haven Jones and starred Jemma Redgrave as the Fifteenth Doctor, Rebecca Root as Joanne Tilley & Ravin J Ganatra as Anderson Stenhouse.

## Synopsis

The Doctor & companions arrive in 1955 Alabama, where somebody is planning on changing history. Meeting seamstress Rosa Parks, the Doctor and her companions must work together to correct the flow of time and keep events in order before things go horribly wrong.

## Cast

* The Doctor - Jemma Redgrave
* Joanne Tilley - Rebecca Root
* Anderson Stenhouse - Ravin J Ganatra
* Rosa Parks - Vinette Robinson
* Krasko - Joshua Bowman
* James Blake - Trevor White
* Mr Steele - Richard Lothian
* Waitress - Jessica Claire Preddy
* Police Officer Mason - Gareth Marks
* Raymond Parks - David Rubin
* Martin Luther King - Ray Sesay
* Fred Gray - Aki Omoshaybi
* Elias Griffin Jr - David Dukas
* Arthur - Morgan Deare

## References

### People

* The Doctor has lent a mobile phone to Elvis, who in turn lent it to Frank Sinatra, against the Doctor's wishes.
* Some people at Slim's Bar play pool. Later, Graham and Blake play.
* The Doctor teases herself as the identity of Banksy.
* The body of Emmett Till was found in a river in Mississippi after a couple of words to a white woman.
* Rosa mentions she had to put her teacher plans on hold to care for her sick mother and grandmother.
* Krasko's suitcase has the initials G. F. B. on it.
* The Doctor calls Krasko by the name Brando during their first encounter.
* Joanne is worried about the Doctor vandalising the wall of the motel.
* Rosa Parks is a seamstress.
* Anderson had a T-shirt that said "The Spirit of Rosa".
* Slim's Bar advertised for Roy Drusky.

### History

* An advertisement slates the Downtown, Montgomery Christmas Parade as 15 December.
* Anderson states that 53 years in the future, America will have a black leader as president.
* The Doctor and companions arrive on Wednesday, 30 November 1955, one day before Rosa Parks made history. On Thursday, 1 December, she refuses to give up her seat, and Rosa is arrested for sitting in a "whites only" section of the bus.
* The Montgomery Bus Boycott begins on the following Monday, 5 December 1955.
* On 21 December 1956, the racial segregation of buses in Montgomery ends.
* The Civil Rights Movement was led by Martin Luther King.
* In 1999, Bill Clinton gives Rosa Parks the Congressional Medal for her services to the advancement of black people's rights in America. Present also at the ceremony is George H. W. Bush.
* The Doctor calls their mission Operation Rosa Parks.

#### Derogatory terms

* Joanne describes Steele as a "git".
* Anderson has previously been called a "Paki" and a "terrorist" because of her religion and her background.
* Black people are often referred to, in 1955 Alabama, as "negroes" or "coloureds". Mason refer to Ryan and Yaz as "mongrels"

### Foods and beverages

* Slim's Bar sells Knickerbocker Glory with Dairy Cream. They also sell carrot fudge for 25 cents.
* Advertisements on a bus mention cottage cheese.
* There are advertisements of top quality meats.
* There are also advertisements for egg nog.
* Blake drinks beer.
* An advertisement mention corned beef.

### Locations

* Dr King is the minister at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.
* The stop where Rosa is arrested is by the Empire Theatre.
* The TARDIS lands in an alley next to Jefferson Drug Store. On the window of the store it reads L. Brian & Partners.
* The Doctor, Anderson & Joanne visit Slim's Bar, part of Kimberley Hotel.
* The group stay at Sahara Springs Motel.
* The cover of a Montgomery City Lines Inc. bus timetable shows stops Bainbridge St. and Cleveland Ave..
* An August 1954 telephone directory lists phone numbers for parts of Montgomery, including the areas of Young Place, Greenacres, Ridgefield and Hillwood.
* Rosa lives on Cleveland Court.
* A map of Montgomery shows that it is located on the Alabama River.
* James Blake goes fishing at Mill Creek.
* The Doctor tells Elias Griffin Jr he's won an all-expenses paid trip to Las Vegas, to see Frank Sinatra.
* "Bus Stop" notices says City Bus Line tickets are good for transportation on all schedules available from Montgomery Transport Offices and Bus Terminals.
* The Doctor takes her companions to see Asteroid 284996, named "Rosaparks".

### Businesses

* Goods advertised outside Slim's Bar include Pressburg, RPW Motor Oils, and Sampson Liquors.
* Rosa works at Montgomery Fair Department Store.
* An advertisement in the paper sells "eye glasses".
* Advertisements on the bus and the papers mention S. Painter.
* Advertisements on the bus talk of a special purchase of golfing outfits.
* As Anderson follows her, Rosa thinks he is a spy for the police or the FBI.
* An advertisement at Slim's Bar mentions Wills's "Gold Flake" cigarettes.
* The Doctor and Joanne tells Elias he's won the Raffle of the Century.

### Technology

* The TARDIS has its force shield up.
* Krasko has a vortex manipulator and a temporal displacement weapon.
	+ He also keeps an information brick, a multi-intercept and surveillance device, and a backup charger for the displacement gun, in his suitcase.
	+ His suitcase is protected by a perception filter.
	+ The displacement weapon uses artron molecules.
* The Doctor has a special pen that writes text that can be vanished with a sonic device.
* Upon leaving Stormcage, Krasko had a neural restrictor implanted into his brain, preventing the criminal from inflicting harm on others.
* The Doctor claims she is pitching a 21st century mobile phone as an invention.

## Continuity

* Anderson remarks on how dangerous it is for him to walk around Alabama given their racial ethnicity. Ashley Tannen held similar reservations in Vienna, (TV: *The Silver Turk*)
* The Doctor mentions how the TARDIS feeds on artron energy. (TV: *Four to Doomsday* et al.)
* The TARDIS shows events from history in a similar way to the Time-Space Visualiser. (TV: *The Chase*)
* Anderson discovers he was a part of the original history of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, similar to how Sally Ryder and the Eleventh Doctor became part of events when causing the volcanic eruption at Pompeii. (TV: *The Fires of Pompeii*)
* The Doctor has encountered time travellers attempting to alter history before. (TV: *The Time Meddler*)

## Home video releases

### DVD

* This story along with the other stories in Season 55 were released as *Doctor Who: The Complete Fifty-Fifth Season* in 2020.

### Blu-ray

* This story along with the other stories in Season 55 were released as *Doctor Who: The Complete Fifty-Fifth Season* on Blu-ray in 2020.