The Pit (TV Story)

***The Pit*** was the seventh serial of Season 33 of *Doctor Who*. It was written by Steven Moffat, directed by Kevin Davies and starred Nick Berry as the Ninth Doctor & Gillian Kearney as Lillian Truscott.

## Synopsis

The villagers of Varda live normal lives but they are secretly afraid of a pit which doesn't seem to reach the bottom, when the Doctor and Lillian arrive they investigate and what they find reveals that the people of Varda are in grave danger.

## Plot

### Part One

The inhabitants of a village live peaceful lives on the planet Varda, they do what normal people do and try to get on with their day however they haven’t been able to do that ever since they discovered a seemingly bottomless pit, nobody knows how it got there or what's at the bottom and they don’t want to know, not now or ever.

The TARDIS arrives on Varda, the Doctor steps out and immediately recognises the planet and explains to Lillian he’s been here a few times and nothing seems to have changed from the last time he was here, Lillian says that it’s worth looking around and the Doctor says he doesn’t see why they can’t and soon find the village.

The Doctor and Lillian enter the village and meet one of the villagers, Kalem, he invites them into his cottage and makes them something to drink, the Doctor asks what’s happened recently and Kalem quickly tells him nothing has happened and the Doctor notices his distress, Lillian calms him down and asks him what’s wrong to which Kalem explains that a while ago the village found a pit and they don’t know how it got there, the Doctor asks where it is to which Kalem leads them both to it.

The Doctor looks at the pit and tries to shine a light to see if the bottom is visible but to no avail, Kalem thinks that they could get to the bottom but the leader of the village, Gartros, says that going to the bottom is too dangerous and they shouldn't risk anybody getting killed, the Doctor tries to convince him to be given a chance to explore what’s at the bottom but Gartros says no and if he tries there will be consequences in store for him.

Kalem later suggests to Sandros and Juliannos that maybe they can help the Doctor get to the bottom, Sandros says they can’t go against Gartros but Juliannos says that there could be something dangerous at the bottom and they need to know. Kalem then gets the Doctor and Lillian and they explain they’re going to try and get to the bottom, the Doctor thanks them and they soon get to work on a plan.

Soon later the Doctor gets ready to climb down the pit by rope and he says that he hopes he’ll see everybody soon and not to worry, he begins to climb down and Gartros notices what the Doctor but Lillian tells him that the Doctor always knows what he’s doing and he’s going to see if his planet is not under any threat.

The Doctor continues to climb down and he begins to get tired and notices his grip starts to slip, Lillian calls down to see if he’s ok and the Doctor eventually loses his grip and falls down, his scream is heard and Lillian calls down to see if he’s ok and thankfully he says that he’s fine and wasn’t too far down, he then notices a noise and goes down a cave and finds machinery, the Doctor then hears something behind him and a voice explains that the pit was created for there plans for Varda and the Doctor asks who they are, they step out the shadows as the Doctor is horrified to learn that the Tractators are behind the pit’s creation.

### Part Two

The Doctor asks what they are doing on the planet and the Tractators that they plan on using a machine called ‘The Planet Warper’ to make Varda a Tractator home planet and the Warper will turn everyone into Tractators and will make the planet a suitable environment for Tractators.

Lillian begins to get worried about him and decides to climb down, Kalem decides to go with her just in case something bad happens and they begin to climb down to see if the Doctor is not in any trouble.

The Doctor tells the Tractators that he won’t let anything happen to the planet and he can help them find an uninhabited world where they can help their race, the Tractors however aren't interested and the Doctor continues to try and help them but with little success, a Tractator then brings in Lillian and Kalem who it has captured and the Doctor warns it not to hurt them, the lead Tractator then orders for the three of them to be imprisoned.

Sandros and Juliannos as Gartros whether or not they should go down but Gartros tells them to give it time and that everything will work out.

The Doctor, Lillian and Kalem try to think of how they are going to get out and the Doctor soon uses a lock pick to get out and the Doctor tells Lillian and Kalem to climb back up, as he’s going to stop the Tractators.

The Tractators get the Warper ready and they believe nothing can stop them, the Doctor then pulls some levers and buttons and soon reveals himself to the Tractators and he says that he’s willing to help them.

Lillian climbs back up to the village, Sandros and Juliannos ask if everybody is ok and Lillian says everything is fine but she realises that Kalem hasn’t climbed back up yet and Sandros tells her that he’ll be fine.

The Doctor then uses the Warper and tells the Tractators that it’s already and they prime up the machine but it doesn’t work, the Doctor explains what he’s actually done is use the Warper to help fill in the pit and he’s set the base to self destruct, he then makes his way back to the rope but on the way meets Kalem who tells him he’s going to fend them off so the Doctor can get away, Kalem tries to stop the Tractators but he is killed in the process.

The Doctor tells everyone to get away from the pit as the Tractators’ base is destroyed and the pit ends being filled, the Doctor tells everyone that the threat is gone and there is no more pit to worry about which leads to Gartros declares him a hero of the planet and there are resulting celebrations across the village.

## Cast

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

To be added.