Placebo Effect (TV Story)

Verity Lambert (consultant)

***Placebo Effect*** was the second serial of Season 35 of *Doctor Who*. It was written by Gary Russell, directed by John Henderson, and starred Stephen Fry as the Ninth Doctor and Emma Fielding as Lena Haigh.

## Synopsis

It is 3999. An artificial planetoid, Micawber's World, is hosting the Intergalactic Olympic Games, and athletes from all the worlds in the Galactic Federation are coming to take part. But when the Doctor and Lena arrive, murders soon begin...

The Doctor finds himself drafted in to examine some bizarre new drugs that are said to enhance the natural potential of the competing athletes. But what is their real purpose? Why are members of the Security Forces disappearing randomly? And just why is Chase Carrington, manufacturer of the drug, so protective of his company's secrets?

Watching and waiting, at the very heart of Micawber's World, is a race of parasites the Doctor has fought before. The Wirrn have come to the Milky Way from Andromeda, determined to spread their seed throughout a whole new galaxy, and it seems to Lena that the Doctor's hands are too full to pay their threat full attention...

## Cast

* The Doctor - Stephen Fry
* Lena Haigh - Emma Fielding
* Kyle Dale - *TBA*
* Susan Dallion - *TBA*
* Chase Carrington - *TBA*
* Duchess of Auckland - *TBA*
* Green Fingers - *TBA*
* Lukas - *TBA*
* Miles Mason - *TBA*
* Gary Ritchie - *TBA*
* Sox - *TBA*
* Torin Chalfont - *TBA*
* Jean-Paul Cartwright - *TBA*
* Ed Salt - *TBA*
* Typtpwtyp - *TBA*
* Wirrn - *TBA*

## Worldbuilding

### The Doctor

* There are notes pertaining to the Eighth Doctor in the Galactic Federation database referring to Peladon, the Ancient Diadem and the planet Pakhar.

### Individuals

* There is a bust of Rassilon in the TARDIS.

### Organisations

* There have been terrorist threats from Galaxy 5 and the Free Rasta VI.
* Susan Dallion is Quartermaster Sergeant in the Space Security Service.

### Planets

* Livista, Tyrexus, the Phylox system, Coscos, Salostopus, the rimworlds of Golos and Vysp are all part of the Andromedan Galaxy.
* Earth is the centre of the Galactic Federation.
* Terrorists and criminals are imprisoned on the planet Desperus.
* Liasici was destroyed in a war "years ago" by the Argolin.
* Lena mentions Mu Camelopides moon.
* Kolpasha is the Fashion capital of the Federation.
* Iota 9 is a small colony world on the other side of Sauron.

### Religion

* The Church of the Way Forward does not approve of inter-species breeding.

### Species

* The Foamasi can fit into human sized bodies despite their size.
* Jadeans are genetically engineered, and cannot have their minds read by telepaths.
* The Teknix are a cloned species, bald and very efficient.
* The Foamasi Ambassador says he works for Martians, Pakhars, humans, Cantryans, Chelonians, the Tzun, Lurmans, and Vegans, but won't work with the Daleks.
* Cows have been exported all over the galaxy.
* Other species mentioned include Doradan, Hiind, Morrain, Parad and Saurian.
* Lena recalls to herself being chased by Daleks, Zygons and Psionovores.

## Notes

* The name Room 101 is a reference to a room of the same name from George Orwell's *Nineteen-Eighty Four*.

## Continuity

* The Wirrn first appeared in TV: *The Ark in Space*.
* The Foamasi first appeared in TV: *The Leisure Hive*.
* Lena mentions, "Only magicians could take me to Victorian London (TV: *Matrix*) or a parallel world". (TV: *Genocide*)
* The Doctor states, "I've never had a faith, as such. I had a House. (TV: *Lungbarrow*) And a birthsign. (TV: *The Creature from the Pit*) And a Chapter to be loyal to." (TV: *The Deadly Assassin*)
* The Doctor states he saw the birth of mankind as single celled amoeba, which is probably TV: *City of Death*.
* The Galactic Federation, Space Security Service and Guardian of the Solar System all first appeared in TV: *The Daleks' Master Plan*.

## Home Video & DVD Releases

### VHS

* This story was released alongside TV: *Phantasmagoria* on VHS in 1999.

### DVD

* This story along with the other stories in Season 35 were released as *Doctor Who: The Complete Thirty-Fifth Season* in 2013.

### Blu-ray

* This story along with the other stories in Season 35 were upscaled in 1080i50 high definition and were released as *Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 35* in the UK.