Series 1, Episode 12 | First broadcast: 11 June 2005 | Writer: Russell T Davies | Director: Joe Ahearne | Producer: Phil Collinson
Cast
- Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor
- Billie Piper as Rose Tyler
- John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness
- Jo Joyner as Lynda Moss
- Paterson Joseph as Rodrick
- Davina McCall as the Davinadroid (voice)
- Anne Robinson as the Anne Droid (voice)
- Trinny Woodall as Trine-E (voice)
- Susannah Constantine as Zu-Zana (voice)
- Nisha Nayar as the Female Programmer
Summary
After delivering Margaret to her home planet at the end of “Boom Town,” the Doctor, Rose, and Captain Jack wake up separated from one another, each trapped inside a deadly futuristic version of a real-world reality television show. The Doctor finds himself thrust into a sinister, lethal version of the “Big Brother” house; Rose is forced to compete on a deadly edition of “The Weakest Link,” hosted by a robotic “Anne Droid”; and Jack ends up on a brutal version of “What Not to Wear.” On these future incarnations of the shows, elimination doesn’t mean leaving the program, it means immediate, literal death.
The Doctor manages to escape his game show and quickly realizes where they actually are: Satellite 5, now a full century beyond the events of “The Long Game,” operating today as a media empire branded “Bad Wolf Corporation” and “Bad Wolf TV.” Working with Jack and Lynda Moss, a sympathetic contestant who becomes an ally, the Doctor digs into the station’s deeper secrets and discovers a vast hidden signal originating from the edge of the solar system: an enormous fleet of Dalek warships, long thought extinct, lying in wait.
Meanwhile, Rose, having “lost” the Weakest Link under the show’s brutal rules, wakes not dead, but transported aboard one of the very Dalek ships detected by the Doctor, setting up the explosive cliffhanger that propels directly into the series finale.
Interesting Facts
- This is the first part of a two-part series finale, concluded by “The Parting of the Ways.”
- The futuristic game shows feature robotic stand-ins for their real-world hosts, voiced by the celebrities who hosted the actual UK programs being parodied: Davina McCall, Anne Robinson, and Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine.
- Its working title was “Gameshow World,” and it was the very last Series 1 episode title to be publicly revealed ahead of broadcast.
- This episode introduces the “deadlock seal,” a type of lock immune to the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver, and is the first episode to mention the Torchwood Institute by name.
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