6.4. The Doctor's Wife

Series 6 - 2011

Writer: Neil Gaiman
Produced by: Sanne Wohlenburg
Director: Richard Clark
Music: Murray Gold

Synopsis

On a far distant asteroid, outside the Universe, a woman, Idris, is preparing to have her mind and soul drained, to be replaced with a new mind and soul - that of a Time Lord. Idris is understandably scared, and the procedure is going to be painful.

Inside the TARDIS the Doctor hears a knock on the TARDIS doors - even though the TARDIS in space. Outside is a glowing box. It's a Time Lord emergency messaging system; inside is the consciousness of Time Lord. The Doctor takes the TARDIS outside the Universe. When the TARDIS materialises the power is drained, and the soul of the TARDIS vanishes... and into the body of the Idris.

The Doctor, Amy and Rory leave the TARDIS, and they appear to be in a huge spaceship scrapyard. The place is filled with rift energy, and the TARDIS should be able to refuel where it is. The Doctor hardly has chance to react when he accosted, and kissed, by Idris. Two other figures, Aunty and Uncle, apologise for the Idris's behaviour. She is behaving oddly, and she often gets tenses mixed up. She tells the Doctor that the little boxes will make him angry.

When Idris collapses, unconscious, Uncle asks Nephew to take care of her. The Doctor notices that Nephew is an Ood, with a broken communicator. He tries to fix it, and hears many Time Lord voices. When the Doctor asks how many people are on the planet Aunty replies just the four of them, and house, the planet they are on.

The asteroid, House, is sentient. It is also able to communicate, and speaks to the Doctor through Aunty and Uncle. Aunty is happy to let the Doctor have a look round, and look for the Time Lords he knows are there. He sends Amy back to the TARDIS to fetch his screwdriver, and sends Rory to look after Amy. When Amy and Rory go into the TARDIS the doors lock, and there is a green glow.

Alone, the Doctor begins to hunt for the Time Lords. He finds a cupboard, and inside are more message cubes, each containing Time Lord consciousnesses. Aunty and Uncle appear, and the Doctor asks them about the Time Lords they have lured to the planet. They are doing what House asks, and in return House repairs, or more precisely patches, them when they break.

The Doctor gets a call from Amy in the TARDIS. The Doctor realises about Idris's previous warning about the boxes making him angry, and goes to ask her about it. Idris is wondering how the Doctor doesn't know her, and she tells him she is the TARDIS. The Doctor frees her from her room, and she tells the Doctor that he will tell her that House eats TARDIS. House cannot eat the TARDIS with the soul inside, and destroying the soul would rip a hole in the Universe. Instead House puts the soul into another body and can then feed off the artron energy of the TARDIS shell.

The TARDIS shell that has Amy and Rory locked inside. He rushes back to the TARDIS, and watches as it de-materialises. The Doctor calls Amy but there is no answer. Aunty and Uncle are preparing to die. Uncle told House that the TARDIS was the last one, and has gone to the Doctor's Universe to find more TARDISes, even though there are none.

The Doctor is worried as he is trapped in a scrapyard at the end of the plughole of the Universe; until he realises it is not just a junkyard but a TARDIS junkyard. He shows Idris the remains of TARDISes. Whilst she is mourning the loss of her sisters, the Doctor is thinking that he can make a working console from their remains. Idris and the Doctor start to build a console, and Idris tells the Doctor one of her kidneys is failing; she is dying.

Inside the TARDIS House has taken the place of the TARDIS soul, and asks why he shouldn't just kill Amy and Rory. Rory thinks that House needs entertainment - that's what Aunty and Uncle were for - and killing them would be no fun. House tells them to entertain him... and run. They set off running through the corridors of the TARDIS where House is laying traps. As Amy passes through a door it locks, separating her from Rory. She then hears him calling her, and from down a different corridor she sees Rory, and he says she has been away for hours. They are separated again, and after wandering down corridors she finds a much older Rory.

The new TARDIS is ready, but has no power. Idris gives some of her life force to the new TARDIS, and it vanishes from the junkyard.

As Amy, separated from Rory again, walks down more TARDIS corridors she sees messages of hate scrawled on the walls, left by Rory who hates her for leaving him. She finds the dead body of Rory, but moments later the proper Rory finds her, and the messages disappear.

Using telepathic controls Idris contacts Rory and tells him to take Amy to the old control room, and shows him directions. Amy and Rory manage to lower the shields in the old console room (used by the ninth and tenth Doctors which had been archived). Moments later the new TARDIS console arrives with the Doctor and Idris.

House taunts everyone in the old console room by turning off the gravity and removing the air from the room. The Doctor says in return for not killing them he will help House to return to the Doctor's Universe. The Doctor tells House to remove 30% of the TARDIS rooms, thereby providing more thrust. House says he can get rid of another problem by deleting the old console room first.

However, any living things inside a room being deleted are automatically deposited inside the main control room. However, a body cannot contain the TARDIS matrix, and when Idris dies the soul is released, and it fights House for control of the TARDIS.

Using the TARDIS hologram to generate an image of Idris the TARDIS is able to talk to the Doctor, and finally say hello. Idris had one last message for the Doctor: The only water in the forest is the river.

Regular Cast

  • Amy Pond: Karen Gillan
  • Rory Williams: Arthur Darvill

Guest Cast

  • Idris: Suranne Jones
  • Voice of House: Michael Sheen
  • Nephew: Paul Kasey
  • Uncle: Adrian Schiller
  • Auntie: Elizabeth Berrington

Original broadcast on the BBC

Channel Title Date Viewers Rating
BBC 1 (HD) 4. The Doctor's Wife Saturday, May 14, 2011 6:30 PM - 7:15 PM 7.97M 87

Click here to show repeat broadcasts on the BBC

Studios

  • Dragon Studios, Pencoed, nr Bridgend
  • Upper Boat Studios: Studio 6

Outside Locations

  • Cemex, Taff's Well Quarry, Ty Nant Road, Taff's Well
  • Upper Boat Studios: Studios 1 + 2