5.1. The Eleventh Hour

Series 5 - 2010

Writer: Steven Moffat
Produced by: Tracie Simpson
Director: Adam Smith
Music: Murray Gold

Synopsis

The crashing TARDIS is heading to Earth, with the new Doctor hanging on through the doors, narrowly missing the spire on Big Ben.

A young girl is praying, asking for someone to fix the crack in her wall, as she can hear voices. Outside in the garden she hears a noise, and through the window she can see an upturned box on the garden shed. She goes to investigate, and a soaking wet man jumps out - who asks her for an apple.

The girl asks if he has come about the crack in her world. The girl invites the Doctor into her house and offers him an apple. After one bite he spits it out. The girls gives the Doctor other food such as yoghurt, bacon, beans, bread and butter, all of which he hates. He chooses fish fingers and custard, which he likes.

The Doctor gets to know the girl better, and learns her name is Amelia Pond, and that she doesn't have any parents, only an aunt. He goes upstairs to have a look at the crack in Amelia's wall. The Doctor analyses the crack with the sonic screwdriver, and finds the crack is not actually in the wall. Putting his ear up the wall the Doctor hears a voice say "Prisoner Zero has escaped".

Using the sonic screwdriver the Doctor opens the crack, and beyond can see a prison. A huge eye appears in the crack, and after a flash of light the crack closes. A message appears on the Doctor's psychic paper, saying prisoner Zero has escaped.

A clang from the cloister bell in the TARDIS alerts the Doctor, and he rushes out to the TARDIS. The engines are phasing and he has to get back to stabilise it by a five minute hop in to the future, and tells Amelia he will be back in five minutes. Amelia rushes back into her room, packs some clothes in to a small cases, and sits by the broken shed waiting for the Doctor. In the rush she didn't notice a room that had a closed door was now open.

The TARDIS materialises back in the garden, upright this time, and rushes back to Amelia's house. The door is locked, but he gets in with the sonic screwdriver. Whilst looking for Amelia he is struck with a cricket bat.

In a nearby hospital there has been a strange occurrence. All the coma patients in a ward begin calling our "Doctor". The nurse on duty - Rory Williams - calls Doctor Ramsden to the ward.

Back in Amelia's house the Doctor finds himself handcuffed to a radiator, and a policewoman calling for backup. The policewoman says she lives in the house. The Doctor asks her to count the rooms on the floor they are on and she says there are five; a perception filter is blocking room number six. Seeing it for the first time the police woman goes to investigate.

She goes in to investigate and finds a room with some old boxes - and the Doctor's sonic screwdriver. Behind her is a snake like creature. The Doctor tells her not to look, but she faces the creature and runs out of the room. Inside the room the creature transforms in to a man and a dog. The man starts barking. The Doctor recognises a multiform - it is just one creature taking the appearance of a man and a dog - the actual man is lying in a coma in the hospital.

The Doctor asks the police woman about the backup and she reveals there is no backup - she is a kissogram. Then there is the voice of the guard telling prisoner Zero that the human residence is surrounded... and that if he does not vacate the residence it will be incinerated.

Using the sonic screwdriver the Doctor frees himself and rushes back to the TARDIS. It won't let him in as it's still rebuilding. The Doctor notices the new shed and realises he wasn't gone for five minutes but for twelve years, and that the kissogram is actually Amelia Pond. Leaving the house Amelia leads the Doctor in to Leadworth.

The voice saying that prisoner Zero should leave the human residence, or the human residence will be incinerated, is echoing from speakers in the village. The eye that the Doctor saw in the crack is appearing on television sets. The voice is everywhere, and in every language. The Doctor calculates the Earth has 20 minutes before the owner of the voice has enough power to destroy the human residence - also known as Earth.

Whilst walking through the village the Doctor feels pains from his regeneration, and the village starts to turn dark. The aliens in orbit seal off the upper atmosphere, preparing to destroy the planet. Everyone comes out to photograph the object in the sky. Amelia, now known as Amy, doesn't believe the Doctor is really the same Doctor from twelve years ago - until he returns the apple she gave to him.

Whilst everyone was photographing the object in the sky one person - Rory - had been photographing a man and a dog - the same man Rory has seen in the hospital. An alien ship appears scanning for alien technology - and the Doctor activates the sonic screwdriver to get their attention. The sonic screwdriver burns out, and alien ship goes to scan elsewhere, as Prisoner Zero disperses and disappears down a drain and back in to the hospital.

The Doctor tells Amy and Rory to get everyone out of the hospital as he returns to a house he had been at previously where he had seen someone with a laptop. Using the laptop he hacks in to a secure call and tells them where to look for the alien craft. He also sends them a computer virus that will reset all counters in the world.

In the hospital Amy and Rory barricade themselves into a ward. As Prisoner Zero breaks in the Doctor smashes the ladders from a fire engine through a ward window and joins them in the ward. The Doctor asks prisoner zero to return through its crack - and it reveals it did not create the crack.

The virus completes its work, and the world starts signalling 0 to the Atraxi in space, and the Atraxi trace it back to the Doctor's phone. Prisoner Zero causes Amy to collapse, and takes on her form, along with the Doctor's. Amy is dreaming, so can hear the Doctor. The Doctor tells her to dream about what she saw, and prisoner Zero changes to it's normal form. The Atraxi are then able to restrain prisoner Zero.

The Atraxi are about to leave, but using the phone he calls them back to talk about trying to incinerate the world. On the roof of the hospital the Doctor talks to the Atraxi. He wants to make sure they never return. The Doctor asks them if the world is protected - then reveals who he is - the Doctor. When he tells the Atraxi to run that's what they do.

The TARDIS has rebuilt and signals the Doctor through the key. He rushes back to it, and he leaves just as Amy arrives to see it fade away. One night he returns and Amy rushes out - still in her nightwear - to meet him. The Doctor asks Amy to go with him. Amy tells the Doctor it was two years since he disappeared. Amy is not sure she wants to go - until the Doctor shows her the TARDIS.

Regular Cast

  • Amy Pond: Karen Gillan

Guest Cast

  • Amelia Pond: Caitlin Blackwood
  • Doctor Ramsden: Nina Wadia
  • Barney Collins: Marcello Magni
  • Ice Cream Man: Perry Benson
  • Mrs. Angelo: Annette Crosbie
  • Jeff: Tom Hopper
  • Doctor Henderson: Arthur Cox
  • Mother: Olivia Coleman
  • Child 1: Eden Monteath
  • Child 2: Merin Monteath
  • Atraxi Voice: David de Keyser
  • Prisoner Zero Voice: William Wilde
  • Patrick Moore: Himself
  • Rory Williams: Arthur Darvill
Uncredited:
  • Stunt Double for the Doctor: Gordon Seed
  • Double for Amelia: Courtney Hawkins
  • Nurses: Channon Jacobs, Azhar Miah, Andy Elvin, Anne Lyken Garner
  • Porter: Brian Bowen
  • Doctors: Dawn Gani, Glenn Row
  • Receptionist: Andrea Griffiths
  • Paramedic (Driver): Dominic Kynaston
  • Paramedic: William Sheer
  • Consultant: James Welsh
  • Cleaner: Valerie Wayne
  • Patients: Carina Swaby, Tony Was
  • Visitor: Melissa Swaby
  • Coma Ward Nurses: Marium Nundy, Claire Ryan, Rachel Bond
  • Coma Ward Patient (Doctor Hall): Andy Elvin
  • Coma Ward Patient (Mrs Turner): Anne Lyken Garner
  • Coma Ward Patient (Mrs Brown): Catrin O'Neill, Sarah Maya
  • Coma Ward Patient (The Colonel): Graham Smith
  • Double for Barney/Patient: Pete Moyes
  • Double for Mother/Patient: Sandra Young
  • Jogger (Fiona): Faye Louise Noriega
  • Butcher (Barry): Morris Howard
  • Scooter Shopper (Sheila): Maureen Wild
  • Mrs Hall Smith: Miriam Akhtar
  • Vicar: Paul Whiston
  • Church Warden: Elaine Lainghan
  • Cyclist (Mr Lyall): Ryan Picton
  • Barmaid (Angie): Cath McGowan
  • Mr Brown: Damien Edwards
  • Shop Mobility (Stuart): John Britton
  • Pub Landlord (Mr Large): Ian Kaye
  • Pub Landlady (Mrs Large): Emma Fouracre
  • Granddad (Mr Farrow): Brian Powell
  • Gran (Mrs Farrow): Jacynthe Powell
  • Firemen: Roger Kendall, Malcolm McCarthy
  • Hoodie (Discardia): Mohamed Wagaafe
  • Hoodie (Lady G): Demmi Baron
  • Hoodie (Alison Moyet): Sioned Warwick
  • Helicopter Boy: Harry Wilson
  • Child (Alfie Brown): Miall Howells
  • Child (Dennis Brown): Thomas Workman
  • Child (Granddaughter): Megan Langford
  • Passers by: Sarah Jane Sampson, Tony Was, John Sinclair, Aled Evans
  • Double for Mother: Lousise Poolman
  • Double for the Doctor: Andy Jones
  • Tannoy Voice: William Wilde
  • Crowd/Additional Dialogue Recording: Janet Howson, Emma Feeny, Bob O'Brien, Nicholas Wilkes, Lindsay Hollingsworth, Paul Sparrowham, Daryl Adcock, Stephen Bracken-Keogh, Claire Hilder, Jayne SR Kaye-Hunt

Original broadcast on the BBC

Channel Title Date Viewers Rating
BBC 1 1. The Eleventh Hour Saturday, April 3, 2010 6:20 PM - 7:25 PM 10.08M 86
BBC HD 1. The Eleventh Hour Saturday, April 3, 2010 6:20 PM - 7:25 PM

Click here to show repeat broadcasts on the BBC

Studios

  • Upper Boat Studios - Studio 3
  • Upper Boat Studios - Studio 5
  • Upper Boat Studios - Studios 1 and 2

Outside Locations

  • A48 between Tredegar House and LG Factory
  • Abertillery Hospital, Pendarren Road, Aberbeeg, Abertillery
  • Johnsey Estates, Mamhilad Park Industrial Estate South, Pontypool
  • Llandaff Cathedral Green, Llandaff Village
  • London
  • St Cadoc's Hospital, Lodge Rd, Caerlon
  • The Vicarage, Lawn Terrace, Rhymney

Notes

Caitlin Blackwood, who plays the 7 year old Amelia Pond, is the cousin of Karen Gillan. They met for the first time during production.