6.10. The Girl Who Waited

Series 6 - 2011

Writer: Tom McRae
Produced by: Marcus Wilson
Director: Nick Hurran
Music: Murray Gold

Synopsis

The TARDIS materialises in a white room on the planet Apalapucia. The Doctor and Rory examine the room an find a panel with two buttons: green anchor and red waterfall. Rory chooses green and the Doctor and Rory enter another room. The only other thing in the room is what appears to be a large magnifying glass.

Amy follows later, and finds the same panel. Not knowing what Rory pressed she presses red, and enters a similar room, but the Doctor and Rory are not there. Amy, Rory and the Doctor are able to talk to each other, but they are not together. The Doctor pushes a button on the magnifying glass and a few seconds later an image appears of Amy.

The door opens to the Doctor and Rory's room, and a robot appears welcoming them to the Twostreams Facility. The image fades from the magnifying glass. When the Doctor gets Amy back she asks where the Doctor has been - as she has been waiting for a week.

Rory asks Amy which button she pressed. Rory goes back and presses the red waterfall button. The door opens but Amy is not there. He returns to tell the Doctor. The Doctor asks the robot - which has a graften on hand through which it sees - and it tells the Doctor that Apalapucia is under a planet wide quarantine; the Twostreams Facility is a kindness facility for those infected with Chen7 - otherwise known as the one day plague. You get the plague and die in a day.

The robots says there are 40,000 residents in the Twostreams Facility, and tells the Doctor and Rory to remain in the sterile visitor sections, before teleporting away.

The Doctor realises that Amy is in a faster timestream. People could use that to visit infected people, and whilst for the infected person lived out their last day a lifetime could pass for the visitor. The Doctor takes the glass back to the TARDIS to get to Amy. The glass is locked on to Amy and the TARDIS can follow it. The Doctor hands Rory a pair of spectacles that are in fact cameras allowing the Doctor to see what Rory sees. They are breaking into Twostreams, and the Doctor cannot leave the TARDIS as the Chen 7 will kill him.

Inside Twostreams Amy is wandering round the facility, and activates an interface guide in the reception. She is transported to the arrivals section where she is met by another 'handbot'. The handbot states Amy is carrying unauthorised bacteria, and the handbot offers to help. Amy knows that its help will kill her are escapes into the facility.

More handbots materialise, and Amy gets into a cage which shields her from the handbots, so they can no longer detect her. Amy then finds herself in a gate room from which she can move into different zones. She chooses the garden zone, and emerges into a wide open garden - a perfect replica of a Shill Governor's mansion on Shillana. Amy asks the interface where she can hide from the handbots. Interface tells Amy about the temporal engines. Two more handbots arrive and she is forced to run again, and finds her way to the temporal engines, which upset the handbots' sensors.

The TARDIS has materialised inside the facility, but has problems locating Amy amongst 40,000 different timestreams. Rory is in the facility and is attacked by a woman in makeshift armour. The woman is an older version of Amy, who says she has been waiting. Whilst waiting Amy has learnt about the handbots, and created her own sonic probe. After waiting for 36 years Amy is angry that the Doctor didn't save her earlier and she now hates the Doctor. And she knows the Doctor can hear her through Rory's glasses.

Amy takes Rory to where she has been hiding. There is a disarmed handbot that Amy has adopted as a pet. She's been alone for 36 years, and her life has become hell. Amy goes back to the garden, allowing the Doctor access to the interface. He asks about the regulator valve, and interface shows the Doctor where it can be found. Rory gives the spectacles to Amy and explores the garden whilst the Doctor and Amy talk. He runs into handbots. One touches him and the

anesthetic in the hand makes him fall. Before the handbot can finish Amy knocks off its head.

Amy returns the spectacles to Rory, and the Doctor explains that it should be possibe to bring two points in Amy's timestream together bringing her out of the then and into the now. But Amy does not want to help. If the Doctor rescues young Amy then the old Amy will cease to exist. Rory is left to choose which Amy he wants. Using the magnifying glass Rory is able to see the young Amy sobbing. The old Amy refuses to help the young Amy. Using the sonic screwdriver Rory is able to project the magnifying glass in to the past so both Amy's can see each other.

Young Amy asks old Amy to think about Rory. Old Amy named her handbot Rory - and not the Doctor. Young Amy convinces old Amy to help - for Rory's sake. Old Amy asks Rory to take her as well - so both Amy's will be in the TARDIS. The Doctor agrees that the TARDIS could sustain the paradox.

The Doctor asks both Amys to think a single thought that will bind them together. As Rory follows the Doctor's instructions with the temporal engines both Amys think one thouht: Macarena. Both Amys are brough in to the same timestream with Rory. Temporal feedback affects Rory's spectacles and the TARDIS. The link with the TARDIS is broken, leaving Rory and the Amys to find their own way back. More handbots arrive and sirens start as they make their way.

The TARDIS is in the gallery, but it is locked. Old Amy is able to open the door, but the handbots continue towards them. Old Amy starts flighting the handbots. Rory shorts out one of the handbots, but Amy is touched and the anesthetic knocks her out. Rory carries her in to the TARDIS, leaving old Amy. Old Amy runs for the TARDIS, but the Doctor closes the door before she can get in. The Doctor says the paradox is too massive - there cannot be two Amys in the TARDIS - and tells Rory to choose which Amy he wants.

Old Amy realises how much she enjoyed being the young Amy, and tells Rory to not to let her in the TARDIS. She isn't ready to die. More handbots appear and touch old Amy. She goes to sleep from the anesthetic as the TARDIS dematerialises.

Regular Cast

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

Guest Cast

  • Check-in girl: Josie Taylor
  • Voice of Interface: Imelda Staunton
Uncredited:
  • Double for the Doctor: Matthew Humphries, Andy Jones
  • Handbots: Barbara Fadden, Naomi Berners, Louise Bowen, Nathalie Cuzner, Victoria Thomas, Astrid Hall
  • Double for old Amy: Louise Bowen
  • Stunt Handbot: Belinda McGinley, Stephanie Carey
  • Dead Handbot: Louise Bowen
  • Rorybot: Nathalie Cuzner
  • Double for young/old Amy: Rhiannon Ward
  • Voice of the Handbots: Stephen Bracken-Keogh (credited in the Radio Times)

Original broadcast on the BBC

Channel Title Date Viewers Rating
BBC 1 (HD) 10. The Girl Who Waited Saturday, September 10, 2011 7:15 PM - 8:00 PM 7.60M 85

Click here to show repeat broadcasts on the BBC

Studios

  • Upper Boat Studios: Studio 5
  • Upper Boat Studios: Studio 6
  • Upper Boat Studios: Studios 1 + 2

Outside Locations

  • Dyffryn Gardens, St. Nicholas, Vale Of Glamorgan
  • Johnsey Estates, Mamhilad Park Industrial Estate South, Pontypool
  • Millennium Centre, Bute Place, Cardiff Bay
  • Uskmouth Power Station, West Nash Road, Newport