Aliens of London (31 Mar. 2006)

The Doctor returns Rose to her own time - well, sort of - but her family reunion is ruined when a spaceship crashes in the middle of London. What is the origin of the spaceship, and where has the Prime Minister gone in this time of crisis?

Director:

Keith Boak

Writer:

Russell T. Davies

Stars:

Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper, Camille Coduri

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Christopher Eccleston	...	Doctor Who
Billie Piper	...	Rose Tyler
Camille Coduri	...	Jackie Tyler
Corey Doabe	...	Spray Painter
Ceris Jones	...	Policeman
Jack Tarlton	...	Reporter Tom Hitchingson
Lachele Carl	...	Reporter
Fiesta Mei Ling	...	Ru
Basil Chung	...	Bau
Matt Baker	...	Himself
Andrew Marr	...	Himself
Rupert Vansittart	...	General Asquith
David Verrey	...	Joseph Green
Navin Chowdhry	...	Indra Ganesh
Penelope Wilton	...	Harriet Jones

Storyline

The Doctor and Rose return to present day London where she finds that she hasn't been away for the 12 hours she thought had gone by, but 12 months. Her mother had been searching for her frantically, having filed a report with the police and putting posters with her photo on every lamp post. To their amazement, an alien spacecraft crashes in the Thames and Earth has it's first contact with extra-terrestrial beings. The Prime Minister has vanished however and those in charge are not what they seem to be. Working with the only Member of Parliament who seems to be in London, Rose and the Doctor battle a race of alien beings, the Slitheen, who want to destroy the Earth and sell if off, piece by piece.

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Plot Keywords:

political satire | 10 downing street | fantasy episode

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Family | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 March 2006 (USA)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

45 min 45 min (50 episodes)

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The UFO cake made on the television show is made with jelly babies.

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Goofs

The close-up shots of the Palace of Westminster clock tower (a.k.a. "Big Ben"), as it is destroyed by an alien ship crashing into it, show the clock faces back-to-front. This is because the director wanted the ship to move across the frame the other way.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[the TARDIS materializes on the Powell Estate, and the Doctor and Rose step out]
Rose Tyler: How long have I been gone?
The Doctor: Twelve hours.
[They both laugh]
Rose Tyler: Oooh! Right, I won't be long, I'm just gonna see my mum.
The Doctor: What're you going to tell her?
Rose Tyler: I don't know! I've been to the year 5 billion... and only been gone, what, 12 hours?
[the Doctor gives something between a laugh and a snort]
Rose Tyler: No, I'll just tell her I've spent the night at Shareen's. See you later!
[...]

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Connections

Featured in Doctor Who Confidential: The New World of Who (2006)

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Soundtracks

"Doctor Who Theme"
(uncredited)
Written by Ron Grainer
Arranged by Murray Gold
Performed by BBC National Orchestra of Wales

User Reviews

Something For No One

You can just imagine Russell T Davies writing Aliens Of London /World War 3 with the explicit reasoning that it would contain something that would appeal to everyone watching . Unfortunately there's the very real danger that RTD has written something that will appeal to no one and just as bad it's at this point we start to see how much of a problem he has in creating a coherent plot structure

The story starts with a pre title sequence which has no bearing on the rest of the story - The Doctor has returned Rose to her London housing estate but the problem is that a whole year has passed since she left at the end of the first episode . Cut to her being questioned by the police as to whether she's been having a " sexual relationship " with this man known only as The Doctor . Considering Rose is 19 and has joined The Doctor of her own free will - And let's not forget she phoned her mother letting her know she's all right in End Of The World

• you'll be puzzled as to why so much time is taken up with subplot .

Was it just written so RTD could use the phrase " sexual relationship " ?

But it gets worse because the Slitheen arrive on Earth and they use peoples skin to disguise themselves as humans or rather human British politicians ( A contradiction in terms ? ) in order to start WW3 and in using someones skin there's a gas exchange which leads to squeaking noises which leads to a classic terrible line : " Do you mind not farting while I'm saving the planet ? " Very clever Russell I musn't say and just to prove this isn't puerile childish nonsense RTD introduces satire involving tongue in cheek references to the search for WMD in Iraq but for a discerning viewer one can't help wishing Davies had concentrated on what " Attack plan delta " is