Doctor Who/The Unquiet Dead

The Unquiet Dead
Season 27, Episode 3
Airdate	April 9, 2005
Production Number	NCFR030S
Written by	Mark Gatiss
Directed by	Euros Lyn
← 27x02 The End of the World	27x04 → Aliens of London (1)
Doctor Who — Season Twenty-Seven

The Unquiet Dead is the third episode of the twenty-seventh season of Doctor Who, and the seven hundred twenty-second episode overall.

Guest Stars: Alan David (Gabriel Sneed), Huw Rhys (Redpath), Jennifer Hill (Mrs. Peace), Eve Myles (Gwyneth), Simon Callow (Charles Dickens), Wayne Cater (Stage Manager), Meic Povey (Driver), Zoe Thorne (The Gelth)

Plot Overview

The Doctor and Rose travel back to 1869, where they discover that the dead are coming back to life and walking the streets of Cardiff. Accompanied by Charles Dickens, they track down the source of the mystery: an open rift, located under the local morgue. There, they discover that the dead are being possessed by alien lifeforms called the Gelth...but after they offer to help the dying race, they find that not everything is as it seems.

Notes

• Time and Space: Christmas Eve, 1869, Cardiff, Wales, Earth

"Bad Wolf"

• Gwyneth looks into Rose's mind and sees "The Big Bad Wolf".

Trivia

Allusions and References

• Barbarella was a French comic book, made into a movie in 1968, about a young woman named Barbarella who travels around the galaxy having adventures - many of which involve sex.
• The Doctor clamis to have seen The Fall of Troy. Troy was the city at the center of the Trojan War, the greatest conflict in Greek mythology. Fought between the Greeks and Trojans, the war lasted for ten years. The city of Troy was impenetrable, until the Greeks came up with a plan that would enable get a few men through the gates. They built a giant wooden horse, secured a few men inside, and offered it as a gift upon their "defeat". After the Trojans brought the wooden horse into their city and went to bed, the men hidden inside it climbed out of the hidden compartment and opened the gates to allow the Greek army into the city. Many Trojans were killed in the first hour of the attack, and Troy fell.
• The Boston Tea Party took place on December 16, 1773, and was an act of protest by the American colonists against Great Britain. Angered by Great Britain's decision to tax the colonies without allowing them representation, the colonists responded by boarding three British ships delivering tea to Boston and dumped 342 crates of tea into the harbor. This was one of the acts that lead to the American Revolution.

Quotes

• Mr. Sneed: The stiffs are getting lively again.

• Rose Tyler: You can go back and see days that are dead and gone 100,000 sunsets ago. No wonder you never stay still.

• The Doctor: Hold on! Where do you thnk you're going?
  Rose Tyler: 1860.
  The Doctor: Go out there dressed like that? You'll start a riot, Barbarella!

• The Doctor: You look beautiful! Considering.
  Rose Tyler: Considering what?
  The Doctor: That you're human!

• The Doctor: I'm the Doctor, by the way.
  Charles Dickens: Doctor? You look more like a navvy.
  The Doctor: What's wrong with this jumper?

• The Doctor: I trusted you. I pitied you.
  The Gelth: We don't want your pity!

• Rose Tyler: But I can't die. Tell me I can't! I haven't even been born yet! It's impossible for me to die! Isn't it?
  The Doctor: I'm sorry.

• Rose Tyler: But it's 1869. How can I die now?
  The Doctor: Time isn't a straight line. It can twist into any shape. You can be born in the 20th century and die in the 19th, and it's all my fault. I brought you here.
  Rose Tyler: It's not your fault. I wanted to come.
  The Doctor: What about me? I saw the fall of Troy. World War Five. I pushed boxes as the Boston Tea Party. Now I'm going to die in a dungeon...in Cardiff!

• The Doctor: I'm so glad I met you.

• Charles Dickens: I hope...Oh, Lord. I hope that this theory will be validated soon...if not immediately.

• Charles Dickens: "There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Even for you, Doctor.

• The Doctor: Right then, Charlie boy. I've just got to go into my...shed.

• Charles Dickens: I don't understand. In what way is this goodbye? Where are you going?
  The Doctor: You'll see. In the shed.

• Charles Dickens: Answer me this. Who are you?
  The Doctor: Just a friend. Passing through.

• Charles Dickens: My books. Doctor, do they last?
  The Doctor: Oh, yes.
  Charles Dickens: For how long?
  The Doctor: Forever!

• Charles Dickens: In the box? Both of you?
  The Doctor: Down boy.