Doctor Who: The Unquiet Dead

"The Unquiet Dead" is the third episode of season one of the 2005 relaunch of the popular British television series Doctor. Including the canonical 1996 film, it is the 698th episode of the Doctor Who franchise overall. The episode was directed by Euros Lyn with a script written by Mark Gatiss. It first aired in the United Kingdom on BBC One on Saturday, April 9th, 2005. It first aired in the United States on Syfy on Friday, March 24th, 2006.

In this episode, the Doctor and Rose Tyler bring the TARDIS to the Victorian Era, where they meet famed British author Charles Dickens. They also run afoul of a disembodied alien race called the Gelth, who can only maintain their existence by possessing the bodies of the recently departed. Aliens, time travel, Christmas, Dickens & zombies, oh my!

Notes & Trivia

 * Doctor Who was created by Sydney Newman, C.E. Webber, and Donald Wilson.


 * "WD: The Unquiet Dead" and "The Unquiet Dead" both serve as shortcuts to this page.


 * This episode is included on disc one of the Doctor Who: The Complete First Series DVD collection.


 * This episode had a viewership of 8.86 million people upon its initial broadcast on BBC One.


 * Actor Michael Povey is credited as Meic Povey in this episode.


 * This is the second episode of Doctor Who directed by Euros Lyn. He previously directed "The End of the World". His next episode is "Tooth and Claw".


 * This is the first episode of Doctor Who written by Mark Gatiss. His next episode is "The Idiot's Lantern".


 * The setting for this episode is Cardiff, Wales in December of the year 1869.


 * The character of Gwyneth is an ancestor of Gwen Cooper, who later becomes a key figure on the spin-off series Torchwood. Both characters are played by actress Eve Myles.


 * The Doctor originally intended for the TARDIS to land in 1860, but miscalculated the time-jump by nine years.


 * This is the first time in the relaunch series that the Doctor travels into the past.


 * This is the first time that the Victorian era appears on the relaunch series.


 * This is the first episode of the relaunch series to take place in Cardiff, Wales.

Allusions

 * Charles Dickens is an actual historical figure and is one of the most well-known authors and social critics of the Victorian era. He was born Charles John Huffam Dickens in Landport, Hampshire, England, on February 7th, 1812. He died on June 9th, 1870 in Kent, some six months after the events of this episode.


 * The story that Charles Dickens is reciting to the audience is A Christmas Carol, which was first written in 1843, and is one of Dickens' most famous works. The tale has been adapted for the stage and screen many times including a television movie starring Star Trek: The Next Generation and X-Men actor Patrick Stewart.


 * Charles Dickens makes reference to The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which was his final novel, and was never finished. Dickens died before completing the story, though according to this episode, he was now inspired to add some "blue eternals" to the mix.


 * Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol will become the inspiration for the "A Christmas Carol" episode of Doctor Who, which is the 2010 holiday special of the series. The special features Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, with Michael Gambon as Kazran Sardick - an analog to the Dickens character, Ebeneezer Scrooge.

Quotes

 * The Doctor: I saw the fall of Troy. World War Five. I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party. Now I'm going to die in a dungeon. In Cardiff!

....
 * Rose Tyler: How much do you get paid?
 * Gwyneth: Eight pound a year, miss.
 * Rose Tyler: How much?
 * Gwyneth: I know! I would've been happy with six.

....
 * Gwyneth: You're from London. I've seen London in drawings but never like that. All those people rushing about… half-naked, for shame. And the noise. And the metal boxes racing past. And the birds in the sky... no, no, they're metal as well. Metal birds with people in them. People are flying. And you... you've flown so far, further than anyone. The things you've seen. The darkness... the big bad wolf.

....
 * Rose Tyler: Think about it, though. Christmas 1860. It happened once. Just once, and it's... gone, it's finished. It'll never happen again. Except for you. You can go back and see days that are dead and gone, a hundred thousand sunsets ago. No wonder you never stay still
 * The Doctor: Not a bad life.
 * Rose Tyler: Better with two.

....
 * Rose Tyler: You can't let them (the Gelth) run around inside dead people!
 * The Doctor: Why not? It's just like recycling.
 * Rose Tyler: Seriously though, you can't.
 * The Doctor: Seriously though, I can.

Keywords
1860 | 1869 | 19th century | Alien life forms | Cardiff | Christmas | Corpse | Funeral home | Possession | TARDIS | Time travel | Wales | Zombies