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"The Unquiet Dead"
Series Doctor Who
Season 1/27, Episode 3
Doctor Who 2005 1x03 001
Air date April 9th, 2005 (UK)
March 24th, 2006 (US)
Writers Mark Gatiss
Director Euros Lyn
Producers Phil Collinson; Russell T. Davies; Julie Gardner; Helen Vallis; Mal Young
Starring Christopher Eccleston; Billie Piper
Episode guide
Previous
"The End of the World"
Next
"Aliens of London"

"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!

Cast[]

Starring[]

Actor Role
Christopher Eccleston The Doctor
Billie Piper Rose Tyler

Guest Starring[]

Actor Role
Alan David Gabriel Sneed
Huw Rhys Redpath
Jennifer Hill Mrs. Peace
Eve Myles Gwyneth
Simon Callow Charles Dickens

Co-Starring[]

Actor Role
Wayne Cater Stage manager
Meic Povey Driver
Zoe Thorne The Gelth

Notes & Trivia[]

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!

....

....

  • 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.

....

See also[]

Media

The World of Doctor Who

Doctor Who miscellaneous

External Links[]

Series links

Episode links

Keywords[]

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


Doctor Who logo 2
This article pertains to an episode from series 1 of the 2005 Doctor Who revival series.
See the Doctor Who (2005)/Season 1 episodes category.
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