katherine_b (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
katherine_b) wrote2009-12-29 06:46 am
katherine_b) wrote2009-12-29 06:46 am
Entry tags:
Transcript for The End of Time Part I
Ah, the beginning of the End (of Time). I really enjoyed writing this, far more than Waters of Mars, I think because it had so many moments of humour in it (although some of them felt a little displaced), and also because DT’s acting and Bernard Cribbin’s playing of Wilf were so incredible. Plus they didn’t all keep yelling over the top of each other, so I didn’t have to listen to the same scene six or seven times to understand it.
Also many thanks to Sonic Biro for the use of their images, of which there are a lot, so this is really not dial-up friendly!
Here we go then!
Character list:
N – Narrator/Lord President
D – The Doctor
WM – Wilfred Mott
OS – Ood Sigma
OE – Ood Elder
DN – Donna Noble
SN – Sylvia Noble
M – The Master
LS – Lucy Saxon
JN – Joshua Naismith
AN – Abigail Naismith
MT – Miss Trefusis
MH: Minnie Hooper
WK: Winston Katusi
OB: Oliver Barnes
ST: Shaun Temple
[Traditional opening of the shot zooming in to a planet, in this case the moon, similar to the opening of Rose and The Runaway Bride. The shot then passes over the moon to the Earth.]
N: It is said that in the final days of planet Earth, everyone had bad dreams. To the west of the north of that world, the human race did gather in celebration of a pagan rite to banish the cold and the dark.
[The shot zooms in on a star atop a Christmas tree, moving down to show an eight-piece Salvation Army brass band with people walking past and Christmas decorations in the shop windows. People are carrying bags of shopping. On the other side of the street, a Father Christmas is letting a child choose a present out of his sack.]
N: Each and every one of those people had dreamt of the terrible things to come. But they forgot.
[A man moves around the crowd. It is Wilfred Mott, Donna Noble’s grandfather.]
N: Because they must. They forgot their nightmares of fire and war and insanity. They forgot.
[Wilf stops walking and seems to stretch a little as he looks at the musicians.]
N: Except for one.
[The camera shoots towards Wilf’s eye and then shows a sepia-coloured image of the Master, unshaven and messy, laughing maniacally. Wilf stops, reaches for his forehead for an instant, his eyes wide, and then shakes his head as if trying to remove the image.
He waves at a few people, looking wary as he walks towards a shop and then turns in the direction of a church, hearing a child’s choir singing. Entering the church, he removes his red beanie as a gesture of respect, staring up at the stained glass windows and the choir. He walks hesitatingly down the central aisle, staring at the window, which seems to show the image of a blue box. Wilf stares hard, disbelieving, trying to understand.]
The Woman [calm]: They call it the legend of the blue box.
[The woman is dressed in a white jacket with pearls around her neck and in her ears. Her hair is brown, greying slightly in front. She looks to be in her late 60s.]
WM [startled, speaking fast, clearly nervous]: Oh, I’ve never been in here before. I’m not one for churches. Too cold.
The Woman: This was the site of a convent. Back in the 1300s. It’s said a demon fell from the sky.
[The choir falls silent. Wilf has turned and is looking at the woman.]
The Woman: Then a man appeared, a man in a blue box. They called him the sainted physician. He smote the demon and then disappeared.
[Wilf is nodding, trying to follow this. When she stops talking, he turns to look back at the window.]
WM: There’s a bit of a co-incidence.
The Woman [shaking her head]: It’s said there’s no such thing as co-incidence. [laughs a little] Who knows? Perhaps he’s coming back.
WM: Oh, that would make my Christmas!
[He turns back to find the space behind him empty. The woman is gone. He turns, looking, trying to find her, coming back to the image of the TARDIS in the stained glass, getting another flash of the nightmare of the laughing Master.]
[Titles]
[A snowy, familiar landscape. The Oodsphere. The TARDIS materialises and the Doctor steps out, dressed in his brown suit and duster – and a bright pink plastic lei, sunglasses, and a straw cowboy hat.]
D [buoyant]: Ah, now sorry, there you are.
[Ood Sigma is standing in the lightly falling snow a short distance away from the TARDIS.]
D: So, where were we? I was summoned wasn't I? Ood in the snow calling to me. Well, I didn't just exactly come straight here, had a bit of fun you know, travelled about, bit of this and that, got into trouble, you know me, but it WAS brilliant. I saw the phosphorous carousel of the great Mingelinga Stat, saved a planet from the red carnivorous Maw, named a galaxy Alison. [brightly] Got married, that was a mistake. Good queen Bess and let me tell you, her nickname is no longer... ahem, anyway… What do you want?
OS: You should not have delayed.
D [nodding]: Last time I was here, you said my song would be ending soon. And I'm in no hurry for that.
OS: You will come with me.
D: Hold on, better lock the TARDIS. [fishes in pocket and then points a car remote back at the TARDIS and the light on top flashes twice] You see, like a car. I, I locked it like a car. Like, it's funny. No? Little bit? Blimey, try to make an Ood laugh.
[The Doctor and Ood Sigma are walking across the snowy ground.]
D: So how old are you now Ood Sigma?
[No response, but the Doctor’s attention is drawn by massive sculpted towers in rock, not dissimilar to the towers on Gallifrey, but in black and white, not silver and orange. Figures of Ood can be seen walking around.]
D [impressed]: Ah! Magnificent! [elbows Ood Sigma to get a response from him] Oh come on, that is! Splendid. You've achieved all this in how long?
OS: One hundred years.
D [worried]: Then we've got a problem. 'Cos all this is way too fast, not just the city, I mean your ability to call me, reaching all the way back to the 21st century. Something's accelerating your species way beyond normal.
OS: And the mind of the Ood is troubled.
D: Why? What's happened?
OS: Every night Doctor, every night we have bad dreams.
[The Doctor frowns as a voice becomes audible. An Ood with a large brain is sitting in front of pots and tubs in a circle of Ood in a darkened underground room.]
OE [waving over a pot that seems to contain incense]: Returning, returning, returning, it is slowly returning, through the dark and the fire and the blood, always returning, returning to this world. It is returning. And he is returning. And they are returning. But too late. Too Late. Far too late. He has come.
OS: Sit with the elder of the Ood and share the dreaming.
[The Doctor, now divested of his lei, hat and sunglasses, crosses to the circle and sits down in an empty space. He is clearly uncomfortable.]
D: So. Right. Hello.
Ood [many speaking in unison]: You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join.
[The Ood place their hindbrains into their laps and link hands. The Doctor, still looking anxious, links hands with those on either side of him. He inhales deeply, as if struck by something, and sees the flash of the Master laughing, as in Wilf’s dream. He inhales again and drops their hands as if he’s been burned.]
OE: He comes to us. Every night. I think all the peoples of the Universe dream of him now.
D [desperate]: That man is dead.
OE: There is yet more. Join us.
[The Doctor inhales again, frowning deeply, as if he knows this will be unpleasant, but takes the hands of those either side of him.]
OE: Events are taking shape. So many years ago and yet changing the now. There is a man.
[The Master’s laugh is audible.]
OE: So scared.
[Shot of Wilf sitting at the table, his hands linked in front of him, looking worried.]
D [anxious]: Wilfred! Is he all right? [desperate] What about Donna? Is she safe?
OE: You should not have delayed. For the lines of convergence are being drawn across the Earth. Even now, the King is in his counting house.
[Shot of Joshua and Abigail Naismith, standing as if posing for photos, looking very satisfied.]
D [confused]: I don’t know who they are.
OE: And there is another. The most lonely of all. Lost and forgotten.
[Shot of Lucy Saxon in a cell lit by blue light. She seems to be wearing only underwear, her hair drawn back from her face, breathing heavily.]
D: The Master’s wife.
OS: We see so much, but understand little. The woman in the cage, who is she?
D [speaking with difficulty]: She… She was… It wasn’t her fault. She was… The Master, he’s a Time Lord, like me. [seeing that they don’t understand] I can show you!
[He links hands more firmly with his neighbours. The OE closes his eyes as if receiving the Doctor’s thoughts. The image shows the Master sliding across the floor from The Sound of Drums.]
D: The Master took the name of Saxon. He married a human, a woman called Lucy. And he corrupted her.
[The scenes showed to the Ood depict the Master directing the Toclafane to kill the American President. She celebrates the death with him. The Toclafane are shown swarming down to take over the Earth.]
D: She stood at his side while he conquered the Earth. I reversed everything he’d done so it never even happened. But Lucy Saxon remembered.
[Shot of Lucy killing the Master in Last of the Time Lords.]
D: I held him in my arms. I burned his body! The Master is dead!
OE: And yet you did not see.
[Shot of the Doctor walking away from the funeral pyre.]
D [confused]: What’s that?
[A hand picks up the ring the Master had worn from the ashes. The camera pans up to show an older-looking woman, one we will come to know as Miss Trefusis, cradling the ring in her hands.]
D [horrified]: Part of him survived.
[He tries to get up, panic-stricken.]
D: I have to go!
[The hands hold him, forcing him back to the ground.]
OE: But something more is happening, Doctor. The Master is part of a greater design.
[The Doctor is breathing heavily, looking more and more frightened.]
OE: Because a shadow is falling over creation. Something vast is stirring in the dark.
[An Ood looks up and now its eyes are red, as are all the other Ood in the circle. The Doctor is truly terrified now.]
OE: The Ood have gained this power to see through time. Because time is bleeding. Shapes of things once lost are moving through the veil. And these events from years ago threaten to destroy this future. And the present. And the past.
D [angry]: What do you mean?
OE: This is what we have seen, Doctor. The darkness heralds only one thing. The end of time itself.
[The Master is shown laughing. The Doctor leaps up and gets away from the circle of red-eyed Ood. The Doctor runs through the darkened caves and out into the snowy landscape.]
OE [no longer red-eyed]: Events that have happened are happening now.
[He breathes in more of the incense as the Doctor runs back through the snow to the TARDIS. A key is shown sliding into a lock and the door of Lucy’s cell opens. Miss Trefusis enters the cell, followed by several guards. She nods at Lucy, who stands and moves slowly out of the room. The Doctor remotely unlocks the TARDIS and throws himself inside.
The Doctor flings himself around the console, which shoots showers of sparks, his desperation obvious (although he has found time to remove his duster).
Lucy is brought out into a large room, where a woman in a dark dress is waiting. Miss Trefusis takes a place beside the Governor.]
Governor: Mrs Saxon, let me introduce myself. I’m your new governor. I’m afraid the previous Governor met with something of an accident – which took quite some time to arrange.
[Lucy looks around, frightened.]
Governor: Miss Trefusis, if you will prepare.
[Miss Trefusis nods and does something in the middle of the room before returning to her former position.]
Governor: You kept your silence well, Mrs Saxon. Your trial was held in secret, with no jury. So no one knows who Harold Saxon was. Where he came from.
[Lucy is looking around, her expression terrified.]
Governor: Why you killed him. Make her kneel.
[Lucy seems about to break down in tears as a guard grabs her shoulder and shoves her to her knees.]
Governor [coldly, stiltedly]: There are those of us who never lost faith. And in his wisdom, Harold Saxon prepared for this moment.
[Miss Trefusis looks smug as she walks forward.]
Governor: He knew that he might die. And he made us ready. Tonight, Mrs Saxon, he returns!
[Miss Trefusis holds out the green ring with Gallifreyan symbols as the Master’s laugh can be heard. Lucy gasps at the sight of the ring.
Wilf is staring out of the window as lighting crackles through the sky. The television is on in the background, but the picture suddenly changes to a woman. The woman he saw at the church. The sound, however continues. The picture fades back into static without Wilf noticing.
Miss Trefusis puts the ring into a dish and begins pouring liquids into the dish.]
Governor: As it was written in the secret books of Saxon, these are the potions of life.
LS [desperate]: Listen to me, whatever he told you, you’ve got no idea what you’re doing!
Governor: Miss Trefusis, the catalyst.
LS: What are you doing? [as Miss Trefusis comes closer] Leave me alone! Don’t!
[Miss Trefusis uses Lucy’s ponytail to pull her head back as she screams. A tissue is wiped across Lucy’s mouth as she sobs and screams.]
Governor: You were Saxon’s wife! You bore his imprint!
[Miss Trefusis presses the tissue to Lucy’s mouth.]
Governor: That’s all we needed. The final biometrical signature.
[Lucy is released and the cloth is carried over to the bowl containing the ring.]
LS: You can’t bring him back. [panicked] You can’t!
[The tissue, bearing the imprint of Lucy’s lipstick (in prison? Really?) is dropped into the bowl and there’s an explosion. The Governor looks frightened and staggers backwards as light beams from the bowl. The outside of the building is show – the prison is called Broadfell. Lightning flashes outside and into the bowl.]
LS: I’m begging you – stop this now before it’s too late!
Governor: We give ourselves that Saxon might live!
[Light begins to glow from the stomachs of each of the people in the room and they drop to their knees, their hands spread as if in supplication or prayer. The light is drawn into the central glowing vortex that comes up from the bowl.]
LS: Can’t you see – he lied to you! His name isn’t even Harold Saxon!
Governor [ecstatic]: And this was written also! For his name is the Master!
[The light forms into the shape of a man.]
M: Never. Never. Never. Never! Never dying! Never dying!
[Lucy is staring at him as he glares at her.]
M: Never dying! Never dying!
[As the TARDIS flies through the vortex, the Master continues to repeat the phrase, his form strengthening.
The Doctor’s eyes widen as if hearing the words, but he is distracted by an explosion from the console.
The Master holds out his hands to his wife. The woman behind Lucy is starting to look afraid.]
M: Oh, Lucy! Sweet Lucy Saxon! My ever faithful – did the widow’s kiss bring me back to life?
LS: You’re killing them!
M: Oh, let them die! They’re just a first! The whole stupid stinking human disgrace can fall into the pit.
[Lucy looks horrified.]
M [holding his hands to his ears]: Can’t you hear it, Lucy? The noise! The drumbeat! Louder than ever before. The drums. The never-ending drums. [ecstatic] Oh, I have missed them!
[Lucy gets to her feet.]
LS: But no one knew you better than I did. I knew you’d come back!
[The Master is looking wary, almost angry.]
LS: And all this time your disciples have prepared! But so have we!
[She turns and grabs a bottle from the guard behind her.]
M [wary]: What are you doing?
LS: The secret books of Saxon spoke of the potions of life. And I was never that bright.
[The Master begins to look afraid.]
LS: But my family had contacts. People who were clever enough to calculate the opposite!
M [terrified]: Don’t you dare!
[She removes the cork.]
M [screaming in rage]: I’m ordering you, Lucy! You will obey me!
LS: Till death do us part, Harry!
M: No!
[He screams as she throws the contents of the bottle towards him. A massive explosion rocks the room.
The Doctor runs out of the TARDIS and stops, staring at the remains of the Broadfell prison with a police tape around it. He looks down at the singed sign that lies on the ground with bricks and rubble on top of it and then stares around again.
Joshua Naismith is watching news footage of the burning Broadfell prison. The door opens and Abigail enters.]
JN: I think we might be in luck, darling. It’s the footage from Broadfell prison the night it burned down. Take a look at this.
[A human-shaped form seems to run through the flames.]
AN: Someone survived. Do you think it’s him?
[Joshua looks up at her without speaking.]
AN: Oh, that would be such a Christmas present!
[Joshua chuckles and then stands up, chucking Abigail under the chin.]
JN: You just leave it to Daddy.
[Everyone leaves the room. The doors are opened for Joshua and he strides into another room.]
JN: Ladies and gentlemen, it seems help is at hand. Christmas is cancelled. Prepare the Gate!
[As Abigail smiles in satisfaction, people around the room in lab-coats begin to work. Symbols dance across a screen. A young woman, Addams, casts a sideways glance at Joshua as she continues to work. A tall, thin man, Rossiter, turns to look at a computer readout. On the other side of the room, a large metallic object, about twenty feet tall, sparkles with light.
Wilf, wearing two pairs of antlers, goes to the front door of the house and looks up the stairs, whistling.]
WM: Just goin’ down the Lion for a little snifter! Christmas drinks! Right, tata love!
[He pulls out his mobile phone and dials.]
WM: Paratroop 1 to paratroop 2. We are mobilised. I repeat, we are mobilised. Rendezvous 1300 hours. Over and out.
[He hangs up and sneaks down the driveway. A large bus, driven by Oliver Barnes, turns onto his street and he waves it down.]
WM: Come on! [chuckles] Wayhay, shake a leg! [does a little dance] Yayhay.
[The bus pulls up and he continues to dance, giving the bonnet a hip bump. The driver, Oliver Barnes, and everyone else on board laughs and applauds.]
WM: Right, carry on then. Off we go! [as he gets on and the bus pulls away] Everybody all right? Who’s got the chocolates then? Whoa!
[Wilf is standing at the front of the bus, giving directions.]
WM: Right, he’s tall and then, wears a brown suit, maybe a blue suit. He’s got a long, brown coat. Modern sort of hair – all sticky-uppy. Right? Oh, and on page two, be on the lookout for a police box.
[Wilf has drawn a very accurate picture of the TARDIS.]
WM: Exactly like the old ones.
[An elderly woman in a red coat, Minny Hooper, interrupts.]
MH: I got locked inside one of them. August bank holiday 1962.
[The man across the aisle, Winston Katusi, leans over to her.]
WK: Were you misbehaving, Minnie?
MH [cheekily]: I certainly was! Wayhey!
[Everyone chuckles until Wilf regains order.]
WM: Yeah, yeah, All right, all right, now listen. This is important. We have got to find him. Right, so phone around, phone everybody. [looking at woman seated behind him.] Sally, will you get on to the bridge club? Right, Winston, you try the old boys. Bobby, I want you to ring the Skiffleband. Right? Between us, we got the city covered.
MH: The Silver Cloak?
WM: Yeah!
WK: Who is he then? This Doctor?
WM [shaking head, suddenly quiet and sad]: No, I can’t tell you that. I swear. [his eyes fill with tears] Yeah, but answer me this. You been having bad dreams? All of you? Dreams you can’t remember?
[Everyone looks confused, as if trying to remember.]
WM: Yeah, well that’s why we need him. We need the Doctor. More than ever.
[On a building site, where wood is burning in an old oil barrel, two men are standing at a catering van.]
Woman: Onions with that?
Man: Oh, yeah, I love them! [turns to the young man in the queue behind him] What about you, ginger? Hey? Onions?
[The young man shrugs.]
Man [turning back to woman, apologetic]: He don’t say much. [as he takes his meal] Give him onions. He’s down from Huntersfield.
[A man in a black hoodie is shown walking past the fire and towards the van.]
Woman: Well, you look after ‘im! And don’t forget tomorrow night, Christmas broadcast, President Obama. He’s promised to end the recession. [as she hands the young man his food] Bad times will soon be over, Ginger!
Man: Well, season’s greetings to you!
Woman: And you! Happy Christmas!
[The man in the black hoodie stops, turning to watch the two men walk away.]
Woman: Now what can we get you sir?
[He turns – it’s the Master.]
M: Everything!
[He flips off the hoodie and gives her a weird smile.]
M: I am so hungry!
[He laughs as the woman begins to look concerned.
Elsewhere on the site, the two men are eating. They are sitting on old car seats beside another drum with a fire in it.]
Man: They’re saying that the President’s got this grand plan. He’s gonna save the world with some big financial scheme. Hmm, whatever it is, I bet it won’t reach you and me.
[The Master drops onto the ground behind them, eating voraciously at the roll he’s been given. The two men start and look up.]
Man: Ooh, someone’s lively on his feet.
M [noticing them watching him]: Starving.
[He eats at superhuman speed. The two men stare at him in confusion. The burger is gone in seconds.]
Man: Now, you see, that’s what you don’t wanna do. Eat it all at once. [to the Master] Tempting, I know. [as the Master licks the paper] But if you make it last, it can last all day.
M [hungrily]: More! With cheese and chips! And meat and gravy. And cream and beer. And pork and beef and fat and great big chunks of hot, wet red.
Man: Good for you, mate. [to younger man] Maybe we’d better be going.
Ginger [to the Master]: You look like that bloke. Harold Saxon.
[The Master stops licking the paper.]
Ginger: The one that went mad. [laughing at the absurdity of the suggestion]
M [also laughing, holds up a finger]: Now, isn’t that funny? Isn’t that just the best thing of all? [waving at his hair] The master of disguise. Stuck looking like the old Prime Minister. [laughing] I can’t hide anywhere. He can see me. [the smile drops from his face, becoming dangerous] He can smell me. Can’t let him smell me! Doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, stop the smell! The stink! The filthy, filthy stink!
[The man and Ginger are worried now, becoming anxious about this weird man.]
Man [briskly]: Ginger, come with me!
[They scramble to their feet. The Master continues to wipe his mouth as they begin to run.]
Man: Right now!
[The Master puts out a hand and they stop dead.]
M: But it’s funny! Don’t you see? Look at me! I’m splitting my sides!
[The stare at him and a strange blue light flickers over his face, revealing his skeleton.]
M: I am hilarious! I am the funniest thing in the whole wide world! [finishes with a roar]
[The two men scream and begin to run. The Master watches them go before he gets to his feet and ambles forward, his head tilted to one side.]
Man: Run! God help us! There’s this man!
[The stop short in front of the catering van to find that the occupants have been turned into skeletons.]
M [screaming]: Dinner time!
[The word echoes and then he leaps impossibly high into the air, diving headfirst at them, his mouth open. There are screams and a loud bang, and then silence before the cries of birds can be heard.
The Doctor stands high on a cliff overlooking a rubbish dump. He sniffs for something.
There is a sound like a metal bar being dragged along the ground.
The Master is sitting on the rocky ground, his hoodie once more over his head. He flips it back and also begins to sniff. He picks up an iron bar and begins banging on the side of a red oil drum. Four knocks. He does it again and the Doctor hears, turning in the direction of the sound.
As the Doctor starts to run, the Master beats out the pattern twice more, getting faster each time, before throwing away the bar and also beginning to run.
At the sight of the familiar shape of the Master on top of a high hill of gravel, the Doctor stops. The Master is facing towards him and bellows, an incoherent almost animalistic roar. He leaps high into the air again, disappearing onto the other side of the hill. The Doctor runs after him and they finally stop again, only a short distance apart. The Master is on top of a pile of iron beams. The Doctor is on the cement ground below.
The Master begins to laugh, his form flickering into skeleton and back.]
D: Please, let me help!
[The Master looks mocking, as if this sort of thing was to be expected, but he thinks it’s pathetic.]
D: You’re burning up your own life-force!
[The Doctor runs around a pile of rusty steel bars – only to run into Wilf and his group.]
WM: Oh, by gosh, Doctor, you’re a sight for sore eyes!
D: Hey, get away!
[The Doctor leaps onto a nearby pile to look for the Master as the other members of the Silver Cloak arrive.]
WK: Did we do it? Is that him?
WM: Tall and thin. Big brown coat.
[The Doctor stares into the landscape, but the Master is gone.]
MH: The Silver Cloak. It worked! ‘Cos Wilf phoned Nettie, who phoned June. And her sister lives opposite Broadfell, and she saw the police box. And her neighbour saw this man heading east.
D: Wilfred?
WM: Yeah?
D: Have you told them who I am? You promised me!
WM: No, I just said you were a Doctor, that’s all. And might I say, sir, it is an honour to see you again.
[He salutes and the Doctor gives him a look of annoyance before saluting back with visible reluctance.]
MH [admiringly]: Oh, but you never said he was a looker! He’s gorgeous! [handing camera to Oliver Barnes] Take a photo.
OB [looking the Doctor up and down]: Not bad, eh?
[The Doctor looks taken aback and somewhat frightened.]
OB: Me next!
MH: I’m Minnie. Minnie the Menace.
[His arm goes around her as she moves to stand beside him, although his confusion is still very obvious. Her arm is around his back.]
MH: It’s a long time since I had a photo with a handsome man.
WM [as the Doctor shoots daggers at him]: Just get off him. Leave him alone!
MH [to Wilf]: Hush, you old misery! [to the Doctor] Come on, Doctor! [chucking his cheeks] Give us a smile!
[The Doctor manages an incredibly pained smile as the other members of the Silver Cloak – except for Oliver, who is taking the photo, and Wilf – gather around him.]
OB [as the camera clicks]: Hold on. [presses button] Did it flash?
[The Doctor looks around, worried about the Master.]
MH: No, there’s a blue light. Try again.
OB: One more – fingers and tongues.
D [trying to be polite, but desperate to leave]: I – I’m really kind of busy, you know.
MH: Oh, it won’t take a tick. Keep smiling!
[The Doctor sighs and gives in. Minnie’s hand moves down and pats his bum.]
D: Is that your hand, Minnie?
MH: Good boy!
[She pats him again.
The bus pulls up a suburban street and Wilf and the Doctor get out.]
WM: Come on then, here we are, hurry up! Goodbye! Right, bye!
[Everyone on the bus waves, Minnie blowing kisses at the Doctor. The Doctor looks around in confusion.]
WM: Right, over ‘ere.
D: What’s so special about this place? We’ve passed fifteen cafés on the way!
WM [chuckling]: Yeah, I know. [to people walking out] ‘Afternoon!
[The Doctor and Wilf are sitting opposite each other at a table in the café. The Doctor is sitting back in his chair, his arms folded across his chest. Wilf is leaning forward, occasionally poking the air in demonstration.]
WM: But we had some good times, didn’t we though? I mean, all those ATMOS things and planets in the sky and me with that paintgun. [gestures shooting and makes popping noise with his mouth]
[He chuckles, but the Doctor just looks wary and anxious.]
WM [hesitantly]: I keep… seeing things, Doctor. I – this face. At night.
D [warily]: Who are you?
WM [straightening, confused]: I’m Wilfred Mott.
D [shaking his head slightly]: No. People have waited hundreds of years to find me and then you manage it in a couple of hours.
WM: Well, just lucky, I s’pose.
D: No, we keep on meeting, Wilf. Over and over again. Like something’s still connecting us.
WM: Well, what’s so important about me?
D: Exactly. Why you?
[There is a pained silence. The Doctor is staring out of the window as people walk past outside, by the insignificant blue car. Then the Doctor looks back at Wilf.]
D: I’m going to die.
WM: Well, so am I, one day.
D [tearing up]: Don’t you dare!
WM [chuckles]: All right, I’ll try not to.
D [swallowing tears]: But I was told… ‘He will knock four times.’ That was a prophecy. Knock four times and then…
W [hesitantly]: Yeah, but I… thought… When I saw you before, you said your people could change, like, your whole body.
D [dismissively]: I can still die. If I’m killed before regeneration then I’m dead. [leaning forward] Even then, even if I change, it feels like dying. Everything I am dies. Some new man goes sauntering away. [lower lip trembles and he looks suddenly young and helpless] And I’m dead.
[He focuses on Wilf to see him looking out of the window.]
D: What?
[He turns to see Donna getting her keys out of her coat.]
WM [as the Doctor continues to stare, speechless]: I’m sorry, but I had to. Look, can’t you make her better?
D [eyes reddened by tears]: Stop it!
WM: No, but you’re so clever. Can’t you bring her memory back? Just go to her now! Go on, just run across the street and say hello!
D [fiercely, tears in his eyes]: If she ever remembers me, her mind will burn and she will die!
DN [to parking officer, finger held out in warning]: Don’t you touch this car!
[They both chuckle.]
D [tearfully]: She’s not changed.
WM: No. Oh [as a young man appears, carrying bags] there he is! Shaun Temple – they’re engaged! Getting married in the spring.
D: Another wedding.
WM [thoughtful]: Yeah.
D [appalled]: Hold on, she’s not going to be called ‘Noble Temple’ – it sounds like a tourist spot!
WM [slowly, waiting for a reaction]: No, it’s ‘Temple Noble’.
D: Right. [watching Donna pack the car] Is she happy? Is he nice?
WM: Yeah, he’s sweet enough. He’s a bit of a dreamer. Mind you, he’s on minimum wage, she’s earning tuppence, so all they can afford is a tiny little flat. [as Donna unlocks the car] And then sometimes I see this look on her face. Like she’s so sad. But she can’t remember why.
D [sadly]: She’s got him.
WM: She’s making do.
D [miserable]: Aren’t we all?
WM [looking at the Doctor, who is staring at Donna]: And how about you? Who’ve you got now?
D [shaking head, looking back at Wilf]: No one. Travelling alone. I thought it was better. [shrugs, agony on his face, on the verge of tears again] But I did some things – it went wrong. I need…
[He finally breaks down in tears, covering his hands with his face. Wilf leans forward, distressed.]
WM: Oh, my word!
[The Doctor fights for control, inhaling a massive breath.]
D [bitterly]: Merry Christmas!
WM [sobbing]: Yeah, and you.
[They finally chuckle.]
D: Look at us.
WM: D-don’t you see? [pointing out of the window] You need her, Doctor. I mean, look, wouldn’t she make you laugh again? Good old Donna.
[The Doctor nods again, looking towards the window as Donna’s car drives away.]
WM [hopefully]: Eh?
[The Doctor nods the tiniest bit as if unable to help agreeing.
He leaves the café, pulling on his coat, with Wilf trailing behind. His movements are strong, determined, showing no sign of the weakness his displayed earlier. Wilf stops, watching him go.]
N: And so it came to pass that the players took their final places, making ready the events that were to come.
[In a darkened room, the Master is just visible.]
N: A madman sat in his empire of dust and ashes, little knowing of the glory he would achieve.
[The Master is gnawing on a bone and suddenly looks up.
The Doctor is standing on a stony mound, looking around.]
N: While his saviour looked upon the wilderness in the hope of changing his inevitable fate.
[Joshua and Abigail Naismith sit on silver throne-like chairs and clink celebratory glasses of champagne.]
N: Far away, the idiots and fools dreamt of a shining new future, a future now doomed to never happen.
[Addams and Rossiter glance at one another.]
N: As Earth rolled onwards into night, the people of that world did sleep and shiver, somehow knowing that the dawn would bring only one thing – the final day.
[The Narrator/Lord President is shown for the first time, wearing auburn and orange robes.]
And the rest.
Also many thanks to Sonic Biro for the use of their images, of which there are a lot, so this is really not dial-up friendly!
Here we go then!
Character list:
N – Narrator/Lord President
D – The Doctor
WM – Wilfred Mott
OS – Ood Sigma
OE – Ood Elder
DN – Donna Noble
SN – Sylvia Noble
M – The Master
LS – Lucy Saxon
JN – Joshua Naismith
AN – Abigail Naismith
MT – Miss Trefusis
MH: Minnie Hooper
WK: Winston Katusi
OB: Oliver Barnes
ST: Shaun Temple
[Traditional opening of the shot zooming in to a planet, in this case the moon, similar to the opening of Rose and The Runaway Bride. The shot then passes over the moon to the Earth.]
N: It is said that in the final days of planet Earth, everyone had bad dreams. To the west of the north of that world, the human race did gather in celebration of a pagan rite to banish the cold and the dark.
[The shot zooms in on a star atop a Christmas tree, moving down to show an eight-piece Salvation Army brass band with people walking past and Christmas decorations in the shop windows. People are carrying bags of shopping. On the other side of the street, a Father Christmas is letting a child choose a present out of his sack.]
N: Each and every one of those people had dreamt of the terrible things to come. But they forgot.
[A man moves around the crowd. It is Wilfred Mott, Donna Noble’s grandfather.]
N: Because they must. They forgot their nightmares of fire and war and insanity. They forgot.
[Wilf stops walking and seems to stretch a little as he looks at the musicians.]
N: Except for one.
[The camera shoots towards Wilf’s eye and then shows a sepia-coloured image of the Master, unshaven and messy, laughing maniacally. Wilf stops, reaches for his forehead for an instant, his eyes wide, and then shakes his head as if trying to remove the image.
He waves at a few people, looking wary as he walks towards a shop and then turns in the direction of a church, hearing a child’s choir singing. Entering the church, he removes his red beanie as a gesture of respect, staring up at the stained glass windows and the choir. He walks hesitatingly down the central aisle, staring at the window, which seems to show the image of a blue box. Wilf stares hard, disbelieving, trying to understand.]
The Woman [calm]: They call it the legend of the blue box.
[The woman is dressed in a white jacket with pearls around her neck and in her ears. Her hair is brown, greying slightly in front. She looks to be in her late 60s.]
WM [startled, speaking fast, clearly nervous]: Oh, I’ve never been in here before. I’m not one for churches. Too cold.
The Woman: This was the site of a convent. Back in the 1300s. It’s said a demon fell from the sky.
[The choir falls silent. Wilf has turned and is looking at the woman.]
The Woman: Then a man appeared, a man in a blue box. They called him the sainted physician. He smote the demon and then disappeared.
[Wilf is nodding, trying to follow this. When she stops talking, he turns to look back at the window.]
WM: There’s a bit of a co-incidence.
The Woman [shaking her head]: It’s said there’s no such thing as co-incidence. [laughs a little] Who knows? Perhaps he’s coming back.
WM: Oh, that would make my Christmas!
[He turns back to find the space behind him empty. The woman is gone. He turns, looking, trying to find her, coming back to the image of the TARDIS in the stained glass, getting another flash of the nightmare of the laughing Master.]
[Titles]
[A snowy, familiar landscape. The Oodsphere. The TARDIS materialises and the Doctor steps out, dressed in his brown suit and duster – and a bright pink plastic lei, sunglasses, and a straw cowboy hat.]
D [buoyant]: Ah, now sorry, there you are.
[Ood Sigma is standing in the lightly falling snow a short distance away from the TARDIS.]
D: So, where were we? I was summoned wasn't I? Ood in the snow calling to me. Well, I didn't just exactly come straight here, had a bit of fun you know, travelled about, bit of this and that, got into trouble, you know me, but it WAS brilliant. I saw the phosphorous carousel of the great Mingelinga Stat, saved a planet from the red carnivorous Maw, named a galaxy Alison. [brightly] Got married, that was a mistake. Good queen Bess and let me tell you, her nickname is no longer... ahem, anyway… What do you want?
OS: You should not have delayed.
D [nodding]: Last time I was here, you said my song would be ending soon. And I'm in no hurry for that.
OS: You will come with me.
D: Hold on, better lock the TARDIS. [fishes in pocket and then points a car remote back at the TARDIS and the light on top flashes twice] You see, like a car. I, I locked it like a car. Like, it's funny. No? Little bit? Blimey, try to make an Ood laugh.
[The Doctor and Ood Sigma are walking across the snowy ground.]
D: So how old are you now Ood Sigma?
[No response, but the Doctor’s attention is drawn by massive sculpted towers in rock, not dissimilar to the towers on Gallifrey, but in black and white, not silver and orange. Figures of Ood can be seen walking around.]
D [impressed]: Ah! Magnificent! [elbows Ood Sigma to get a response from him] Oh come on, that is! Splendid. You've achieved all this in how long?
OS: One hundred years.
D [worried]: Then we've got a problem. 'Cos all this is way too fast, not just the city, I mean your ability to call me, reaching all the way back to the 21st century. Something's accelerating your species way beyond normal.
OS: And the mind of the Ood is troubled.
D: Why? What's happened?
OS: Every night Doctor, every night we have bad dreams.
[The Doctor frowns as a voice becomes audible. An Ood with a large brain is sitting in front of pots and tubs in a circle of Ood in a darkened underground room.]
OE [waving over a pot that seems to contain incense]: Returning, returning, returning, it is slowly returning, through the dark and the fire and the blood, always returning, returning to this world. It is returning. And he is returning. And they are returning. But too late. Too Late. Far too late. He has come.
OS: Sit with the elder of the Ood and share the dreaming.
[The Doctor, now divested of his lei, hat and sunglasses, crosses to the circle and sits down in an empty space. He is clearly uncomfortable.]
D: So. Right. Hello.
Ood [many speaking in unison]: You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join.
[The Ood place their hindbrains into their laps and link hands. The Doctor, still looking anxious, links hands with those on either side of him. He inhales deeply, as if struck by something, and sees the flash of the Master laughing, as in Wilf’s dream. He inhales again and drops their hands as if he’s been burned.]
OE: He comes to us. Every night. I think all the peoples of the Universe dream of him now.
D [desperate]: That man is dead.
OE: There is yet more. Join us.
[The Doctor inhales again, frowning deeply, as if he knows this will be unpleasant, but takes the hands of those either side of him.]
OE: Events are taking shape. So many years ago and yet changing the now. There is a man.
[The Master’s laugh is audible.]
OE: So scared.
[Shot of Wilf sitting at the table, his hands linked in front of him, looking worried.]
D [anxious]: Wilfred! Is he all right? [desperate] What about Donna? Is she safe?
OE: You should not have delayed. For the lines of convergence are being drawn across the Earth. Even now, the King is in his counting house.
[Shot of Joshua and Abigail Naismith, standing as if posing for photos, looking very satisfied.]
D [confused]: I don’t know who they are.
OE: And there is another. The most lonely of all. Lost and forgotten.
[Shot of Lucy Saxon in a cell lit by blue light. She seems to be wearing only underwear, her hair drawn back from her face, breathing heavily.]
D: The Master’s wife.
OS: We see so much, but understand little. The woman in the cage, who is she?
D [speaking with difficulty]: She… She was… It wasn’t her fault. She was… The Master, he’s a Time Lord, like me. [seeing that they don’t understand] I can show you!
[He links hands more firmly with his neighbours. The OE closes his eyes as if receiving the Doctor’s thoughts. The image shows the Master sliding across the floor from The Sound of Drums.]
D: The Master took the name of Saxon. He married a human, a woman called Lucy. And he corrupted her.
[The scenes showed to the Ood depict the Master directing the Toclafane to kill the American President. She celebrates the death with him. The Toclafane are shown swarming down to take over the Earth.]
D: She stood at his side while he conquered the Earth. I reversed everything he’d done so it never even happened. But Lucy Saxon remembered.
[Shot of Lucy killing the Master in Last of the Time Lords.]
D: I held him in my arms. I burned his body! The Master is dead!
OE: And yet you did not see.
[Shot of the Doctor walking away from the funeral pyre.]
D [confused]: What’s that?
[A hand picks up the ring the Master had worn from the ashes. The camera pans up to show an older-looking woman, one we will come to know as Miss Trefusis, cradling the ring in her hands.]
D [horrified]: Part of him survived.
[He tries to get up, panic-stricken.]
D: I have to go!
[The hands hold him, forcing him back to the ground.]
OE: But something more is happening, Doctor. The Master is part of a greater design.
[The Doctor is breathing heavily, looking more and more frightened.]
OE: Because a shadow is falling over creation. Something vast is stirring in the dark.
[An Ood looks up and now its eyes are red, as are all the other Ood in the circle. The Doctor is truly terrified now.]
OE: The Ood have gained this power to see through time. Because time is bleeding. Shapes of things once lost are moving through the veil. And these events from years ago threaten to destroy this future. And the present. And the past.
D [angry]: What do you mean?
OE: This is what we have seen, Doctor. The darkness heralds only one thing. The end of time itself.
[The Master is shown laughing. The Doctor leaps up and gets away from the circle of red-eyed Ood. The Doctor runs through the darkened caves and out into the snowy landscape.]
OE [no longer red-eyed]: Events that have happened are happening now.
[He breathes in more of the incense as the Doctor runs back through the snow to the TARDIS. A key is shown sliding into a lock and the door of Lucy’s cell opens. Miss Trefusis enters the cell, followed by several guards. She nods at Lucy, who stands and moves slowly out of the room. The Doctor remotely unlocks the TARDIS and throws himself inside.
The Doctor flings himself around the console, which shoots showers of sparks, his desperation obvious (although he has found time to remove his duster).
Lucy is brought out into a large room, where a woman in a dark dress is waiting. Miss Trefusis takes a place beside the Governor.]
Governor: Mrs Saxon, let me introduce myself. I’m your new governor. I’m afraid the previous Governor met with something of an accident – which took quite some time to arrange.
[Lucy looks around, frightened.]
Governor: Miss Trefusis, if you will prepare.
[Miss Trefusis nods and does something in the middle of the room before returning to her former position.]
Governor: You kept your silence well, Mrs Saxon. Your trial was held in secret, with no jury. So no one knows who Harold Saxon was. Where he came from.
[Lucy is looking around, her expression terrified.]
Governor: Why you killed him. Make her kneel.
[Lucy seems about to break down in tears as a guard grabs her shoulder and shoves her to her knees.]
Governor [coldly, stiltedly]: There are those of us who never lost faith. And in his wisdom, Harold Saxon prepared for this moment.
[Miss Trefusis looks smug as she walks forward.]
Governor: He knew that he might die. And he made us ready. Tonight, Mrs Saxon, he returns!
[Miss Trefusis holds out the green ring with Gallifreyan symbols as the Master’s laugh can be heard. Lucy gasps at the sight of the ring.
Wilf is staring out of the window as lighting crackles through the sky. The television is on in the background, but the picture suddenly changes to a woman. The woman he saw at the church. The sound, however continues. The picture fades back into static without Wilf noticing.
Miss Trefusis puts the ring into a dish and begins pouring liquids into the dish.]
Governor: As it was written in the secret books of Saxon, these are the potions of life.
LS [desperate]: Listen to me, whatever he told you, you’ve got no idea what you’re doing!
Governor: Miss Trefusis, the catalyst.
LS: What are you doing? [as Miss Trefusis comes closer] Leave me alone! Don’t!
[Miss Trefusis uses Lucy’s ponytail to pull her head back as she screams. A tissue is wiped across Lucy’s mouth as she sobs and screams.]
Governor: You were Saxon’s wife! You bore his imprint!
[Miss Trefusis presses the tissue to Lucy’s mouth.]
Governor: That’s all we needed. The final biometrical signature.
[Lucy is released and the cloth is carried over to the bowl containing the ring.]
LS: You can’t bring him back. [panicked] You can’t!
[The tissue, bearing the imprint of Lucy’s lipstick (in prison? Really?) is dropped into the bowl and there’s an explosion. The Governor looks frightened and staggers backwards as light beams from the bowl. The outside of the building is show – the prison is called Broadfell. Lightning flashes outside and into the bowl.]
LS: I’m begging you – stop this now before it’s too late!
Governor: We give ourselves that Saxon might live!
[Light begins to glow from the stomachs of each of the people in the room and they drop to their knees, their hands spread as if in supplication or prayer. The light is drawn into the central glowing vortex that comes up from the bowl.]
LS: Can’t you see – he lied to you! His name isn’t even Harold Saxon!
Governor [ecstatic]: And this was written also! For his name is the Master!
[The light forms into the shape of a man.]
M: Never. Never. Never. Never! Never dying! Never dying!
[Lucy is staring at him as he glares at her.]
M: Never dying! Never dying!
[As the TARDIS flies through the vortex, the Master continues to repeat the phrase, his form strengthening.
The Doctor’s eyes widen as if hearing the words, but he is distracted by an explosion from the console.
The Master holds out his hands to his wife. The woman behind Lucy is starting to look afraid.]
M: Oh, Lucy! Sweet Lucy Saxon! My ever faithful – did the widow’s kiss bring me back to life?
LS: You’re killing them!
M: Oh, let them die! They’re just a first! The whole stupid stinking human disgrace can fall into the pit.
[Lucy looks horrified.]
M [holding his hands to his ears]: Can’t you hear it, Lucy? The noise! The drumbeat! Louder than ever before. The drums. The never-ending drums. [ecstatic] Oh, I have missed them!
[Lucy gets to her feet.]
LS: But no one knew you better than I did. I knew you’d come back!
[The Master is looking wary, almost angry.]
LS: And all this time your disciples have prepared! But so have we!
[She turns and grabs a bottle from the guard behind her.]
M [wary]: What are you doing?
LS: The secret books of Saxon spoke of the potions of life. And I was never that bright.
[The Master begins to look afraid.]
LS: But my family had contacts. People who were clever enough to calculate the opposite!
M [terrified]: Don’t you dare!
[She removes the cork.]
M [screaming in rage]: I’m ordering you, Lucy! You will obey me!
LS: Till death do us part, Harry!
M: No!
[He screams as she throws the contents of the bottle towards him. A massive explosion rocks the room.
The Doctor runs out of the TARDIS and stops, staring at the remains of the Broadfell prison with a police tape around it. He looks down at the singed sign that lies on the ground with bricks and rubble on top of it and then stares around again.
Joshua Naismith is watching news footage of the burning Broadfell prison. The door opens and Abigail enters.]
JN: I think we might be in luck, darling. It’s the footage from Broadfell prison the night it burned down. Take a look at this.
[A human-shaped form seems to run through the flames.]
AN: Someone survived. Do you think it’s him?
[Joshua looks up at her without speaking.]
AN: Oh, that would be such a Christmas present!
[Joshua chuckles and then stands up, chucking Abigail under the chin.]
JN: You just leave it to Daddy.
[Everyone leaves the room. The doors are opened for Joshua and he strides into another room.]
JN: Ladies and gentlemen, it seems help is at hand. Christmas is cancelled. Prepare the Gate!
[As Abigail smiles in satisfaction, people around the room in lab-coats begin to work. Symbols dance across a screen. A young woman, Addams, casts a sideways glance at Joshua as she continues to work. A tall, thin man, Rossiter, turns to look at a computer readout. On the other side of the room, a large metallic object, about twenty feet tall, sparkles with light.
Wilf, wearing two pairs of antlers, goes to the front door of the house and looks up the stairs, whistling.]
WM: Just goin’ down the Lion for a little snifter! Christmas drinks! Right, tata love!
[He pulls out his mobile phone and dials.]
WM: Paratroop 1 to paratroop 2. We are mobilised. I repeat, we are mobilised. Rendezvous 1300 hours. Over and out.
[He hangs up and sneaks down the driveway. A large bus, driven by Oliver Barnes, turns onto his street and he waves it down.]
WM: Come on! [chuckles] Wayhay, shake a leg! [does a little dance] Yayhay.
[The bus pulls up and he continues to dance, giving the bonnet a hip bump. The driver, Oliver Barnes, and everyone else on board laughs and applauds.]
WM: Right, carry on then. Off we go! [as he gets on and the bus pulls away] Everybody all right? Who’s got the chocolates then? Whoa!
[Wilf is standing at the front of the bus, giving directions.]
WM: Right, he’s tall and then, wears a brown suit, maybe a blue suit. He’s got a long, brown coat. Modern sort of hair – all sticky-uppy. Right? Oh, and on page two, be on the lookout for a police box.
[Wilf has drawn a very accurate picture of the TARDIS.]
WM: Exactly like the old ones.
[An elderly woman in a red coat, Minny Hooper, interrupts.]
MH: I got locked inside one of them. August bank holiday 1962.
[The man across the aisle, Winston Katusi, leans over to her.]
WK: Were you misbehaving, Minnie?
MH [cheekily]: I certainly was! Wayhey!
[Everyone chuckles until Wilf regains order.]
WM: Yeah, yeah, All right, all right, now listen. This is important. We have got to find him. Right, so phone around, phone everybody. [looking at woman seated behind him.] Sally, will you get on to the bridge club? Right, Winston, you try the old boys. Bobby, I want you to ring the Skiffleband. Right? Between us, we got the city covered.
MH: The Silver Cloak?
WM: Yeah!
WK: Who is he then? This Doctor?
WM [shaking head, suddenly quiet and sad]: No, I can’t tell you that. I swear. [his eyes fill with tears] Yeah, but answer me this. You been having bad dreams? All of you? Dreams you can’t remember?
[Everyone looks confused, as if trying to remember.]
WM: Yeah, well that’s why we need him. We need the Doctor. More than ever.
[On a building site, where wood is burning in an old oil barrel, two men are standing at a catering van.]
Woman: Onions with that?
Man: Oh, yeah, I love them! [turns to the young man in the queue behind him] What about you, ginger? Hey? Onions?
[The young man shrugs.]
Man [turning back to woman, apologetic]: He don’t say much. [as he takes his meal] Give him onions. He’s down from Huntersfield.
[A man in a black hoodie is shown walking past the fire and towards the van.]
Woman: Well, you look after ‘im! And don’t forget tomorrow night, Christmas broadcast, President Obama. He’s promised to end the recession. [as she hands the young man his food] Bad times will soon be over, Ginger!
Man: Well, season’s greetings to you!
Woman: And you! Happy Christmas!
[The man in the black hoodie stops, turning to watch the two men walk away.]
Woman: Now what can we get you sir?
[He turns – it’s the Master.]
M: Everything!
[He flips off the hoodie and gives her a weird smile.]
M: I am so hungry!
[He laughs as the woman begins to look concerned.
Elsewhere on the site, the two men are eating. They are sitting on old car seats beside another drum with a fire in it.]
Man: They’re saying that the President’s got this grand plan. He’s gonna save the world with some big financial scheme. Hmm, whatever it is, I bet it won’t reach you and me.
[The Master drops onto the ground behind them, eating voraciously at the roll he’s been given. The two men start and look up.]
Man: Ooh, someone’s lively on his feet.
M [noticing them watching him]: Starving.
[He eats at superhuman speed. The two men stare at him in confusion. The burger is gone in seconds.]
Man: Now, you see, that’s what you don’t wanna do. Eat it all at once. [to the Master] Tempting, I know. [as the Master licks the paper] But if you make it last, it can last all day.
M [hungrily]: More! With cheese and chips! And meat and gravy. And cream and beer. And pork and beef and fat and great big chunks of hot, wet red.
Man: Good for you, mate. [to younger man] Maybe we’d better be going.
Ginger [to the Master]: You look like that bloke. Harold Saxon.
[The Master stops licking the paper.]
Ginger: The one that went mad. [laughing at the absurdity of the suggestion]
M [also laughing, holds up a finger]: Now, isn’t that funny? Isn’t that just the best thing of all? [waving at his hair] The master of disguise. Stuck looking like the old Prime Minister. [laughing] I can’t hide anywhere. He can see me. [the smile drops from his face, becoming dangerous] He can smell me. Can’t let him smell me! Doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, stop the smell! The stink! The filthy, filthy stink!
[The man and Ginger are worried now, becoming anxious about this weird man.]
Man [briskly]: Ginger, come with me!
[They scramble to their feet. The Master continues to wipe his mouth as they begin to run.]
Man: Right now!
[The Master puts out a hand and they stop dead.]
M: But it’s funny! Don’t you see? Look at me! I’m splitting my sides!
[The stare at him and a strange blue light flickers over his face, revealing his skeleton.]
M: I am hilarious! I am the funniest thing in the whole wide world! [finishes with a roar]
[The two men scream and begin to run. The Master watches them go before he gets to his feet and ambles forward, his head tilted to one side.]
Man: Run! God help us! There’s this man!
[The stop short in front of the catering van to find that the occupants have been turned into skeletons.]
M [screaming]: Dinner time!
[The word echoes and then he leaps impossibly high into the air, diving headfirst at them, his mouth open. There are screams and a loud bang, and then silence before the cries of birds can be heard.
The Doctor stands high on a cliff overlooking a rubbish dump. He sniffs for something.
There is a sound like a metal bar being dragged along the ground.
The Master is sitting on the rocky ground, his hoodie once more over his head. He flips it back and also begins to sniff. He picks up an iron bar and begins banging on the side of a red oil drum. Four knocks. He does it again and the Doctor hears, turning in the direction of the sound.
As the Doctor starts to run, the Master beats out the pattern twice more, getting faster each time, before throwing away the bar and also beginning to run.
At the sight of the familiar shape of the Master on top of a high hill of gravel, the Doctor stops. The Master is facing towards him and bellows, an incoherent almost animalistic roar. He leaps high into the air again, disappearing onto the other side of the hill. The Doctor runs after him and they finally stop again, only a short distance apart. The Master is on top of a pile of iron beams. The Doctor is on the cement ground below.
The Master begins to laugh, his form flickering into skeleton and back.]
D: Please, let me help!
[The Master looks mocking, as if this sort of thing was to be expected, but he thinks it’s pathetic.]
D: You’re burning up your own life-force!
[The Doctor runs around a pile of rusty steel bars – only to run into Wilf and his group.]
WM: Oh, by gosh, Doctor, you’re a sight for sore eyes!
D: Hey, get away!
[The Doctor leaps onto a nearby pile to look for the Master as the other members of the Silver Cloak arrive.]
WK: Did we do it? Is that him?
WM: Tall and thin. Big brown coat.
[The Doctor stares into the landscape, but the Master is gone.]
MH: The Silver Cloak. It worked! ‘Cos Wilf phoned Nettie, who phoned June. And her sister lives opposite Broadfell, and she saw the police box. And her neighbour saw this man heading east.
D: Wilfred?
WM: Yeah?
D: Have you told them who I am? You promised me!
WM: No, I just said you were a Doctor, that’s all. And might I say, sir, it is an honour to see you again.
[He salutes and the Doctor gives him a look of annoyance before saluting back with visible reluctance.]
MH [admiringly]: Oh, but you never said he was a looker! He’s gorgeous! [handing camera to Oliver Barnes] Take a photo.
OB [looking the Doctor up and down]: Not bad, eh?
[The Doctor looks taken aback and somewhat frightened.]
OB: Me next!
MH: I’m Minnie. Minnie the Menace.
[His arm goes around her as she moves to stand beside him, although his confusion is still very obvious. Her arm is around his back.]
MH: It’s a long time since I had a photo with a handsome man.
WM [as the Doctor shoots daggers at him]: Just get off him. Leave him alone!
MH [to Wilf]: Hush, you old misery! [to the Doctor] Come on, Doctor! [chucking his cheeks] Give us a smile!
[The Doctor manages an incredibly pained smile as the other members of the Silver Cloak – except for Oliver, who is taking the photo, and Wilf – gather around him.]
OB [as the camera clicks]: Hold on. [presses button] Did it flash?
[The Doctor looks around, worried about the Master.]
MH: No, there’s a blue light. Try again.
OB: One more – fingers and tongues.
D [trying to be polite, but desperate to leave]: I – I’m really kind of busy, you know.
MH: Oh, it won’t take a tick. Keep smiling!
[The Doctor sighs and gives in. Minnie’s hand moves down and pats his bum.]
D: Is that your hand, Minnie?
MH: Good boy!
[She pats him again.
The bus pulls up a suburban street and Wilf and the Doctor get out.]
WM: Come on then, here we are, hurry up! Goodbye! Right, bye!
[Everyone on the bus waves, Minnie blowing kisses at the Doctor. The Doctor looks around in confusion.]
WM: Right, over ‘ere.
D: What’s so special about this place? We’ve passed fifteen cafés on the way!
WM [chuckling]: Yeah, I know. [to people walking out] ‘Afternoon!
[The Doctor and Wilf are sitting opposite each other at a table in the café. The Doctor is sitting back in his chair, his arms folded across his chest. Wilf is leaning forward, occasionally poking the air in demonstration.]
WM: But we had some good times, didn’t we though? I mean, all those ATMOS things and planets in the sky and me with that paintgun. [gestures shooting and makes popping noise with his mouth]
[He chuckles, but the Doctor just looks wary and anxious.]
WM [hesitantly]: I keep… seeing things, Doctor. I – this face. At night.
D [warily]: Who are you?
WM [straightening, confused]: I’m Wilfred Mott.
D [shaking his head slightly]: No. People have waited hundreds of years to find me and then you manage it in a couple of hours.
WM: Well, just lucky, I s’pose.
D: No, we keep on meeting, Wilf. Over and over again. Like something’s still connecting us.
WM: Well, what’s so important about me?
D: Exactly. Why you?
[There is a pained silence. The Doctor is staring out of the window as people walk past outside, by the insignificant blue car. Then the Doctor looks back at Wilf.]
D: I’m going to die.
WM: Well, so am I, one day.
D [tearing up]: Don’t you dare!
WM [chuckles]: All right, I’ll try not to.
D [swallowing tears]: But I was told… ‘He will knock four times.’ That was a prophecy. Knock four times and then…
W [hesitantly]: Yeah, but I… thought… When I saw you before, you said your people could change, like, your whole body.
D [dismissively]: I can still die. If I’m killed before regeneration then I’m dead. [leaning forward] Even then, even if I change, it feels like dying. Everything I am dies. Some new man goes sauntering away. [lower lip trembles and he looks suddenly young and helpless] And I’m dead.
[He focuses on Wilf to see him looking out of the window.]
D: What?
[He turns to see Donna getting her keys out of her coat.]
WM [as the Doctor continues to stare, speechless]: I’m sorry, but I had to. Look, can’t you make her better?
D [eyes reddened by tears]: Stop it!
WM: No, but you’re so clever. Can’t you bring her memory back? Just go to her now! Go on, just run across the street and say hello!
D [fiercely, tears in his eyes]: If she ever remembers me, her mind will burn and she will die!
DN [to parking officer, finger held out in warning]: Don’t you touch this car!
[They both chuckle.]
D [tearfully]: She’s not changed.
WM: No. Oh [as a young man appears, carrying bags] there he is! Shaun Temple – they’re engaged! Getting married in the spring.
D: Another wedding.
WM [thoughtful]: Yeah.
D [appalled]: Hold on, she’s not going to be called ‘Noble Temple’ – it sounds like a tourist spot!
WM [slowly, waiting for a reaction]: No, it’s ‘Temple Noble’.
D: Right. [watching Donna pack the car] Is she happy? Is he nice?
WM: Yeah, he’s sweet enough. He’s a bit of a dreamer. Mind you, he’s on minimum wage, she’s earning tuppence, so all they can afford is a tiny little flat. [as Donna unlocks the car] And then sometimes I see this look on her face. Like she’s so sad. But she can’t remember why.
D [sadly]: She’s got him.
WM: She’s making do.
D [miserable]: Aren’t we all?
WM [looking at the Doctor, who is staring at Donna]: And how about you? Who’ve you got now?
D [shaking head, looking back at Wilf]: No one. Travelling alone. I thought it was better. [shrugs, agony on his face, on the verge of tears again] But I did some things – it went wrong. I need…
[He finally breaks down in tears, covering his hands with his face. Wilf leans forward, distressed.]
WM: Oh, my word!
[The Doctor fights for control, inhaling a massive breath.]
D [bitterly]: Merry Christmas!
WM [sobbing]: Yeah, and you.
[They finally chuckle.]
D: Look at us.
WM: D-don’t you see? [pointing out of the window] You need her, Doctor. I mean, look, wouldn’t she make you laugh again? Good old Donna.
[The Doctor nods again, looking towards the window as Donna’s car drives away.]
WM [hopefully]: Eh?
[The Doctor nods the tiniest bit as if unable to help agreeing.
He leaves the café, pulling on his coat, with Wilf trailing behind. His movements are strong, determined, showing no sign of the weakness his displayed earlier. Wilf stops, watching him go.]
N: And so it came to pass that the players took their final places, making ready the events that were to come.
[In a darkened room, the Master is just visible.]
N: A madman sat in his empire of dust and ashes, little knowing of the glory he would achieve.
[The Master is gnawing on a bone and suddenly looks up.
The Doctor is standing on a stony mound, looking around.]
N: While his saviour looked upon the wilderness in the hope of changing his inevitable fate.
[Joshua and Abigail Naismith sit on silver throne-like chairs and clink celebratory glasses of champagne.]
N: Far away, the idiots and fools dreamt of a shining new future, a future now doomed to never happen.
[Addams and Rossiter glance at one another.]
N: As Earth rolled onwards into night, the people of that world did sleep and shiver, somehow knowing that the dawn would bring only one thing – the final day.
[The Narrator/Lord President is shown for the first time, wearing auburn and orange robes.]
And the rest.