The Beast Below (TV story)

The Beast Below was the second episode of the fifth series of BBC Wales Doctor Who. It was notable for featuring Amy Pond's first trip in the TARDIS.

Synopsis
The Doctor takes Amy on her first trip in the TARDIS to the distant future, where she finds Britain in space. Starship UK houses the future of the British people, as they search the stars for a new home. But as Amy explores, she encounters the terrifying Smilers and learns a deadly truth inside the Voting Booth.

Plot
On the Starship UK in late 33rd century, children are in class. A boy called Timmy does not want to line up and stands behind everyone else. They are waiting for a Smiler to give them their test results. When it is Timmy's turn, the Smiler says he is a bad boy, its face changes to a frown, saying he got a zero. As the students walk out, Mandy tells Timmy that can't take the vator due to his grade and leaves in one with the others, saying she will wait for him. Not wanting to walk twenty floors to London, Timmy enters a second vator. Much to Timmy's horror, the vator drops at ridiculously fast speed, all the way to Floor 0. The Smiler's head turns thrice, to show a glaring face of anger as the floor opens below Timmy feet, showing a red abyss, into which he drops.

Elsewhere, in space, the Doctor is showing Amy the outside is real, holding her suspended in space by her ankle. He pulls her back in and Amy exclaims her surprise that they are in space, accepting the TARDIS's ability to time travel. However, she then wonders how they can be breathing with the doors open. The Doctor explains that he extended the air shell and notices Starship UK below them. He runs over to the console to put up an image of Starship UK on the circular monitor, going on about how in the 29th Century, solar flares roasted the Earth and the entire human race moved out until it was all over. He then notices that Amy is calling him, only to find she has fallen out the door and barely holding onto the edge of the entrance. Pulling her back in again, the Doctor jabbers on about Britain floating in space, being made of metal. Amy wonders if they can go and look around and the Doctor informs her of the one rule he has stuck to; they are observers and cannot get involved, all the while watching Mandy silently crying on the monitor. Amy asks whether it's hard to not to interfere, comparing the Doctor's rule to a wildlife documentary, only to notice the Doctor outside speaking to Mandy and motioning for her to come out of the TARDIS.

She exits the TARDIS and is astounded by everything around her, but becomes embarrassed that she is still in her nightie. They explore an area known locally as London Market, with the Doctor encouraging Amy to notice all sorts of things. He takes a glass of water and places it on the floor for a brief moment, only to return it to the table. He informs Amy this is a police state; the Government controls everything. The Doctor spots Mandy crying and they go to her, followed by a dark robed individual. He phones Hawthorne, controller of the Smilers, to report he has seen the Doctor.

Hawthorne calls a cloaked woman saying that there has been a sighting of someone looking at the water. The woman has a porcelain mask with her and says she will have a look with the monitors.

Back in London Market, the Doctor tells Amy that the girl is not getting attention from any of the adults, which means that something is wrong and they know about it; the adults are afraid of something. The Doctor orders Amy to pursue the girl when she leaves while he "stays out of trouble, badly".

Amy finds Mandy, who explains she knows the Doctor sent her; she saw them watching her in the market. They find a booth that is sealed off; Amy tries to enter it while Mandy says they are not supposed to talk about the Smilers and "Below". She asks Amy whether she's Scottish, and tells Amy that Scotland have their own ship, giving Amy laugh that "something's never change". Meanwhile the nearby Smiler's face changes from frowning to angry. When Amy enters a tent, she discovers a giant tentacle rising from below, which attacks her. She escapes, only to find that four robed men have surrounded her. They put her to sleep as Mandy looks on.

The Doctor descends a ladder, and, after examining the surrounding area with his sonic screwdriver, finds a glass of water on the ground. A masked woman who calls herself Liz 10 reveals herself and explains to the Doctor that he, too, sees the truth; there are no engine vibrations on the ship, which would move the water. Liz 10 believes that the ship has no engines and the Doctor confirms this by opening several panels to reveal there is no power coming from the engine room; they are dummies set up as a hoax. She gives the Doctor a device to lead him to Amy and tells him she will find him again before mysteriously vanishing.

Amy regains consciousness in a Voting Booth. A machine with TV screens scans Amy, identifies her and reveals her age as thirteen hundred six years, which amuses her, and her marital status as "unknown", which unsettles her. The screen shows a man in a smart suit who tells her that she will now be shown the truth of the spaceship's travels, and afterwards she will be faced with a choice of whether to "Forget" everything she's learned in the booth, or to "Protest", which might have terrible consequences for everyone on board. She sees the film, a succession of subliminal images, suggesting a huge inflow of information into Amy's mind. After the film, Amy quickly chooses to "Forget". An image of Amy now appears on the screen, telling herself to send the Doctor back and stop him investigating, crying, signifying that what she had watched was horrible.

The Doctor comes into the room and deduces that a machine in the lamp above her head has made her forget the last twenty minutes via sonic screwdriver. The machine scans the Doctor to no avail because it knows he is not human and will not play the movie because of such. A surprised Amy says he looks human; the Doctor retorts that she "looks Time Lord", they came first. The Doctor tells her that there are no other Time Lords, because there was a "bad day". After tinkering with the machine, the Doctor presses the 'Protest' button, deciding to "bring down the Government". The door shuts and the floor to roll back, sending him and Amy hurtling down a chute to the same red abyss the boy Timmy fell in earlier; the Doctor seemingly enjoys it.

They land in some red liquid, containing only food refuse; the floor is squishy. After scanning around with the sonic, the Doctor tells Amy that this is the tongue of a large beast; presumably it eats anyone who protests to the film. However, despite trying to keep safe, Amy accidently causes the swallow reflex, prompting the Doctor to use his Sonic Screwdriver to overload the Chemo recpetors to make the owner of the tongue vomit instead. "Right. This isn't going to be big on dignity. Geronimo!" They are spat out of the beast's mouth with a loud barfing sound.

They land in a pipe where they are confronted with a door and another "Forget" button. If they press the switch they will forget what they have just seen and be readmitted into the main part of the ship. When they refuse to press the switch, two watching Smilers not only rotate their heads to show their angry face, but also open the door of the booths and stand up to chase them. They are rescued by Liz 10, who has followed the Doctor using the device she gave him earlier, and who has a gun capable of temporarily disabling the smilers; her mask is off, revealing a pretty face.

Liz 10 reveals herself to be Queen Elizabeth the Tenth of the United Kingdom; the royal family have been raised on stories of the Doctor and his numerous encounters with royalty in the past. The Doctor deduces that the creature who owns the tongue is sending out roots, like the tentacle that Amy discovered in the workman's tent. Liz 10, who has the girl Mandy with her, explains that she has been investigating the creature for ten years, since she came to the throne aged forty (she says she looks younger than her fifty years because they "slowed her body clock"), because she believes her government are conspiring against her, and feeding her subjects to the beast. While investigating she wears the mask to hide her identity as being famous makes detective work hard. The Doctor notes the mask has been made to fit her perfectly so it stays on by itself, but is over 200 years old, realising something very obvious that Liz has missed.

The mysterious man is made aware that the Queen is close to uncovering the creature conspiracy, and he tells a hooded man to start a pre-arranged protocol. The Doctor, Amy, Liz 10 and Mandy are confronted by hooded figures in Liz's room. When the Queen protests the men's faces rotate to reveal them to be half-human and half-smilers, the Winders. They explain that despite being in charge she must come with them as they are acting on her authority, confusing her.

They are taken to the Tower of London in the bowels of the ship where Liz 10 meets Hawthorne, who seems to be a senior member of the government. The ship has no engine because a star whale is providing its power and propulsion, goaded by a ray penetrating its brain and hurting the creature. The Doctor and Liz 10 are outraged at the cruelty, with the Queen demanding it be set free. Hawthorne insists he is simply obeying orders from a higher authority. He also reveals that while the creature will eat adults sent falling into its mouth, it will never hurt children, who have been put to work in the Tower.

Liz 10 once again demands the whale be set free, but the Doctor tells her to look at her mask, explaining its age and that it is "perfectly sculpted to your face". When she fails to catch his drift, the Doctor explains she's around 250 years old, not 50; Harthorne explains they (himself, the Smilers, and Winders) have only been acting on her orders. They find a video of Liz 10 that confirms she is hundreds of years old.

In it, she explains the British people faced destruction when Earth was devastated by solar flares, and that the children screamed in pain. Then the star whale - the last such creature in the universe - appeared like a "miracle". They captured it and used it to power their space ship. Liz 10 is presented with two buttons, but instead of "Protest" the second button says "Abdicate"; pressing that button would release the star whale and destroy the ship and all who are on board. The message concludes with Liz begging herself to forget (for about the 21st time) and be the heart of the nation, untainted again.

Disgusted with what has happened to the star whale, the Doctor opens a grate, allowing a tentacle through; he uses his sonic screwdriver to allow the humans present to hear the star whale's screams of pain. He tells them he has no choice but to kill the conscious functions of the creature in order to avoid its feeling pain and avoid killing the humans. He says this is a horrible solution, but better than killing all the humans on board or allowing the star whale to continue to feel horrific pain; he decides after which "I find a new name, because I won't be the Doctor". He expresses anger with all the humans who allowed this to happen, and with righteous indignation tells Amy off for pressing the 'Forget' button, even though she probably did so to prevent him from having to make such a difficult decision regarding the fate of the whale and humanity. He then tells Amy that when he's "done here, you're going home".

However as the Doctor sets up the large shot of power to make the space whale brain dead, Amy remembers the Doctor's encouragement of her to 'notice everything' and spots that while the star whale's tentacles attack adults they do not attack children; rather the tentacles caress and play with them. She then realises the star whale is in fact benevolent, and has been voluntarily propelling the ship for the humans. She makes Liz 10 press the 'Abdicate' button and the stimulus to the brain of the creature stops. However, the creature continues to power the ship and Hawthorne observes that they have, in fact, increased speed.

Explaining her deduction, Amy says that "if you are very old and the last of your kind", like the star whale (although she is looking at the Doctor as she says this), that "you couldn't just stand there and watch children cry". The Doctor is shocked.

He is next seen looking out into space from a large observation deck, contemplating what has just happened. Amy approaches with Liz 10's mask, explaining that she said "there will be no more secrets" in Starship UK. The Doctor tells Amy that she couldn't have possibly known what the star whale would have done once freed, but Amy points out that she had something to compare it to- him, but is surprised that all the pain of loss made it kinder in the end. The Doctor hugs Amy happily, reconciling.

They head back to the TARDIS as Amy asks the Doctor if there is anything he wanted to run from, planning to tell him about her marriage. However, she is cut off by the sound of the TARDIS phone ringing. Answering it for the Doctor while he works on the controls, Amy is shocked to hear Prime Minister, Winston Churchill on the other end. The Doctor takes the phone and learns his old friend is in a "tricky situation" and needs his help; the shadow of a Dalek glides into view on Churchill's end of the call. The Doctor and Amy set off to help Churchill.

Amy voices overs a poem about the whale as it is seen from space, guiding guide humanity through the stars, another crack in the universe glows within the hull of the ship...

Cast

 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
 * Liz 10 - Sophie Okonedo
 * Hawthorne - Terrence Hardiman
 * Morgan - Christopher Good
 * Timmy - Alfie Field
 * Peter the Winder - David Ajala
 * Mandy - Hannah Sharp
 * Poem Girl - Catrin Richards
 * Winder - Jonathan Battersby
 * Voice of Smilers / Winder - Chris Porter
 * Winston Churchill - Ian McNeice

Story notes

 * This episode was incorrectly assumed to be titled Meddling Monks by fans prior to transmission.
 * Sophie Okenedo is credited as Liz 10 on-screen, and as Liz in Radio Times.
 * A cut line, revealed in an Eleventh Doctor Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition, would have stated there were other nation-ships and there used to be travel between them, but that Starship UK sealed off its 'borders' several decades ago.
 * Like DW: The End of the World, this episode featured the Doctor taking a new companion into the distant future for her first trip in the TARDIS.
 * Also like DW: The Doctor Dances, the resolution to the main problem of the plot is solved by an action people have at first believed would have caused another effect, and so previously tried to avoid (Nancy tried to avoid her son Jamie of fear of becoming infected by Empty Child whilst Liz 10 always chose to forget since she believed that by releasing the star whale, it would destroy Starship UK).
 * This story leads directly into the next, Victory of the Daleks.
 * Another crack can be seen at the very end of the story, in roughly the same shape as the crack on Amy's wall and the TARDIS monitor in DW: The Eleventh Hour, continuing the Series 5 theme of cracks appearing throughout the universe.
 * Amy stopping the Doctor from killing the star whale echoes Donna Noble's pleas for the Tenth Doctor to stop his attack on the Racnoss and her children in DW: The Runaway Bride.
 * This is the first average length Doctor Who episode (45 minutes) since DW: The Stolen Earth, the intervening episodes all being specials or extended, not including the amalgamated Dreamland.
 * Amy Pond's age is said to be 1306 years old, and as she was 21 in 2010, this episode takes place in the year 3295.
 * A red telephone box, exactly the same as the one destroyed by the sonic screwdriver in Leadworth, appears early in the episode in the background.
 * There are several references and similarities between this episode and Star Wars. Liz 10 says to the Doctor; "Help us, Doctor. You're our only hope." echoing Princess Leia's holographic message in Episode IV. The Doctor and Amy are shunted down into a pile of refuse echoing another scene in Episode IV. The scenes inside the star whale and when they look outward through the jaws are reminiscent of the sequence in Episode V with the space slug. Lastly, near the end, the scene change between the climax and the denouement features a vertical transitional wipe similar to Lucas' wipe style.
 * This episode aired on the same day as the K9 episode, Sirens of Ceres was first broadcast on Disney XD in Britain. It also aired on the same day that Liberation was first broadcast on Network Ten in Australia.
 * This is the first episode since The Parting of the Ways in which David Tennant makes no appearance.
 * The Doctor had previous had a conversation with a human about Time Lords and humans looking the same, but different internaly. (DW: Planet of the Dead)
 * This is the only episode to use the new Eleventh Doctor opening theme in the "Next Time trailer".

Ratings
6.7 million - First broadcast

8.42 million - Final BARB ratings

Filming locations

 * Mamhilad, Monmouthshire, Wales

Rumours

 * It was originally rumoured that Sophie Okonedo was to play the character called "Liz Ten" which then was rumoured to be "Queen Elizabeth X". Sophie Okonedo was confirmed as playing The Masked Woman. In dialogue, it was confirmed that her character was indeed "Elizabeth X". In the credits, she was listed as "Liz 10".
 * It was rumoured that The Doctor and Amy will be swallowed by a creature 'The Beast' and have to make the 'Beast' regurgitate then to escape. This is proven more likely with them both being drenched (having wet clothes) in the trailer. The Doctor and Amy actually managed to escape being swallowed, only entering the creature's mouth..

Production errors
During the opening scene, when the Doctor has just pulled Amy back into the TARDIS, he looks at the camera and appears shocked by his error, visibly jumping but quickly recovers.
 * When Timmy boards the elevator at the beginning of the episode, the Smiler is smiling at the occupants' standing area. However, before it rotates to its "frown face", it is already seen with its frown face aimed toward the standing area in the external view-shot of the elevator.
 * When Amy's age is given as 1306, the computer screen reads 1308 instead.
 * When the Doctor and Amy are in the star whale's mouth, the light given off by the sonic screwdriver is the previous version's blue, instead of the usual current green.
 * The star whale's mouth is clearly depicted at the end of the episode as being in open space. However, when the Doctor and Amy are "ejected" from said mouth, they land inside the ship, as opposed to outside of it. No logical explanation is given for this.
 * The Union Flag shown on the side of the ship includes the elements of the St. Andrews cross even though Scotland is stated to have chosen to become independent.
 * After being thrown out of the mouth of the star whale, the Doctor's bangs are on his forehead. The next shot, they are pushed back. They return to normal in all following shots.

Continuity

 * The Doctor had previously taken a companion on adventure in just her pyjamas, namely Tegan in DW: Snakedance.
 * A sign with Magpie Electricals can be seen. The brand was first created by Mr Magpie in DW: The Idiot's Lantern and has continued to appear in many stories set years later. Precisely how this happened is unclear, as Magpie was an apparently unmarried and childless owner of a single television shop who died at the events of that episode. It's entirely possible, however, that someone else (perhaps Tommy Connolly) capitalised on the brand in his honour, or that he had a sibling that inherited his business after his death.
 * The advent of the Earth being rendered uninhabitable by solar flares not long before the 30th century is a plot point previously featured in DW: The Ark in Space/The Sontaran Experiment.
 * Winston Churchill calls the Doctor at the end of the episode, and the shadow of a Dalek is seen. This episode leads straight into DW: Victory of the Daleks.
 * Liz Ten is the queen of Starship UK. She mentions the Tenth Doctor being knighted and exiled by Queen Victoria (DW: Tooth and Claw) and his relationship with the "Virgin Queen" (DW: The End of Time, The Shakespeare Code), as well as being an old drinking buddy of Henry XII and having tea and scones with Liz 2.
 * The Doctor tells Amy Pond about being the last of his race shortly after she joins him, much as he did with Rose, Martha, and Donna shortly after each of them joined him as a travelling companion.
 * Minor reference is made to the events of DW: The End of Time
 * The crack, previously seen on Amy's wall and the TARDIS' monitor (DW: The Eleventh Hour), is seen on the side of Starship UK.
 * The Doctor's "You look human/You look Time Lord" exchange with Amy mirrors a similar conversation between his previous incarnation and Lady Christina de Souza. (DW: Planet of the Dead). The Doctor also mentions that the Time Lords came before the human race.
 * The concept of a gigantic space-borne "whale" was first devised by Pat Mills for his unused Who script, The Song of the Space Whale produced by Big Finish Productions as BFA: The Song of Megaptera. The star whale may be a nod to that.
 * The star whale's exposed brain being restrained by humans is similar to the Ood Brain in DW: Planet of the Ood. Just as in that story, the brain was released in the end, and the restrained creature was freed. Similarly, the Doctor allows the beast's screams of pain to be heard by others, just as the Doctor uses his telepathic powers to let Donna hear the Ood's song.
 * As in a previous Moffat story, The Girl in the Fireplace, the "villains" are clockwork (or at least clockwork-based) androids. In both episodes however they are not the true villains, but working under commands given to them.
 * Amy asked the Doctor if he was a parent and he ignored the statement; he did the same to Rose's "what" when he told her he was a dad once in DW: Fear Her.
 * The star whale bears some semblance, and may be related to, the creature from TW: Meat.

Timeline

 * This story occurs after DW: The Eleventh Hour
 * This story occurs before DW: Victory of the Daleks

Home video releases

 * BBC Video - Doctor Who Series Five - Volume One was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on 7th June 2010 (UK only), featuring The Eleventh Hour, The Beast Below, Victory of the Daleks, and the featurette The Monster Diaries.