Rose (TV story)

Rose was the first episode of the first series of Welsh Doctor Who. It was the first new episode of Doctor Who since the 1996 telemovie. It marked the debut of Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor, Billie Piper as Rose Tyler, and recurring supporting cast Camille Coduri as Jackie Tyler and Noel Clarke as Mickey Smith.

The first Doctor Who story to be produced in widescreen, it was also the first single-episode, 45-minute story. Amongst BBC Wales-produced episodes, it was not only the first broadcast, but also the first recorded. As such, it was the Doctor Who debut for almost everyone who worked on it — except for model unit supervisor Mike Tucker.

Narratively, it marked the return of the Nestene Consciousness and Autons for the first time since 1971's Terror of the Autons. It was also the first whisper of the Shadow Proclamation.

Synopsis
When Rose Tyler meets a mysterious stranger called the Doctor, her life will never be the same again. Soon, she realises that her mum, her boyfriend and the whole of planet Earth are in danger. The only hope of salvation lies inside a strange blue box.

Plot
At 7:30am in the Powell Estate, London, a 19 year-old blonde girl, Rose Tyler wakes up, gets dressed and ready, kisses goodbye to her mother, Jackie Tyler and walks to Henrik's, the department store where she works. After spending her lunch break with her boyfriend, Mickey Smith, who shows her his break dancing steps, she returns to work until the end of her shift. As the store nears closing time, she is about to walk home, when she is stopped by a security guard, who is holding the lottery winnings for Wilson, the chief electrician. She heads down to the basement. However, when she arrives outside Wilson's room, she discovers he is missing, even after calling for him. Once she enters a storage room, the doors close behind her, and she is not able to open them. She is then disturbed to see a group of moving shop-window mannequins. Believing it to be a practical joke, she tells them to stop, but they do not respond. Instead they keep coming towards her, and they soon surround her. They look as if they are about to kill her, when someone holds her arm. She turns to see a leather jacketed man, who tells her to "run!".

She quickly obliges and the two run just before one of the mannequins karate chops at her. The two run to a lift, quickly pursued by the mannequins. Before the doors can close, one of the mannequins reaches for one of them, but the man is able to pull its arm off, and the two are able to escape. On the way up, Rose believes that students may have been involved, since "all those people have got to be students." The man congratulates her on her theory, but quickly debunks it and says they aren't students, but living plastic, and they have killed Wilson. When they arrive at the correct floor, the man is revealed to carry a bomb and plans to destroy a relay device to stop the moving mannequins. Though blithely claiming he may die in the process, he tells Rose not to worry about him and tells her to go. He then gives a quick introduction: he is the Doctor and reminds her to run for her life.

Rose decides to follow his advice, and runs away from the vicinity of Henrik's, carrying the arm of the plastic mannequin. After she is at a safe distance, she sees in shock her place of work exploding. She then turns around and runs back home. On the way, she passes a blue police box.

When she returns home, her mother makes phone calls to every one of her friends, telling them that Rose has survived the explosion, before telling her that she should consider compensation for the "trauma" she experienced in the events. Mickey rushes in to see if she is okay. After she assures him she is fine, he decides catch the last five minutes of a match at the pub. On his way out, he takes the plastic arm to throw away at Rose's request, and mimes as if the arm is strangling him. After he is out, he throws the arm away in a bin.

The next morning, Rose's alarm goes off at 7:30am and wakes up. But since she no longer has a job, her mum tells her there is no point in getting up, but she does anyway. Later on, while having tea, Jackie reiterates to her about getting compensation for what happened the night before. Afterwards, Rose hears a noise from the door, and after investigating for a minute, opens the cat flap, and is shocked to see the Doctor again, using the metal device he used the last night to jam the lift. He wonders what she is doing in the house; Rose tells him she lives here, and is only here because someone "blew up my job." He has come to trace the plastic arm. Jackie believes he is there to talk about giving Rose compensation. In the home, the Doctor acknowledges Jackie's hints that she is in her dressing gown, and there is a man in her bedroom, but when she tells him that "anything could happen," he says no, and walks off.

While Rose make a cup of tea for him, the Doctor looks through Heat Magazine, and comments that a celebrity couple's relationship won't last since "he's gay and she's an alien," the novel "The Lovely Bones" has a "sad ending", and playing with a deck of cards, as well as looking in a mirror, where he comments on his face. He then sees the plastic arm, which starts strangling him, while Rose thinks he is pretending as Mickey did. Moments later, it lets go of the Doctor and starts attacking Rose. Fortunately, the Doctor is able to reset his sonic screwdriver to disable the arm, and kill it. He then starts to leave.

Rose however, chases after him, telling him he can't leave, since they tried to kill her twice. The Doctor tells her that they aren't after her, but they're after him; Rose was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Doctor mutters about humans being oblivious to the war beneath their feet, joking that the living plastic isn't here to start a price war, but then tells Rose that they want to overthrow and destroy the human race, and claim the Earth as their own. Rose asks the Doctor who he actually is. He starts off by explaining that when human children learn that the Earth is actually moving, they wouldn't believe it, since everything seems to stand still, but he can feel the planet rotating 1,000 miles per hour, moving around 67,000 miles per hour. He then tells her to forget about him, before leaving into the same blue box, which then disappears.

However, she cannot let go, and decides to go to her boyfriend's house to go on his computer. From there, she researches the Doctor on the Internet, and eventually finds a hit while typing "doctor blue box". She follows the link to Who is Doctor Who?, where the front page shows a face of the same man she met twice earlier, before reading the address. She decides to have Mickey drop her off to the address of the website's owner, Clive Finch.

Reluctantly, they arrive in his Volkswagen Beetle. Rose tells Mickey to keep a look out, while she goes to see Clive. She sees Clive at his house, and he invites her in. His wife, Caroline Finch is shocked to realise a girl is interested in his work. The two walk to his shed, where Clive shows Rose pictures of the same man with the same face and same look in Dallas, 1963, the same date John F. Kennedy was assassinated; followed by an older photograph of the Daniels, a Southampton family and their friend, the Doctor. The photo was taken on April 11th 1912, the day before the family were due to sail for America onboard the Titanic, but for an unknown reason cancelled the trip and survived. Finally, he shows her a sketch of the Doctor found in Indonesia just before the eruption of Krakatoa. He believes that the Doctor is dangerous, and always has one continuing companion: death; if she has seen him, this will mean they are all in danger. Meanwhile, Mickey keeps an eye on the house, until he is distracted by a wheelie bin moving on its own. Thinking people are playing a practical joke, he comes out to confront it, but when he opens it, it is empty. After he closes it, he discovers that letting go is difficult, since the lid is sticking into his hands, the plastic stretching as he pulls away. Each attempt to break free ends up getting back to the bin. Eventually, the bin suddenly tosses him in the air and swallows him whole ... then burps loudly afterwards. Some time later, Rose returns to the car, thinking that she has wasted her time, not knowing that Mickey has been replaced with a living plastic version. They both decide to have dinner at a pizza restaurant.

During the evening, the two arrive and are seated. Rose looks through the menu, but "Mickey" starts to grill Rose about the Doctor, asking what he told her, as well as talking in an odd way. While she wonders what is up with him, a man gives them a bottle of champagne. After the man comes back two more times, Plastic Mickey raises his head to tell him they didn't order any, but is surprised to see that it is the Doctor holding the bottle. He uses the gas of the bottle to fire the cork at "Mickey's" forehead, but it merely makes its way down to his mouth, where he spits it out. After his hands morph into paddles, there is a brief struggle, until the Doctor is able to pull his head off, and he and Rose flee while the headless plastic Mickey causes havoc at the restaurant. The two close the back door and the Doctor locks it off with his metal device, called a sonic screwdriver. While headless Mickey attempts to break his way through, the Doctor then goes inside his blue box, which is now positioned in the back courtyard, to Rose's bewilderment. With nowhere to go, she follows him, but the second she enters, she quickly turns back outside, looks at the size of the box and enters again. She discovers that the inside of the box is bigger than the outside. The Doctor then explains that the blue box is called the TARDIS and that it and he are both alien.

Rose starts crying; the Doctor first believes it's culture shock, but learns that she wonders if the real Mickey is dead, something the Doctor didn't consider. Rose then notes, to the Doctor's frustration, that the head is melting; he wanted to use it to track the location of the Nestene Consciousness, the entity controlling the Autons. He manages to follow it, but the head is completely melted before they can track the precise location of the Consiousness. They arrive on the edge of the River Thames. As they exit the TARDIS Rose is full of questions. She wonders why the TARDIS is a box; it is a disguise. She wonders how they travelled; the TARDIS disappears in one place and reappears in another. She also wants to know that if the Doctor is an alien, how can he speak as if he's from the North; the Doctor explains that "lots of planets have a North."

While trying to deduce the location of the Nestene Consciousness, the Doctor explains that he wants to find a transmitter of some kind, that is very big and round, oblivious to the fact that he is standing on the opposite side of the London Eye; a perfect landmark for a transmitter. After some help from Rose, he realises this, and the two run across a bridge to the other side of the Thames. The two then find an entrance to an underground base beneath the eye. The Doctor has brought with him a vial of Anti-plastic, which he wants to use as a last resort; he wishes to appeal to the Nestene Consciousness first. Once they enter, he asks the Consciousness to seek an audience to it, which it grants. On the way down, Rose sees Mickey. The Doctor explains that they need to keep Mickey alive to keep his plastic double alive.

As Rose comes to release Mickey, he explains that it can talk. The Doctor meanwhile, talks with it, and in accordance to the Shadow Proclamation, asks it to leave the planet and find a new one to restart the Auton race, as all of the Nestene's planets were destroyed. However, instead the Consciousness has two of the Autons capture him, as it detects the TARDIS, as well as discovering that he is carrying Anti-plastic, something the Doctor says is just an insurance policy. The Consiousness also realises he is a Time Lord, and that they were destroying the planets in the Last Great Time War. Angered by this, it decides to start the invasion ahead of plans, and uses a lightning bolt from the vat to the London Eye, powering the transmission.

Knowing everybody is in danger, Rose calls her mother to tell her to go home. However, Jackie instead talks to her about getting compensation, since she picked up a form from a Police station, and chooses not to listen to Rose about staying home; she insists on doing some late night shopping in Queen's Arcade. While the transmitter is transmitting, Clive and his family walk past a shop window in the same mall, where they see a few mannequins starting to move. Everyone soon notices all the mannequins moving, and suddenly they break through the glass. Clive is amazed that everything he has looked for has come true, and he was right all along. However, one of the Autons opens its hand, revealing a gun; the Auton shoots Clive dead. The public starts to panic, including Jackie, who runs away from the mall. However, she also realises that all the mannequins everywhere have come out to kill all humans.

Meanwhile, below the London Eye, the Autons holding the Doctor are slowly pushing him towards the edge of the ledge that they are stood on. Rose realises that she must save him, takes an axe and uses it to break free one of the chains on the wall. While doing this she explains to herself that she has no A-levels, no job, and no future, but took bronze at age 7 gymnastics at Jericho Street Junior School. She then swings down to the Autons holding the Doctor. She collides with them, and the one holding the anti-plastic falls down to the vat containing the Nestene Consciousness. The Doctor uses the only Auton left and throws him to the vat as well. The vial of anti-plastic opens and spills onto the Nestene Consciousness, killing it.

Jackie takes cover behind a car, but sees three bride Autons attempting to shoot her. Fortunately, the transmitter shuts down, and all the Autons turn into lifeless mannequins again. However, underneath the London Eye, the base starts to collapse and explode. Before it is destroyed, the Doctor, Mickey and Rose board the TARDIS and escape. After they arrive in an alleyway, Mickey quickly leaves after realising that the box is bigger inside and can move. Rose then receives a phonecall from her mum, who tells her to go home, as it is not safe. Rose quietly laughs before hanging up.

With the Earth saved, the Doctor decides to continue on his travels, but suggests Rose to come with him on his adventures. Though tempted, Rose decides to stay for the wellbeing of her mother and boyfriend. The Doctor bids farewell to her and leaves. After the TARDIS dematerialises, Rose decides to send Mickey home. However, before they even leave the alley, the TARDIS appears again in front of them. The Doctor comes out and tells Rose "by the way, did I also mention that this can also travel in time?" She changes her mind, kisses Mickey and thanks him. When Mickey wonders what for, she replies "exactly," before running to the TARDIS.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Christopher Eccleston
 * Rose Tyler - Billie Piper
 * Jackie Tyler - Camille Coduri
 * Mickey Smith - Noel Clarke
 * Clive Finch - Mark Benton
 * Caroline Finch - Elli Garnett
 * Jacob Finch - Adam McCoy
 * Lead Auton - Alan Ruscoe
 * Autons - Paul Kasey, David Sant, Elizabeth Frost, Helen Otway
 * Nestene Consciousness Voice - Nicholas Briggs

Individuals

 * H. P. Wilson is likely dead - by Autons.
 * The Autons make a copy of Mickey Smith.
 * Clive Finch suggests that the title "Doctor" is passed down from father to son, and points to his website saying to Rose Tyler "that's your Doctor there, isn't it". This indicated he has information on the Doctor's other incarnations.

Technology

 * The sonic screwdriver makes an appearance and is once again a major all-purpose tool.
 * The Nestene Consciousness used warp shunt technology to get to Earth.
 * Rose uses search-wise.net to search the Internet.

Races and species

 * The Nestene Consciousness is destroyed by the Doctor's anti-plastic.

Story notes

 * This is the first story of the first series of the new Doctor Who
 * This is the first story featuring Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor.
 * This is the first story featuring new companion Rose Tyler, played by Billie Piper.
 * This is the first story featuring the new TARDIS console room, which has a far more organic appearance than its predecessors. Initially questioned by fans, the later mini-episode Time Crash would confirm this as a new "desktop theme" for the TARDIS interior called "coral".
 * This was the first Doctor Who episode to be produced in a widescreen picture format. Discounting the 1996 telefilm, it is also the first episode to have a shot-on-film appearance since 1985's Revelation of the Daleks and the first episode to be completely filmed since Spearhead from Space in 1970. However, the show is in fact videotaped, as it has been since 1986, with the footage subsequently processed to look like film. This production style continued into 2009 when the series began production in high definition.
 * The story itself a sequel to Spearhead from Space, and has thematic similarities to the earlier story, as both feature a new Doctor, a new companion, and the Auton threat. The Autons had also appeared in Terror of the Autons, the story that had introduced the Master, another new companion, and recurring UNIT character Mike Yates.
 * A copy of this story was available to download on the Internet on various p2p networks several weeks before it was released. The preview version was essentially the broadcast version; however it did not contain the new credits and had the original series theme music as opposed to the new version. In 2005, the illegal distribution of TV series episodes via p2p was nowhere near as widespread as it became with the later rise of torrents; Rose was one of the first major TV productions to be "leaked" in this fashion.
 * The word Auton is not used in the dialogue of the story but is used in the episode credits.
 * In Rose's flat, the Doctor leafs through a copy of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones. He is shown flicking through the book very quickly and commenting, "Sad ending." He also looks at a woman's magazine and comments on one of the articles, saying, "Well, that'll never work. He's gay and she's an alien."
 * The surname Finch was used for Clive and his wife in the production notes but not in the on-screen version.
 * The episode, like the 1996 TV movie, breaks with what had become the tradition of including the Doctor's image in the title sequence.
 * For this, the first episode, the opening credits follow the UK standard of title sequence then program, the rest of the season (other than the first episode) would include a 'teaser' before the main title sequence.
 * There were problems during the first broadcast of this episode in the UK which meant that sound from a BBC Three program, Strictly Dance Fever hosted by Graham Norton, was heard over the scene in which Rose first encounters the Autons.
 * As part of the launch of the new series, the BBC screened the documentary Doctor Who: A New Dimension on BBC1, conincendentally narrated by David Tennant, the future Tenth Doctor.
 * Following this episode, Doctor Who Confidential: Episode 1 was broadcast on BBC 3.
 * The reference to the Doctor having a Northern accent relates to the media attention that has been generated around Christopher Eccleston not conforming to people's perception of what the Doctor should be like. It also references the fact the different actors who had previously played the Doctor had, themselves, differing accents, most notably Sylvester McCoy, whose Doctor spoke with a Scottish accent.
 * In the scene where the Doctor is in Rose's flat, the original script called for the Doctor to stick his entire head in the cat flap. But when they got it, it was far too small.
 * Rose's comment about the Doctor sounding like he was from the north marks the second time Earth geography has been applied to the Doctor's demeanour (previously, he was referred to as being from England in the TV movie).
 * Similarly, Rose and the Doctor's exchange regarding his accent also echoes a similar discussion between the Fourth Doctor and fellow Time Lord Drax in DW: The Armageddon Factor regarding the latter's affected accent.
 * A special effects milestone occurs when the Doctor is shown standing in the door of the TARDIS and the interior is clearly visible behind him. In the original series, the interior of the TARDIS was usually shown as a dark void whenever a head-on view of the open doors (a rarity) occurred. For the first time, elements of the exterior of the TARDIS -- specifically the inside of the doors and the POLICE BOX lettering along the roofline -- are visible from the console room.
 * Between the final scene and the closing credits, the episode incorporates a "Next Time..." trailer for the next episode. This is the first time this device has been used in Doctor Who. This becomes a regular feature, omitted only on rare occasions, or occasionally moved to the end of the closing credits.
 * Actor Nicholas Briggs makes his debut on the revived series, providing the voice of the Nestene Consciousness. He would go to be the show's designated voice actor, vocalizing the Daleks and Cybermen over the next few seasons. Rose is far from Briggs' first Doctor Who-related work, as he had been an active participant in independent, unofficial, and licensed spin-off productions dating back to the 1980s, most notably his work hosting the Myth Makers interview video series, writing and directing films for BBV Productions and Reeltime Pictures, and as producer of the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who audio dramas, a project that had its roots in Audio Visuals, a series of fan-made Doctor Who audio adventures in which Briggs himself played the Doctor. In 2009, Briggs would have his first official on-screen appearance in a Who franchise production with a supporting role in Torchwood: Children of Earth.
 * Russell T Davies becomes the first author of original Doctor Who spin-off fiction to write for the official TV series. A decade earlier, he wrote the Seventh Doctor novel Damaged Goods for the Virgin New Adventures line of novels. Numerous other writers of licensed spin-off fiction and Big Finish Productions audio dramas would go on to write for the revival, including Paul Cornell, Mark Gatiss (who would also guest star in an episode), Steven Moffat (who would ultimately succeed Davies as lead writer in 2009), Robert Shearman, and Gareth Roberts.
 * This is the first episode of Doctor Who to use the name of a companion in its title.
 * The scene in which Rose wanders through the basement of the department store alone was the first scene Billie Piper shot as Rose Tyler (per Project Who).
 * This is the second time The Autons have initiated a new Doctor. Jon Pertwee faced them in his debut story Spearhead from Space.
 * With this story The Autons became the second adversary to appear in three season premieres. Spearhead from Space (Season 7), Terror of the Autons, and Rose (series 1). The Daleks have also launched three seasons: Day of the Daleks (season 9), Destiny of the Daleks (season 17), and Remembrance of the Daleks (season 25).
 * The "UNIT website" would reveal that the Auton assault was commonly believed to be an attack by "disguised members of a terrorist coalition", though some people did believe it was aliens; UNIT would not "confirm or deny" that.

Ratings

 * 9.94 million (43.2% audience share)
 * Repeat - 0.48 million (3.5% audience share)

Myths and rumours

 * It is often speculated that the Nestene Consciousness can be heard to utter the words "Bad Wolf". (The subtitles for the episode show that is says 'Time Lord'.)
 * Due to the widescreen format introduced with this episode, it was often erroneously stated that this episode and those that followed were filmed in high-definition. In fact, the first high-definition Doctor Who episode wasn't produced until Planet of the Dead in 2009. The spinoff series Torchwood, however, has always been produced in high definition. In 2010 the first standard-definition Doctor Who episode to be "upconverted" to HD, The Next Doctor, will be released on Blu-Ray; this opens the door for Rose and other episodes of the first 4 seasons to undergo similar conversion at a later date.

Filming locations
Mostly filmed in Cardiff, but with some location filming in London:
 * The scenes in which Rose is at work were filmed in Howells in the centre of Cardiff.
 * The scene in which the Autons attack people in a shopping centre was filmed in The Queens Arcade.
 * The scene in which Rose agrees to go travelling with the Doctor was filmed at Cardiff's outdoor market.
 * The Yard where the TARDIS is parked was filmed at the back of the Cardiff Royal Infirmary.
 * The Nestene Consciousness' lair was filmed in a disused paper mill in Cardiff.
 * Exterior scenes of The London Eye and The Doctor and Rose running through London was filmed, unsuprisingly, in London.

Production errors

 * When Mickey closes the wheelie bin lid, he then finds the plastic stuck to his hands, he lifts his hands up and the plastic stretches like tar. If you look closely when he lifts his hands up for the first time, you'll see that a shadow of one of his hands is cast clearly on his shirt, yet there is no shadow of the strands of plastic stuck to his fingers.
 * When the three bride Autons attack Jackie, and they open their hands one at a time, it is clear that when the second Auton opens its hand, all three are already open. After it cuts to Rose, and back to Jackie again, the third one opens (even though we just saw it already open).
 * When Mickey opens the lid to the rubbish bin and his hands are stuck to it, when he starts to stretch out the plastic and turn around, the strands switch hands instead of crossing.

Continuity

 * The sonic screwdriver makes a reappearance on screen in a new shape but with the same sound effect. The screwdriver was first introduced in DW: Fury from the Deep and destroyed in DW: The Visitation, then reappearing in DW: Doctor Who.
 * People similar to Clive who are obsessed with the Doctor were depicted in NA: Return of the Living Dad. Clive is clearly corresponding by e-mail with others like himself and refers to the Doctor appearing in numerous conspiracy theories (possibly an early reference to LINDA - DW: Love & Monsters).
 * It is implied but never stated that the Doctor has just regenerated. When he is in Rose's flat he checks his appearance in the mirror as if he is unused to it. He also notes the way in which his ears stick out. This is similar to a scene in the first episode of Tom Baker's debut story, DW: Robot.
 * The Autons and the Nestene have previously featured DW: Spearhead from Space and DW: Terror of the Autons, both of which were Third Doctor stories. The Nestenes also feature in the PDA: Business Unusual and Synthespians™ which are both Sixth Doctor stories. The Autons also reappear in NSA: Autonomy, and DW: The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang.
 * The Doctor has at some time in his past been involved in a war which led to the destruction of the Nestene Homeworld. This war is also referenced in PDA: Synthespians™.
 * The Doctor speed reads a book as he did in DW: City of Death.
 * Rose returns to London in DW: Aliens of London.
 * The Auton invasion is referenced in DW: Love & Monsters.
 * The Doctor indicates that an unnamed but presumably well-known celebrity is actually an alien in disguise. He doesn't seem too concerned, suggesting a Men in Black scenario exists in the Doctor Who universe where human-disguised or human-like aliens live peacefully on Earth in the present day. (This is later supported by the decision by Bayldon Copper, who is not from Earth, to stay on the planet after the events of DW: Voyage of the Damned.)
 * Clive's website, Who is Doctor Who? marks the first time a character has directly referred to the Doctor by the name "Doctor Who" on screen since WOTAN in DW: The War Machines. Unlike WOTAN's use, which is considered a continuity error, Clive's use is clearly meant in the form of a question, with "Doctor Who" being more or less a nickname.
 * Rose tells the Doctor she had a cat. This is confirmed in DWA: The Cat Came Back.
 * The Nestene Consciousness is shown to have survived the events of this episode and attempts another invasion of earth 8 years after this episode fighting the Ninth Doctor's Successor. (NSA Autonomy)
 * Unknown to Rose, this isn't the first time she's met the Doctor. (DW: The End of Time, Part Two)
 * The Doctor's ability to sense the movement of the Earth is similar to his previous ability to sense the movement of a space station in PDA: The Murder Game and feel the effects of a drill 21 thousand km beneath the ground in DW: The Hungry Earth.

Timeline

 * This story occurs after IDW: The Forgotten
 * This story occurs before DW: The End of the World
 * DWA: What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow takes place during this story.

Home video releases

 * This was released on a DVD along with The End of the World and The Unquiet Dead. Doctor Who - Series 1 Volume One.
 * This was also released as part of the series 1 DVD boxset. Doctor Who - The Complete First Series.
 * This was also released with Issue 1 of the Doctor Who DVD Files.

In-universe

 * Clive's whoisdoctorwho.co.uk website

Rose (Émission TV)