Turn Left (TV story)

"It's coming, Donna. It's coming from across the stars and nothing can stop it..."

- Rose Tyler

Synopsis
Donna’s entire world collapses, but there’s no sign of the Doctor, as Russell T Davies’s Bafta Award-winning time-travelling drama continues. Instead, she finds help from a mysterious blonde woman – a traveller from a parallel universe. But, as Donna and Rose Tyler combine forces, are they too late to save the whole of creation from the approaching darkness?

Cast

 * The Doctor - David Tennant
 * Donna Noble - Catherine Tate
 * Rose Tyler - Billie Piper
 * Sylvia Noble - Jacqueline King
 * Wilfred Mott - Bernard Cribbins
 * Martha Jones - Freema Agyeman
 * Mr Colastanto - Joseph Long
 * Captain Magambo - Norma Dumezweni
 * The Trixter - Chipo Chung
 * Spanish Maid - Loraine Velez
 * Mooky Kahari - Marcia Lecky
 * Veena Brady - Suzann Mclean
 * Alice Coltrane - Natalie Walter
 * Jival Chowdry - Bhasker Patel
 * Oliver Morgenstern - Ben Righton
 * Mal Loup - Lachele Carl
 * Private Harris - Clive Standen
 * Colonel Mace - Rupert Holliday Evans

Production crew
to be added

Story notes

 * This episode deals with what would have happened to Donna if she was not there to help the Doctor from the Racnoss at Christmas, as so is set in a different time line. Therefore, all the events of series 3 (Racnoss, Judoon invasion, Professor Lazarus' monster) happen again in this episode, with different consequences (her life in a parallel universe?).
 * The episode title of Turn Left is simply a cue to this episode not being part of the series regular cannon, as it occurs in an alternate time line. The title being a pun, since a "left turn" in a series generally means something highly unexpected is to occur to take the series in another direction; meaning this episode is a "left turn" in the series in a "what if" style that involves the Doctor actually dying.
 * In the Next Time Trailer shown at the end of Midnight, The Doctor is dead, as a U.N.I.T. soldier says "Found a body Sir. The Doctor is dead." He is talking into his walkie-talkie, then The Doctor's hand is shown over a stretcher, and he drops his Sonic screwdriver. In the exclusive clip shown on the BBC site the soldier goes on to explain that the Doctor drowned in the Racnoss lair under the Thames and that it happened too quickly for him to regenerate. The U.N.I.T. soldier who reports The Doctor's death "dies" in The Sontaran Strategem-thus this is an alteration in time, or parallel universe scenario.
 * This is the first story to feature Rose in the capacity of the Doctor's companion since Doomsday.
 * Lucius Petrus Dextrus from The Fires of Pompeii says that "she is returning" when seeing the future. This is most likely a reference to Rose's return in this episode.
 * Billie Piper was seen at the end of Partners in Crime, as well as a short cameo in The Poison Sky and another in Midnight.
 * Chipo Chung was last seen in the episode Utopia as the Malmooth, Chantho. She plays a human character in this story.
 * This is the 'Doctor-lite' episode of the series, similar to Love and Monsters and Blink, albeit with a much darker storyline.
 * A reference to something on Donna's back was last heard in The Fires of Pompeii when Lucius Petrus Dextrus saw into the future 'something on your back' is a back story arc as it has never been mentioned up to this episode.
 * In DWM it said that Donna will receive a free tarot card reading and find out something bad is going to happen. When she is receiving it there will also be something behind her lurking in the curtains. The Tarot person will also look for a specific event in Donna's past.
 * Part of this episode is filmed in China Town, though not the one in London, but recreated in Cardiff. Chinese people living in South Wales were invited to be background extras via Facebook at the end of 2007. They had to reply to the Doctor Who casting crew with their name and sizes for costumes to be made for them and they were paid approx £70 for the day. David Tennant was seen in 'China Town' when he took time out of filming though staying on location to appear on Blue Peter to appeal to viewers to donate shoes to their Shoebiz appeal.

Ratings
to be added

Rumours
''And according to one interview with writer Russell T. Davies, the fortune-teller "casts a spell" on Donna. And then suddenly we see Donna in a world where she's never met the Doctor. Instead, she meets Rose, who calls her the "most important woman in creation." There's a "circle of mirrors" that Donna has to go back to, to make everything right.''
 * Davros may be seen in the last few minutes of this episode. Plausible, as it will tie into episode 12, like Utopia did in Series 3 to start the 1st part of the Finale. (The Stolen Earth), and will also appear in the second part of the finale, Journey's End.
 * Rose is able to cross worlds because of technology developed by her parallel Torchwood, last seen in Doomsday.
 * Harriet Jones will appear in either this episode or the next, most likely because in this alternate timeline, she was never succeeded by Harold Saxon. Impossible because Harriet Jones lost power in the Christmas Invasion and would still have been succeeded even if the Doctor died in the Runaway Bride. She still would have been succeeded, but not by Harold Saxon.
 * It comments in DWM that Rose might not be on the same side as Donna. She may have her new worlds best interests at heart.
 * We see flashbacks of Donna before the events of The Runaway Bride.
 * The Thing on Donna's back is called a Time beetle.
 * The time beetle forces Donna into a sort of trance were she meets rose and it also makes it appears as if the doctor is dead!
 * Maybe, Rose appears to Donna in a dream and guides her, as the Doctor did in Doomsday to her world (Possibly through Bad Wolf Bay, as photos on www.youtube.com show Rose on the beach.).
 * The true mastermind of the ill fate that happens to Donna in this episode will be familiar to fans of one of the Doctor Who spinoff shows. The being from Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?. Most likely. As he has the power to disrupt timelines and it stated The Doctor was his next target.
 * This episode is set in an alternate timeline. Confirmed by "t.v. choice" magazine. Their feature on this episode that Donna receiving a free tarot card reading sets a chain of events in motion that disrupts the timeline.
 * The Eight legs are is in this episode and an eight leg is on Donna's back.
 * Instead of this, it is a racnoss on Donna's back. Racnoss are large beasts that would crush Donna if one tried to climb on her back.
 * History is being rewritten and Donna is the only one able to fix it, Rose is there to help her sort it all out.
 * The Time Beetle (the thing on Donna's back) may prevent Donna from ever having met The Doctor, causing him to be killed when flooding the Racnoss Base instead of escaping. Confirmed as in the exclusive clip we see that Donna was not with the Doctor at the time and the UNIT soldier says that he remained too long in the underground area and was caught in the floods, due to (Though not explicitly stated)the fact Donna wasn't there to get him out
 * The Medusa Cascade (mentioned in past episodes) is the link between Pete's world and our world.Unlikely as RTD has said in an interview that the Medusa Cascade will come back to haunt us and a gateway between two worlds isn't a very frightening.
 * The Judoon will be in the episode, as at the Cardiff Doctor Who exhibition the Judoon suit had been taken "for filming". Possibly true although may not refer to this episode.
 * The reason Rose will not be in the specials is that by the end of the series they've corrected the alternate timeline, so she is banished back to where she should be - Pete's world. High unlikely since the Doctor dying in The Runaway Bride would not mean Rose was never stuck in the alternate Earth. She'd still be there.
 * A probable plot for this episode is that either the Metebilis Spider a.k.a "Eight Legs" on Donna's back or Davros has caused a disruption and caused the timeline to change to where Donna was never around to meet the Doctor during the events of The Runaway Bride, thus causing him to die when the Thames flooded. Rose has returned from her alternate reality through the now active Medusa Cascade, or the Cardiff Rift with knowledge of Davros (since the mid-season trailer implied she knew of the returning Daleks and not whatever is on Donna's back) Likely, since the Doctor dying in The Runaway Bride would not cause any change in Rose's personal timeline, and thus she'd still be in the parallel reality. The exclusive clip shown on the BBC's website implies Donna remembers about the Doctor when she sees his corpse, and thus viewers can assume the change in the timeline happened too suddenly to effect her memories, only her place in the timeline. Most likely, Rose and Donna will work together to repair the changes when the Judoon and other enemies invade; since the Doctor was not alive to defeat them. Once Donna discovers the Eight Legs on her back and destroys it in some manner, the timeline reverts to normal until Davros appears in the last few minutes.

Filming Locations
"China Town" Recreated in Cardiff

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * If the Doctor supposedly dies during the altered events of The Runaway Bride, then the Carrionites in The Shakespeare Code would have succeeded in plunging the Earth into chaos, and thus the modern day (2008) Cardiff seen in the series would not exist. Also, the Judoon would not invade since the Plasmavore would not have been on Earth, and Professor Lazarus' machine would never have been invented in the Carrionites' world of magic; not to mention not having been invented due to never receiving the Master's funding as Prime Minister.
 * Rose Tyler would still be trapped on the parallel Earth because the events in Doomsday would have occurred normally, resulting in her being stranded there. This is despite multitudes of fans suggesting otherwise. The fact is, the Doctor would die the following episode once Rose was already trapped.
 * The modern day Cardiff would also be different due to the Daleks succeeding to rebuild their species in Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks, which could possibly mean the Daleks would have killed the Carrionites and now rule the Earth in their place.
 * The plot element of Davros and the Daleks returning would not occur as planned due to Dalek Caan not being the only Dalek left in existence, and thus the Cult of Skarro would have no need to free Davros from the Medusa Cascade.
 * The space cruise liner, Titanic, would have crashed to Earth without the Doctor being alive to prevent its sabotage.
 * The Doctor would have never met Martha, The Master would still be trapped at the end of the universe and The Sontaran's would have suceeded in their plan to use Earth as a giant breeding ground. But putting this into context with other elements such as Davros and the daleks, Carrionites, Judoon, a Titanic Cruise crash, the Plasmavore and Racnoss seems more than astronomically catastrophic than a nuclear bomb explosion.

Continuity

 * In The Sontaran Strategem the Sat Nav kept saying Turn Left. This could have something to do with this episode.

DVD and Other releases

 * This is due to be released in the Series 4 boxset in November 2008 along with the rest of the Series.
 * It will be released as Series 4 Volume 4 alongside The Stolen Earth and Journey's End in September 2008.