Starship UK

Starship UK was a huge ship built to house the population of the United Kingdom (excluding Scotland, who wanted their own ship, though whether they got it is unclear) during their journey to find another planet to live on from the 29th to 33rd centuries, after the Earth and all life on it was threatened by Solar Flares in the former 29th century. It was built around, and propelled by a Star Whale, the last of its kind, which was continuously tortured with an electrical device in 'The Tower' of london's dungeon, to keep it moving.

Every five years the people of the Starship UK would vote whether to protest at this treatment, or forget about it, and every 5 years they all chose to forget. The Queen Elizabeth the Tenth, or "Liz Ten" as she was known, was not aware of how the ship was powered. She deduced that it did not have an engine because there were no vibrations from an engine, but endeavoured to find out why this was the case. Every 10 years she discovered the truth, and chose to forget rather then abdicate and release the Star Whale.

The Doctor and Amy Pond discovered that it was run by the Smilers and the government, instead of its rightful queen. They also found out that Elizabeth the Tenth kept discovering the nature of the ships propulsion, but chose to forget by having part of her memory wiped - rather than abdicate and release the whale. In the end the Doctor's companion, Amy Pond, resolved everything by making the Queen press 'abdicate', which released the Star Whale. The Star Whale did not abandon the Starship UK, because it had volunteered to move the ship. In fact, with the Star Whale not being tortured anymore, the ship moved even faster than it ever had before. (DW: The Beast Below)