The Beast Below (TV story)

The Beast Below was the second episode of the fifth series of BBC Wales Doctor Who and was 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 (or 3295), school children are in class. A boy called Timmy does not want to line up; his friend Mandy says he has to. He stands behind everyone else, where they are waiting for a Smiler to give them their result. When it gets to Timmy's turn, the Smiler says he is a bad boy, its face changes, and says he gets a zero. As the students walk out the classroom, Mandy tells Timmy that can't take the vator, as he got a zero. She enters the vator with everyone else, and the doors close. Not wanting to walk twenty floors to London, Timmy enters a second vator. Instead of heading to London, the vator drops to Floor 0, and the floor opens as the Smiler in the vator shows its anger.

The Doctor is showing Amy space above the Starship UK; she is suspended in space, with the Doctor in the TARDIS holding her ankle. The Doctor notices Starship UK and as he brings Amy back in, he informs her that in the 29th Century, solar flares roasted the Earth and the entire Human race moved out until it was all over. While they admire the ship's infrastructure, he states that they are observers only and they cannot get involved, all the while watching Mandy silently crying on the monitor. Amy begins to inquire whether it's hard to be "just an observer", only to notice the Doctor speaking to Mandy. She exits the TARDIS and is surprised and astounded by everything around her. They explore an area known locally as London Market, with the Doctor encouraging Amy to notice all sorts of changes. The Doctor approaches a man with a glass of water and places it on the floor for a brief moment, only to put it back on the table. He informs Amy that it is a police state and that the Government controls everything. The Doctor spots Mandy crying and they go up to her only to be followed by a dark robed individual. The man phones Hawthrone, controller of the Smilers. He phones to report that he has seen the Doctor.

Hawthorne then 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.

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. He tells Amy that the adults are afraid of something. The Doctor then encourages Amy to pursue the girl.

Amy finds Mandy, they find a booth that is sealed off, Amy tries to enter it, as Mandy says they are not supposed to talk about the Smilers and "Below". Mandy asks Amy whether she's Scottish, and then informs Amy that Scotland possess their own craft, which amuses her,. All the while the nearby Smiler's face changes from frowning to angry. When Amy enters the tent, she discovers a giant tentacle rising from below, which proceeds to attack her. She escapes, only to find that four robed men have surrounded her. They put her to sleep as Mandy looks on.

The Doctor climbs down a ladder, and, after examining the surrounding area, meets a masked woman who calls herself Liz 10. She seems to be conducting investigations similar to the Doctor's, though confusingly, was made aware of the Doctor's presence in the first place by a mysterious man seemingly linked to the various hooded figures previously seen. She gives the Doctor a device which she says will lead him to Amy.

Amy, meanwhile, regains consciousness in a small room which is revealed to be a Voting Booth. A machine with TV screens scans Amy, identifies her and reveals her age to be 1,306 years old, which amuses her, and her marital status to be "unknown", which unsettles her. The screen she is watching then 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, which shows an extremely fast 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 herself then appears on the screen, telling herself to send the Doctor back and stop him investigating anything.

The Doctor comes into the room and deduces that a machine in the lamp above her head has made her forget everything she learned in the last twenty minutes. The machine then tries to scan the Doctor but is not able to because, he suspects, it knows he is not human, leading Amy to discover the Doctor is not human. When she states he looks human, he merely responds that she "looks Time Lord", but they came first. When she inquires whether there are more of them, the Doctor informs her that there are no other Time Lords, because there was a &quot;bad day&quot;. After tinkering with the machine to no avail, the Doctor presses the 'Protest' button, which causes the door to shut and the floor to roll back, sending him and Amy hurtling down a chute to the same red abyss the boy Timmy fell into at the start of the story. They land in some red liquid, apparently containing food refuse. The Doctor tells Amy that this is the tongue of a large beast; presumably anyone who chooses to protest is eaten by the beast. He then uses his Sonic Screwdriver to make the owner of the tongue vomit the Doctor and Amy out. As they are thrown out of the beast's mouth with the vomit, the Doctor cries 'Geronimo' while Amy screams.

They land in a sort of pipe where they are confronted with a door and another "Forget" switch. Presumably if they press the switch they will forget what they have just seen and be readmitted into the main part of the ship. On refusing 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 to the astonishment of the Doctor and Amy, stand up and start 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.

Liz 10 reveals herself to be Queen Elizabeth the Tenth of the United Kingdom. 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. It is initially suggested the creature has infested the ship and is a threat. 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. She explains that while investigating she wears the mask to hide her identity. The Doctor notes the mask has been made to fit her perfectly so it stays on by itself. 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-agreed protocol. The Doctor, Amy, Liz 10 and Mandy are then captured by hooded figures. When the Queen protests the men's faces rotate to reveal them to be half-human and half-smilers.

They are taken to the Tower of London in the bowels of the ship where Liz 10 meets the mysterious man, who is called Hawthorne, and who seems to be a senior member of the government. It is discovered that 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 being unleashed onto the Star whale, with the latter demanding it be set free. Hawthorne insists he is simply obeying orders from a higher authority, implying Liz 10 herself is that higher authority. He also reveals that while the creature will eat adults sent falling into its mouth, it will never hurt children.

The Doctor then deduces that Liz 10 has actually been Queen for hundreds of years (and not ten as she said), but has chosen to forget her past years of rule whenever she discovers the truth about the Star Whale. He has deduced this because the Queen's mask is hundreds of years old, yet was clearly made specifically for Liz 10. A video of Liz 10 is then played confirming this to be true.

In it, she explains how the British people faced destruction when Planet Earth was devastated by solar flares, and that the British children screamed in pain. Then the Star whale - thought to be the last such creature in the universe - appeared like a "miracle", and they captured it and used it to power their space ship. Liz 10 is then 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 Doctor, after allowing the humans present to hear the Star Whale's screams of pain by using his sonic screwdriver, then takes control and tells the assembled people that he has no choice but to kill the conscious functions of the creature in order to avoid its feeling pain and to 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 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 and Amy are reconciled, and disappear without saying goodbye and hurry back to the TARDIS.

Amy is about to reveal to the Doctor that she is engaged to be married when the phone in the TARDIS rings; it's the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, who is in a spot of bother, as the shadow of a Dalek glides into view. The Doctor and Amy set off to help Churchill. As the Space Whale continues to 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 (cameo)

Story notes

 * This episode was incorrectly assumed to be titled Meddeling 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 "Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition: The Eleventh Doctor Volume 1", would have stated there were other nation-ships and there used to be travel, but Starship UK had 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.
 * Another crack could 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 echo Donna Nobles pleas for the Doctor to stop 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.
 * If Amy Pond's age is said to be 1306 years old, and she was 21 in 2010, then the year is most likely 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 Bad Wolf in which David Tennant makes no appearance.

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 to play 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

 * 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.

Continuity

 * 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 apparentely un-married and childless owner of a small and unprofitable television shop who died at the events of that episode; though it's entirely possible that someone else, perhaps Tommy Connolly, capitalised on the brand in his honour.
 * 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 Doctor being knighted and exiled by Queen Victoria (DW: Tooth and Claw) and his relationship with the &quot;Virgin Queen&quot; (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 joined him, much as he did with Rose, Martha, and Donna shortly after each of them joined him.
 * 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. 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 to be heard, just as The Doctor allowed Donna to listen to 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.

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.