Operation Mannequin

An event known to UNIT as Operation Mannequin (PROSE: Operation Mannequin) &mdash; also referred to as The London Incident in a press briefing released by Staff Sergeant A. Frederick, who sought to mitigate allegations of alien life, terrorists, and/or robots, (PROSE: UNIT's Position on The London Incident) and as the "5 March 2005 incident" in The Secret Lives of Monsters (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters) &mdash; was declared by the British government as a ill-judged prank played by students that led to civil unrest, in truth however it was yet another attempted invasion of Earth, centred in London, by the Nestene Consciousness. (TV: Rose) The Ninth Doctor translated to Rose Tyler the invasion was the Consciousness still fighting "the war" during their confrontation with it. (PROSE: Rose)

The invasion took place on 5 March (TV: Aliens of London, AUDIO: One Rule, PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters) or on 26 March. (PROSE: UNIT's Position on The London Incident, Operation Mannequin)

From the perspective of Londoner Elton Pope, it marked the point where his "perfectly normal life" had all gone mad. (TV: Love & Monsters) Indeed, several more high-profile alien incursions would appear in London over the following years, threatening the Earth. (TV: Aliens of London, World War Three, The Christmas Invasion) Jackie Tyler also made note of this string of incidents, which began with the arrival of the Ninth Doctor in the life of herself and her daughter Rose Tyler. (AUDIO: Wednesdays For Beginners)

Donna Noble, however, was oblivious to the invasion as well as several other alien incidents which occurred over the following years. (PROSE: Rose, TV: The Runaway Bride, The End of Time)

Origins
Though they had been involved in the Last Great Time War, (PROSE: Decoy) the Nestene Consciousness chose to abandon its old ways and developed a rapport with the Embodiment of Gris on Nestenia, only for the planet to be ruined when it was caught in the edge of the Time War. Amongst the planets which had been duplicated and used as weapons against it, the Nestene recognised Earth from an "old campaign". (PROSE: Revenge of the Nestene) Indeed, it had invaded at least twice in the 20th century. (TV: Spearhead from Space, Terror of the Autons) Reeling from its wounds, the Nestene deliberately chose that "ridiculous" planet as a target for a new invasion, (PROSE: Revenge of the Nestene) the Ninth Doctor being aware that its food stock had been destroyed "the war", with all its protein planets rotting, and that the Earth's smoke and oil, combined with toxins and dioxins in the air, would have made the perfect source of food for the Nestene. To achieve its purpose, the Nestene infiltrated Earth using warp shunt technology and based itself in London. (TV: Rose)

Invasion
On 4 March 2005, the Ninth Doctor was in London pursuing the Nestene Consciousness. His investigations took him to Henrik's department store. Though H.P. Wilson had already been killed by the Autons, the Doctor was able to save Rose Tyler. He then blew up the building. (TV: Rose, Aliens of London)

On the following day, Rose Tyler investigated the Doctor, talking to conspiracy theorist Clive Finch about his website on the Doctor at whoisdoctorwho.co.uk. Rose's boyfriend, Mickey Smith, was abducted by the Autons and replaced with an Auton duplicate. Using the head of this Auton, the Doctor tracked the Nestene Consciousness' signal to the London Eye.

Addressing the Nestene Consciousness according to Convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation, the Doctor intended to resolve the situation peacefully, though he brought a vial of anti-plastic with him as a precaution. The Nestene Consciousness, however, detected the Doctor's anti-plastic as well as the presence of the Doctor's TARDIS, which terrified the Nestene to the point of commencing a full-scale invasion, taking control of all plastic objects from London, (TV: Rose) and then satellites above the Earth allowing Autons to activate in a thousand cities including Beijing, Barcelona, Reykjavik, Rio, Sydney and San Francisco. (PROSE: Rose)

During this commotion, Cardiff's city centre was brought to its knees. (AUDIO: One Rule)

In London, Clive Finch was killed when he was shot in the head by an Auton. (TV: Rose, PROSE: Rose) Elton Pope was out shopping in the city centre at the time, and survived the incident. (TV: Love & Monsters) Jackie was also in the city centre at the time, survived the incident and when Rose rung to check on her after it was over, she warned Rose not to go out. (TV: Rose)

The Nestene Consciousness planned to absorb the Ninth Doctor, so it could gain knowledge on how to pilot the TARDIS, so they could invade other planets. (PROSE: Rose) However, Rose Tyler managed to defeat the Nestene by knocking the anti-plastic solution that one of the Autons had confiscated from the Doctor into the vat of molten plastic which housed the main bulk of the Consciousness, causing it to explode. (TV: Rose)

Aftermath
Surviving in an Auton, the last fragment of the Nestene merged itself with a blond haired politician, becoming one. (PROSE: Revenge of the Nestene)

Later on the night of 5 March, Rose Tyler joined the Ninth Doctor in the TARDIS as his companion, travelling through time and space. (TV: Rose) She was considered one of many people who went missing after the invasion, though the fact that her disappearance was reported the following day was noted as being interesting. (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters) Eventually, Rose stopped back at her home in the Powell Estate, where the Doctor told her she had only been gone for twelve hours. However, due to an error on the Doctor's part, she had actually been absent for twelve months, returning in March of 2006. (TV: Aliens of London) Her reappearance put a stop to her missing case. (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters)

The official government response to the invasion, which claimed it occurred in London and other large parts of England, was that it had been an ill-judged prank played by students, given that April Fools' Day was coming in less than a month, that had gone out of control, resulting in the property damage, injuries, and deaths caused during the attack and following state of emergency. Additionally, the prime minister stated there was collective misconception and mass hysteria surrounding the incident. Thus, the government stated there was no further need for public concern. Nevertheless, one national newspaper asked its readers to send in photos of the scariest window shop dummies they could. (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters)

According to another account, the invasion would subsequently be covered up as a "terrorist attack". Barry Jackson used the attack to cover up his murder of the Lord Mayor of Cardiff, Roy Llewellyn. (AUDIO: One Rule) A third account, that dated the attack to 26 March, saw a UNIT Staff Sergeant, A. Frederick, release a press briefing two days after the attack, which refused to comment on the allegations that the attack was made by "disguised members of a terrorist coalition, or specially modified robots under remote-control by an unconventional aggressor", and outright denied that the attack had anything to do with alien life. (PROSE: UNIT's Position on The London Incident)

In February 2021, Josh commented on a post on Into The Unknown suggesting this incident as an example of the Mandela Effect, as he could remember it despite no-one else appearing to. He claimed his father could recall a similar incident involving shop dummies from the 1970s. (PROSE: The Mandela Effect, Or Monsters on the Streets of London)

Parallel universe
In a parallel universe, Rose Tyler found that the invasion never occurred. As a result, that universe's Clive Finch was not killed. (AUDIO: The Endless Night) She later determined that the invasion did not occur in at least one other universe. (AUDIO: The Last Party on Earth)

Behind the scenes

 * In the video game NOTVALID: K9: Deja Who, it is K9 who thwarts the Auton invasion instead of the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler. To that end, he fights through the Autons in London. After defeating the Auton Mickey Smith, K9 acquired the anti-plastic vial and used it to destroy the Nestene Consciousness.
 * While giving no solid confirmation, The Rings of Akhaten reveals Ellie Oswald, the mother of Clara Oswald, died on 5 March 2005, raising the possibility that she was killed during the invasion.