Prisoner Zero

Prisoner Zero was a prisoner of the Atraxi.

History
Prisoner Zero was a captive of an Atraxi extra-dimensional prison. When a crack in the universe opened into Amelia Pond's house on Earth, it was able to escape. Prisoner Zero hid within a room in Amelia's house, placing a perception filter on the door to the room so that it would never be found. There it hid for twelve years, sometimes venturing out into the village, posing as people who it had established a psychic link with (a process that took months). Since the forms it took were of comatose people, Rory Williams, who worked at the local hospital as a nurse, took pictures of them with his BlackBerry Storm, knowing that the people he saw shouldn't be up and about. It was during this time that Prisoner Zero established a Psychic link with Amelia (later Amy) Pond.

The Doctor belatedly returned to Amelia's house, followed by the Atraxi, who broadcast a global warning that they would incinerate "the human residence" (Earth) if Prisoner Zero did not surrender. When Prisoner Zero escaped, the Doctor and Amy went into the village square, where residents of Leadworth were taking pictures of the Sun, obscured because the Atraxi had put a force field around the Earth. The Doctor noticed that Rory was facing the other way, taking a picture of Prisoner Zero, which was disguised as a man with a dog. The Doctor attempted to draw the Atraxi to Prisoner Zero by overloading all the electrical devices in the surrounding area with his extraterrestrial sonic screwdriver, but the screwdriver burnt out and Prisoner Zero escaped again.

Prisoner Zero arrived at the hospital and proceeded to kill all the doctors and nurses. It then took the form of a woman with two children, and was found by Amy and Rory but gave itself away by talking with the woman's voice through a child's mouth. It snarled at Amy and Rory and chased them down the corridors. The Doctor arrived through the window just in time, and revealed his master plan to Prisoner Zero.

Believing that surrender would mean execution, Prisoner Zero said it was prepared to die in flames with the whole planet. The Doctor suggested Prisoner Zero open another crack to escape, but Zero replies the cracks were not its doing, but cracks in the skin of the universe, and taunted the Doctor over his lack of knowledge before warning "The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall". When cornered by the Doctor, it tried to avoid Atraxi detection by making a psychic connection with Amy and using her memories to imitate her younger self and the Doctor. The Doctor thwarted this by stimulating Amy's recent memory of Prisoner Zero and forcing it to take on its own form. The Atraxi detected and secured Prisoner Zero, as it gave its final warning: "Silence, Doctor. Silence will fall" (DW: The Eleventh Hour).

Behind the scenes

 * In an issue of Doctor Who Magazine, Matt Smith and Karen Gillan referred to Prisoner Zero as a "Face Tendril".
 * Despite being the first villain of the Matt Smith era, Prisoner Zero wasn't seen in any trailers or publicity images.
 * As it passed through one to escape the Atraxi, Prisoner Zero appears to be immune to the Cracks' ability to erase moments from time.
 * It is unknown what crimes got prisoner zero imprisoned.