Powell Estate

The Powell Estate was a council estate in Kennington (PROSE: Rose Tyler) or Peckham (COMIC: Silver Scream, PROSE: Downtime: Child of the New World) in the London Borough of Southwark. (TV: Father's Day) It was built in 1973. (PROSE: Rose)

It had two towers, unofficially called Enoch and Powell, of sixteen floors, with six flats per storey rising above a squat quadrant with shops on the ground level including a chemist, a newsagent, Dev the bookie's, and Chicken Shack & Rack. (PROSE: Rose)

History
In 1879, Queen Victoria knighted future resident Rose Tyler as "Dame Rose of the Powell Estate" before exiling her from the British Empire. (TV: Tooth and Claw)

The two towers of the Powell Estate were unofficially called Enoch and Powell under the mistaken belief that Enoch Powell MP had christened the estate when in actuality it was named after the developer's wife's mother, Mary Jane Powell, who had died in 1951. (PROSE: Rose)

While trying to siphon off of the Tenth Doctor's emotional pain, the Reach deposited him at Powell Estate shortly before its opening. (COMIC: Revolving Doors)

On several occasions during the 1990s, Captain Jack Harkness, who travelled with the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler for some time, visited the Powell Estate to watch Rose grow up, but did not approach her to avoid disrupting her timeline. (TV: Utopia)

The Ninth Doctor visited the Powell Estate in 1998 after buying Rose a red bicycle for Christmas. (PROSE: The Red Bicycle)

In September 2004, Len Cawl and Sid Adarsh stashed the kidnapped teenagers, Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart and Conall Wilson, in a flat in Bucknall House, and talked about a woman who lived below them called Jacks, who had a gobby teenage daughter. (PROSE: Downtime: Child of the New World)

In 2005-2006, its residents included Rose Tyler, her mother, Jackie, Rose's boyfriend Mickey Smith, (TV: Rose) Arianna, Jolene, Gemma, (AUDIO: Retail Therapy) Trisha Delaney, Rosita, Yasmin, Henry, Frank, Doris, Bill, Maxine, Mrs Boufakis, (AUDIO: Wednesdays For Beginners) Mrs McGregor, Mrs Pye, Darren, (PROSE: Winner Takes All) Sandra, Jason and Tina. (TV: The Christmas Invasion) Jackie first moved into 48 Bucknall House (TV: Love & Monsters) at the Powell Estate in the late 1980s with her husband Pete. It was there that their daughter Rose grew up. (TV: Father's Day, Doomsday) River Song briefly moved into number 23 in 2007. (AUDIO: R&J)

The Tenth Doctor, just before regenerating, made a final visit to the Powell Estate on 1 January 2005. He observed Rose and Jackie, months before he first met them in their timeline. He also exchanged a few words with Rose before staggering back to the TARDIS, parked nearby, to regenerate. (TV: The End of Time)

The Powell Estate became the site of considerable excitement from the years 2005 to 2007 after Rose Tyler encountered the Ninth Doctor.

The Powell Estate was one of many sites in London and around the world which were invaded by Cybermen from the alternate reality known as "Pete's World" before the Tenth Doctor expelled the invaders into the Void. (TV: Army of Ghosts / Doomsday) As a result of these events, Rose and Jackie were stranded on Pete's World, effectively abandoning their home in the Powell Estate. (TV: Doomsday) Sometime during these events, Suzy Monroe went to the Powell Estate to film the Cybermen, who looked like ghosts. It was broadcasted live on Ghostwatch. After she had filmed several Cybermen Suzy left to have a look at some other viewers' sightings and was attacked by a Cyberman. (GAME: Ghostwatch)

The Tenth Doctor claimed he had picked up his accent from the Powell Estate, when talking to Archie Maplin in 1929. He found common ground with Maplin by noting that the estate was in Peckham, Maplin's home. (COMIC: Silver Scream)

Behind the scenes
Although never explicitly stated on screen, evidence suggests that the Powell Estate is located in the London Borough of Southwark. The street sign for Walterley Street, which appears in Father's Day names the street as being part of the "London Borough of Southwark". In that episode, Walterley is implied to be a short walk from Jordan Road and the Powell Estate. Further evidence that the Powell Estate is located in the borough of Southwark comes from Aliens of London, where the Slitheen craft is shown to fly over Southwark landmarks including London City Hall and HMS Belfast just a moment after having flown over the Powell Estate. An exact location for the Powell Estate was given in the short story Rose Tyler, stating that it was located in Kennington, which is an area of London situated on the border of and London Borough of Southwark. However, this was later contradicted by the comic Silver Scream, which placed the Powell Estate in Peckham, which in the real world is part of the London Borough of Southwark. This was reiterated in the novel Downtime: Child of the New World which also places the Powell Estate in Peckham.

The Brandon Estate in Kennington, London was used as as stand-in for the Powell Estate in several series, most prominently during The Christmas Invasion.

Powell Estate