Fear Her (TV story)

Fear Her was the eleventh episode in the second series of Doctor Who.

Synopsis
London 2012, and the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler set off to see the Olympics, only to find terror in the most ordinary place.

Plot
The TARDIS materialises on Dame Kelly Holmes Close on the day of the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games. On the street, concern is divided between preparation for the Games, as the torchbearer will pass by on the final leg, and the continued disappearance of children from their garden. Rose also meets a ginger cat who walks into a cardboard box and disappears. Cars break down on the street. A council worker, Kel, states this has been happening all week.

The source of the problems is a small girl, Chloe, who can make people disappear by drawing them.

Wandering down one of the estate streets, Rose hears a noise from one of the garages and decides to investigate. As she opens the door a round, fuzzy Scribble Creature flies out, hitting Rose square in the face. Rose swats at it helplessly. Luckily the Doctor arrives and deactivates it with the sonic screwdriver. He deduces from residual energy and the carbon of the scribble that had attacked Rose that the problem is alien in origin.

By talking to Chloe, he learns the disappearance is related to the Isolus, an alien life-form, who had befriended Chloe; she has had a troubled childhood and an abusive father. The Doctor warns that the Isolus is desperate for love too, and will use the billions of people watching the Olympic opening ceremony to replace its family.

The Doctor returns to the TARDIS and locates the Isolus pod in the Close. However, the Doctor and thousands at the Olympic Stadium start to disappear, leaving Rose to dig the pod up with a pickaxe (to Kel's protestations). Rose realises she needs to offer the pod heat, which she does by throwing the pod towards the torch, which had became a morale beacon, passing the Close. As the missing children start to reappear, Rose realises that so will the demon-like drawing that Chloe had made of her father. Rose and Chloe's mother calm Chloe enough to destroy him.

As the torch-bearer approaches the Olympic Stadium, he staggers, but the Doctor completes the run and lights the Olympic Flame, allowing the Isolus to return home.

As the Doctor and Rose walk off to watch the Games, Rose remarks that however hard "they" attempt, nothing will ever split up the two of them. However, the Doctor does not seem so sure, as he surmises that a storm is approaching.

Cast

 * The Doctor - David Tennant
 * Rose Tyler - Billie Piper
 * Trish Webber - Nina Sosanya
 * Chloe Webber - Abisola Agbaje
 * Maeve - Edna Dore
 * Tom's Dad - Tim Faraday
 * Kel - Abdul Salis
 * Driver - Richard Nichols
 * Neighbour- Erica Eirian
 * Police Officer - Stephen Marzella
 * Commentator - Huw Edwards

The Doctor

 * The Doctor mentions (to Rose's surprise) that he "was a dad once." This has been implied numerous times by his status as grandfather to Susan Foreman.
 * The Doctor claims to be reasonably adept at squash.

Galactic Law

 * The Doctor invokes the Shadow Proclamation.

Music from the real world

 * Trish sings "Kookaburra" to Chloe.

Species

 * The Isolus are beings that can draw power from other beings' extreme emotion.
 * Humanoid catkind are mentioned.

Other

 * The Doctor shows that he can do the Vulcan salute from the American science-fiction show Star Trek.
 * Papua New Guinea surprises everyone in the shot put at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

Story notes

 * Fear Her replaced an unwritten script originally allocated to Stephen Fry.
 * This is the first televised Doctor Who story to deal with actual child abuse.
 * No characters die during this episode, a rarity for the series.
 * In 2009, Doctor Who Magazine conducted a reader poll to rank the first 200 Doctor Who stories in order of preference. Fear Her ranked 192nd out of 200, earning it the dubious distinction of being the lowest-ranked story of the 2005-present revival.
 * The London 2012 logo seen at the start is the bid logo, not the final logo of the games, which wasn't unveiled until after the episode was produced.
 * The writer, Matthew Graham, noted on the DVD commentary that the scribble creature was never to be called a "scribble monster", as the Doctor would never call anything a monster.
 * The idea of a child bringing things to life through drawings was also featured in the 1991 Eerie Indiana episode "Who's Who".
 * When the Doctor mentions having been a father, it is the first time in the revived series that the Doctor has referenced his family. Although, it should be noted that the Doctor has referenced his 'entire family' dying, along with sympathising with Constantine over "I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither."
 * The mini-episode TV: Good as Gold takes place during the Olympics opening ceremony. However, the circumstances are shown to be clearly different, with an athlete carrying the torch and and Weeping Angels involved.
 * This story idea of the Tenth Doctor's involvement in the 2012 Olympics sparked a petition from thousands of fans all over the world wishing David Tennant to carry the Olympic Torch. However, it was not David Tennant, but Matt Smith who would carry the 2012 Olympic torch in Wales on 26 May 2012.
 * In the real world, it was Sir Steve Redgrave who finally delivered the torch to the Olympic Stadium in London, and a group of seven young athletes who lit the Olympic Flame. However, newsreader Huw Edwards did provide the commentary on the ceremony, and during one of the elaborate production numbers prior to this the sound of the TARDIS materialising was also heard.
 * As is routine for post-2005 Doctor Who, a "NEXT TIME" trailer is shown at the end of the episode. This was a trailer for the two-part finale of Series 2, Army of Ghosts and Doomsday, rather than just the next episode (Army of Ghosts) as usual. Also, the Doctor Who closing theme does not play during the trailer.

Ratings

 * 7.14 million

Filming Location
Temorfa, Cardiff

Production errors

 * When the Doctor and Rose walk down the lane, the road is perfect, with no blemishes. However, when the Doctor later picks up the Isolus pod, there is a clear paving spot.
 * In a shot before the cat disappears, the white flowers in the ground behind Rose are obviously fabric.

Continuity

 * The Doctor uses his telepathy as he did in TV: The Girl in the Fireplace.
 * 2012 previously featured in TV: Dalek. It is the home era of Adam Mitchell.
 * Each of the kids reacts to coming back from being in their pictures just as people did in TV: The Idiot's Lantern when regaining their faces.
 * The Doctor previously had a sensation in his hands in TV: The War Machines.
 * During his eleventh incarnation, the Doctor would visit the 2012 Olympic Games once again in the company of Amy Pond. (TV: Good as Gold) He had previously visited 2012 on at least one occasion during or prior to his sixth incarnation (AUDIO: The Raincloud Man) as well as during his seventh (AUDIO: Frozen Time), eighth (PROSE: The Shadows of Avalon) and ninth incarnations (TV: Dalek).
 * In the far future, radio and television broadcasts concerning the 2012 Olympic Games could be accessed via the Gogglebox inside the Moon. (AUDIO: The Reaping, AUDIO: The Gathering)
 * When the Doctor talks to Chloe about drawing, he says, "I'm rubbish. stickmen're about my limit." He is apparently lying. He did skilled drawings in A Journal of Impossible Things, and when Joan Redfern asks where he learned to draw, the Doctor, as John Smith, says, Gallifrey. (TV: Human Nature)

Home video releases

 * This story was released on a vanilla DVD (a DVD release containing no extra features) with Army of Ghosts and Doomsday.
 * It was also released as part of the Series 2 DVD box set.