Blink (TV story)

"Don't blink, don't even blink, blink and you're dead! They are fast, faster than you could believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink! Good Luck."

- The Doctor

Synopsis
In an old, abandoned house, the Weeping Angels wait. However, when people start disappearing, a young woman called Sally finds cryptic messages bleeding through from 1969 – messages from a mysterious stranger called the Doctor. But can she decipher them before the Angels claim their prize?

Plot
Young photographer Sally Sparrow breaks into an old house (Wester Drumlins) and begins taking photos of the abandoned furniture. She takes a photograph of the letter B, which has been written on the bare wall. She pulls back the wallpaper to reveal the word BEWARE. She tears off more wallpaper, revealing a message telling her to beware of the Weeping Angels, and telling her to “duck, Sally Sparrow.” It is only when she reveals the words “duck now” that she actually does so, narrowly missing a rock that would have hit her head. She looks out the window, from where the rock was thrown, and sees the statue of an Angel with its hands covering its eyes. She peels the rest of the wallpaper off to reveal the writer of the message – “Love from The Doctor, 1969.”

Sally goes to her friend's house, that of a young woman called Katherine Nightingale. The TV is on playing a message of a man with glasses. The man tells the viewer not to turn away, not to look away, and not to blink – “Blink and you’re dead.” She also meets Kathy’s (naked) brother Larry.

The next morning, Kathy and Sally return to the house. Kathy is rather excited about this "investigating", and suggests the title of "Sparrow and Nightingale" for a detective show. Sally shows Kathy the message on the wall and the Weeping Angel, but notices that it is now closer to the house than before. Someone rings the doorbell; eventually, Sally goes to answer it, and Kathy waits upstairs. Kathy notices another Weeping Angel in the room and stares at it before blinking.

Sally answers the door to a man, looking for her. He says that he was told to come to this place on this exact date and time and give Sally Sparrow a letter. When Sally asks who sent him, he replies that it was his grandmother, Katherine Nightingale. Immediately recognising the name, Sally presumes she has figured out the joke and calls for her friend, but Kathy does not answer.

Kathy gets up in a field, and asks a local lad where she is. He replies that she is in Hull, but she refuses to believe it until he shows her the local paper, which not only confirms her location but also shows the date to be 1920.

Eventually, the man persuades Sally to take the letter, which happens to be from Kathy, who died twenty years ago. She explains that she had led a full and happy life (with the first man she met in Hull) and started a family. She includes photographs of her and her children from the past. She also writes that Larry will be working in a local DVD shop. In anger, Sally flings the letter down and heads upstairs to the room where she left Kathy, only to find three Weeping Angels in the room. One of them has a Yale key in its hand. She takes it and seeks out Larry.

When she gets there, she goes into the back of the DVD shop to find Larry. She also sees the man with glasses who gave her the blinking warning on a TV. Larry explains that the man features as an easter egg found on 17 DVDs and no-one, not even the manufacturers, knows how it got there. As they are talking, the DVD keeps un-pausing itself, and the man with glasses says random phrases. In the end, Larry gives her a list of the 17 DVDs that have the Easter Egg on them. She leaves the shop, and gets an idea from Larry’s co-worker ("Why does no-one ever go to the police?") about what to do next.

She goes to the police station, and meets up with DI Billy Shipton. After mentioning the house, he shows her a collection of cars with something strange in common: all of them were found outside the Wester Drumlins house (some with their motors still running) and all of their owners vanished without a trace. He then shows her a fake police phone box, with a lock that will not open. Billy coerces Sally to give him her mobile number before she leaves. ("Life is short, and you are hot.") In giving him her number, Sally makes a Freudian slip about her name ("Sally Shipton... I mean Sparrow. Sally Sparrow!"), and she rushes out, terribly embarrassed. After she leaves, he sees the Weeping Angels in the room with him, surrounding the phone box. He blinks.

Outside, Sally finds the key she took from the Angel’s hand in her coat pocket. She heads back to the garage to try it out, but both Billy and the police box have gone, and the outside door is broken, seeming forced open with violence.

Billy gets up to see the Doctor and Martha, who inform him that he is now in 1969, because of the “touch of an Angel.” After they talk, the Doctor asks Billy to give Sally Sparrow a message, and apologises for the long wait…

Back in the present, Sally gets a phone call. She goes to visit Billy Shipton, who is an old, dying man in a hospital bed. His message from the Doctor is to “look at the list”, the list being the DVD list Larry gave her. He mentions that he got into video production in the past, and she realises that he was the one who put the Easter Eggs on the DVDs. He also says that she will understand one day, but that he won’t; the Doctor has told him that this is their last meeting, and that he has only as long as the rain stops before he dies. She decides to stay with him until the end.

Later on, after the rain has stopped, Sally calls Larry. She says that she has realised what the DVDs on “the list” all have in common. They are all owned by her; specifically they are the ONLY DVDs she owns, which means that the Easter Egg must have been meant for her. She asks him to bring a portable DVD player to the old house.

Larry does so, and brings the DVD that has the best sound on the Easter Egg. They play it, and see the full message from the Doctor. He makes the same random comments from the video store, but now they fit into what Larry and Sally are saying. Realising this, Sally thinks he can hear them, but Larry explains that he always says it and that he has got a transcript of the Easter Egg with him. As the Doctor gives his message, everything Sally says seems to fit in, so Larry, now very excited, begins to add her words to the transcript.

The Doctor mentions that he has a copy of the transcript on his autocue, and that is how he knows what she is saying. He also warns about creatures from another world, the Weeping Angels. These creatures are incredibly fast, and they can send people back in time, which is how the Doctor got stuck in 1969. These Angels have a unique defence in that, if they are being looked at, they turn to stone, since “stone can’t be killed.” If any living thing looks at the Angels, they immediately turn to stone until they are no longer looked at. He calls this the 'Quantum Lock'. This, he says, explains the “Weeping”; they cannot look at each other, since it has the same effect. These Angels feed off of the days that their victims never had, and now they are looking for the TARDIS. They wish to feast on the energy of the TARDIS, and since Sally has the key, the Angels are after her now. He then says what Sally has already heard; she must keep her gaze on the Angels; she mustn’t turn away, look away, or even blink – “Blink and you’re dead.”

The Doctor is stuck in 1969, so he is relying on Sally to send the TARDIS back to him. When she asks how, he mentions that he has run out of transcript. Indeed, Larry has stopped writing, and they both notice at the same time that neither is looking at the Weeping Angel. They look up, and are shocked to find this Angel has its clawed fingers stretched out towards them, and is baring sharp teeth. Sally tells Larry to stay in the room while she searches for a way out. As she tries all the doors in the house, Larry looks away for a split second, and the Angel moves to right in front of him. Keeping his eyes on it, he leaves the room.

Sally has found the door to the cellar, which is unlocked, so she and Larry head down to see if there is a way out. When they get there, they find the TARDIS, along with the other three Weeping Angels. They head towards the door, keeping their eyes on the Angels. As they get to the TARDIS, Sally realises that the fourth Angel (the one who appeared upstairs with Larry) has appeared by the stairs and is pointing at the light. The light starts to flicker. Since Larry and Sally cannot see in the darkness, the Angels start to move towards Sally and Larry with their claws out and their teeth showing as the humans frantically try and unlock the TARDIS door. At the last minute, they break in.

As they look around a hologram of the Doctor says that the TARDIS has detected an authorised control disc, valid for one journey only; it is the DVD that Larry played to Sally to show her the message. He gets it out to find it glowing, but the Angels are shaking the TARDIS, looking for a way in. He puts it into the console and the TARDIS begins to dematerialise.

Sally realises with shock that the TARDIS is disappearing and she and Larry are not going with it. She screams at the Doctor to help them, even as the TARDIS fades, leaving them standing in the middle of the circle of Angels.

They realise quickly that the angels are frozen. As they were each holding a side of the TARDIS when it dematerialised, the Angels were left looking at each other, permanently locking them into place.

A year later, Sally and Larry are running the DVD store together, but Sally cannot let all that has happened go, and she cannot move on until she discovers who gave the Doctor the transcript and everything else she recorded. When Larry goes out to get some milk, she sees the Doctor and Martha getting out of a taxi, and realises in shock that it was she who gave the Doctor all the information: the transcript, the photos she took of the wall, everything. She rushes outside and passes it on, and warns the Doctor that he will get stuck in 1969 and that that is where it all starts. The Doctor asks her name and she tells him. The Doctor is in a hurry and cannot stay, so he and Martha eventually head off, while Sally clasps Larry’s hand and goes back into the shop, Sparrow and Nightingale's antiquarian books and rare DVDs. At the very end the doctor repeats the warning he gave to Sally, though this time it is directed at the viewer and pictures of recognizable statues are shown.

Cast

 * Sally Sparrow - Carey Mulligan (Main)
 * The Doctor - David Tennant (Cameo)
 * Martha Jones - Freema Agyeman (Cameo)
 * Kathy Nightingale - Lucy Gaskell
 * Larry Nightingale - Finlay Robertson
 * Malcolm Wainwright - Richard Cant
 * Billy Shipton - Michael Obiora
 * Old Billy - Louis Mahoney
 * Ben Wainwright - Thomas Nelstrop
 * Banto - Ian Boldsworth
 * Desk Sergeant - Ray Sawyer

In addition, although they are never shown moving on screen, all of the Weeping Angels were in fact played by live actors.

Crew
to be added

Story Notes

 * This episode is similar to series 2's Love & Monsters as it is a Doctor and companion 'light' episode.
 * Blink is based on a story that Steven Moffat wrote for the Doctor Who Annual 2006 entitled "What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow".
 * The story is ultimately an ontological paradox; the Doctor has all the information (the transcript of the conversation, the contents of the message behind the wallpaper, etc.) because Sally gives him that information at the end of the story - but Sally gets that information from reading the wall the Doctor wrote, watching the DVD the Doctor made, and so on. Thus, the information never really "starts" anywhere - the Doctor knows what to say in the conversation because he's reading Larry's transcript, which Larry made 40 years later by watching the conversation. The information is in an endless loop.
 * Despite appearing in cameos, David Tennant and Freema Agyeman are still credited as the main stars rather than Carey Mulligan in her main role.
 * Banto's DVDs included: Breakfast in the Rain, Dance of Days, Civilization Zero, angel smile, Falling Star, One Oak Country, My Best Friend's Boyfriend, Mean Teens, Shooting the Sun. All of these were fake titles created for the episode, complete with DVD cover and poster designs.
 * This is the first episode to be directed by a woman after 22 years, the last was The Mark of the Rani.
 * When Larry brings Sally the list of DVDs, a vintage White Star Line sticker can be seen affixed to the back of the folder; Titanic, the most famous White Star vessel, would later inspire the setting for Voyage of the Damned.
 * It was originally intended to establish that a year passes between the defeat of the Angels and Sally's encounter with the Doctor (which would account for the change of ownership of the DVD store and some character beats), but this reference was removed before broadcast.

Ratings

 * 6.1 million - Overnight
 * 0.75 million viewers - BBC Three Sunday repeat
 * 6.62 million viewers - Final Rating

Myths
to be added

Filming Locations

 * The coffee shop and the DVD shop opposite are in Charles Street, Newport, South Wales.


 * The "Police Station" with church opposite is in Mount Stuart Square, Butetown/Cardiff Bay, South Wales.


 * The abandoned house is on Fields Park Road in Newport, South Wales. It is currently being renovated.

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * How does the Weeping Angel get hold of the TARDIS key? If from the Doctor, why did they not use the key to get into the TARDIS straight away, having zapped him and Martha to 1969? After all, DI Shipton tells Sally Sparrow that the TARDIS was also found outside Wester Drumlins. It is possible that by the time the Angels had retrieved the key, the TARDIS had already been taken away. Given the number of vehicles that have been found at the house, this implies that the police might check there reasonably frequently. It is also possible that even though the Weeping Angels found the key, they could not find the TARDIS. They only locate the TARDIS after following Sally, who stole the key.


 * In theory, the angels would be able to escape when the light bulb eventually goes out, although the light stops flickering as soon as the TARDIS departs. It's implied that the angels can see perfectly well in the dark.


 * How does the Doctor know exactly when Sally should duck? And who threw the rock? The Angel in the garden threw it, and the Doctor didn't know when Sally Sparrow should duck, he just did as the notes Sally gave him indicated. As mentioned in the audio commentary for the episode, it is advantageous for an Angel to incapacitate its victims by throwing something at them as it could then move freely.


 * When Sally pulls the last scrap of wallpaper off, the words are still slightly covered up. However, when the camera next points at them, they are completely uncovered. The remaining wallpaper could have possibly fallen off during the time we don't see it. 


 * They look away from the angels many times but they don't move. Someone or thing is watching them. Some have proposed, semi-jokingly, that they are reacting to the camera and the viewer observing them. Rather than an example of discontinuity or a plot hole, this might be a deliberate example of self-referentiality: a device by which the audience becomes part of the action.


 * At the start of the episode when the angel knew she was there, why didn't the angel get Sally while she was looking at the message? It felt incapacitating her before attacking was a better strategy.


 * Sally and Kathy have clearly been close friends for some time - close enough for Sally to have a key to Kathy's flat. Yet Sally's never met Kathy's brother, even though he lives with his sister? The episode never really delves deeply into the Nightingales' back story.


 * The second shot of the Angel in its screaming face is different than the first shot because the angel's arms have clearly taken a different position.


 * When Larry is trying to "hold" the angels while Sally is looking for an exit door and he knows he mustn't blink, he in fact blinks. This appears to be a slip-up in the filming.
 * How did the Doctor know Larry would be to Sally's left? Because of the transcripts that Larry wrote out were sent back in time so the Doctor would read them. Also, this is a piece of information Sally would have certainly provided in any event as it was a key moment in the conversation.


 * The Doctor appears to be familiar with the early parts of Sally and Larry's discussion about the recording, even though Larry doesn't immediately start taking notes. The Doctor's side of the conversation was already written down, so it doesn't matter whether the other side was available or not. Also, Sally or Larry could have put that information in at a later point.


 * The episode does not indicate what becomes of the statues. Despite Larry's statement "they'll never move again", a power failure - or the statues being separated - would result in them reviving. It would be dangerous to leave them behind. It's quite that possible that once back in the present the Doctor contacted one of his large circle of friends (UNIT most probably) and had them remove the Angels to a safe place such as the Black Archive. A power failure would also not affect them; it is mentioned in the audio commentary that they can see in the dark.


 * The recording of the Doctor talking to Sally was scripted word for word, but when Martha interrupts him to tell Sally that she's also stuck the Doctor looked quite surprised at the interruption. The interruption was part of the transcript, so Martha's interruption and the Doctor's surprised look were both part of the act.


 * Why didn't Sally and Larry simply keep one eye open thus allowing them to keep an eye on the Angels whilst at the same time giving them the opportunity to rest the closed eye and switch eyes when needed? One explanation could be that they did not want to run the risk of having both closed at the same time. Blinking is involuntary, winking isn't; therefore, upon switching eyes, it would take massive concentration to keep both eyes from closing. Also - they are clearly scared, and the thought of using one eye at a time probably wouldn't have occurred to them.


 * With DI Billy Shipton zapped back to 1969 and dying in 2007, wouldn't it have been possible for his older and younger versions to run into each other between 1969 and 2007? The chance of them actually meeting each other is really slim, and if they met his younger version wouldn't recognise his older self.


 * As Larry is watching the weeping angel, Sally runs to the front door. She runs to the right, but something is visible moving right next to the wall. That is Sally's reflection in a mirror.


 * A few chronology-related questions remain unanswered, such as exactly when the Doctor and Martha were sent back to 1969 (it was at least several years before Sally gives the Doctor her package). Also left unrevealed is exactly how long the Doctor and Martha spent in 1969. These details aren't relevant to the plot


 * Although there is no direct reference to this, the fact Billy talks about having gotten into video and DVD publishing strongly implies that he was the one who filmed the easter egg message. (This is supported by the fact that the camera is clearly being operated by someone as it pans when Martha appears, which it would not have done had it been a camera on a tripod set to film by itself.)


 * When the transcript is shown there is no indication of how long Sally speaks for, so the Doctor would have no idea how many seconds he should wait before speaking again. He does know what she says, and could thus have figured it out from that.


 * Why does Kathy contact Sally only after her disappearance, rather than sending the message sooner to try to prevent the disappearance? The Doctor warns Billy not to contact Sally at the wrong time, but how does Kathy know? Kathy needed someone to deliver the message: For the messenger to be younger than 75 by the time of Kathy's disappearance but older than 10 when the message was issued, Kathy would have to wait at least until 1942 to send the message. By this time she was happily married with children in her new era, and wouldn't have wanted to undo that.


 * If Sally has several months - possibly a year - to put her notes together, why does the Doctor act like he is missing big parts of the story, such as what happens after Larry stops writing the transcript? The Doctor saying those things were themselves part of the transcript. Even if Sally did include all the possible information she could, the Doctor couldn't change what he 'had' to say. It is also at this point that the doctor indicates that they are in more immediate danger: the conversation could not continue from this point as Sally had other things to do.

Continuity

 * A similar holographic Doctor appeared to Rose in DW: The Parting of the Ways.
 * Martha once again obtains period employment in the course of her adventures with the Doctor, having previously gotten hired as a maid in DW: Human Nature. This time, she takes a job in a shop in 1969.
 * The Doctor's timey-wimey detector is destroyed in NSA: Ghosts of India.
 * A 'sequel' to this story was released on Day 24 of the 2009 Adventure Calendar on the Official Doctor Who website. It was narrated by John Barrowman in the style of a ghost story.
 * The Weeping angels return in Series 5 (Season 31).

Timeline

 * This story occurs after NSA The Many Hands
 * This story occurs before DWA: Myth Maker

DVD and Other Releases

 * This has been released along with Human Nature and The Family of Blood
 * It is also part of the series 3 box set. In the disc which has the episode in it (disc 4) there is an easter egg on page 2 of scene selection of "Blink". It has the Doctor's Easter egg from the episode, unedited. To access it, you have to highlight "Blink" in the page and select it. Unlike other bonus scenes and deleted footage, the Easter egg remains "filmized" rather than being rendered on video, in keeping with it supposedly having been filmed in 1969.