Planet of the Dead (TV story)

Planet of the Dead is the confirmed title of the first of the 2009 specials, aired on 11 April 2009. It stars David Tennant and feature two new characters, Christina and Malcolm, along with UNIT. Production of the special began on 19th January 2009.

The Easter special involves the Lady Christina de Souza stealing jewellery and escaping on a red London bus, which takes a "detour into danger" with the Doctor.

It was broadcast on Easter Saturday at 6.45PM. The BBC did not officially announce the broadcast date for the special until the beginning of April 2009.

Synopsis
The Doctor, along with the lady Christina de Souza and other passengers, finds himself transported to a barren desert planet on a double-decker bus. As the Doctor and Christina struggle to uncover the mysteries beneath the sand, the Swarm draws closer.

Plot
The first scene is of guards being set up around a golden cup, later to be identified as the Cup of Athelstan, worth 18 million pounds. Lady Christina de Souza then lowers herself from the roof, and replaces the cup with a mechanical golden waving cat, so when the guards finally turn around at the sound of her releasing her winch on the roof, it waves at them in a mocking fashion. As the alarms go off, she runs out to the street to see someone being arrested, and she says, "Sorry, lover.", implying he was watching out for her. She then takes a back route onto the main road, where she frantically looks for a way out as police move in around her, although unaware of her prescence. She runs onto a 200 bus to Victoria, where she exchanges diamond earrings for a bus ride. Soon afterwards a man wearing trainers, who's face we aren't shown, comes onto the bus, and seems to use psychic paper on the oyster card scanner. He then sits down opposite Lady Christina, and is shown to be the Doctor. The title sequence is then played.

Cast

 * The Doctor - David Tennant
 * Lady Christina de Souza - Michelle Ryan
 * Professor Malcolm Taylor - Lee Evans
 * Captain Erisa Magambo - Noma Dumezweni
 * D.I Macmillan - Adam James
 * Lou - Reginald Tsiboe
 * Carmen - Ellen Thomas
 * Angela - Victoria Alcock
 * Barclay - Daniel Kaluuya
 * Nathan - David Ames
 * Bus Driver - Keith Perry
 * Sgt Dennison - Glenn Doherty


 * Sgt Ian Jenner - James Layton
 * Sorvin - Paul Kasey
 * Praygat - Ruari Mears
 * Unit officer - Shana Swash

Production crew
find the complete credits at:

Story notes

 * The title of the episode was unveiled during the closing credits of The Next Doctor broadcast on 25 December 2008, several weeks before production of the episode was due to begin.
 * This is the first Doctor Who episode in which series producer Russell T Davies shares co-writing credit, and the first episode since the show's return in 2005 to credit two writers. The last televised story to credit two writers was the 1993 mini-episode Dimensions in Time.
 * Davies stated in the commentary for The Next Doctor that it will feature UNIT, as well as two new characters named Christina (Michelle Ryan) and Malcolm (Lee Evans).
 * In his column for Doctor Who Magazine, Davies wrote that the special will feature two new races never before seen. Davies also characterises Planet of the Dead as an "antidote" to the continuity-heavy Journey's End and The Next Doctor, which means old monsters appearing is unlikely.
 * The casting of Michelle Ryan has been reported both by media and via on-set confirmation. Ryan, best known for her work on the UK soap opera EastEnders and the American science fiction series Bionic Woman, had previously co-starred in the Steven Moffat-written miniseries Jekyll and was also reportedly a candidate for new companion after the departure of Billie Piper in 2006.
 * Evan's stated the character he would be playing, Malcolm, was a professor.
 * After initial rumours, it was confirmed that part of the episode will be filmed in Dubai, United Arab Emirates through BBC News coverage that a bus that was to be used for filming there was heavily damaged upon arrival there.
 * According to the BBC report, the damage to the bus -- a twin to one being used for filming in Cardiff -- prompted a rewrite of part of the script, the recently released trailer for the episode depicts damage to the bus identical to the damage seen in many on-set photos, suggesting that the bus getting damaged has become part of the story.
 * On 16 January 2009 The Guardian newspaper published an online column condemning the then-rumoured plan to film in Dubai, citing the UAE's human rights record. Similar criticism was posted by the fan site Kasterborous on 28 January.
 * As seen in David Tennant's video diary for this episode's readthrough, Tennant feared that, having spent six months portraying Hamlet for the RSC, that he would be unable to accurately replicate the voice he uses when portraying The Doctor. In an informal discussion with Julie Gardner, he describes his voice for Hamlet as being the same as the Doctor's (being an English accent) except "more posh" and mentioned he may have to watch his previous performances as the Doctor and practice the voice. This strongly echoes Billie Piper's dilemma when she returned to film Turn Left; in interviews with Doctor Who Confidential, Piper confessed to having forgotten how to speak in Rose's accent; it was later noted that she spoke with a noticeable lisp in several scenes of that episode.
 * It has been confirmed by the BBC that Planet of the Dead will be the first Doctor Who story to be produced in high-definition; this changeover can be likened to the move from black and white to colour production in 1970.
 * An interesting note would be that, eccentric time lady Iris Wildthyme had a TARDIS that resembled a London bus, though this rumor was later claimed to be false.
 * According to Tennant's video diary, he and co-star Adam James have been friends for 10 years, having also worked together in the past, James is also Jon Pertwee's godson.
 * In an interview for BBC Breakfast on 7th April 2009, Russell T. Davies revealed that the episode had only been completed at 11:30pm the previous night, only 5 days before the episode airs.
 * DWM Issue 407 confirmed that Planet of the Dead was Doctor Who's 200th story.
 * The TARDIS is discovered in the gardens of Buckingham Palace, and according to the Doctor, the Queen "doesn't mind".
 * The Doctor is seen eating an Easter Egg.
 * It is said that The Doctor's "song is nearly over", and that someone from his past may be returning, and that he will "knock four times", possibly alluding to The Master appearing in one of the future specials.
 * The Doctor refers to Robot K1 from the 4th Doctor story Robot.
 * Malcom has to press f8 to close the wormhole. F8 sounds like fate.
 * Lady Christina leaves the final scene aboard the flying bus that brought them through the wormhole.
 * UNIT returns for this episode to investigate the disappearance of the bus.
 * The Doctor's psychic paper is compatible with the Oyster card scheme used for public transport in London and he uses his psychic paper to 'pay' his bus fare.
 * The bus is transported to the Scorpion Nebula on the other side of the universe.
 * San Helious became a desert over the course of a year or under. The sand is actually remains of the dead, hence the title; Planet of the Dead
 * The Doctor said that he will "never" take another companion on board the TARDIS because he has lost all his previous ones.
 * The Doctor's Sonic screwdriver can be used to tint his glasses to look like sunglasses.

Ratings
Brilliant!

Filming Locations

 * Cardiff (UNIT)
 * Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors
When the bus is originally shown, it has a number plate of W974GHM, but later, when flying, its number plate has changed to RUA467W.

Continuity

 * A man important to the Doctor will return in a few episodes time, according to the "gifted" Carmel. "He will return out of the darkness. He will knock four times." This person could be Davros, or the Master. ''It Will most likley to be the Master as when he drummed in The Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords, he did it four times. That was also his hypnotizem "theme".
 * The following story will be called The Waters of Mars

DVD and Other releases
According to Amazon.co.uk, a Region 2 (UK) DVD release is scheduled for 11 May 2009, although as of the end of March no official announcement has been made by BBC Video or 2 Entertain. A release one month after broadcast is in keeping with the precedent set by the release of The Next Doctor to DVD. It is not yet known if the release will have any extra features.

As with The Next Doctor no North American DVD release has been hinted at; it is assumed it will at least be included in a box set collecting the 2009 Specials and The Next Doctor; such a release will not occur until the first quarter of 2010, at the earliest, pending broadcast of the remaining specials in the UK.