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UNIT soldiers converge on Bannerman Road bearing bad news: an alien race called the Shansheeth is coming to Earth, with the body of the Doctor, who has recently died. Sarah immediately goes into denial, certain that the Doctor could never meet such a fate, but UNIT and the Shansheeth present a devastatingly convincing case. And more than most of his acquaintances, Sarah is aware that even seeing a body wouldn’t be proof, since she has no idea what the Doctor looks like now.

The Doctor’s memorial is set to be held at UNIT HQ, and Sarah is stunned to find few in attendance. One other former companion of the Doctor does show up, however: Jo Jones, formerly Jo Grant, who traveled with the third Doctor, attends with her grandson, Santiago. Her instincts are the same as Sarah’s: the Doctor can’t have died so easily. In the meantime, Clyde and Rani get to know Santiago, but Clyde is distracted by an unusual energy that keeps arcing across his hand – the same kind of energy that enveloped the TARDIS when he last saw the Doctor. The three then eavesdrop on a conversation among the Shansheeth, confirming what Sarah and Jo have already said: the Doctor is still alive… and, as usual, is in terrible trouble.

written by Russell T. Davies
directed by Ashley Way
music by Sam Watts & Dan Watts / title music by Murray Gold

Guest Cast: Matt Smith (The Doctor), Katy Manning (Jo Jones), Finn Jones (Santiago Jones), Laila Rouass (Colonel Karim), Jimmy Vee (Groske), Paul Kasey (Shansheeth), Ruari Mears (Shansheeth), Ben Ashley (Shansheeth), David Bradley (voice of Shansheeth Blue), Phillip Hurd-Wood (voice of the Groske), Jon Glover (additional Shansheeth voices)

Notes: Luke puts in another webcam appearance in this episode, which also marks writer Russell T. Davies’ return to the Doctor Who universe, for the first time since The End Of Time Part Two. Clips from that episode, The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, Pyramids Of Mars (referenced twice in as many stories) and Death To The Daleks are shown as Sarah, Clyde and Rani remember the first and last times they met the Doctor; curiously, while Sarah recalls her encounters with the third, fourth and tenth Doctors, her brief meeting with the Doctor’s second and fifth incarnations (The Five Doctors) isn’t shown to be remembered (an omission which has occurred before, as Sarah seems to have forgotten that incident as far back as School Reunion). Jo mentions Metebelis III (The Green Death and Planet Of The Spiders), Peladon and Aggedor (The Curse of Peladon and The Monster of Peladon), and Karfel (Timelash – a sixth Doctor episode in which it is revealed that the third Doctor and Jo visited there before), while Sarah recalls a visit to Renaissance Italy (Masque Of Mandragora). Contrary to some print fiction published in the non-TV lean years of Doctor Who, Jo is still married to Cliff Jones, who is still an environmental activist. Though Jo has reappeared in many of the spinoff media (both print and audio), this is the character’s, and Katy Manning’s, first return to the role on TV. Russell T. Davies has said in interviews that, budget permitting, he would have brought back many more former comrades of the Doctor, such as the Brigadier and Romana. Though the music is credited to the usual SJA composing team of Sam and Dan Watts, Murray Gold‘s UNIT theme from Doctor Who accompanies the first appearance of the UNIT soldiers.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Doctor appears in the flesh – more or less – as the Shansheeth corner Sarah, Jo, Rani, Clyde and Santiago. The only problem is that the Doctor has to switch places with Clyde. This deposits Clyde in a treacherous alien landscape while the Doctor battles the Shansheeth and saves his former companions in person. The two switch places multiple times, with the Doctor finally taking Sarah and Jo to the alien planet with him, needing their help to prevent that planet’s destruction. But this leaves the younger adventurers trapped, at the mercy of the Shansheeth and UNIT Colonel Karim (who turns out to be in league with the Shansheeth). By the time the Doctor, Sarah and Jo return to Earth, there’s no time for reminiscing – Clyde, Rani and Santiago’s lives are at stake, and the Shansheeth have no problem threatening any of them to get what they really want: the key to the TARDIS.

written by Russell T. Davies
directed by Ashley Way
music by Sam Watts & Dan Watts / title music by Murray Gold

Guest Cast: Matt Smith (The Doctor), Katy Manning (Jo Jones), Finn Jones (Santiago Jones), Laila Rouass (Colonel Karim), Jimmy Vee (Groske), Paul Kasey (Shansheeth), Ruari Mears (Shansheeth), Ben Ashley (Shansheeth), David Bradley (voice of Shansheeth Blue), Phillip Hurd-Wood (voice of the Groske), Jon Glover (additional Shansheeth voices)

Notes: The Doctor mentions that Amy and Rory are traveling with him, placing Death Of The Doctor after The Big Bang (we don’t see Amy and Rory because they’re away from the TARDIS on their honeymoon). Jo says here that she hasn’t seen the Doctor since his departure in The Green Death, though the Doctor says that “the last time he was dying” he looked in on all of his former companions, not just the Russell T. Davies-era companions he was seen to visit in The End Of Time Part Two. In one scene given a great deal of scrutiny even before the episode aired, the Doctor tells Clyde he can regenerate “507 times,” though it’s entirely possible that he’s joking (or dodging the question of his own mortality). When Clyde asks if the Doctor is “always white,” the Doctor says he can “be anyone.” The end of the episode contains a huge laundry list of former TARDIS travelers and their current activities, some of which conflict with the various spinoff media:

• Tegan Jovanka: still in Australia, “fighting for Aboriginal rights.” (Presumably in her spare time from being a high-powered businesswoman in Brisbane, as heard in The Gathering.)
• Ben and Polly: running an orphanage in India.
• Dr. Harry Sullivan: saved thousands of lives by creating new vaccines, presumably after his work with UNIT and (as mentioned in Mawdryn Undead) the Ministry of Defense. Sarah speaks of Harry in the past tense; actor Ian Marter, who played Harry, died in 1986.
• “Dorothy Somebody” – presumably Ace (real name: Dorothy McShane) – has raised billions through her organization, A Charitable Earth (the initials work out to “ACE”). (This is the hardest to square with the spinoff media, almost all of which bend over backward to deposit Ace in late 19th century France, a fate first posited in the novelization of The Curse Of Fenric which, since it was written by Ian Briggs, who not only wrote the TV episodes but also created Ace, has to be given at least some consideration. The New Adventures novels Set Piece and Lungbarrow equip Ace with a time-traveling motorcycle, however, so Ace’s fate may be playing out in multiple time zones.)
• Ian and Barbara – married and are both professors at Cambridge, and supposedly they’ve “never aged, not since the sixties.”

As most of these characters’ post-TARDIS lives have seldom been mentioned except in media such as the novels and audio plays, these explanations can be considered more or less official. It’s also worth noting that the script editor of The Sarah Jane Adventures, Gary Russell, has been heavily involved with all of the novel ranges to date as well as with Big Finish’s audio productions, so it’s likely that he advised writer Russell T. Davies on the destinies for these characters that various fan writers had charted down through the years.

LogBook entry by Earl Green