World War Three (Doctor Who)

160b – "World War Three"
Doctor Who episode
The Slitheen, in 10 Downing Street, await a call on the "red telephone" for the nuclear launch codes.
Cast
Doctor Christopher Eccleston (Ninth Doctor)
Companion Billie Piper (Rose Tyler)
Others Camille Coduri – Jackie Tyler Noel Clarke – Mickey Smith Penelope Wilton – Harriet Jones Annette Badland – Margaret Blaine Rupert Vansittart – General Asquith Morgan Hopkins – Sergeant Price Andrew Marr – Himself David Verrey – Joseph Green Steve Speirs – Strickland Jack Tarlton – Reporter Lachele Carl – Reporter Corey Doabe – Spray Painter Elizabeth Fost, Paul Kasey, Alan Ruscoe – Slitheen
Production
Writer	Russell T Davies
Director	Keith Boak
Script editor	Elwen Rowlands
Producer	Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s)	Russell T Davies Julie Gardner Mal Young
Production code	1.5
Series	Series 1
Length	2nd of 2-part story, 45 minutes
Originally broadcast	23 April 2005
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → "Aliens of London" "Dalek"

"World War Three" is the fifth episode of the first series in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that was first broadcast on 23 April 2005. It is the second of a two-part story. The first part, "Aliens of London", was broadcast on 16 April. As the Doctor, Rose Tyler and their new friend Harriet Jones battle the murderous Slitheen while trapped in 10 Downing Street, the Doctor realises that the fate of the Earth rests on Rose's boyfriend, Mickey.

Plot

Following from the cliffhanger in "Aliens of London", The Doctor being an alien allows him to survive the electrical pulse administered by the Slitheen Green, while Mickey Smith is able to push aside the police inspector who was advancing on Jackie Tyler. The Doctor attempts to get the police, but by the time he has returned, the Slitheen have got back into their suits. The Doctor escapes to the upper floors of 10 Downing Street, and reunites with Rose and Harriet in the Cabinet Rooms. Before sealing off the rooms, the Doctor confronts the Slitheen and learns that they are a family rather than a race, and they are not invading Earth, but rather raiding it for some commercial purpose.

Although the Slitheen have shut all communications to the Cabinet Rooms, Rose's tampered phone allows her to make contact with Mickey and Jackie, now safely in the former's flat. The Doctor gives Mickey instructions on how to log into the UNIT website on his computer, and uses that to determine that the Slitheen ship is presently in the North Sea, transmitting some signal that Mickey attempts to decode.

Back at Downing Street, Green and the other Slitheen declare a matter of national security and request that the UN release the activation codes to strike against a fictitious mothership that is hanging over London. The Doctor realizes that the Slitheen actually plan to fire the weapons against other countries in order to start World War III so they can sell the Earth's radioactive remains as a fuel source, which they have already begun advertising through the signal Mickey has decoded. Complying, the Doctor helps Mickey to hack online into the controls of the Royal Navy HMS Taurean, a Trafalgar class submarine, to fire a non-nuclear missile at 10 Downing Street, where all the Slitheen conspirators are now gathered. The Slitheen are caught in the explosion when the missile hits. The Doctor, Rose and Harriet all survive, and the press dismisses the event as a hoax.

Jackie is now impressed by the Doctor and wants to invite him for dinner to get to know him better, but he declines fiercely. Instead, he separately invites Rose and Mickey — who has now earned his respect — to go travelling some more immediately. Mickey, still overwhelmed by the Doctor's adventurous lifestyle, declines but Rose packs some belongings and boards the TARDIS.

Continuity

• The Slitheen scheme is also what the Dominators were intending to do to the planet Dulkis in the Second Doctor serial The Dominators (1968).
• The fact that the UN is the caretaker for the codes to launch a nuclear strike harkens back to the very first Fourth Doctor serial, Robot (1974), where the UK was the guardian of the "destructor codes" that could launch the world's nuclear arsenals.
• In the 2006 episode "Love & Monsters", reference is made to a "Bad Wolf" virus that deleted all mention of Rose Tyler; whether this is somehow related to the Doctor's virus is unclear. Another mention of a virus is on the UNIT website.
• Continuing the "Bad Wolf" theme begun in "The End of the World", the American newsreader announcing the UN's decision is named "Mal Loup", a literal French translation of "Bad Wolf". ("Bad Wolf" true French translation is "Méchant Loup")(See Story arcs in Doctor Who.)
• The "World War Three" of the episode's title is averted by the Doctor's plan. However, a World War Three may be presumed to occur at some point in the Doctor Who universe, since the Doctor has referred to World War Five (in "The Unquiet Dead") and the almost-starting of World War Six (in The Talons of Weng-Chiang).
• As well as a reappearance in the episodes "Boom Town", and "Attack of the Graske" the Slitheen also return in the BBC books The Monsters Inside along with another family of the same race, called the Blathereen, and The Slitheen Excursion. They also appear in The Sarah Jane Adventures episodes "Revenge of the Slitheen", "The Lost Boy" and "From Raxacoricofallapatorius with Love".
• Harriet Jones reappears in "The Christmas Invasion", by which time she has become Prime Minister. She also re-appears in "The Stolen Earth" and names herself as former prime minister and surrenders herself to the Daleks in order to save mankind. A parallel universe's version of her is also mentioned in "Doomsday".
• In the episode "The Sound of Drums", the Master sets up office in the newly rebuilt number 10, referring to its destruction in this episode.

Production

According to Russell T Davies (among others), this episode was called "Aliens of London, Part Two" until the last minute, when the name was changed to "World War 3", soon amended to "World War Three". The Telos Publishing Ltd. book Back to the Vortex cites "10 Downing Street" as another working title. This decision has proved to be a precedent, as in the original series since the Third Doctor, all multi-episode stories shared a title. All multi-episode stories in the new series have continued to have individual titles until The End of Time, which has its two parts called "The End of Time, Part One" and "The End of Time, Part Two".

Cast notes

Lachele Carl reappears as the American reporter seen in "Aliens of London". She is later seen in "The Christmas Invasion", "The Sound of Drums", "The Poison Sky", "Turn Left", "The Stolen Earth" and the Sarah Jane Adventures story Revenge of the Slitheen. In "Turn Left," it is revealed that her name is Trinity Wells. She also appeared in the spin-off Torchwood, in the five episodes serial Children of Earth.

Outside references

• Elements of the story parody the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the actions of the then-Prime Minister Tony Blair. This includes a pre-emptive strike based on information of the presence of "massive weapons of destruction" which could be deployed in 45 seconds, as opposed to Blair's "weapons of mass destruction" that could be deployed in "45 minutes".
• The use of vinegar on calcium "just like Hannibal" references the story of how Hannibal's engineers, while crossing the Alps, heated boulders that blocked their way with wood fires, then poured vinegar over them. The rocks, weakened by the heat, were broken up by the vinegar into smaller pieces, which were then easily moved to clear a path.
• The Doctor mentions that the Slitheen scheme to make a profit will cost "5 billion lives". The human population of the Earth in reality, as of January 2005, is estimated at approximately 6.4 billion.
• When Sip Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen, the Slitheen disguised as Police Commissioner Strickland, appears outside Mickey's flat, the word "Salford" appears as graffiti on the wall near the elevator. Salford is Christopher Eccleston's hometown.

Broadcast and DVD releases

• The episode's initial Canadian broadcast on CBC had a programming error. The action before the title sequence which was supposed to resolve the previous episode's cliffhanger — by showing the Doctor turning the tables with the electrified ID badge — was omitted. This led to understandable confusion from Canadian viewers. The error was corrected on the repeat broadcast, although the sequence appeared after the opening titles.^{[citation needed]}
• This episode together with "Aliens of London" and "Dalek" were the first released on the UMD format for the PlayStation Portable.^{[citation needed]}

External links

• World War Three on TARDIS Index File, an external wiki
• BBC Doctor Who Homepage
• "Aliens of London" / "World War Three" at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
• "Aliens of London" / "World War Three" at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• "World War Three" at Outpost Gallifrey
• "World War Three" at TV.com
• Doctor Who Confidential — Episode 5: Why on Earth?
• "Planet Earth is at war." — Episode trailer for "World War Three"
• "World War Three" at the Internet Movie Database

Reviews

• "World War Three" reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
• "Aliens of London" / "World War Three" reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
• "World War Three" reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide
• "Aliens of London" / "World War Three" reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide