Gridlock (Doctor Who)

185 - Gridlock
Cast
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companion Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones)
Production
Directed by	Richard Clark
Written by	Russell T. Davies
Script editor	Simon Winstone
Produced by	Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s)	Russell T. Davies Julie Gardner
Production code	3.3
Series	Series 3
Running time	1 episode, 45 mins
First broadcast	14 April 2007
Chronology
← Preceded by "The Shakespeare Code" Followed by → "Daleks in Manhattan"

"Gridlock" is the third episode from the third series of the revived British science fiction television series Doctor Who which aired on April 14, 2007. According to the BARB figures this episode was seen by 8.41 million viewers and was the seventh most popular broadcast on British television in that week.

Synopsis

The Doctor returns to a much grittier New Earth with Martha, to meet the Face of Boe one final time. But as New New York becomes a deadly trap, the streets are deserted except for shady Pharmacists. The Doctor and Martha must brave the ordeal of the mysterious Motorway in order to discover the terrible secrets at the heart of the city.

Plot

The Face of Boe summons the Doctor.

Sally Calypso gives the daily travel news to all the cars. Ma and Pa are seated in one of the camper-Vans. They call the police for help as they are apparently attacked by something from outside. They are placed on hold by the Police computer system, and scream as their car is torn apart.

The Doctor offers Martha one trip into the future, to visit another planet. She asks if he can take her to his home planet, and speculates as to its beauty. He describes Gallifrey's Citadel, mountains, orange sky and other features as if they still existed, but claims he does not want to go home. Instead, he takes her to the year five billion and fifty three, into a dark alleyway where it is raining, and introduces her to New New York in New Earth. The Doctor repeats some things he told Rose the last time he was there. Martha becomes slightly upset when she realises she is being taken to the same place the Doctor took Rose, and mutters the word "rebound".

Meanwhile, the Face of Boe sits in a room with Novice Hame. He tells her to find the Doctor before it is too late. She takes out a gun and leaves. The Doctor and Martha are in a run-down street. Three pharmacists open their market stands and try to sell the Doctor and Martha patches that dispense "moods", particularly Happy. The Doctor is angry, but intrigued when a young girl buys Forget after losing her parents to "The Motorway".

Suddenly, a young couple armed with guns grab Martha and haul her away, subduing her with a patch inducing Sleep. The Doctor chases them but they escape in their car. The Doctor asks the pharmacists for directions to the Motorway; they comply, but warn him that he may never see Martha again. He tells them to find alternative employment as he promises to shut down their enterprises by that very evening.

Martha wakes up and grabs a gun, only to learn it is a fake. Her kidnappers introduce themselves as Milo and Cheen. Cheen says she is pregnant. Milo explains they only wanted her so they could get on the Fast Lane, which requires three adult passengers. They say they can drop her off when they reach their destination - in six years.

The Doctor arrives at the Motorway, where he discovers thousands of Volkswagen-like hover vans in a traffic jam. He starts to cough and choke from the fumes. A Cat Person, played by Ardal_O'Hanlon, invites him into his car, introducing himself as Thomas Kincade Brannigan and his human wife as Valerie. Their kittens, two months old, have never seen sunlight or trod on ground. The Brannigans themselves have been driving for twelve years, and have travelled only five miles.

As Milo, Cheen and Martha head for the Fast Lane, the Doctor calls the Police but is put on hold. Brannigan speaks to some old friends, the Cassini "sisters" (a same-sex married couple), who identify the one car from Pharmacy Town that has gone to the Fast Lane. The Doctor learns that some people haven't left their cars in upwards of twenty years. Milo, Cheen and Martha are dropping down to the Fast Lane, but there are strange noises. Cheen tells Martha of stories about cars disappearing but Milo insists they only hear the ventilation shafts.

Brannigan and Valerie refuse to go to the Fast Lane, fearing for the safety of their kittens. The Doctor asks whether they or the Cassinis have ever seen any authorities. The Cassinis reluctantly admit they have not seen any police or ambulances in 23 years of driving. The Doctor believes that the people have been trapped in the under-city and abandoned. Making his own way toward Martha, he opens the shaft on the floor of the car and drops down to the car below. He then moves through several cars, opening the roofs with his sonic screwdriver and continuing through the floor to the car below. In this fashion he meets several characters including hippies, a Bertie Wooster-like business man and a nudist couple.

Martha's car enters the Fast Lane, but the exits are all closed. A nearby Cat Person driver tells him to escape to the slow lanes above, but Milo does not believe in the danger until he hears the other driver's screams. Meanwhile Novice Hame reaches Brannigan's car and demands to know where the Doctor is.

The Doctor reaches the lower levels, just above the Fast Lane. He clears the fog to discover what's down there; an old enemy - hundreds of Macra. The Doctor explains to the car's driver that the Macra once built an Empire, but have since devolved into hungry non-sentient beasts. As Martha's van races along the Fast Lane, the Macras' huge claws attempt to crush it. Reasoning that the light and motion of the vehicle attract the Macra, Martha has Milo turns off the power. It works, but they only have eight minutes of air.

Novice Hame makes it to the car that the Doctor is in. She tells him how she has repented her sins under 'his' guidance, and teleports the Doctor against his will to the upper city. She explains that everyone in the upper city, and indeed the whole surface level of New Earth died because of a virus in the Pharmacists' 'Bliss' drug, but the under city was sealed off and Hame was protected by 'him'. The citizens in the under-city have not been betrayed and abandoned; they have been saved. Hearing a familiar telepathic voice, the Doctor runs to meet the Face of Boe. Hame says the Face has wired himself to the system to keep the lower levels functioning, but they are unable to free the people there. The Face of Boe asks the Doctor to save the people of the Motorway.

Milo's car is running out of air and, despite Milo and Cheen's doubts, Martha says the Doctor will think of something. Milo starts the power up again, giving them air but exposing them to the Macras' grasp. As the car races along, they are briefly caught by one of the claws, but break free.

The Doctor asks Hame to help him restore power, but there is not enough. The Face of Boe, in one last act of self-sacrifice, gives even more of his 'life force' to power the equipment. The Doctor pulls a lever, opening the seal at the top of the motorway. The sunlight beams in, and the Doctor broadcasts to the motorists, telling them to drive upwards and out. This clears the way for Milo's car to escape from the Macra. Meanwhile Hame cries out as the Face of Boe's glass begins to shatter.

Martha arrives at the Senate building where she sees human skeletons, and meets the dying Face of Boe, sprawled out on the ground. The Doctor urges him to live, since (as Boe says) the two of them are each the last of their kind; but the Face responds "Everything has its time". He whispers his secret - "You are not alone" - before passing away. An expression of shock and disbelief crosses the Doctor's face as Hame weeps.

Martha and the Doctor arrive back at the alleyway. The Pharmacists are gone. Martha asks what the Face meant, and whether she is why the Doctor is not alone. The Doctor shakes his head; he does not want to talk about Boe's words, but Martha refuses to move until the Doctor tells her the truth. The Doctor admits he is the last of his kind, explains about the Time War and the Daleks, and then goes on to describe Gallifrey. Far above the slums, the over-city thrives with the newly freed motorists. The sun sets orange over New New York as the credits roll.

Cast

• The Doctor — David Tennant
• Martha Jones — Freema Agyeman
• Thomas Kincade Brannigan — Ardal O'Hanlon
• Novice Hame — Anna Hope
• Milo — Travis Oliver
• Cheen — Lenora Crichlow
• Valerie — Jennifer Hennessy
• Alice — Bridget Turner
• May — Georgine Anderson
• Whitey — Simon Pearsall
• Javit — Daisy Lewis
• Businessman — Nicholas Bolton
• Sally Calypso — Erika Macleod
• Ma — Judy Norman
• Pa — Graham Padden
• Pale Woman — Lucy Davenport
• Pharmacist #1 — Tom Edden
• Pharmacist #2 — Natasha Williams
• Pharmacist #3 — Gayle Telfer Stevens
• The Face of Boe — Struan Rodger

Continuity

• As with the previous episode, the first Doctor/Martha scene here carries on directly from their last scene in the previous story, "The Shakespeare Code". As the Doctor leaves the TARDIS at the start of the episode, he pulls out the arrow that was embedded in the door at the end of that episode. The opening three episodes occurring in immediate succession was also the format for the first three episodes of Series 1, when Rose joined the Doctor.
• The episode marks the second appearance of the large crustacean Macra race. The Doctor refers to their vast gas mines which enslaved humans, a reference to the Second Doctor serial The Macra Terror, remarking that the Macra have "devolved" from their previous, more intelligent, state.
• The Doctor's description of his home planet matches the one given by his grandaughter Susan in the 1964 story The Sensorites:

  Oh, it's ages since we've seen our planet. It's quite like Earth, but at night the sky is a burnt orange; and the leaves on the trees are bright silver.

  It also bears similarities to the description given to Grace in the 1996 telemovie.
• Alice and May Cassini are the first homosexual married couple featured in a Doctor Who episode.
• The numbered mood patches parallel the number coded mood controllers in the Ninth Doctor novel Only Human by Gareth Roberts; Davies confirms this was the inspiration in Doctor Who Magazine #382. The patches bear a green crescent, mentioned in "New Earth" as the "universal symbol for hospitals".
• The Doctor appears to have resolved his dislike of cats (as stated in "Fear Her") by this episode, in which he pets some of Brannigan's children and later hugs Novice Hame.
• This is the third Doctor Who episode to be set after the year Five Billion and to significantly feature the Face of Boe, following "The End of the World" and "New Earth". The Face was also featured on a news article in "The Long Game" and was mentioned in "Bad Wolf".

New Earth

• This episode is set in the year 5,000,000,053 — 30 years after "New Earth". When broadcast this was the furthest known point into the future that the TARDIS had ever travelled within a Doctor Who episode. This was surpassed later in the 2007 series in "Utopia", which is set in the year 100 Trillion.
• This episode finally reveals the "great secret" promised to The Doctor by the Face of Boe in "New Earth" — "You are not alone". Discussing this in Doctor Who Confidential, David Tennant says that Boe is not lying, yet that the Doctor is not wrong about being the last of the Time Lords, either. In the same episode, producer Phil Collinson said that the revelation will be revisited (but not immediately) and we shall learn more about the Doctor and the Face of Boe in the process.
• The Doctor again recites the city's proper name as "New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York", repeating his earlier performance to Rose in "New Earth".
• As Martha wakes up in the car, she hears her kidnappers claim that the skies above smell of apple grass. In "New Earth", the Doctor shows off apple grass to Rose.
• The Doctor refers to the Duke of Manhattan, a character who appeared in "New Earth".
• The race of humanoid cats, first featured in "New Earth", is finally named. They are, simply, "Cats".

Production

• Some publicity has been given to the fact that "Gridlock" is the 727th episode of Doctor Who. This broke the old record held by the various Star Trek series, which had a total of 726 combined episodes amongst them. Doctor Who has been recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running science fiction series in the world, based on the original series' 26-year continuous run and the 43+ years since the programme's 1963 debut.
• According to Russell T. Davies in Doctor Who Magazine, this episode uses the most CGI so far in all the series. He also states in the online commentary that this episode will probably be the last visit to New Earth, but not to future planets.
• Those on the Motorway sing the hymn "The Old Rugged Cross", and the hymn heard at the end of the episode is "Abide With Me".

Broadcast

• The episode was aired 40 minutes later than its regular airtime due to the FA Cup semi-final between Manchester United and Watford. Had the match gone into extra time, the episode would have been postponed until the following week since the episode, which would have been broadcast after 8pm in the case of a delay, would have been on air too late for younger viewers.
• During Radio 4's The Now Show, broadcast on Friday 13 April 2007, Mitch Benn (an ardent Liverpool and Doctor Who fan) sang a song imploring Manchester United to win so that the BBC would not postpone Doctor Who.
• A trailer for the episode was shown during half-time of the Manchester United v Watford match. After this was shown, Match of the Day host Gary Lineker welcomed viewers "back to the TARDIS", rather than back to the match.
• The BBC One continuity announcer introduced the episode with "Next up is Doctor Who, but first travel news with Sally Calypso," referring to the news-reading character who was first to speak in the episode.

Outside references

• Ma and Pa at the start of the episode are based on the father and daughter from the famous painting American Gothic, both having identical hairstyles, glasses and fashions.
• Will Cohen, The Mill's Visual FX Producer, revealed on the "Doctor Who Watch" page in Radio Times that the films Blade Runner, The Fifth Element and Star Wars influenced the look of New New York.
• Russell T. Davies based the businessman's appearance on Max Normal from the Judge Dredd comic books.
• Davies stated on the online commentary for this episode that Sally Calypso was an homage to Halo Jones, which featured a similar character named Swifty Frisko. Both Halo Jones and Judge Dredd originated in the anthology comic 2000AD.
• The Doctor says that he received his coat from Janis Joplin.
• Also in the online commentary, Davies noted that Brannigan's appearance was based on "Ratz", the CGI disembodied cat's head that was a "virtual presenter" of CBBC's Live & Kicking in the early 1990s.