Jump to content

The Unquiet Dead

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Glimmer721 (talk | contribs) at 01:14, 2 May 2013 (→Continuity: episodes are quoted. Also combined short paragraphs to make it less of a list.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

159 – "The Unquiet Dead"
Doctor Who episode
The Gelth break through the rift
Cast
Others
Production
Directed byEuros Lyn
Written byMark Gatiss
Script editorHelen Raynor
Produced byPhil Collinson
Executive producer(s)Russell T Davies
Julie Gardner
Mal Young
Music byMurray Gold
Production code1.3
SeriesSeries 1
Running time45 minutes
First broadcast9 April 2005
Chronology
← Preceded by
"The End of the World" 		Followed by →
"Aliens of London"
List of episodes (2005–present)

"The Unquiet Dead" is the third episode of the first series of the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast on 9 April 2005 on BBC One. It was written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Euros Lyn.

In the episode, alien time traveller the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and his companion Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) travel to Victorian Cardiff in 1869 where there have been sightings of strange gas-like creatures. The Doctor and Rose team up with Charles Dickens (Simon Callow) to investigate Mr Sneed (Alan David), a man who runs a funeral parlor where it seems that corpses have come to life.

"The Unquiet Dead" is the first episode of the revival to be set in the past. It features a guest appearance by actress Eve Myles; Myles would go on to play Gwen Cooper in the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood from 2006. "The Unquiet Dead" was seen by 8.86 million viewers in the United Kingdom.

Plot

The Doctor attempts to pilot the TARDIS to Naples in 1860 to show Rose the past, but ends up in Cardiff in 1869 instead. At a nearby funeral parlour run by Gabriel Sneed and his servant Gwyneth, the corpse of the late Mrs. Peace has been taken over by a blue vapour. She rises from her coffin and kills her mourning grandson before lurching away from the parlour. Gwyneth is clairvoyant and can sense that the corpse is going to see Charles Dickens at a nearby theater. In the middle of his performance, the blue vapour leaves Mrs. Peace and scares the audience away. The people screaming and running away attract the attention of the Doctor and Rose, who rush to investigate. Gabriel and Gwyneth arrive and capture the corpse, but are confronted by Rose and end up kidnapping her as well. Dickens accuses the Doctor of ruining his performance, but after the Doctor gushes over his literary genius Dickens offers to help.

At the funeral parlour, Rose wakes up along with the newly reanimated corpses of Mrs. Peace and Mr. Redpath. The Doctor and Dickens arrive and break into the parlour to rescue Rose. After hearing about the trouble with the corpses, the Doctor convinces Gwyneth to help him hold a séance to attempt to communicate with the dead. The blue vapors fill the room and reveal that they are all that remains of a race called the Gelth, who were once corporeal beings until being affected by the Time War. They plead with the Doctor to open the rift that exists in the basement of the parlour and allow them to cross over. The Doctor offers the Gelth temporary use of the corpses until he can transport them to a place where they can build new bodies, using Gwyneth as a bridge to cross the Rift.

Gwyneth stands in the middle of an arch and opens the rift, allowing the Gelth to cross over. The number of Gelth is much greater than anticipated, and their true motive is revealed: they intend to kill the living to give themselves more hosts and take over the planet. One of the animated bodies strangles Mr. Sneed to death, allowing another Gelth to possess his body. Dickens flees the parlour and Rose and the Doctor are trapped in a part of the basement. Outside, Dickens notes that the beings are affected by gas and returns to the house. He extinguishes the gaslights and turns the gas on full. The gas affects the Gelth, drawing them out of the bodies. The Doctor asks Gwyneth to send the Gelth back and close the rift, but she cannot close it or leave. Instead she takes out a box of matches, intending to ignite the gas and kill the Gelth along with herself. The Doctor determines that Gwyneth is already dead, opening the rift killed her instantly. The Doctor, Rose, and Dickens flee the parlour just before it explodes and burns. The Doctor and Rose head back to the TARDIS, and Dickens thanks them for their help. He decides to leave immediately for London to patch up things with his family and to finish The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The Doctor and Rose give their goodbyes and disappear in the TARDIS as an astounded Dickens walks away through the streets of Cardiff, greeting everyone he passes and quoting A Christmas Carol, "God bless us, everyone!"

Continuity

When looking into Rose's mind, Gwyneth is frightened and breaks off contact when she sees "the things you've seen... the darkness... the Big Bad Wolf!" The phrase "bad wolf" recurred in most of the stories in this season, culminating in the episode "Bad Wolf" and finally explained in "The Parting of the Ways".[1] The Doctor reacts visibly when the Gelth mention the Time War; the event had been alluded to in "Rose"[2] and "The End of the World", when the Doctor told Rose that his people had been destroyed in a war.[3] The Cardiff rift reappears in the episodes "Boom Town" and "Utopia", and is a direct or indirect element in many of the alien encounters in the spin-off series Torchwood, set in Cardiff.[4] The Doctor returns to the rift periodically to refuel the engines of the TARDIS, opening the engines to allow them to soak up rift energy.

Production

According to Doctor Who: The Shooting Scripts, the working titles for this story included The Crippingwell Horror and The Angels of Crippingwell.[5] The story's final title is a reference to Cyril Connolly's book The Unquiet Grave.[citation needed] Mark Gatiss stated in the Radio Times that the original script was more bleak and frightening, but that he was advised by Davies to "make it more of a romp". In the original script, the story was set in a "spiritualist hotel" with Sneed being a medium.[6] Gatiss also planned a scene in which the Doctor takes Rose to the future to see a world filled with walking corpses; the result if they had left before defeating the Gelth.[6]

Although the story is set in 19th century Cardiff, the production was actually filmed in Swansea[7] and Monmouth,[8] as there were not enough Victorian-looking buildings in Cardiff.[9] Cardiff's New Theatre was used for the theatre Dickens is telling a story at in the beginning of the episode; it did not require much dressing as it resembled a Victorian-style theatre already.[10] An empty Victorian house in Penarth was used for Sneed's parlour.[11]

Casting

Actor Simon Callow felt that Mark Gatiss knew "exactly what Dickens is all about".

Simon Callow, who portrayed Dickens, was considered apt for the role having extensive knowledge of the author as well as experience playing the character and recreating his public readings.[12] Callow contended that for him to agree to play Dickens, the script would have to be a sufficiently high quality. When he heard that the author was to feature in Doctor Who his heart "sank" as he felt fiction has a tendency to posit the author as "a kind of all-purpose Victorian literary character and really understand little, if anything, about him, his life or his books".[13] Euros Lyn noted that the material being of interest to Callow was key to getting him involved.[12] Promoting his role in Doctor Who, Callow stated that writer Mark Gatiss knew "exactly what Dickens is all about" and "very cleverly connects his idealism... with the Doctor's desire to save the world".[13] In the 2011 episode "The Wedding of River Song", Callow returns to reprise his role as Charles Dickens briefly.[14]

Eve Myles, who plays Gwyneth, was initially not supposed to film the episode as she was booked for another role in theatre. However, her agent notified Myles of the role of Gwyneth and Myles' was keen to audition for the series due to its reputation and Eccleston being "one of my favourite actors of all time". After inadvertently attending the audition in a T-shirt emblazened with an image of two naked women kissing under the slogan "I support Nudist Colonies", Myles was convinced she had not got the part; her appearance contrasted grossly with Gwyneth's personality. After being notified of her success Myles did not want to prioritise between her theatre commitments and Doctor Who; her agent decided that she would appear in the episode.[15] Russell T Davies was enamoured by her performance, which he felt confirmed that the actress was "one of Wales's best-kept secrets", and subsequently wrote her a lead role in the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood.[16] Myles' Torchwood character Gwen Cooper is intimated to be related to Gwyneth in "Journey's End" after the Doctor asks Gwen about her family history.[4][17]

Outside references

There are several literary in-jokes during Dickens and the Doctor's conversation in the coach. The "American bit" in Martin Chuzzlewit which the Doctor thinks is rubbish and "padding" was indeed inserted by Dickens to spice up the original serialized story when sales were disappointing, but did not improve sales by much. The death of Little Nell (from The Old Curiosity Shop), which the Doctor says always "cracks [him] up," is cited (notably by Oscar Wilde in 1895) as an example of excessive sentimentality and purple prose that becomes unintentionally amusing.

Dickens also cries, "What the Shakespeare?", a play on the common exclamation, "What the Dickens?", although "dickens" in that phrase is a euphemism for the Devil.[4] Riffing on this comment, in the 2006 Big Finish Productions audio drama The Kingmaker, William Shakespeare cries, "What the Chaucer?". Dickens quotes Shakespeare near the end of the episode, saying to Rose, "There are more things in heaven and earth...than are dreamt of in your philosophy." (Hamlet, Act 1, Scene V)

Broadcast and reception

"The Unquiet Dead" was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 9 April 2005.[18][19] In the United States, the episode aired on 24 March 2006 on the Sci-Fi Channel.[12] Overnight figures showed that the episode was watched by 8.3 million viewers in the UK, an audience share of 37%.[20] When final ratings were calculated, figures rose to 8.86 million.[21] The episode received some criticism from parents, who felt that it was "too scary" for their young children; the BBC dismissed the complaints, saying that it had never been intended for the youngest of children.[22]

Doctor Who novelist and Faction Paradox creator Lawrence Miles posted a damning review of "The Unquiet Dead" on the Internet within an hour of its broadcast, focusing on a perceived political subtext suggesting that asylum seekers (the Gelth) are really all evil and out to exploit liberal generosity (the Doctor). He criticised the script for promoting xenophobia and "claiming that all foreigners were invaders",[23] especially as the top stories in the news were about immigration into Britain.[24] The review produced considerable backlash on the Internet, mainly over his comments about writer Mark Gatiss. Miles was personally contacted and ran into trouble with his publishers.[24] Miles deleted the review and posted a revision,[24][25] though the original is still available on another of his websites.[23]

Dek Hogan of Digital Spy stated he "really enjoyed" the episode and it was "beautifully dark".[26] He later described it as "a chilling tale" and "a cracker".[27] Now Playing magazine reviewer Arnold T Blumburg gave "The Unquiet Dead" a grade of A-, describing it as "spectacular", though he noted there were "a few hiccups, such as the weak and convenient plot point that forces the Gelth ... to be drawn out of their human hosts by the mere presence of gas". He also criticised Eccleston for making the Doctor appear an "ineffectual goof", and noted that he played no role in the resolution.[28] In 2013, Mark Braxton of Radio Times described the episode as "a sparkling script, as crisp and inviting as a winter wonderland", praising the magical atmosphere and the treatment of Dickens. However, he felt that "the spectral swirlings are all a bit Raiders of the Lost Ark".[18] In Who Is the Doctor, a guide to the revived series, Graeme Burk felt that "The Unquiet Dead" was "terribly, terribly disappointing" on first viewing, as Rose and the Doctor's characterisation did not drive the plot and the story was reduced to playing it safe and being "ordinary", as it just made the aliens evil instead of discussing their morality. Despite this, he wrote that the story was still enjoyable, with a "delightfully ludicrous" set-up, "vividly realized" period setting, and the characterisation of Dickens.[29] Burk's coauthor, Robert Smith?, called the episode a "complete mess". He felt that Gatiss was attempting to recreate the classic series, but it came across as "half-hearted", and there was no moral dilemma and an unsettling character change in Sneed. While he noted that Eccleston and Piper were "excellent", he felt that Rose and the Doctor's developing relationship was not subtle.[30]

References

  1. ^ "Bad Wolf: Clues". BBC. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  2. ^ "Fact File: Rose". BBC. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  3. ^ Writer Russell T Davies, Director Euros Lyn, Producer Phil Collinson (2 April 2005). "The End of the World". Doctor Who. BBC. BBC One. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |city= ignored (|location= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ a b c Burk and Smith? p. 15
  5. ^ Gatiss, Mark (2005). Doctor Who: The Shooting Scripts. BBC Books. ISBN 0-563-48641-4.
  6. ^ a b Berriman, Ian (17 November 2005). "Doctor Who Commentary Facts!". SFX. Archived from the original on 25 November 2005. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  7. ^ "1869 Cardiff". BBC. Archived from the original on 20 January 2008. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  8. ^ "Outside Sneed's parlour". BBC. Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  9. ^ Sullivan, Shannon (17 October 2009). "The Unquiet Dead". A Brief History of Time (Travel). Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  10. ^ "At the theatre". BBC. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  11. ^ "Sneed's parlour". BBC. 19 December 2011. Archived from the original on 15 May 2005.
  12. ^ a b c Nazzaro, Joe (22 March 2006). "Who Had Dickens Of A Time". Sci Fi Wire. Archived from the original on 12 March 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  13. ^ a b "Introduction - interview with Simon Callow" (Press release). BBC. 5 April 2005. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  14. ^ Mulkern, Patrick (20 September 2011). "Doctor Who: The Wedding of River Song preview". Radio Times. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  15. ^ Golder, Dave (21 February 2012). "Eve Myles Interview: Torchwood, Doctor Who & All New People". SFX. Retrieved 9 October 2012. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  16. ^ "Team Torchwood". BBC Press Office. 24 February 2006. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
  17. ^ Writer Russell T Davies, Director Graeme Harper, Producer Phil Collinson (5 July 2008). "Journey's End". Doctor Who. BBC. BBC One. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |city= ignored (|location= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ a b Braxton, Mark (5 February 2013). "Doctor Who: The Unquiet Dead". Radio Times. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  19. ^ "Series 1, The Unquiet Dead: Broadcasts". BBC. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  20. ^ Timms, Dominic (18 April 2005). "Ant and Dec triumph over Doctor Who". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  21. ^ Russell, Gary (2006). Doctor Who: The Inside Story. London: BBC Books. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-563-48649-7.
  22. ^ Plunkett, John (14 April 2005). "Doctor Who 'too scary', say parents". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  23. ^ a b Miles, Lawrence (9 April 2005). "The Unquiet Dead". Mileswatch. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  24. ^ a b c Miles, Lawrence (12 April 2005). "Doctor Who, Season X-1: "The Unquiet Dead"". Mileswatch. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  25. ^ Miles, Lawrence (12 April 2005). "Doctor Who, Season X-1: "The Unquiet Dead"". The Beasthouse. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  26. ^ Hogan, Dek (17 April 2005). "Put a little sugar on it". Digital Spy. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  27. ^ Hogan, Dek (28 May 2006). "Unwire The Doctor". Digital Spy. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  28. ^ Blumburg, Arnold T (13 April 2005). "Doctor Who - "The Unquiet Dead"". Now Playing. Archived from the original on 13 April 2005. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  29. ^ Burk and Smith? p. 15-16
  30. ^ Burk and Smith? p. 16-17

Bibliography

  • Burk, Graeme; Smith?, Robert (6 March 2012). "Series 1". Who Is the Doctor: The Unofficial Guide to Doctor Who-The New Series (1st ed.). ECW Press. pp. 3–62. ISBN 1-55022-984-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Wikiquote has quotations related to Ninth Doctor.

Reviews

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Unquiet_Dead&oldid=553128980"