![]() ![]() The episode's writer, Mark Gatiss (pictured) was a fan of Dickens's 1843 novella A Christmas Carol this influenced the christmas setting of the episode.Įxecutive producer and head writer Russell T Davies came up with the concept of "The Unquiet Dead". The Doctor, Rose, and Dickens flee the parlour just before it explodes and burns, trapping the Gelth and closing the rift. The Doctor determines that Gwyneth is already dead, and that by opening the rift, she had doomed herself. Unable to send the Gelth back, Gwyneth takes out a box of matches, intending to ignite the gas and hold the Gelth in one spot with the explosion. Realising the Gelth are affected by the gas, Dickens extinguishes the gaslights and turns the gas on full, pulling the Gelth out of the bodies. Sneed is killed and his body is possessed by the Gelth. The Gelth deceived how many of them there are, and their true motive is revealed: they intend to kill the living to give themselves more hosts and take over the planet. Gwyneth stands in the middle of an arch and opens the rift, allowing the Gelth 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. They plead with the Doctor to open the rift that exists in the morgue and allow "a few" Gelth to cross over. The blue vapours fill the room and reveal that they are the Gelth, a once-corporeal alien race until they were devastated by the Time War. The Doctor convinces Gwyneth to help him hold a séance to attempt to communicate with the corpses. The Doctor and Dickens arrive and break into the parlour just in time to rescue Rose. Sneed and Gwyneth arrive and capture the corpse, as well as Rose, who confronts them.Īt the funeral parlour, Rose wakes up along with the newly-reanimated corpses of Mrs. The commotion attracts the attention of the Doctor and Rose, who rush to investigate. In the middle of Dickens' performance, the blue vapour leaves Mrs. Gwyneth, a clairvoyant, senses that the corpse is going to see Charles Dickens at a nearby theatre. Peace has been taken over by a blue vapour. At a nearby funeral parlour, run by Gabriel Sneed and his servant Gwyneth, the corpse of the late Mrs. The Ninth Doctor and Rose land in Cardiff on Christmas Eve, 1869. Poster from the episode on display at Doctor Who Exhibition. It attracted generally positive reception, although some reviewers criticised some plot points and lack of moral dilemma. "The Unquiet Dead" was seen by 8.86 million viewers in the United Kingdom on first broadcast. Studio work was recorded at the Unit Q2 warehouse in Newport in September and October.Ĭomputer-generated imagery (CGI) was used as the main visual effect for the Gelth. As contemporary Cardiff, location of the Doctor Who production, did not have enough Victorian architecture, location work for the episode was filmed in Swansea and Monmouth in September 2004 and Penarth in September and October, though one location scene was shot in Cardiff in September. The episode also 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 episode also introduced the Cardiff Rift. Callow, who had researched Dickens as well as portraying him on multiple occasions, accepted the guest starring role in "The Unquiet Dead" because he felt the historical figure was written accurately. The original brief and script included a focus on mediums and was grimmer in tone, but it evolved into a story about zombies and became more of a "romp". "The Unquiet Dead" is the first episode of the revival to be set in the past, and was intended to show the series' range. It is revealed that the gaseous Gelth (voiced by Zoe Thorne) have entered Cardiff through a Rift, and wish to survive by taking over the corpses. The Doctor and Rose team up with Charles Dickens ( Simon Callow) to investigate Mr Sneed ( Alan David), a man who runs a funeral parlour where it seems that corpses have come to life. In the episode, the alien time traveller the Ninth Doctor ( Christopher Eccleston) and his companion Rose Tyler ( Billie Piper) travel to Victorian Cardiff on Christmas Eve, 1869 where there have been sightings of strange gas-like creatures. It was written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Euros Lyn. " The Unquiet Dead" is the third episode of the first series of the British science-fiction television programme Doctor Who, first broadcast on 9 April 2005 on BBC One. List of Doctor Who episodes (2005–present) ![]()
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