Untitled (Tonight's the Night TV story): Difference between revisions

{{Infobox TV

|image           = [[Image:TonightNight.jpg|250px]]

|story name      = Tonight's the Night Special 2009

|series         = (on) Tonight's The Night

|number          = (Tonight's The Night) Series 1

|main character = [[John Barrowman]] ([[Jack Harkness]])

|enemy           = [[Tim Ingham]] ([[Sao Til]])

|setting         = The Doctor's TARDIS/The TARDIS Set in 2009

|writer         = [[Russell T Davies]]

|director       = Unknown

|producer       = Unknown

|broadcast date = 23rd May [[2009]]

|format          = 1 3-Minute

|production code =  

|previous story  =

|next story      =  

}}{{nc}}'''''Tonight's the Night''''' was a [[British Broadcasting Corporation|BBC]] talent series hosted by [[John Barrowman]] which aired in the spring of 2009. In a promotion connected with the series, a contest winner was given a chance to play a villain in a specially written ''Doctor Who'' scene featuring "[[Jack Harkness]]" and a surprise guest which was broadcast during the 23rd May 2009 episode of ''Tonight's the Night''.

The mini-episode itself carries no on-screen title, however Russell T. Davies referred to it by the title ''Tonight's the Night'' in his June 2009 column in ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' #410.

[[Jack Harkness]] enters [[the Doctor's TARDIS]] and discovers a blue-headed alien who claims to be a regenerated [[the Doctor|Doctor]]. The alien gives the game away when Jack notices that he's armed, something the real Doctor would never be. The alien identifies himself as [[Sao Til]], a literal arms dealer who trades in limbs. Jack draws his gun and the two enter into a Mexican standoff before ... [[David Tennant]] enters the TARDIS set and asks John what he's doing. John introduces Tim Ingham of Stoke-on-Trent, who is pretending to be Sao Til. David chides John for being in "my TARDIS" and exits the set. After a moment of giddiness at having seen David Tennant, John and Tim resume their characters and pretend to shoot at each other as they run around the TARDIS set.

==Cast==

*[[Jack Harkness]] / Himself - [[John Barrowman]]

*[[Sao Til]] / Himself - [[Tim Ingham]]

==Crew==

Uncredited, however [[Alice Troughton]] can be clearly seen directing the episode in the behind-the-scenes featurette that accompanied it.

* Jack mentions having been to a party on [[Alpha Centauri (planet)|Alpha Centauri]] that had something to do with "organ donation" (given the nature of the skit, it's doubtful this has any bearing on canon).

==Story Notes==

* The skit has no opening or closing credits.

* Running just over 3 minutes in length, this is the shortest televised ''Doctor Who''-related production of all time. (The shortest canonical television story remains as [[SJA]]:''[[From Raxacoricofallapatorius With Love]]'', while the 2009 webisode ''[[A Ghost Story for Christmas]]'', running 3.5 minutes, stands as the shortest ''Doctor Who''-related storyline that could fall within canon.)

* Also, as Tennant does not appear as The Doctor in this skit, it is the first ''Doctor Who'' story since ''[[Mission to the Unknown]]'' in which the character does not appear, and it is the first and only time a televised story has featured the TARDIS, but no Doctor. Given the acknowledged non-canon nature of this skit, ''Mission to the Unknown'' remains as the only [[DW]] story to not feature the Doctor (when viewed as a stand-alone story independent of ''[[The Daleks' Master Plan]]''.)

* There was no ''[[Doctor Who Confidential]]'' for The Episode but there was a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the skit followed its broadcast (on Tonight's The Night).

* According to Russell T. Davies, writing in ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' #410, ''Tonight's the Night'' is likely to be the last ''Doctor Who'' story he'll write.

*Davies also said in DWM that he was originally going to have this story as "canon" with the Doctor in it - but changed his mind.

* The complete script for the skit is reproduced in [[REF]]: ''[[Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale|Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter]]''.

*As he was not playing as himself, David Tennant spoke in his natural Scottish accent.

*At the time this was written, Davies believed it would be the final ''Doctor Who'' story he would ever write (as he relates in ''The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter''); ultimately, this ended up not being the case as it was announced in April 2010 that he would be writing an episode of ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' featuring an appearance by the [[Eleventh Doctor]] as played by [[Matt Smith]].

===Ratings===

==Myths and Rumours==

* When first announced it was thought the skit would be a potentially canonical mini-episode along the lines of ''[[Music of the Spheres]]'' and ''[[Time Crash]]'', but this turned out not to be the case. According to Davies in his column ''Doctor Who Magazine'' #410, he did initially intend to write such a mini-episode, but on realizing this would be the last ''Doctor Who'' story he'd likely ever write, he couldn't bring himself to create something canonical in this context.

==Continuity==

* Barrowman and Ingham break character and Tennant appears as himself, and we see the equipment surrounding the TARDIS set at Upper Boat Studios. This renders the story completely non-canonical and thus it doesn't fit into any timeframe of the series. Davies also explicitly indicates in DWM #410 that the story is not canonical. This is actually only the second BBC-made ''Doctor Who'' production, after the ''[[Scream of the Shalka]]'' webcast, to be officially disqualified from canon (the ''[[Dimensions in Time]]'' mini-serial of 1993 has been "decanonized" by fan opinion, but the BBC has never itself given an opinion).

* No DVD release of this skit has to date occurred. Although reference to the skit is made in David Tennant's Video Diaries, a special feature in the 2009 Specials DVD/Blu-Ray box set, the skit itself is omitted. There has likewise been no announcement of a home video release of the ''Tonight's the Night'' series. Unless this happens, the skit will join the interactive mini-episode ''[[Attack of the Graske]]'' as the only Tennant-era productions to not see home video release.

[[Category:Non-canonical stories]]

[[Category:Television shows with Doctor Who connections]]