The Poison Sky (TV story)

The Poison Sky
Doctor:	Tenth Doctor
Companion(s):	Donna, Martha
Featuring:	Wilf, Sylvia, Rose
Main enemy:	Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet
Main setting:	London, 2009
Key crew
Writer:	Helen Raynor
Director:	Douglas Mackinnon
Producer:	Susie Liggat
Release details
Story number:	192b
Premiere broadcast:	3 May 2008
Premiere network:	BBC One
Format:	1x45 minute episode
Production code:	4.5
Confidential:	Sontar-Ha!
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Doctor Who television stories
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The Poison Sky was the fifth episode of the fourth series of Doctor Who. It was the only episode of the season to not reference the Missing Planets arc. It saw the Doctor's life saved again by and at the cost of the life of another person; it was also another moment where his desire to spare his enemies overrides his logic, as he knew Sontarans wouldn't back off if threatened. There was also a second, fleetingly brief cameo made by Billie Piper as Rose Tyler, foreshadowing a major story arc development ahead.

This episode left a loose end about the Sontarans' defeat that was used in The Sarah Jane Adventures television story The Last Sontaran.

Synopsis

As the poisonous gas from the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet's ATMOS continues to thicken throughout the world, a clone of Martha Jones works in the shadows to support them. Will the Tenth Doctor learn about Martha's replacement? And can he figure out what the gas is made of, and destroy it before the entire planet chokes to death? More importantly, can the Doctor stop UNIT from starting an interplanetary war with the deadly Sontarans? It's all down to Donna Noble and child genius Luke Rattigan to fix things before it's too late.

Plot

The Tenth Doctor continues sonicking the car in his attempt to free Wilf from it before he chokes on the gas. However, it proves useless as Sylvia frees Wilf from the car by smashing the window with an axe she keeps in case of burglars. Ross arrives in a taxi, the only thing he could find not fitted with ATMOS. Despite Sylvia's protests, Donna goes with the Doctor back to the ATMOS factory with her grandfather's support.

Arriving at the factory, the Doctor gives Donna a key to the TARDIS so she can wait without choking on the air. Donna manages to enter the TARDIS just as she began coughing hard from the gas. In the meantime, Clone Martha overhears a radio transmission of the Doctor's arrival and tells Colonel Mace the previous message the Doctor gave her: Code Red Sontaran. Rushing into the mobile base, the Doctor tells Mace not to engage the Sontarans in battle. When questioned about what he plans to do, the Doctor says he'll use the TARDIS to get on their ship to talk with them.

Martha's clone subtly gives orders to the hypnotised UNIT soldiers Harris and Gray to put teleport relays on the TARDIS for the Sontarans to beam it up. Once done, Donna feels a shake from the teleport. The Sontarans gloat over having the Doctor's infamous vessel. The Doctor and Clone Martha arrive to find the TARDIS gone. Knowing he is trapped, the Doctor tries to goad the Sontarans into revealing their plan. The Sontarans do not to fall prey to this ploy, but they move the TARDIS out of the main war room, placing Donna in a position to help.

Against the Doctor's advice, UNIT decides to use nuclear weapons against the Sontarans; however, Martha's clone has covertly copied the launch codes, and stops every attempt they make to fire the weapons. The Sontarans mobilise troops to retrieve and protect the clone. With the Sontarans' ability to jam most conventional firearms by expanding the copper-lined bullets, the UNIT troops are quickly slaughtered and the factory is secured.

Rattigan leaves the Sontaran flagship to gather his students. He plans to take them to another planet, Castor 36, and begin the human race anew; everything they were building was the foundation of said new world. The students laugh him off; he attempts to keep them from leaving by brandishing a gun. However, when Rattigan shows no initiative to use it, they leave. When he returns to report his failure, the Sontarans too ridicule his efforts, having never planned to take him; they planned on using the students as target practice. Rattigan teleports back to his mansion before they can kill him, and the Sontarans lock the teleport pods.

"Are you my mummy?"

Meanwhile, the Doctor instructs Donna to reopen the teleport pods. Everyone puts of gas masks, even the Doctor, who can't resisting remembering the Empty Child. Mace calls down the Valiant's, whose engines are strong enough to clear the area around the factory; this is enough to impress the Doctor. A Sunglider weapon — smaller than that used against the Sycorax — is their main offence, killing many Sontarans in the blast, and with steel-encased bullets in lieu of copper, they begin a successful retaliatory strike, during which Colonel Mace personally confronts and executes Commander Skorr with a pistol.

The Doctor makes his way to the cloning room where Martha is being held. Having figured out long before the clone wasn't the genuine article (as she quite frankly smells badly to non-humans), he severs its connection to Martha, leaving it to die. Martha convinces the clone to betray the Sontarans in its last moments. The clone reveals that the poison gas is actually "clone feed" for Sontaran clones: they are converting the planet into a giant breeding world. With Donna's help, the Doctor reactivates the teleport pods, rescues Donna, steals back the TARDIS, and teleports into Rattigan's mansion.

With Rattigan's equipment, the Doctor builds an atmospheric converter, igniting the atmosphere to clear out the poison gas, much to the delight of UNIT and the rest of humanity; Wilf and Sylvia come out of their house and start cheering along with their neighbours, while Captain Marion Price kisses Colonel Mace as the UNIT soldiers cheer their victory, though she quickly composes herself. However, he knows the Sontarans won't accept defeat so easily — they are beginning their standard invasion stratagem.

The Doctor tells Donna and Martha to lead good lives, tells Rattigan to go on and do something clever, and teleports to their ship with the converter to give them the choice between retreat and death. The Sontarans choose the latter, as a countdown begins. The Doctor threatens that he will do it, but Staal defiantly tells him the Sontarans do not fear death. The begin chanting "Sontar-ha!" However, with a few seconds left, Rattigan simultaneously teleports himself to the Sontaran ship and the Doctor back to Earth. The Sontarans stop their chant with the new development. Luke says "Sontar? Ha!" and triggers the device. The explosion blows out the windows of the bridge, killing Staal and Rattigan, before consuming the entire ship; the resultant shockwave destroys most of the Sontaran space pods launching from the main vessel.

With the day saved, the Doctor and Donna say their goodbyes to Martha, only to have the TARDIS spring to life and begin piloting itself to places unknown before she can leave, the Doctor's hand jar bubbling...

Cast

• The Doctor - David Tennant
• Donna Noble - Catherine Tate
• Martha Jones - Freema Agyeman
• Rose Tyler - Billie Piper
• Wilfred Mott - Bernard Cribbins
• Sylvia Noble - Jacqueline King
• General Staal - Christopher Ryan
• Commander Skorr/Lieutenant Skree - Dan Starkey
• Colonel Mace - Rupert Holliday Evans
• Luke Rattigan - Ryan Sampson
• Ross Jenkins - Christian Cooke
• Captain Price - Bridget Hodgson
• Private Harris - Clive Standen
• Private Gray - Wesley Theobald
• Herself - Kirsty Wark
• Trinity Wells - Lachele Carl

Crew

Executive Producers   Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Phil Collinson

Written by Helen Raynor	Produced by Susie Liggat	Directed by Douglas Mackinnon	Director of Photography Rory Taylor	Production Designer Edward Thomas	Visual Effects The Mill
Make-up Designer Barbara Southcott	Casting Director Andy Pryor CDG	Music Murray Gold	Costume Designer Louise Page	Edited by Mike Hopkins	Special Effects Any Effects
Original theme music by Ron Grainer  •  With thanks to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales   Sontarans created by Robert Holmes

General production staff Production Executive - Julie Scott Location Manager - Jonathan Allott Unit Manager - Rhys Griffiths Production Co-ordinator - Jess van Niekerk Assistant Production Co-ordinator - Debi Griffiths Production Secretary - Kevin Myers Production Runner - Nicola Brown Production Accountant - Oliver Ager Finance Manager - Chris Rogers Script department Script Editor - Nikki Smith Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - Franceso Reidy 2nd Assistant Director - Jennie Fava 3rd Assistant Director - Sarah Davies Continuity - Non Eleri Hughes Camera Operator - James Moss Focus Puller - Steve Rees Grip - John Robinson Camera Assistant - Tom Hartley Boom Operator - Jeff Welch Gaffer - Mark Hutchings Best Boy - Peter Chester	Art department Chief Supervising Art Director - Stephen Nicholas Supervising Art Director - Arwel Wyn Jones Art Department Production Manager - Jonathan Allison Associate Designer - James North Set Decorator - Joelle Rumbelow Props Buyer - Sue Jackson Potter Storyboard Artist - Shaun Williams Design Assistants - Al Roberts, Peter McKinstry Standby Props - Phill Shellard, Nick Murray Standby Carpenter - Will Pope Standby Art Director - Alexandra Merchant Standby Rigger - Keith Freeman Standby Painter - Ellen Woods Property Master - Phil Lyons Dressing Chargehand - Matthew Wild Senior Props Maker - Barry Jones Props Makers - Nick Robatto, Penny Howarth Construction Manager - Matthew Hywel-Davies Practical Electrician - Albert James Scenic Artist - John Whalley Graphics - BBC Wales Graphics Costume department Costume Supervisor - Lindsay Bonaccorsi Assistant Costume Designer - Rose Goodhart Costume Assistants - Barbara Harrington, Louise Martin	Make-up and prosthetics Make-up Artists - Pam Mullins, Steve Smith, John Munro Prosthetics Designer - Neill Gorton Prosthetics Supervisor - Rob Mayor On Set Prosthetics Supervisor - Martin Rezard Prosthetics Technicians - Jo Glover, Lotta Hagvist, Helen Rowe, Lenny Sant Movement Stunt Co-ordinator - Tom Lucy Choreographer - Ailsa Berk Casting Casting Associates - Andy Brierley, Amy Rogers General post-production staff Post-production Supervisors - Samantha Hall, Chris Blatchford Post-production Co-ordinator - Marie Brown On-line Editors - Matthew Clarke, Mark Bright Special and visual effects VFX Editor - Ceres Doyle SFX Co-ordinator - Ben Ashmore SFX Supervisor - Danny Hargreaves 3D Artists - Jeff North, Matt McKinney, Serena Cacciato, Nick Webber, Andy Guest, Chris Tucker 2D Artists - Sara Bennett, Julie Nixon, Simon C Holden, Russell Horth, Arianna Lago, Murray Barber Colourist - Mick Vincent Sound Sound Recordist - Brian Milliken Dubbing Mixer - Tim Ricketts Supervising Sound Editor - Paul McFadden Sound FX Editor - Paul Jefferies

Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.

References

• The Doctor mentions the Rutans and the Rutan-Sontaran War.
• The Doctor addresses the Sontarans "under Jurisdiction Two of the Intergalactic rules of engagement" which is very similar to the Shadow Proclamation.
• The Doctor watches Tommy Zoom while waiting for the Sontarans to stop chanting.
• The Doctor asks Colonel Mace "Are you my Mummy?"
• Donna has to use the Vulcan salute on a hand recognition device in order to open a door in the Sontaran ship.
• UNIT uses the Valiant to blow away ATMOS' gases.
• The Doctor mentions Jack Harkness when he confronts the clone of Martha.
• Luke Rattigan believed the Sontarans would take him and his followers to Castor 36, a planet orbiting Alpha Geminorum.
• One of Rattigan's students tells him to shoot her.

Story notes

• Helen Raynor wrote this episode. Her series 3 episodes Daleks in Manhattan and Evolution of the Daleks both occupied fourth and fifth episode in the series. This two part story also occupies episode four and five.
• Raynor was originally reluctant to write this story, having read online comments about her previous Dalek two-parter and come away "physically shaking" at the level of vitriol. Russell T Davies convinced her not to take the comments too seriously and to write this story. (REF: The Writer's Tale)
• This is the second part of a story which began with The Sontaran Stratagem.
• This episode and The Sontaran Stratagem are Douglas Mackinnon's directorial debut.
• When the Doctor cuts off Staal's speech on the video screen in mid flow, a clip from CBeebies cartoon Tommy Zoom is featured. The original plan to use a clip from Shaun the Sheep fell through.
• Billie Piper appears very briefly as Rose Tyler on the TARDIS' screen in this episode. She receives screen credit, and is fourth-billed, for a performance that lasts less than one second and which was actually shot for another episode.
• According to Russell T Davies in an interview in DWM 396, the cameo by Rose was not in the original edit of the episode, but was added just before broadcast when Davies learned how successful her unbilled cameo in Partners in Crime was. Although it was reported that the clip came from "an untransmitted scene" from another episode, in fact, according to the DVD commentary for Midnight, the scene was shot especially for Midnight during production of Turn Left and Davies dropped the scene into The Poison Sky, too. Davies said that, like Partners in Crime, advance review copies of this episode did not include the cameo. This scene was directed by Alice Troughton.
• The music that plays when the Valiant appears is strikingly similar to "The Master Tape", one of Murray Gold's musical themes for the Master. The Master helped design the Valiant.
• This is the first episode to feature Billie Piper, Freema Agyeman, and Catherine Tate all together as Rose, Martha, and Donna, respectively. It is not, however, the first story in which all three actresses appear, as they all appear in Army of Ghosts/Doomsday.
• The Doctor says to the clone Martha, "Avanti", which means "Let's go" in Italian. This is probably to confirm his suspicion of her clone nature. The real Martha would know that the Doctor usually says "Allons-y", the French equivalent.
• The Brigadier is said to be stranded in Peru. He has been knighted as Colonel Mace refers to him as "Sir Alistair". This is the first reference to the character in Doctor Who since the 1989 story Battlefield, although several references occurred in the first season of The Sarah Jane Adventures, broadcast in 2007. The Brigadier was knighted in the book The Dying Days and called "Sir Alastair" in Big Finish Productions' audio dramas. The Doctor wishes he was there.

Ratings

• 6.5 million viewers

Myths

• Billie Piper's brief cameo was taken from an earlier episode, most likely The Idiot's Lantern in which she was also shown shouting silently from a TV screen. In fact, the scene was filmed especially for Midnight, and inserted into this episode at the last minute.
• The Tenth Doctor's remark of "Are you my mummy?" while wearing the gas mask was an adlib by David Tennant who had forgotten his line, and the production team subsequently opted to keep it in. This is a myth spread by a user on Tumblr and is not true.

Filming locations

Studio

• Upper Boat Studios, Trefforest
• BBC Broadcasting House, Llandaff

Location

• Margam Country Park, Port Talbot
• Usk Valley Business Park, Pontypool
• Nant Fawr Road, Cardiff
• Orion Electric, Port Talbort
• Roath Basin, Cardiff Docks

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

• When Martha's clone enters the mobile HQ, it can be seen that she entered through a normal building's door (with daylight coming in through the window) which isn't present on the back of the vehicle or in the previous episode.
• During the end we see the Sontaran's weapons starting to target the Earth. They get ready and open up, yet when it's destroyed, they're still closed.
• During the warehouse battle, around the time when the Doctor tells Donna, "Hold on, I'm coming", the film crew can be seen reflected in a door at the right of screen.
• When Colonel Mace confronts Commander Skorr, he raises his gun twice: once in one shot, and again in the immediate next shot.
• Near the end when Luke Rattigan teleports onto the Sontaran ship, he catches the detonation device, then catches it again in a close up.
• When the corridor is blown up by the Valiant, one of the visual effects department's right shoulder can be seen.

Continuity

• The Sontaran High Command are mentioned. (TV: The Two Doctors)
• Rose Tyler appears on the TARDIS scanner screen for a split second. She appears to be shouting, "Doctor!" (TV: Partners in Crime)
  • This is not the first time Rose has attempted to communicate with the Doctor though a television screen. (TV: The Idiot's Lantern)
• General Staal is under the impression that his fleet is the first in history to capture a TARDIS. In fact, other fleets had managed to do similar previously. (AUDIO: The Sontarans)
  • One such fleet not only managed to capture a TARDIS, but also managed to enter it. They threatened to use it to annihilate the Rutans, and to correct past defeats. (AUDIO: The First Sontarans).

• After the Sontarans fill the area with gas, the Doctor wears a gas mask. While being shown a gun by Colonel Mace, he is asked what he thinks. His reply is, "Are you my mummy?" (TV: The Empty Child, The Doctor Dances)
• The Valiant's laser appears similar to one that Torchwood used. (TV: The Christmas Invasion)
• The Doctor thanks Donna and Martha just before he tries to sacrifice his life. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem)
• In the New York scene a building with the name "Butler Institute" on it can be seen. The Butler Institute first appeared in PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Warhead.
• Gas was released over London previously in PROSE: Amorality Tale.
• The Doctor gave clues to Donna about what action to take via a visual link, but the Sontarans didn't know it was happening. The Doctor did a similar thing when he gave clues to Mickey about how to stop the Cybermen created by Cybus Industries. (TV: The Age of Steel)
• In a parallel world, the Sontaran invasion was stopped by Torchwood 3. The atmosphere was reverted to its previous state and the Sontaran flagship exploded by Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones, who were killed in the process. Jack Harkness was taken to the Sontaran home planet. (TV: Turn Left)
• The destruction of the Sontaran ship would be referred to again by a surviving Sontaran. His scout ship can be seen being knocked away from the blast force of the exploding flagship. He would crash land on Earth, heavily injured. (TV: The Last Sontaran)

Home video releases

Series 4 Volume 2 DVD Cover

• This story was released in the Series 4 DVD box set in November 2008 along with the rest of the series.
• It was released as part of Series 4 Volume 2 in a vanilla edition with The Sontaran Stratagem, The Doctor's Daughter and The Unicorn and the Wasp.

External links

• Official BBC Website - Episode Guide for The Poison Sky