Big Ben: Difference between revisions

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|appearances = {{il|[[TV]]: ''[[Rose (TV story)|Rose]]''|[[TV]]: ''[[Aliens of London (TV story)|Aliens of London]]''|[[TV]]: ''[[The Empty Child (TV story)|The Empty Child]]''|[[TV]]: ''[[Love & Monsters (TV story)|Love & Monsters]]''|[[TV]]: ''[[The Christmas Invasion (TV story)|The Christmas Invasion]]''|[[TV]]: ''[[The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)|The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith]]''|[[TV]]: ''[[The Eleventh Hour (TV story)|The Eleventh Hour]]''|[[TV]]: ''[[Deep Breath]]''|[[PROSE]]: ''[[The Clockwise Man (novel)|The Clockwise Man]]''|[[PROSE]]: ''[[Love and War (novel)|Love and War]]''|[[PROSE]]: ''[[No Future (novel)|No Future]]''|[[PROSE]]: ''[[Legacy of the Daleks (novel)|Legacy of the Daleks]]''|[[COMIC]]: ''[[Hotel Historia (comic story)|Hotel Historia]]''|[[COMIC]]: ''[[Robo Rampage (comic story)|Robo Rampage]]''}}
|appearances = {{il|[[TV]]: ''[[Rose (TV story)|Rose]]''|[[TV]]: ''[[Aliens of London (TV story)|Aliens of London]]''|[[TV]]: ''[[The Empty Child (TV story)|The Empty Child]]''|[[TV]]: ''[[Love & Monsters (TV story)|Love & Monsters]]''|[[TV]]: ''[[The Christmas Invasion (TV story)|The Christmas Invasion]]''|[[TV]]: ''[[The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)|The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith]]''|[[TV]]: ''[[The Eleventh Hour (TV story)|The Eleventh Hour]]''|[[TV]]: ''[[Deep Breath]]''|[[PROSE]]: ''[[The Clockwise Man (novel)|The Clockwise Man]]''|[[PROSE]]: ''[[Love and War (novel)|Love and War]]''|[[PROSE]]: ''[[No Future (novel)|No Future]]''|[[PROSE]]: ''[[Legacy of the Daleks (novel)|Legacy of the Daleks]]''|[[COMIC]]: ''[[Hotel Historia (comic story)|Hotel Historia]]''|[[COMIC]]: ''[[Robo Rampage (comic story)|Robo Rampage]]''|[[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Siege of Big Ben (audio story)|The Siege of Big Ben]]''}}
|clip        = Spaceship crashes into Big Ben - Doctor Who - Aliens of London - Series 1 - BBC
|clip        = Spaceship crashes into Big Ben - Doctor Who - Aliens of London - Series 1 - BBC
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Revision as of 12:11, 30 June 2018

Error creating thumbnail: Read-only mode

Big Ben was the name by which the clock tower on one end of the Houses of Parliament was most commonly known.

History

In 1892, Clara Oswald, while serving as a governess under the alias Miss Montegue, claimed to her young charges that she was born behind Big Ben's face. She explained that it accounted for her acute sense of time. (TV: The Snowmen)

Later during the 1890s, a Tyrannosaurus rex, having been accidentally sent to the Thames after swallowing the Doctor's TARDIS, advanced on Big Ben before being encircled by the efforts of Scotland Yard using a series of sonic lanterns provided by Madame Vastra. The Half-Face Man, who had later murdered the dinosaur, met his end impaled on the spire of Big Ben after falling from his hot-air balloon in a confrontation with the Twelfth Doctor, with his top hat falling down the tower. (TV: Deep Breath)

In 1924, Shade Vassily planned to use Big Ben to power his ship. (PROSE: The Clockwise Man)

In January 1941, Jack Harkness tethered his ship to Big Ben. (TV: The Empty Child)

In 1976, Big Ben's clock face was bombed by Black Star. (PROSE: Love and War, No Future)

On 1 January 2005, the Eleventh Doctor barely avoided crashing his TARDIS into Big Ben as he attempted to stabilise it following his regeneration. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)

Big Ben being destroyed by the Slitheen.

In 2006, Big Ben was destroyed by a Slitheen craft, which sheared it in half. (TV: Aliens of London) This was seen by Elton Pope among many witnesses. (TV: Love & Monsters) Reconstruction proceeded shortly afterwards. (TV: The Christmas Invasion) Shortly after Big Ben was rebuilt, the last Steggosian attempted to release a deadly poison from the tower, but the Tenth Doctor stopped him. (PROSE: The Eyeless)

Rose Tyler and Jack Harkness dance upon a Chula warship, tethered to Big Ben. (TV: The Empty Child)

In 2167, the chimes of Big Ben rang for the first time in years to celebrate the end of the 22nd century Dalek invasion after the First Doctor defeated the Daleks. Despite the initial bombardment prior to the invasion, Big Ben was unscathed. It still stood thirty years later. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth, PROSE: Legacy of the Daleks)

In 2254, Big Ben survived a Dalek invasion of Earth which saw London liberated by the Doctor. (GAME: Dalek Attack)

By the 28th century, Big Ben had been destroyed. (TV: "Strangers in Space")

In 4039, Big Ben was again destroyed in the Graxnix invasion of Earth. (COMIC: Hotel Historia)

Alternate timelines and universes

Sarah Jane and Luke Smith next to the remains of Big Ben. (TV: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith)

In the Trickster's World, Sarah Jane and Luke Smith stood on the rubble of Big Ben in the 21st century, and the Houses of Parliament, surveying the obliterated remains of London. Sarah Jane was revolted by what she had unwittingly caused by altering the timeline on 18 August 1951. (TV: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith)

In Pete's World, UNIT had a base inside Big Ben. (AUDIO: The Siege of Big Ben)

Behind the scenes

The flipped clock face from Aliens of London.
  • When the Slitheen craft crashes into Big Ben in Aliens of London, the scenes are flipped, causing the clock face(s) to appear back-to-front on-screen.
  • Big Ben is actually the name of the main bell housed within the Westminster Clock Tower, and not the name of the clock tower itself.
  • Big Ben was featured in Alister Pearson's cover artwork for the BBC Video release of The Dalek Invasion of Earth. The clock tower had not featured in the original artwork, but was added by Pearson at the request of BBC Video themselves, apparently to aid overseas sales.
  • In the ultimately unproduced film The Dark Dimension, the Daleks were to have been among several alien races which simultaneously invade London, with one particular scene depicting a pair of white-colored Daleks with glowing bases swooping past the face of Big Ben with guns blazing.