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Starship UK was a huge ship built to house the population of the United Kingdom during their journey to find another planet to live on from the 29th to 33rd centuries, after the Earth and all life on it was threatened by Solar Flares in the former 29th century. It was built around and propelled by the last Star Whale; while the creature had volunteered for this, the humans were unaware and so enslaved it unnecessarily, torturing it with an electrical device in the "Tower of London" dungeon to keep it moving.
The spaceship was divided into large blocks and sections named after the country's counties, such as Surrey and Devon. Transport was provided by vators (elevators), which were modelled around the old London Underground, while citizens made their way around on bikes. Markets and schools existed.
The head of the government was Queen Elizabeth the Tenth, or "Liz Ten" as she was known, reigning for three hundred years due to a halted body clock; Hawthorne ruled under her. As time went on, Hawthorne's government began turning the ship into a police state, using the Smilers and Winders to keep control. While the Queen believed she was being marginalised and was unaware of things, she had instigated the capturing of the Star Whale and constantly chose to forget - having her mind wiped - every time she found out; the government were still following her original orders.
Every 5 years the people of the Starship UK would vote whether to protest at the treatment of the Star Whale, or forget about it, and every 5 years they all chose to forget.
The Doctor and Amy Pond arrived, deduced there was no engine powering the ship (as no vibrations came through the floor), and eventually uncovered the whole conspiracy. In the end the Doctor's companion, Amy Pond, resolved everything by making the Queen press the button marked "Abdicate" (rather than "Forget"), which released the Star Whale - revealing that the Star Whale would not abandon the Starship UK, because it had volunteered to move the ship. In fact, with the Star Whale not being tortured anymore, the ship moved even faster than it ever had before. (DW: The Beast Below)