Untitled (Tonight's the Night TV story)
Tonight's the Night was a 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, and as of June 2009 no title has been suggested in media.
Plot
Jack Harkness enters the Doctor's TARDIS and discovers a blue-headed alien who claims to be a regenerated 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 Ingram 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 Ingram
- Himself - David Tennant
Crew
Uncredited. Writer Russell T. Davies is identified verbally by Barrowman prior to the scene, while stock music from Doctor Who composed by Murray Gold is heard during the scene.
References
- Jack mentions having been to a party on 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, and is untitled.
- Running just over 3 minutes in length, this is the shortest televised Doctor Who story of all time.
- 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.
- A Doctor Who Confidential-style behind-the-scenes look at the making of the skit followed its broadcast, and revealed that Tennant's involvement in the skit was kept a surprise from Ingram until just before filming.
- This is the first time a Doctor Who skit has been written around a contest winner since A Fix with Sontarans in the 1980s.
Ratings
to be added
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.
Continuity
- Barrowman and Ingram 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.
- There is a slight chance of canonizing part of this skit by just saying the first scene with Jack and Sao Til is canon, but nothing else. The last scene with them shooting at each other could be considered canon if they used actual gun sound effects. The studio background could be concieved as an extra room of the TARDIS. The David Tennant scene could be retconned to actually be an enemy in disguise of the Doctor, explaining why he's got a Scottish accent and he calls Jack "John". If you do consider this skit canon, the time placement would probably be between Journey's End and The Next Doctor.
DVD, Video and Other Releases
- No DVD release of this skit has been announced as of June 2009, nor has a DVD release of the Tonight's the Night series itself been announced.
