The Christmas Invasion (TV story)

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The Christmas Invasion was the 2005 Christmas Special of Doctor Who.

It was the show's first Christmas special since its revival and the first Christmas special starring Tennant as the Doctor.

It was the first episode of Doctor Who to premiere on Christmas Day since "The Feast of Steven", the seventh part of 1966 twelve-part serial The Daleks' Master Plan. However, unlike that episode, The Christmas Invasion was specially commissioned by BBC One to be transmitted outside the programme's normal broadcasting season. It was thus the first in the modern tradition of the "Christmas special", and its sixty-minute running time made it then the longest episode yet produced by BBC Wales.

Narratively, it continued the story of Harriet Jones, started the Torchwood story arc and involved UNIT in its first major appearance in the new series.

More importantly, it was the first full story to feature the Tenth Doctor, played by David Tennant. Its initial pre-titles sequence on the Powell Estate was later used to "bookend" the closing scenes of The End of Time. Its setting was the first and last place on Earth the Tenth Doctor saw.

Synopsis

It's Christmas Eve and high above London, the alien Sycorax are holding the Earth for ransom. The Tenth Doctor must recover from his regeneration in time to save the human race from slavery.

Plot

It is Christmas Eve on Earth. As Jackie prepares presents and Mickey works in the garage, both of them hear the distinctive sound of the TARDIS' engines. Rushing out into the street of the Powell Estate, they see the TARDIS blink into existence above them, ricochet off a few buildings and a post van, then come to a crashing halt. A freshly regenerated Doctor stumbles out of the police box doors, greets them by name and wishes them a merry Christmas before collapsing. Rose follows and, in response to Jackie and Mickey's questions, identifies the Doctor.

They bring the Doctor to Jackie's flat and dress him in pyjamas belonging to Howard, Jackie's current beau, who has the habit of keeping pieces of fruit in his pocket for snacks. While Rose discusses the Doctor's change of appearance and the fact he has two hearts with Jackie, they do not see a wisp of vortex energy emerging from the Doctor's mouth, which then floats into space. On television, Prime Minister Harriet Jones and project director Daniel Llewellyn give a press conference about the Guinevere One space probe, which is about to land on Mars. In space, however, the probe is swallowed up by an island-like spaceship.

That evening, Rose and Mickey go Christmas shopping but are attacked by a group of masked Santas armed with lethal musical instruments. Managing to escape when the tuba mortar brings a giant Christmas tree down on the Santas, Rose realises that the Santas are after the Doctor. She and Mickey rush home. When they reach the flat, Rose notices an unfamiliar Christmas tree in the sitting room, which Jackie says was delivered to the door. As they deduce that none of them purchased the tree, it comes to life, whirling around with razor-sharp branches while playing a cheerful rendition of "Jingle Bells". The three retreat to the bedroom, the "Christmas tree" in hot pursuit. Rose places sonic screwdriver in the still-comatose Doctor's hand and asks him to help her. Reacting instinctively, the Doctor rises as the tree bursts through the door and disintegrates the tree with the screwdriver.

He then strides outside the flat to see who was remotely controlling the tree. From ground level, the Santas stare up at the Doctor, but transmat away when the Doctor points the sonic screwdriver at them. The Doctor calls them "pilot fish" and collapses in pain, saying that Rose woke him up too soon: he is still regenerating. The energy leaking from him has attracted the "pilot fish"'s attention. However, he soon spasms in pain, saying he is having a neural implosion because they woke him too soon. He tries saying what he needs, but Jackie keeps interrupting; he tells her to shut up. He grips Rose, warning her that something bigger is coming. The Doctor then loses consciousness again.

PM Harriet Jones during the Sycorax crisis.

The first signal from Guinevere One arrives: an alien face, which is soon broadcast all over the world. Llewellyn is escorted by Major Blake to the Tower of London, which houses a facility run by the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. There, he meets the Prime Minister and her aide, Alex, who tells him that they're sending out a temporary cover story that a student in a mask hacked into the television signal. Llewellyn is shaken to realise that extraterrestrial life does exist and that both the British government and the United Nations are aware of this. A technician, Sally Jacobs, explains that the signal did not come from Mars but 5000 miles above the planet's surface, which means that there is a ship, and it is moving rapidly towards Earth.

As Rose and Mickey use his laptop to monitor UNIT's readings, the aliens send another signal to Earth. The aliens speak in their own language, but Rose does not understand it. Normally, the TARDIS would translate it for her, but it seems that with the Doctor unconscious, that function is not working. Rose examines the Doctor, finding one of his hearts has stopped, meaning he is too injured to be of use and may die if they attempt to wake him again.

At UNIT, Blake orders the use of translation software. With no sign of the Doctor, Jones asks Blake about Torchwood. She knows that she is not supposed to know about them – not even the United Nations knows — but she wants them to be ready.

The software translates the message. The aliens are the Sycorax, and they are claiming the planet as their own, demanding surrender or "they" will die. Their word for "human" also appears to be similar to that of "cattle", temporarily baffling UNIT. Jones declines to surrender, warning the Sycorax that the planet is armed. As dawn rises over London, the Sycorax enact their first move. With a wave of the leader's hand, blue energy sweeps over a third of the world's population, mesmerising them. The mind-controlled people, Sally Jacobs amongst them, climb to the highest spots they can find, primarily the roofs of buildings and stand at the edge, poised to jump.

Checking the UNIT staff's medical records, Llewellyn discovers that all the affected people have A+ blood. The Sycorax found the sample of A+ blood that was sent with other materials on Guinevere One to identify the human race in case of alien contact, and are somehow using that as a control mechanism. Desperate now, Jones gives an emergency broadcast on television, pleading for the Doctor's help if he is out there. She also informs the public that the Queen's Christmas speech has been cancelled as the Royal Family are "on the roof".

Just then, the shockwave of the Sycorax ship entering the atmosphere shatters windows all over the city; the gigantic craft takes position above the Houses of Parliament and an under-reconstruction Big Ben as the frightened population watch. Rose, driven to despair by the Doctor's comatose state and not knowing what else to do, asks Mickey and Jackie to help move the Doctor to the safety of the TARDIS. Jackie gathers food and other supplies, including a thermos flask of tea.

The Sycorax transmat Jones, Alex, Blake and Llewellyn up to their ship. The Sycorax leader removes his helmet, revealing a skinless face surrounded by a mantle of bone. His hand hovering over a large glowing button, he demands immediate surrender, or he will order the controlled humans to jump. Llewellyn tries to reason with the Sycorax but is reduced to a pile of bones by the leader's energy whip, as is Blake when he protests. Half of the world will be sold into slavery or a third will die; it is Jones's choice.

As Rose and Mickey move the Doctor into the console room, Jackie goes back to get more supplies. Rose, having apparently given up, broods by the console as Mickey tries to use the TARDIS scanner to tune into what is happening, but the time machine's advanced technology is detected by the Sycorax. Outside, Jackie watches helplessly as the TARDIS is transmatted up. Not realising that they are aboard the Sycorax ship, Rose steps out of the TARDIS and screams when she sees the aliens. Mickey rushes out after her, dropping the flask of tea, which spills and starts dripping through the grilles at the base of the console next to the Doctor's unconscious form. The Doctor breathes in the fumes created as the tea sparks against various components.

Rose tries to bluff the Sycorax by quoting various things and races she has encountered on her travels, commanding them to leave, but is answered with laughter. The Sycorax leader taunts her attempts to pass off second-hand knowledge as authority... but as he gloats, his alien words start turning into English. Rose realises that the TARDIS translation is working again, and as the Doctor must be conscious for it to be active, that can mean only one thing: the Doctor is awake. On cue, the Doctor emerges from the TARDIS, smiling as he says, "Did you miss me?"

Easily deactivating the Sycorax leader's energy whip and breaking his staff, the Doctor bluntly tells the alien to wait while he gets more important things out of the way, namely, getting reacquainted with his friends. Disappointed at not being "ginger" (red haired), and somewhat annoyed at Rose's speed in giving up on him, he tells them that all he needed was a "good cup of tea; a superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin. Just the thing for healing the synapses." As the Sycorax leader demands to know who he is, the Doctor blithely strides across the ship's floor, nattering on cheerfully and still working out what his personality is like in this new incarnation. He walks up to the glowing button, discovers that it is powered by A-positive human blood, and quickly deduces that the Sycorax are using blood control — they're controlling all the humans with A-positive blood. The Doctor tells the leader that in his unstable state, when he sees a large glowing button he just cannot help himself — and to everyone's shock, he pushes it.

However, instead of sending the possessed crowds on Earth to their deaths, it simply releases them from the Sycorax control. The Doctor explains that blood control is like hypnosis: "you can hypnotise someone to cluck like a chicken or sing like Elvis, but you can't hypnotise them to death. Survival instinct's too strong." The Sycorax were bluffing, and the Doctor called them on it. The leader says that they can still conquer Earth with an armada, but the Doctor demands that the humans be left alone (quoting part of "The Circle of Life" from The Lion King in the process), challenging the leader to single combat for the planet.

The Doctor goads the leader into it the fight by insulting him in his native Sycoraxic. The swordfight goes from inside the ship to its exterior. In the midst of it, the leader cuts the Doctor's hand off, and it falls below with his sword. The leader assumes the Doctor will yield as he's been "disarmed". While his friends are horrified, the Doctor is calm; he notes that he is still within the first fifteen hours of changing into his new incarnation. Grinning, he explains that there's leftover energy after the change to rectify any anomalies or missing bits; his hand regrows.

Grabbing a new sword, the Doctor notes "This new hand, it's a fightin' hand!" and reengages the leader in battle. The Doctor ultimately pins the leader, telling him to leave the planet and never return, in return for the Doctor sparing his life. As the Doctor walks back, celebrating his victory with Rose, the leader tries a final attack whilst the Doctor's back is turned. The Doctor calmly bounces a satsuma he finds in Howard's dressing gown off a control button, opening a section of the ship's wing beneath the leader, sending the alien plunging to his death. With a now-grim expression, the Doctor states that he is a man who doesn't give second chances.

The Doctor sends the other Sycorax on their way with a reminder that the planet Earth is defended. They are transmatted back to London and reunite with Jackie, and Jones asks if there are more aliens out there. The Doctor notes that there are thousands; the human race is being noticed more and more. As Jones ponders this, visibly troubled, Alex receives a telephone call and quietly informs Jones that Torchwood is ready. Jones seems reluctant but nevertheless gives the order to fire. Five green beams converge as one over London, and the resulting energy burst destroys the Sycorax ship as it heads into space.

The Doctor glares at Jones, furious, but she tries to justify the use of the weapon (engineered from a crashed spaceship ten years previously) as defending the planet. She tells him how Llewellyn and Blake were merciliessly killed in front of her while he was asleep, making her realise the Doctor cannot be there all the time. The Doctor bitterly says he should have warned the Sycorax to run, as the real monsters, the humans, are coming. When Jones asks if she should consider the Doctor another alien enemy, the Doctor warns her that he can bring down her government with just six words. He whispers them into Alex's ear: "Don't you think she looks tired?" Alex gives Jones a startled look, and she demands to know what the Doctor just said, growing frantic in her attempts. Everyone else leaves without a word, and Jones apologises quietly.

Jackie, Mickey and Rose serve Christmas dinner in the flat. The Doctor looks through the TARDIS wardrobe, finally settling on a brown pinstripe suit and a long brown coat. He joins the others for dinner, and they watch Harriet Jones on the television, fending off rumours about her ill-health and a pending vote of no confidence in the House of Commons. Outside, what looks like snow is falling over London, accompanied by shooting stars, but the Doctor points out that it is, in fact, ash — the remains of the Sycorax spaceship. It is a new start for Earth, however; with so many people seeing the Sycorax ship, there is no covering up the existence of aliens this time.

But there are new worlds to see and explore. With a now-trusting Rose by his side and eager to continue their travels, the Doctor looks up into the sky to choose a star for their next destination, assuring her that it will be, in the words of his previous incarnation, "fantastic".

Cast

Uncredited cast

Crew

General production staff

Script department

Camera and lighting department

Art department

Costume department

Make-up and prosthetics

Movement

Casting

General post-production staff

Special and visual effects

Sound



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.
          

With The Christmas Invasion came an explosion in the number of people regularly credited on Doctor Who. In particular, the art department got much more specific crediting than had ever been the case in series 1. This trend of expanding the number of art department personnel credited would continue right through to series 5, with each series regularly crediting a few more positions.


References

The Doctor

  • The Doctor has recently regenerated from his ninth incarnation.
  • The leader of the Sycorax slices off the Doctor's hand. However, the Doctor regenerates the hand, as he is still in the first 15 hours of his regeneration cycle.
  • The Doctor assumes he has become rude and expresses dismay that he is not a ginger.
  • Harriet Jones briefly believes the new Doctor is the Ninth Doctor's son, who inherited the title.

Organisations

Galactic law

Biology

  • The Doctor recognises the human blood and its blood type by taste.

Cultural references from the real world

Foods and beverages

  • The chemical components in tea can complete the healing of brain synapses and neurons recovering from the regeneration process.
  • The Doctor finds an apple in the pocket of Howard's bathrobe.
  • The Doctor uses a satsuma (also found in the pocket of Howard's bathrobe) to defeat the Sycorax Leader.
  • Jackie suggests that the Doctor needs a bowl of soup and a ham sandwich.

Medicine

Individuals

  • Luke Parsons is an A positive.
  • Mickey mentions to Rose that he and Jackie have been spending more time together, and that he goes over to her flat every Sunday for dinner where she "yaps and yaps".

Planets

  • Guinevere One was en route to Mars when intercepted by the Sycorax ship.

Species

Time Lords

  • While suffering from post regeneration stress, the Doctor says that he is "having a neuron implosion." Later, in reference to the cure for this malady, he mentions synapses.

Torchwood

United Nations Intelligence Taskforce

Technology

  • The Hubble Array is following the course of the Sycorax ship.

Story notes

  • This is the first Doctor Who episode clearly labelled as a Christmas special. The seventh episode of The Daleks' Master Plan, titled "The Feast of Steven", was written as a Christmas episode and was first broadcast on 25 December 1965.
  • This is the first episode of the 2005 revival of Doctor Who to air on a Sunday in the UK.
  • David Tennant is credited as "The Doctor", as opposed to Christopher Eccleston who was credited as "Doctor Who". The change in the credit was done at Tennant's request.
    • This occurrence parallels Peter Davison's request for an identical change in credit when he succeeded Tom Baker. Like Tennant, Davison's first episode would begin this new billing.
    • This story was effectively the first since 1989's Survival to credit the role as "The Doctor".
  • The "middle eight" section of the theme tune is restored in this episode and is heard for the first time in the revived series.
  • Before this episode was broadcast, a fictional tie-in website for the Guinevere One project was created and launched by the BBC. The site includes an introduction by Harriet Jones and an interview with the project director, Professor Daniel Llewellyn. The site claims that the probe was developed by the British Rocket Group. The organisation's logo partially appears in this episode, in the televised press conference with Professor Llewellyn. The name of the organisation was first mentioned in Remembrance of the Daleks and is a reference to the British Experimental Rocket Group from the Quatermass science fiction serials of the 1950s. David Tennant had previously starred in the 2005 BBC live remake of The Quatermass Experiment as Doctor Gordon Briscoe, and Quatermass' first line to Briscoe was changed by actor Jason Flemyng during the broadcast from "Good to have you back, Gordon" to "Good to have you back, Doctor" — Tennant's casting as the Doctor was announced two weeks after Quatermass went to air, and his castmates would have been aware of the speculation during rehearsals.
  • Immediately following this episode, Attack of the Graske, an interactive mini-episode starring David Tennant, was made available on the BBC Red Button.
  • Just before the opening credits sequence, Jackie says the line, "Doctor? Doctor who?", continuing a long-running in-joke. Unlike many instances of the joke, however, the line primarily plays as a genuine question, since she has never before met the Tenth Doctor and knows nothing of regeneration.
  • The Tenth Doctor speaks with an accent similar to Rose's but unlike the Ninth Doctor's Northern one. In a radio interview broadcast on 23 December 2005, Tennant explained that a line of dialogue had been scripted for this episode which explained that the newly regenerated Doctor had imprinted on Rose's accent, "like a chick hatching from an egg", but the line was deleted from the final episode.
  • The opening shot of this episode, in which the Earth and its moon appear, is reused footage from the opening shot of the episode Rose.
  • The song being played by the Santa Claus band which attacks Rose and Mickey is "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen". This song is traditionally associated with the novel A Christmas Carol, written by Charles Dickens, whom the Doctor and Rose met in The Unquiet Dead. The song shares its melody with the "Venusian Lullaby" the Third Doctor sang in The Dæmons and The Curse of Peladon. The carol can be heard again in The Next Doctor.
  • Another song featured in this episode is "Song for Ten", an original composition by Murray Gold sung by Tim Phillips. The next two Christmas specials included an original song on the soundtrack. The Phillips version of the song was very brief, and when the time came to compile a soundtrack album, new lyrics were written for the song (reflecting the events of Doomsday) and it was recorded by Neil Hannon. "Song for Ten" is the first original song commissioned for Doctor Who since the untitled rap song for the Ringmaster heard during the 1988 story The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.
  • One of the outfits considered by the Doctor in the wardrobe is the costume worn by David Tennant in his previous role as Casanova in the eponymous television serial.
  • This marks the first time in the new series that any room in the TARDIS other than the console room is seen on-screen.
    • It is also the only appearance in the Russell T Davies era of an area of the TARDIS outside of the console room.
  • In a scene filmed for the episode, but deleted before broadcast (though included on the DVD), the Doctor attempts to utter his predecessor's catchphrase, "Fantastic!" but due to his "new teeth" (ref. his comments at the end of The Parting of the Ways) finds it initially impossible to do so. This scene was intended to set up the final scene of the episode in which the new Doctor finally utters the word, "Fantastic!"
  • The Christmas Invasion can be viewed in its entirety on the BBC America website.
  • A signal intrusion incident that occurred in Chicago during an airing of the Fourth Doctor serial Horror of Fang Rock is referenced by Harriet Jones' aide Alex when he says the official story of the Sycorax appearing via the probe is because of "a mask, some sort of prosthetic. Students hijacking the signal."
  • The Christmas Invasion is the first time a television drama was permitted to film atop the Tower of London.[2]
  • This is the first episode to use music performed by the BBC National Orchestra Of Wales, in contrast to all previous episodes of the revived series which used a computer-created soundtrack.
  • Harriet Jones states that the laser that destroyed the Sycorax was taken from technology of a ship that crashed a decade ago, placing the time of the crash in 1996.

Ratings

  • 9.84 million[3]

Myths

  • Some early reports suggested that the enemy would be the Cybermen. Tabloid newspaper The Sun reported that Shaun Dingwall would return as Rose's father, Pete Tyler, and that this episode would be set on an alternative Earth. However, all of these claims were proven to be incorrect when the episode was broadcast, and appear to refer to Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel. Coincidentally, the Cybermen were later announced as the enemies in the later 2008 Christmas special.
  • After the announcement that Christopher Eccleston would leave after the first series, there were erroneous reports that the regeneration was to take place during the Christmas special, not during The Parting of the Ways. (This may have been an intentional red herring in order to maintain at least some element of surprise for the series finale given that the BBC had accidentally blown Russell T Davies' plan for a surprise regeneration.)

Influences

  • Besides being the name of the invading aliens, Sycorax is also the name of the witch in William Shakespeare's play, The Tempest. In the later series 3 episode, The Shakespeare Code, the Doctor accidentally gives Shakespeare the name "Sycorax" when he sees an animal skull which reminds him of one of the aliens.
  • The Sycorax, with their curse-like blood control technology and bone-motif costumes, are slightly similar to Faction Paradox, a time-travelling voodoo cult created by Lawrence Miles that were recurring villains in the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures novels.
  • Harriet Jones's decision to destroy the Sycorax spaceship, despite the fact it was leaving Earth, echoes Margaret Thatcher's decision to sink the Argentinian ship Belgrano in the 1982 Falklands War, even though evidence suggests it was actually leaving British waters.
  • Guinevere One, the name of the probe that Earth sends to Mars, references the myths of King Arthur. In those stories, Guinevere was Arthur's Queen Consort. Her name is an old French form of the Welsh name Gwenhwyfar, which can be translated as "white shadow". Her adulterous affair with Arthur's chief knight, Lancelot, and betrayal of her husband lead to the downfall of their kingdom. When the Seventh Doctor was recognised as Merlin, Arthur's advisor, he assumed that he would later find himself in this role. (TV: Battlefield)
  • The Doctor's sword duel with the Sycorax leader, particularly when his hand is cut off, resembles the lightsaber duel between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.
  • The Doctor comments that the bathrobe and pyjamas Jackie has given him to wear are "very Arthur Dent." Arthur Dent is a character in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, created by former Doctor Who script editor Douglas Adams. Also, Jackie's line "Anything else he's got two of?" is also spoken by Arthur Dent in the 2005 movie adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in reference to the two-headed Zaphod Beeblebrox.
  • When speaking to the Sycorax of the great potential humans possess, the Doctor realises he is quoting from The Lion King.

Filming locations

  • Tredegar House, Newport
  • Brandon Estate, Kennington, London (The Powell Estate)
  • Palace of Westminster, Westminster, London
  • Tower of London, London
  • Landmark Place, Churchill Way, Cardiff
  • Hayes Island, Cardiff
  • Clearwell Caves – Ancient Iron Mines, Coleford, Gloucestershire
  • Barry Docks, Barry Island, Cardiff
  • NCP Tredegar Street (also known as St Davids 2), Cardiff, Wales
  • Wallis House, Great West Road, Brentford
  • Trafalgar Square, London
  • 30 St Mary Axe (also known as "The Gherkin"), London
  • Baltic House, Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff
  • Wharton Street, Cardiff
  • Broadstairs Road, Leckwith, Cardiff
  • Brian Cox Motor Engineering, Bromley Road, Ellwood (Clancy's garage where Mickey is working when the TARDIS arrives in the teaser sequence)
  • Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
  • Unit Q2, Imperial Park, Imperial Way, Newport
  • HTV Wales Studios, Culvershouse Cross, Cardiff
  • BBC Kendal Avenue, Kendal Avenue, Acton
  • BBC Broadcasting House (C2 Studio), Llantrisant Road, Llandaff, Cardiff

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 Mickey calls Rose to check out the military broadcast of the Sycorax ship, you can see for a split-second the video player playing the broadcast, revealing that it was not green-screened, but a video playing on the computer.
  • Although it has been a very short time since the Doctor regenerated, as Rose passes the door of the TARDIS after the Doctor collapses, her hair is visibly longer. (TV: The Parting of the Ways) This exposes the several month break between the wrapping up of Series 1 production and the start of Series 2 production, during which time Billie Piper allowed her hair to grow longer.
  • When proclaiming his new form to be "lucky", the Doctor is facing towards the Sycorax ship, but when mentioning being in the first 15 hours of his regenerative cycle, he is facing away from the Sycorax ship. He is facing the ship again when his hand regrows.
  • A lot of the shots between the Doctor winning the challenge and giving his warning to the Sycorax horde have inconsistent lighting. One notable example of this is when the Doctor throws the satsuma, the light is on the right side of his face but is then on the left side of the button the fruit hits when it should be on the right. The green screen of the ship exterior is also darkened on the left side, making this error more prominent.

Continuity

Home video releases

Series 2 Volume 1: The Christmas Invasion - New Earth DVD Cover
  • A behind-the-scenes preview of this episode was released with the series 1 DVD box set.
  • As with every other episode of season 2, The Christmas Invasion was released on VHS and DVD by Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment.
  • This story was released on a vanilla DVD with New Earth.
  • It was also released as part of the Series 2 DVD Box set by Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment in July 2006.
  • This story was also released with Issue 7 of the Doctor Who DVD Files.

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ REF: Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia
  2. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/doctorwho/entries/2bf7eea9-a575-4947-8698-8cdcb7386518
  3. ↑ Doctor Who ratings
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