Dermot and the Doctor (TV story)
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Dermot & the Doctor,[2] later renamed The Doctor Saves Day[3] and released on the BBC website as The Doctor and a galaxy of stars[4] was a mini-episode released to coincide with the National Television Awards 2011. It was broadcast on ITV for the sixteenth National Television Awards.
Synopsis
Dermot O'Leary wakes up late for the National Television Awards. The Doctor tries to take him there, but keeps ending up in the wrong place, meeting many famous people in places such as Walford, Weatherfield and the BBC Television Centre in 2111.
Plot
At 7:00, the broadcast of the National Television Awards can be heard at the home of Dermot O'Leary. Waking up, Dermot realises, to his horror, that he has slept in and has thus missed the National Television Awards. However, also present in his bedroom is the Doctor's TARDIS. Appearing through the partially opened doors, the Eleventh Doctor asks is can help.
Within the TARDIS control room, the Doctor is operating the control console while Dermot, now dressed in his presenter's suit, observes his surroundings with awe. The TARDIS' destination is 26 January 2011, which the Doctor notes to be a "temporal tipping point"; "millions of people are going to be making vitally important decisions, and if they make just one tiny mistake the entire universe will be destroyed." The Doctor announces that they are heading to the NTAs and, indeed, the TARDIS audibly lands immediately after. When Dermot asks if they have arrived, however, the Doctor answers in the negative; they have overshot and the TARDIS scanner is "on the blink".
The Doctor notes that he needs to make sure that the atmosphere is breathable. He reveals to Dermot that miners used to take canaries down mines to check that the air was safe, proceeding to push Dermot out of the TARDIS' doors. Stepping out of the TARDIS, Dermot discovers Ant & Dec. Recognising the TARDIS, Ant & Dec ask if the Doctor has come back for them. The duo explain to Dermot that only the Doctor can release from the invisible space handcuffs which have binded them together for the past 21 years. Though Ant & Dec are clearly desperate for the Doctor's assistance, Dermot ignores their plight and returns to the TARDIS alone, leaving them behind, with Ant proceeding to the toilet.
The TARDIS lands again, with the Doctor claiming that he has "definitely got it this time." Before Dermot exits the TARDIS, the Doctor alerts him that he has received a lifeform reading outside; an "ancient creature" that the Doctor worryingly notes has something familiar about it but he cannot get an accurate reading, as if there is a smokescreen. Finding himself in Albert Square, Dermot encounters Dot Branning, who is smoking a cigarette. Though unfamiliar with Dermot, Dot notes that he is not the Doctor; Dot claims that the Doctor is "never out" of her laundrette since he only has one set of clothes.
"Third time lucky", the Doctor once again fails, landing the TARDIS at the BBC Television Centre one hundred years in the future. Dermot is amazed to learn that that the BBC still exists at this point in the future, "in between the adverts" as the Doctor notes. Awestruck, Dermot enthusiastically exits the TARDIS, curious to know how TV is made in a hundred years' time. Imagining future programmes, Dermot suggests 4D television, "news with robots" and "comedies with jokes". Out the doors, Dermot finds that Bruce Forsyth is "still here", backstage on Strictly Come Dancing before being taken back into the TARDIS by the Doctor.
The Doctor assures Dermot that they will get to his destination only to overshoot again, arriving one year into the future. Turning on the scanner, they see Graham Norton who questions the appearance of "that box" in his studio as he is trying to present the news. "Moving on", the Doctor adjusts the scanner, whose screen changes to feature Amanda Holden, who complains that it is "just the same thing again", "an appearing, disappearing police telephone box. The Doctor apologises to Amanda, revealing to Dermot that she is now the Prime Minister. Reflecting on "the Holden Years", the Doctor notes that it was a "shame she was so used to pressing that big red button." Indeed, immediately after, Amanda, flanked by Michael McIntyre and David Hasselhoff, presses the button as the TARDIS departs.
As a result of the next attempt, Becky McDonald appears on the scanner, telling the Doctor again that it is over between them. She warns him to shift his box off the cobbles before she comes in there and shoves a hotpot where "the sun don't shine." Spraying at the TARDIS, Becky enters The Rovers Return. The Doctor notes the "Weatherfieldians" to be a "terrifying race".
On the "last try", the Doctor laments that they are heading to "some vast and terrible arena full of insane, shrieking banshees thirsting for blood and conquest." However, Dermot recognises from the scanner that they are infact arriving at the National Television Awards, with both his and the Doctor's expressions turning to glee as the TARDIS proceeds through the Time Vortex.
Cast
- The Doctor - Matt Smith
- Dermot O'Leary - Himself
- Anthony McPartlin - Himself
- Declan Donnelly - Himself
- Dot Cotton - June Brown
- Bruce Forsyth - Himself
- Graham Norton - Himself
- Amanda Holden - Herself
- David Hasselhoff - Himself
- Michael McIntyre - Himself
- Becky McDonald - Katherine Kelly
Crew
- Writer - Steven Moffat [1]
- Director - Richard Senior[1]
- Producer - Andy Bates
- Editor - Richard Senior
Worldbuilding
- The National Television Awards in 2011 are a temporal tipping point.
- The Eleventh Doctor tells Dermot that miners sometimes used to take canaries down into the mines to check that the air was breathable.
Story notes
- While claiming to present the news, the Graham Norton of 2012 is in fact on the studio of The Graham Norton Show. Likewise, "Prime Minister" Amanda Holden appears with Michael McIntyre and David Hasselhoff on the judges' panel of Britain's Got Talent.
- The Eleventh Doctor previously referred to the 2020 events of Cold Blood as a "temporal tipping point", explaining that it was not a fixed point in time.
- This story is a crossover with EastEnders and Coronation Street.
Filming locations
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Continuity
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