Dr Woo and the Kelads (TV story)
Dr Woo & the Kelads was an episode of the BBC One children's television series Hububb. The show follows Les Bubb and Mikey, two delivery men who live inside a tower at the centre of Edinburgh. The episode parodies elements of Doctor Who and the Daleks, and involves Les's training to become a Time Lord (referred to as such).
Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]
One day, while Les is cleaning the tower, Mikey practises magic tricks. After Les leaves in search of the bin, Mikey is startled to see a wardrobe materialise in the room. Another version of Les steps out, wearing a long coat and a multicoloured scarf, and remarks on the room's typical early 21st-century smells. He introduces himself as Dr Woo, then explains that he is Les's future self, no longer the "pathetic, bumbling fool" that Mikey knows but "a new, intelligent, gifted and charming Time Lord". Dr Woo has travelled back in time to capture one of the Kelads, an alien race that arrived on Earth in the late 20th century and is about to begin an invasion. Once this task is complete, and he has made "a Victoria sponge cake that doesn't drop in the middle", he will attain the rank of Time Lord. Dr Woo returns to his craft, the Triage, and finds that his assistant Belinda has been merged with her favourite hat as a result of a miscalibration. He invites Mikey to be his new assistant; when he refuses, Dr Woo hypnotises and coerces him. When Les returns to the room, Dr Woo hides inside the Triage, unsure what will happen if he crosses paths with his past self. When Les puts a rubbish bag into a wheelie bin, Dr Woo tells Mikey that the bin is a Kelad in disguise; the aliens feed on rubbish. Dr Woo and Mikey follow a rubbish van to a yard where the Kelads are massing. They detect the intruders and attempt to eat them. Meanwhile, Les dresses three bins as a family in order to help keep track of them. Mikey finds a bottle of disinfectant and uses it to fight the Kelads back. The Kelad family share their dissatisfaction about their leader. When they see him fleeing, they suggest he hide in the wardrobe, then tell Dr Woo where he is. While the leader proclaims that resistance is futile, Dr Woo enters the Triage and dematerialises. Les attempts to place some rubbish in one of the friendly Kelads, but Mikey warns him that they are alive. Les thinks he is joking, but as they walk away, the Kelads call them back.
Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]
Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Writer - Ben Keaton
- Additional material - Les Bubb
Story notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The episode's name parodies the title of the 1965 film Dr. Who and the Daleks.
- Although the Academy is not mentioned by name, the concept of Les, a human from modern-day Britain, eventually training to become a Time Lord echoes Andrew Cartmel's original plan for Ace, who would have left to train on Gallifrey in the unmade Season 27 had the series not been cancelled.
- Though nominally a parody of the Daleks, the Kelads bear a substantial resemblance to the Autons. The idea of an invading alien disguised as a plastic wheelie bin attempting to devour people occurs here four years before it would appear in Doctor Who proper with 2005's Rose.
Cast notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Miltos Yerolemou, who plays Dr Woo's companion Mikey, would go on to play Syrio Forel in Game of Thrones and a bar patron in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
