World War Three (TV story): Difference between revisions

|season number  = Series 1 (Doctor Who)

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{{you may|World War III|n1=the armed conflict}}

'''''World War Three''''' was the fifth episode of [[Series 1 (Doctor Who)|series one]] of ''[[Doctor Who (TV series)|Doctor Who]]''.

The episode concluded the story begun in ''[[Aliens of London (TV story)|Aliens of London]]''. It was notable for featuring the first instance of [[Mickey Smith]] actively assisting the Doctor, and therefore behaving like a [[companion]], something that he would eventually become in [[School Reunion (TV story)|due time]]. It suggested a bright political future for [[Harriet Jones]], something that the [[Tenth Doctor]] would later actively change about the timeline in ''[[The Christmas Invasion (TV story)|The Christmas Invasion]]''. It was also the first time in the history of ''Doctor Who'' that [[the Doctor's TARDIS]] was shown to have a working telephone — something that would feature much more prominently throughout the [[Steven Moffat]] era — the [[Russell T Davies]] era of the show preferring to use the mobile phone [[Martha Jones]] gave to the Tenth Doctor in ''[[Last of the Time Lords (TV story)|Last of the Time Lords]]''.

Satisfied that the Doctor no longer poses a threat, the Slitheen summon the rest of the family to Downing Street, and Asquith orders Price to keep the ground floor secure and await an emergency address from the Acting PM to the people of the world. Outside, [[Andrew Marr (in-universe)|Andrew Marr]] tries to make sense of the variety of people who are showing up: Group Captain [[Tennant James]] of the RAF; [[Ewan McAllister]], Deputy Secretary for the Scottish Parliament; even [[Sylvia Dillane]], Chairman of the North Sea Boating Club. All they seem to have in common is their remarkable girth and the fact that they've been invited to the upper levels of 10 Downing Street. They are all Slitheen in disguise, and when they get upstairs, they strip off their skin suits. Meanwhile, Mickey and Jackie have managed to make their way back to his flat, but the Slitheen who was Police Commissioner Strickland is still in pursuit, using his sense of smell to track Jackie.

* According to [[Russell T Davies]] (among others), this episode was called ''Aliens of London Part Two'' until the last minute, when the name was changed to ''World War 3'', soon amended to ''World War Three''.{{fact}}

* Unusually, the repetition of the last episode's cliffhanger before the opening title sequence contains the cliffhanger's resolution: the Doctor removes the ID badge from his clothing and applies it to a Slitheen. The use of the "cold open" of the second half of a two-parter to resolve the first episode's cliffhanger would also be utilised in the later episode ''[[The Doctor Dances (TV story)|The Doctor Dances]]'', after which cold opens for second parts (other than the recap of part one) would be almost totally abandoned for the remainder of the [[Russell T Davies]] era. They would return under [[Steven Moffat]], but would typically show more than simply the cliffhanger resolution.

* It was also released as part of the [[Series 1 (Doctor Who)|Series 1]] DVD box set.