Doctor Who 2005

In 2005, the BBC relaunched Doctor Who after a 16 year absence. The Ninth Doctor was played by the actor Christopher Eccleston. His tenure as the Doctor only lasted through series 1 of the revived series in 2005. The new series uses a standard episode length of 45 minutes. The end of season 1 was followed by the first Christmas Special of the new Doctor Who series.

Series 1 (Ninth Doctor)

1. Rose - 26 March 2005
Writer: Russell T. Davies

This is the first episode of the New Doctor Who. The story is set in London, England and the enemies are Nestene Consciousness and the Autons. Rose Tyler meets a mysterious stranger called the Doctor and her life will never be the same again. Soon, she realises that her mum, her boyfriend, and the whole of Planet Earth are in danger. The only hope for salvation lies inside a strange blue police box. She tries to help as he seeks out the Nestene Consciousness, an alien who is controlling living plastic in an attempt to take over the world.

The Ninth Doctor was the first Doctor where they did not show his regeneration on TV. He was introduced without any information on his recent past, though it was implied in this episode that he had recently regenerated, the exact circumstances of that change or what caused it, are unknown.

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2. The End of the World - 2 April 2005
Writer: Russell T. Davies

The Doctor takes Rose on her first voyage through time, to the year Five Billion. The Sun is about to expand and swallow the Earth. But amongst the alien races gathering to watch on Platform One, a murderer is at work. Who is controlling the mysterious and deadly spiders? The story is situated on Platform 1 (A space station orbiting Earth) in the year 5,000,000,000 AD. The enemy is Lady Cassandra.

Guest stars: Zoë Wanamaker, Simon Day, Yasmin Bannerman

3. The Unquiet Dead - 9 April 2005
Writer: Mark Gatiss

The Doctor plans to take Rose back through time to Naples 1860, but instead they arrive in Cardiff, 1869. In Victorian Cardiff, the dead are walking and creatures made of gas are on the loose. The time-travellers team up with Charles Dickens to investigate Mr Sneed, the local Undertaker, and his psychic maid Gwyneth. Can they halt the plans of the ethereal Gelth? The story is set in Cardiff, Wales in 24th December, 1869 and the enemy are the Gelth.

Guest stars: Simon Callow, Alan David, Eve Myles

4. Aliens of London (Part 1) - 16 April 2005
Writer: Russell T. Davies

The Doctor takes Rose home a year later than planned. But all attention is on an alien spaceship which crashes into Big Ben and lands in the Thames. London is closed off and the whole world is on Red Alert. While the Doctor investigates the alien survivor, Rose discovers that her home is no longer a safe haven. Who are the Slitheen? Soon, all is not as it seems with the residents of 10 Downing Street. The story is set in modern day London in 2006 and the enemy are the Slitheen.

Guest star: Penelope Wilton

5. World War Three (Part 2) - 23 April 2005
Writer: Russell T. Davies

Continuing the story from Episode 4. As the Doctor, Rose Tyler and their new friend Harriet Jones battle the murderous Slitheen in 10 Downing Street, the Doctor realises that the fate of the Earth rests on Mickey Smith.

Guest star: Penelope Wilton

6. Dalek - 30 April 2005
Writer: Robert Shearman

The Doctor and Rose find themselves in an underground museum in Utah, U.S.A in the year 2012. The billionaire collector Henry Van Statten houses all kinds of extraterrestrial artefacts and the only living exhibit being one of the Doctor's oldest enemies, a Dalek. When the Doctor and Rose investigate, they discover that the Doctor’s oldest and most deadly enemy is about to break free. It’s a fight to the death, with Rose caught in the middle.

7. The Long Game - 7 May 2005
Writer: Russell T. Davies

The Doctor, Rose and Adam arrive in the year 200,000 on a broadcasting station that transmits programming to Earth. But soon, trouble is afoot, when they discover that any worker promoted to a position on level 500 never returns. The Doctor suspects humankind is being manipulated. The Doctor and Rose attempt to find out what is happening, whilst Adam investigates part of the station himself and makes a decision that he's going to regret for the rest of his life. The enemy is the Jagrafess.

8. Father's Day - 14 May 2005
Writer: Paul Cornell

Rose requests a trip back to the day her father, Pete Tyler, died. Reluctantly, the Doctor agrees, but he realises he has made a mistake, when Rose saves Pete from being run over by a car. This has now changed the timeline and Reapers are transposing themselves all over the Universe. However, this time, the Doctor doesn't have a plan.

9. The Empty Child (Part 1) - 21 May 2005
Writer: Steven Moffat

After chasing an unexplained capsule through time, the TARDIS lands in London in 1941, during an air raid. Rose investigates when a small child wearing a gasmask, standing on a rooftop, continuously calls out for his mummy. After floating above the city on a barrage balloon, Rose is swept off her feet by Captain Jack Harkness (another time traveller). Meanwhile, the Doctor follows a teenaged girl to a meeting of the homeless children of the Blitz. Here, the child in the gasmask is terrorising them with a parade of strange events, constantly asking for his mother.

10. The Doctor Dances (Part 2) - 28 May 2005
Writer: Steven Moffat

After narrowly escaping the gas mask monsters, the Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack try to stop the mutated people from infecting other victims. But it soon becomes apparent that one of the group may indirectly responsible for the virus. The answer lies at the bombsite, but time is running out.

11. Boom Town - 4 June 2005
Writer: Russell T. Davies

The Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack stop off in present-day Cardiff of 2006 to recharge the TARDIS on the Rift they formerly encountered in 1869. Whilst there, they come upon a since-thought-long-dead enemy of theirs, who is hatching yet another plan to destroy Earth and sell the chunks of rock to other aliens. The enemy is Margaret Blaine (Blon Fel Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen)

12. Bad Wolf (Part 1) - 11 June 2005
Writer: Russell T. Davies

The story is set the Gamestation (Satellite 5) in the year 200,100. The Doctor wakes up in the Big Brother house during an eviction, Rose wakes up on the Weakest Link with the Anne-Droid and Captain Jack gets a make over with Trin-E and Zu-Zana. But something unusual is happening and the losing contestants are being disintegrated. Obviously, it's time for the Doctor to investigate. There could be only one monster behind this - the Daleks!

13. The Parting of the Ways (Part 2) - 18 June 2005
Writer: Russell T. Davies

As the Daleks attack the Gamestation led by the Emperor Dalek, the Doctor finds himself helpless. The Doctor must decide whether to sacrifice every human being on Earth in order to save every other living creature in the universe from the Daleks.

The Dalek Emperor had survived the Time War and had rebuilt the Dalek race. The Doctor sent Rose back to her own time in the TARDIS, before attempting to destroy the Dalek army. However, when she saw more 'Bad Wolf' graffiti, she realised it was somehow a message linking her to the events in the future. Managing to open up the heart of the TARDIS, she absorbed the energies of the time vortex and used it to destroy the Daleks. In order to save Rose from being consumed from within by those energies, the Doctor absorbed the fatal energy himself. However, the damage to his cells caused him to regenerate into the Tenth Doctor.

In this episode, Jack is killed by the Daleks and subsequently resurrected by the time-vortex empowered Rose, although the Doctor leaves without him after the battle. He later briefly rejoins the TARDIS crew in the Tenth Doctor story 'Utopia' and also starred in the spin-off tv series Torchwood.

Christmas Special 2005

The Christmas Invasion (60-minute special) - 25 December 2005
Writer: Russell T. Davies

It is Christmas, but there is little cause for celebration as planet Earth is invaded by the alien Sycorax. It's up to Rose and the newly-regenerated Tenth Doctor to save humanity, with a bit of help from her boyfriend Mickey and her mother Jackie. But can Rose trust a man with a new face?

This is the first full episode in which David Tennant appears as the Doctor. He was only shown briefly at the end of 'The Parting of the Ways' for the regeneration sequence.

Did you know?

* The original Doctor Who television series ceased production in 1989 with the Seventh Doctor. Paul McGann, as the Eighth Doctor, appeared in the role just once on screen in the Doctor Who television movie in 1996.

* For the first time since the Doctor Who 1965–'66 season, each episode has an individual title even though some stories span several episodes.

* The Companions of Series 1 included:
- Rose Tyler who appeared in all 13 episodes of Series 1
- , Adam Mitchell joined the Doctor on his travels at the conclusion of 'Dalek' after the Doctor indulged Rose's prodding to let Adam see the stars and was rejected by the Doctor after his actions in "The Long Game".
- Jack Harkness first appeared in "The Empty Child" and joined the TARDIS crew in "The Doctor Dances".

* The Ninth Doctor was spoke with a distinctly Northern accent.

* The new Doctor Who series numbering system system starts from scratch. This series (season) is referred to as Series 1. Some fans of the tv show prefer to refer to the 2005 series as Season 27, the 2006 series as Season 28 and so on. Despite the new numbering, the revival adheres to the original continuity.