Series 1 (2005)
Episode title: World War ThreeFeaturing: Ninth Doctor
Companions: Rose Tyler
First shown: 23rd April 2005
Related articles: Slitheen, Mickey Smith
Guide: Following the attempted electrocution of the Doctor and the other alien experts, the Doctor is able to force the electrical surge onto Asquith, one of the Slitheen, due to him being a Time Lord rather than human like the others. The charge spreads through all of the Slitheen through their communication devices, stunning both Blaine and the police inspector in Jackie’s flat, allowing Rose, Harriet, Jackie and Mickey to escape their respective captors. The Doctor rushes off to get the police, but by the time he returns, Green has forced himself back into his human skin suit and blames the Doctor for the death of the alien experts, and orders he be shot. The Doctor escapes to the upper levels of 10 Downing Street where he meets Rose and Harriet and the trio hide in the Cabinet Rooms. Before sealing the entrances to the room, the Doctor confronts the Slitheen, discovering that they are a family and not a race, intent on using Earth for commercial gain rather than invading it. Meanwhile Mickey and Jackie escape to Mickey’s flat.
The Doctor, Rose and Harriet consult the Emergency Protocols in place for dealing with such alien encounters, but find them to be of no help, as they simply list the names of the experts now dead downstairs. The Doctor does discover though that the UK does not have the authority to launch nuclear weapons against an alien invasion without the authorisation codes being released by the United Nations. The Slitheen cut communications in and out of the Cabinet Rooms, but Rose is able to use her modified phone from The End of the World (Series 1 : Episode 2) to phone Mickey. Gathering all of the information together about the Slitheen, the Doctor is able to deduce that they are calcium based life forms from Raxacoricofallapatorius and are using compression collars to squeeze into the human skin suits. The Doctor then realises that the Slitheen’s spaceship is parked in the North Sea and transmitting a signal, which he instructs Mickey to intercept and decode. As Mickey attempts to decode the signal, the Slitheen police inspector breaks in, but Jackie is able to kill it by dousing it with vinegar based on the Doctor’s advice.
Meanwhile, the Slitheen await the authorisation codes from the UN after activating a state of national security, so that they can strike a fictitious spaceship orbiting Earth. However, the Doctor realises that the Slitheen intend to use the nuclear weapons to start World War Three by firing them at other countries instead so that they can sell the Earth’s radioactive material as a fuel source. Mickey decoded the signal to be an advert for such. The Doctor knows of a possible solution but says that it could kill him, Rose and Harriet. Jackie, already annoyed with the Doctor, is furious but both Rose and Harriet urge the Doctor to do it, Harriet also ordering him to from her position as MP. The Doctor assist Mickey in hacking the online controls of the Trafalgar Class submarine, the HMS Taurean, off the cost of Plymouth to fire a non-nuclear harpoon missile at 10 Downing Street. While the area around 10 Downing Street is cleared, the Doctor, Rose and Harriet hide in a closet in the Cabinet Rooms as the missile hits while the Slitheen attempt to escape. The Slitheen are killed in the explosion.
Luckily, the Doctor, Rose and Harriet all survive, where Harriet takes charge of 10 Downing Street. The Doctor notes that Harriet would become a highly successful Prime Minister before taking Rose back home. The entire event is told to be a hoax by the press, and Mickey is ordered to use a virus given to him by the Doctor to remove all trace of him from the internet. Jackie, now happy with the Doctor, invites him to dinner which he fiercely refuses, instead separately asking Rose and Mickey to go travelling with him. Mickey declines his request, but Rose packs some belongings and boards the TARDIS once more.
This episode is a concluding episode of a two part storyline. You can read the first episode guide of the two parter by clicking here.