Rose

[The Tyler's flat]

(Earth, United Kingdom, South London. An alarm clock goes off at 7:30. A young blonde woman gets up, dressed and kisses her mother goodbye. Her mother, who is also blonde, still in her dressing gown and lazing on the settee while watching TV.)

ROSE: Bye!
JACKIE: See you later!

[Henricks Department Store]

(Rose takes the bus to Central London and gets off outside the department store. There is a banner across the main entrance - Henrick's sale sale Henrick's. The day passes. Rose moves piles of display clothes around the ladies wear section, meets her boyfriend for a snack lunch in Trafalgar Square then goes back to work. Eventually -)

TANNOY: This is a customer announcement. The store will be closing in five minutes. Thank you.

(Rose and the other girls head for the main doors. The guard shakes a clear plastic bag in front of Rose.)

GUARD: Oi!

(Rose takes the bag and runs back to a lift and goes down to the basement.)

ROSE: Wilson? Wilson, I've got the lottery money. Wilson, are you there?

(A door with a large danger of electric shock sign also claims to be the office of H P Wilson, CEO.)

ROSE: I can't hang about 'cos they're closing the shop. Wilson! Oh, come on.

(There is a clattering noise further down the corridor.)

ROSE: Hello? Hello, Wilson, it's Rose. Hello? Wilson?

(She opens the door to a store room and turns on the lights. There are boxes of clothes, and dressed dummies.)

ROSE: Wilson? Wilson!

(As she explores, the door slams behind her. Rose runs back but it won't open.)

ROSE: You're kidding me.

(More noises behind her.)

ROSE: Is that someone mucking about? Who is it?

(A male shop dummy turns to watch her, then approaches.)

ROSE: Yeah, you got me. Very funny.

(A second one starts moving behind it, then a third.)

ROSE: Right, I've got the joke. Who's idea was this? Is it Derek's? Is it? Derek, is this you?

(More shop dummies start moving as Rose keeps backing away down the storage area. Finally they have her up against the wall, and the lead dummy raises its arm. Then a hand grabs Rose's wrist.)

DOCTOR: Run!

(The Doctor has gone modern minimalist, with t-shirt and leather jacket. He drags Rose through the basement as the Autons follow, and into a lift. The lead Auton puts its arm through the closing doors. After several tugs the Doctor pulls it off, and the doors close.)

[Service lift]

ROSE: You pulled his arm off.
DOCTOR: Yep. Plastic.
ROSE: Very clever. Nice trick! Who were they then, students? Is this a student thing or what?
DOCTOR: Why would they be students?
ROSE: I don't know.
DOCTOR: Well, you said it. Why students?
ROSE: 'Cos to get that many people dressed up and being silly, they got to be students.
DOCTOR: That makes sense. Well done.
ROSE: Thanks.
DOCTOR: They're not students.
ROSE: Whoever they are, when Wilson finds them, he's going to call the police.
DOCTOR: Who's Wilson?
ROSE: Chief electrician.
DOCTOR: Wilson's dead.

[Behind Hendrik's]

ROSE: That's just not funny. That's sick!
DOCTOR: Hold on. Mind your eyes.
ROSE: I've had enough of this now.

(The Doctor disables the lift mechanism with his sonic screwdriver.)

ROSE: Who are you, then? Who's that lot down there? I said, who are they?
DOCTOR: They're made of plastic. Living plastic creatures. They're being controlled by a relay device in the roof, which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this. (a small bomb) So, I'm going to go up there and blow them up, and I might well die in the process, but don't worry about me. No, you go home. Go on. Go and have your lovely beans on toast. Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed.

(He shuts the door behind him, then opens it again.)

DOCTOR: I'm the Doctor, by the way. What's your name?
ROSE: Rose.
DOCTOR: Nice to meet you, Rose. Run for your life!

[Street]

(Rose makes her way to the main road, nervous of the dummies in the shop window. She runs across the road, nearly becoming a hood ornament for a black cab.)

TAXI DRIVER: Watch it!

(KaBOOM! A huge fireball takes out the upper floor of Hendrik's. Rose runs straight past an out of date police telephone box parked just in the alley between two other stores.)

[The Tyler's flat]

(BBC News 24 keeps everyone informed at 20.45.)

TELEVISION: The whole of Central London has been closed off as police investigate the fire. Early reports indicate

(Jackie is on the telephone and Rose is slumped on the settee.)

JACKIE: I know. It's on the telly. It's everywhere. She's lucky to be alive. Honestly, it's aged her. Skin like an old bible. Walking in now you'd think I was her daughter. Oh, and here's himself.

(Rose's boyfriend, Mickey, enters.)

MICKEY: I've been phoning your mobile. You could've been dead. It's on the news and everything. I can't believe that your shop went up!
ROSE: I'm all right, honestly, I'm fine! Don't make a fuss.
MICKEY: Well, what happened?
ROSE: I don't know!
MICKEY: What was it though? What caused it?
ROSE: I wasn't in the shop. I was outside. I didn't see anything.
JACKIE: It's Debbie on the end. She knows a man on the Mirror. Five hundred quid for an interview.
ROSE: Oh that's brilliant! Give it here.

(Rose takes the phone from Jackie and ends the call.)

JACKIE: Well, you've got to find some way of making money. Your job's kaput and I'm not bailing you out.

(The telephone rings again. Jackie answers it.)

JACKIE: Bev! She's alive. I've told her, sue for compensation. She was within seconds of death.
MICKEY: What're you drinking, tea? Nah, nah, that's no good, that's no good. You're in shock. You need something stronger.
ROSE: I'm all right.
MICKEY: Now, come on, you deserve a proper drink. We're going down the pub, you and me. My treat. How about it?
ROSE: Is there a match on?
MICKEY: No, I'm just thinking about you, babe.
ROSE: There's a match on, ain't there.
MICKEY: That's not the point, but we could catch the last five minutes.
ROSE: Go on, then. I'm fine, really. Go. Get rid of that.

(Rose has brought the Auton's arm home. They kiss, then Mickey picks up the arm.)

MICKEY: Bye, bye.
ROSE: Bye.

(Mickey pretends to be strangled by the arm, then leaves.)

TELEVISION: Fire then spread throughout the store. Fifteen fire crews are in attendance though it's thought there is very little chance of saving the infrastructure.

(Whistling, Mickey throws the arm into a rubbish bin, while somewhere nearby a couple are having a blazing row.)

[Rose's bedroom]

(Next morning, Rose's alarm goes off at 7:30 as usual.)

JACKIE [OC]: There's no point in getting up, sweetheart. You've got no job to go to.

[The Tyler's flat]

JACKIE: There's Finch's. You could try them. They've always got jobs.
ROSE: Oh, great. The butchers.
JACKIE: Well, it might do you good. That shop was giving you airs and graces. And I'm not joking about compensation. You've had genuine shock and trauma. Arianna got two thousand quid off the council just because the old man behind the desk said she looked Greek! I know she is Greek, but that's not the point. It was a valid claim.

(Something rattles at the door.)

ROSE: Mum, you're such a liar. I told you to nail that cat flap down. We're going to get strays.
JACKIE: I did it weeks back!
ROSE: No, you thought about it.

(The screws for the cat flap are on the floor. Then the flap moves. Rose opens it. It's the Doctor trying to look through. She opens the door.)

DOCTOR: What're you doing here?
ROSE: I live here.
DOCTOR: Well, what do you do that for?
ROSE: Because I do. I'm only at home because someone blew up my job.
DOCTOR: I must have got the wrong signal. You're not plastic, are you? No, bonehead. Bye, then.
ROSE: You. Inside. Right now.

(Rose pulls the Doctor into the flat.)

JACKIE [OC]: Who is it?

[Jackie's bedroom]

(Jackie is in her bedroom putting on her makeup.)

ROSE: It's about last night. He's part of the inquiry. Give us ten minutes.
JACKIE: She deserves compensation.

(The Doctor is in the open doorway.)

DOCTOR: Oh, we're talking millions.
JACKIE: I'm in my dressing gown.
DOCTOR: Yes, you are.
JACKIE: There's a strange man in my bedroom.
DOCTOR: Yes, there is.
JACKIE: Well, anything could happen.
DOCTOR: No.

[The Tyler's flat]

ROSE: Don't mind the mess. Do you want a coffee?
DOCTOR: Might as well, thanks. Just milk.
ROSE: We should go to the police. Seriously. Both of us.

(The Doctor looks at the copy of Heat on the coffee table.)

DOCTOR: That won't last, he's gay and she's an alien.
ROSE: I'm not blaming you, even if it was just some sort of joke that went wrong.

(The Doctor flicks through a paperback.)

DOCTOR: Hmm. Sad ending.
ROSE: They said on the news they'd found a body.
DOCTOR: Rose Tyler.

(The Doctor sees his reflection in a mirror, and behaves as if he's just regenerated and is just seeing himself for the first time.)

DOCTOR: Ah, could've been worse. Look at the ears.
ROSE: All the same, he was nice. Nice bloke.

(The Doctor tries to shuffle a pack of cards.)

DOCTOR: Luck be a lady.
ROSE: Anyway, if we are going to go to the police, I want to know what I'm saying.

(The pack of cards goes flying.)

ROSE: I want you to explain everything.
DOCTOR: Maybe not.

(The cat flap rattles.)

DOCTOR: What's that, then? You got a cat?
ROSE: No.

(Unseen by anyone else, the Auton arm grabs the Doctor by the throat)

ROSE: We did have, but now they're just strays. They come in off the estate.

(Rose comes in from the kitchen area with two mugs of instant coffee. The Doctor is still being strangled, but she takes no notice.)

ROSE: I told Mickey to chuck that out. You're all the same. Give a man a plastic hand. Anyway, I don't even know your name. Doctor, what was it?

(The Doctor manages to throw the arm off. It stops in mid air and grabs Rose's face instead. The Doctor pulls at it, pulling Rose down on top of him as they fall onto the coffee table and smash it. Jackie is using her hairdryer and hears nothing. The Doctor finally gets it off Rose with his sonic screwdriver, then jabs the device into its palm. The fingers stop flexing.)

DOCTOR: It's all right, I've stopped it. There you go, you see? Armless.
ROSE: Do you think?

(Rose hits him with it.)

DOCTOR: Ow!

[Staircase]

ROSE: Hold on a minute. You can't just go swanning off.
DOCTOR: Yes I can. Here I am. This is me, swanning off. See you.
ROSE: But that arm was moving. It tried to kill me.
DOCTOR: Ten out of ten for observation.
ROSE: You can't just walk away. That's not fair. You've got to tell me what's going on.
DOCTOR: No, I don't.

[Outside the block of flats]

ROSE: All right, then. I'll go to the police. I'll tell everyone. You said, if I did that, I'd get people killed. So, your choice. Tell me, or I'll start talking.
DOCTOR: Is that supposed to sound tough?
ROSE: Sort of.
DOCTOR: Doesn't work.
ROSE: Who are you?
DOCTOR: Told you. The Doctor.
ROSE: Yeah, but Doctor what?
DOCTOR: Just the Doctor.
ROSE: The Doctor.
DOCTOR: Hello!
ROSE: Is that supposed to sound impressive?
DOCTOR: Sort of.
ROSE: Come on, then. You can tell me. I've seen enough. Are you the police?
DOCTOR: No, I was just passing through. I'm a long way from home.
ROSE: But what have I done wrong? How comes those plastic things keep coming after me?
DOCTOR: Oh, suddenly the entire world revolves around you. You were just an accident. You got in the way, that's all.
ROSE: It tried to kill me.
DOCTOR: It was after me, not you. Last night, in the shop, I was there, you blundered in, almost ruined the whole thing. This morning, I was tracking it down, it was tracking me down. The only reason it fixed on you is 'cos you've met me.
ROSE: So what you're saying is, the entire world revolves around you.
DOCTOR: Sort of, yeah.
ROSE: You're full of it.
DOCTOR: Sort of, yeah.
ROSE: But, all this plastic stuff. Who else knows about it?
DOCTOR: No one.
ROSE: What, you're on your own?
DOCTOR: Well, who else is there? I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly, while all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on.
ROSE: Okay. Start from the beginning. I mean, if we're going to go with the living plastic, and I don't even believe that, but if we do, how did you kill it?
DOCTOR: The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal, dead.
ROSE: So that's radio control?
DOCTOR: Thought control. Are you all right?
ROSE: Yeah. So, who's controlling it, then?
DOCTOR: Long story.
ROSE: But what's it all for? I mean, shop window dummies, what's that about? Is someone trying to take over Britain's shops?
DOCTOR: No.
ROSE: No.
DOCTOR: It's not a price war. They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you. Do you believe me?
ROSE: No.
DOCTOR: But you're still listening.
ROSE: Really, though, Doctor. Tell me, who are you?
DOCTOR: Do you know like we were saying about the Earth revolving? It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling round the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go. That's who I am. Now, forget me, Rose Tyler. Go home.

(The Doctor walks off towards the TARDIS with the arm. Rose walks off towards another block of flats when there is a rush of air and a strange noise. She turns and runs back, and the TARDIS has gone.)

[Mickey's flat]

MICKEY: Hey, hey, here's my woman. Kit off!
ROSE: Shut up.

(They kiss.)

MICKEY: Coffee?
ROSE: Yeah, only if you wash the mug. And I don't mean rinse, I mean wash. Can I use your computer?
MICKEY: Yeah. Any excuse to get in the bedroom. Don't read my emails!

(Rose uses Search-Wise.net to hunt for Doctor, 17,700,000 results. Doctor Living Plastic 55,300 results. Doctor Blue Box 493 results. The top one says - Doctor Who? ...do you know this man contact Clive here. She clicks on the site and there is a fuzzy picture of the Doctor.)

[Clive's street]

(Mickey drives Rose there in his yellow VW beetle.)

ROSE: You're not coming in. He's safe. He's got a wife and kids.
MICKEY: Yeah, who told you that? He did. That's exactly what an internet lunatic murderer would say.

(One of Clive's neighbours puts out his black wheelie bin and gives Mickey a nasty look. Rose knocks on a door across the street. A boy opens it.)

ROSE: Hello, I've come to see Clive? We've been emailing.
BOY: Dad! It's one of your nutters!

(A large man comes to the door.)

CLIVE: Oh, sorry. Hello. You must be Rose. I'm Clive, obviously.
ROSE: I'd better tell you now. My boyfriend's waiting in the car, just in case you're going to kill me.
CLIVE: No, good point. No murders.

(Clive waves at Mickey.)

CAROLINE [OC]: Who is it?
CLIVE: Oh, it's something to do with the Doctor. She's been reading the website. Please, come through. I'm in the shed.
CAROLINE: She? She's read a website about the Doctor? She's a she?

[Clive's shed]

CLIVE: A lot of this stuff's quite sensitive. I couldn't just send it to you. People might intercept it, if you know what I mean. If you dig deep enough and keep a lively mind, this Doctor keeps cropping up all over the place. Political diaries, conspirisy theories, even ghost stories. No first name, no last name, just the Doctor. Always The Doctor. And the title seems to have been passed down from father to son. It appears to be an inheritance. That's your Doctor there, isn't it?
ROSE: Yeah.
CLIVE: I tracked it down to the Washington public archive just last year. The online photo's enhanced, but if we look at the original

(The original is a picture of Kennedy's cortege going through Dallas. The Doctor is just one face in the crowd.)

CLIVE: November the 22nd, 1963. The assassination of President Kennedy. You see?
ROSE: It must be his father.
CLIVE: Going further back. April 1912. This is a photo of the Daniels family of Southampton, and friend. This was taken the day before they were due to sail off for the New World on the Titanic, and for some unknown reason, they cancelled the trip and survived. And here we are. 1883. Another Doctor. (a sketch) And look, the same lineage. It's identical. This one washed up on the coast of Sumatra on the very day Krakatoa exploded. The Doctor is a legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he's there. He brings the storm in his wake and he has one constant companion.
ROSE: Who's that?
CLIVE: Death.

(Out in the street, the wheelie bin moves closer to Mickey's car.)

CLIVE: If the Doctor's back, if you've seen him, Rose, then one thing's for certain. We're all in danger.

[Clive's Street]

(Mickey watches the bin move and gets out of his car. He goes to the bin and lifts up the lid.)

MICKEY: Come on, then.

[Clive's shed]

CLIVE: If he's singled you out, if the Doctor's making house calls, then God help you.

(Mickey shuts the bin lid and finds he is stuck to the plastic. It stretches as he pulls at it, then the bin growls, flexes, snaps and finally whips Mickey inside itself. Burp.)

ROSE: But who is he? Who do you think he is?
CLIVE: I think he's the same man. I think he's immortal. I think he's an alien from another world.

[Clive's street]

(Rose returns to the car. Mickey is sitting behind the steering wheel.)

ROSE: All right, he's a nutter. Off his head. Complete online conspiracy freak. You win! What are we going to do tonight? I fancy a pizza.

(But this Mickey is obviously plastic.)

MICKEY: Pizza! P-p-p-pizza!
ROSE: Or Chinese.
MICKEY: Pizza!

(Plastic Mickey weaves off down the road.)

[Pizza restaurant]

(Rose is still oblivious to the fact that Mickey has shiny skin and a fixed grin on his face.)

ROSE: Do you think I should try the hospital? Suki said they had ajobs going in the canteen. Is that it then, dishing out chips. I could do A Levels. I don't know. It's all Jimmy Stone's fault. I only left school because of him. Look where he ended up. What do you think?
MICKEY: So, where did you meet this Doctor?
ROSE: I'm sorry, wasn't I talking about me for a second?
MICKEY: Because I reckon it started back at the shop, am I right? Was he something to do with that?
ROSE: No.
MICKEY: Come on.
ROSE: Sort of.
MICKEY: What was he doing there?
ROSE: I'm not going on about it, Mickey. Really, I'm not, because, I know it sounds daft, but I don't think it's safe. I think he's dangerous.
MICKEY: But you can trust me, sweetheart. Babe, (deep) sugar, babe, sugar. You can tell me anything. Tell me about the Doctor and what he's planning, and I can help you, Rose. Because that's all I really want to do, sweetheart, babe, babe, sugar, sweetheart.
ROSE: What're you doing that for?
WAITER: Your champagne.
MICKEY: We didn't order any champagne. Where's the Doctor?
WAITER: Madam, your champagne.
ROSE: It's not ours. Mickey, what is it? What's wrong?
MICKEY: I need to find out how much you know, so where is he?
WAITER: Doesn't anybody want this champagne?
MICKEY: Look, we didn't order it.

(Plastic Mickey finally looks up to see that the waiter is the Doctor.)

MICKEY: Ah. Gotcha.

(The Doctor starts shaking the bottle vigorously.)

DOCTOR: Don't mind me. I'm just toasting the happy couple. On the house!

(The Doctor releases the cage around the cork and it flies into Plastic Mickey's forehead. After a few moments, he spits it out.)

MICKEY: Anyway.

(Plastic Mickey gets up and turns his hand into a chopper. Rose flees, screaming, as Mickey wrecks the table. The Doctor grabs the Auton and pull off its head. The rest of the customers scream.)

MICKEY: Don't think that's going to stop me.

(The body gets up and starts flailing around. Rose sets off the fire alarm.)

ROSE: Everyone out! Out now! Get out! Get out! Get out!

(Rose and the Doctor run through the kitchens carrying the head, while the body wrecks the restaurant before following them to the back exit.)

[Outside the restaurant]

(The Doctor seals the exit shut while Rose runs down the alley, past the TARDIS. The end is secured by padlocked gates.)

ROSE: Open the gate! Use that tube thing. Come on!
DOCTOR: Sonic screwdriver.
ROSE: Use it!
DOCTOR: Nah. Tell you what, let's go in here.

(The Doctor unlocks the TARDIS and goes inside while the Auton hammers on the metal door, making large dents.)

ROSE: You can't hide inside a wooden box. It's going to get us! Doctor!

(Rose tries the gate again then runs inside the TARDIS. She stops, takes one look and runs outside again. A siren is wailing in the distance. She runs around the TARDIS then when the Auton finally smashes through the metal door, she makes up her mind.)

[TARDIS]

ROSE: It's going to follow us!
DOCTOR: The assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me, they've tried. Now, shut up a minute.

(There has been another redesign. It is still mostly open plan, but the time console is more central and the walls are slightly curved. What were once roundels are now brass coloured hexagons.)

DOCTOR: You see, the arm was too simple, but the head's perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source. Right. Where do you want to start?
ROSE: Er, the inside's bigger than the outside?
DOCTOR: Yes.
ROSE: It's alien.
DOCTOR: Yeah.
ROSE: Are you alien?
DOCTOR: Yes. Is that all right?
ROSE: Yeah.
DOCTOR: It's called the TARDIS, this thing. T A R D I S. That's Time And Relative Dimension In Space.

(Rose bursts into tears.)

DOCTOR: That's okay. Culture shock. Happens to the best of us.
ROSE: Did they kill him? Mickey? Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?
DOCTOR: Oh. I didn't think of that.
ROSE: He's my boyfriend. You pulled off his head. They copied him and you didn't even think? And now you're just going to let him melt?
DOCTOR: Melt?

(The plastic head is melting on the console, where it is attached by cables.)

DOCTOR: Oh, no, no, no, no, no!

(The Doctor sets the TARDIS in motion.)

ROSE: What're you doing?
DOCTOR: Following the signal. It's fading. Wait a minute, I've got it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Almost there. Almost there. Here we go!

(The TARDIS lands and the Doctor runs for the door.)

ROSE: You can't go out there. It's not safe.

[Westminster]

(Nighttime on the north back of the Thames next to the RAF monument.)

DOCTOR: I lost the signal, I got so close.
ROSE: We've moved. Does it fly?
DOCTOR: Disappears there and reappears here. You wouldn't understand.
ROSE: If we're somewhere else, what about that headless thing? It's still on the loose.
DOCTOR: It melted with the head. Are you going to witter on all night?
ROSE: I'll have to tell his mother. Mickey. I'll have to tell his mother he's dead, and you just went and forgot him, again! You were right, you are alien.
DOCTOR: Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey
ROSE: Yeah, he's not a kid.
DOCTOR: It's because I'm trying to save the life of every stupid ape blundering on top of this planet, all right?
ROSE: All right.
DOCTOR: Yes, it is!
ROSE: If you are an alien, how comes you sound like you're from the North?
DOCTOR: Lots of planets have a north.
ROSE: What's a police public call box?
DOCTOR: It's a telephone box from the 1950s. It's a disguise.
ROSE: Okay. And this, this living plastic. What's it got against us?
DOCTOR: Nothing. It loves you. You've got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air, perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. It's food stock was destroyed in the war, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth, dinner!
ROSE: Any way of stopping it?

(The Doctor holds up a tube of blue liquid.)

DOCTOR: Anti-plastic.
ROSE: Anti-plastic.
DOCTOR: Anti-plastic. But first I've got to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?
ROSE: Hold on. Hide what?
DOCTOR: The transmitter. The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic, so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal.
ROSE: What's it look like?
DOCTOR: Like a transmitter. Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London.
DOCTOR: A huge circular metal structure like a dish, like a wheel. Radial. Close to where we're standing. Must be completely invisible. What? What?

(The Doctor turns and looks at what Rose is staring at on the south bank but the penny doesn't drop.)

DOCTOR: What? What is it? What?

(He finally catches on to what Rose is looking at. It's call the London Eye, it's on the south bank of the Thames and it is the biggest Wheel in the world - so far.)

DOCTOR: Oh. Fantastic!

[South bank]

(The Doctor and Rose run across Westminster Bridge.)

DOCTOR: Think of it, plastic all over the world, every artificial thing waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables
ROSE: The breast implants.
DOCTOR: Still, we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath.
ROSE: What about down here?

(Rose looks over the parapet and sees a large manhole entrance at the bottom of some steps.)

DOCTOR: Looks good to me.

(They run down and the Doctor opens up the hatch. There is red light inside.)

[Nestene chamber]

(They climb down a short ladder into a brick-built area with lots of chains. From there they go through a door and down a flight of steps into a multi-level chamber.)

DOCTOR: The Nestene Consciousness. That's it, inside the vat. A living plastic creature.
ROSE: Well, then. Tip in your anti-plastic and let's go.
DOCTOR: I'm not here to kill it. I've got to give it a chance.

(He goes down to a catwalk overlooking the seething vat.)

DOCTOR: I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract according to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation.

(The stuff in the vat flexes.)

DOCTOR: Thank you. If I might have permission to approach?

(Rose spots someone on a lower level and runs down.)

ROSE: Oh, God! Mickey, it's me! It's okay. It's all right.
MICKEY: That thing down there, the liquid. Rose, it can talk!
ROSE: You're stinking. Doctor, they kept him alive.
DOCTOR: Yeah, that was always a possibility. Keep him alive to maintain the copy.
ROSE: You knew that and you never said?
DOCTOR: Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you?

(The Doctor continues downwards.)

DOCTOR: Am I addressing the Consciousness? Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilisation by means of warp shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?

(A sort of face forms in the vat of plastic.)

DOCTOR: Oh, don't give me that. It's an invasion, plain and simple. Don't talk about constitutional rights. I am talking! This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf. Please, just go.
ROSE: Doctor!

(A pair of shop dummies grab the Doctor. One takes the vial of anti-plastic from his pocket.)

DOCTOR: That was just insurance. I wasn't going to use it. I was not attacking you. I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy. I swear, I'm not. What do you mean?

(A door slides back to reveal the TARDIS.)

DOCTOR: No. Oh, no. Honestly, no. Yes, that's my ship. That's not true. I should know, I was there. I fought in the war. It wasn't my fault. I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them!
ROSE: What's it doing?!
DOCTOR: It's the TARDIS! The Nestene's identified its superior technology. It's terrified. It's going to the final phase. It's starting the invasion! Get out, Rose! Just leg it now!

(As the plastic in the vat keeps roaring, Rose phones her mother.)

ROSE: Mum?

[Outside a police station]

JACKIE: Oh, there you are. I was just going to phone. You can get compensation. I said so. I've got this document thing off the police. Don't thank me.

[Nestene chamber]

ROSE: Where are you, mum?

[Outside Queens Arcade]

JACKIE: I'm in town.

[Nestene chamber]

ROSE: No, go home! Just go home right now!

[Outside Queens Arcade]

JACKIE: Darling, you're breaking up. Listen, I'm just going to do a bit of late night shopping. I'll see you later. Ta-ra!

[Nestene chamber]

ROSE: Mum! Mum!

(Jackie goes into Queens Arcade, which contains the Underground station entrance.
The Consciousness starts throwing energy bolts around.)

DOCTOR: It's the activation signal. It's transmitting!

(The Eye lights up with energy.)

ROSE: It's the end of the world.

[Queens Arcade]

CLIVE: There's no point creating a spreadsheet if you're going to spend summer money in winter months.

(A shop dummy moves.)

CAROLINE: Oh, my God! I thought they were dummies. I nearly had a heart-attack.

(Everyone stops to watch the show in all the store windows until one dummy smashes the glass and comes out. Jackie is coming down the escalator.)

CLIVE: It's true. Everything I read, all the stories. It's all true.

(An Auton's fingers drop and it shoots Clive.)

[Nestene chamber]

(The plastic in the vat is getting extremely agitated.)

DOCTOR: Get out, Rose! Just get out! Run!
ROSE: The stairs have gone.

(The Autons try to push the Doctor into the vat. Rose and Mickey run to the TARDIS.)

ROSE: I haven't got the key!
MICKEY: We're going to die!

(Rose looks around for other possibilities.
Back at the shopping centre, Autons start coming down the escalator, shooting at anyone. Jackie finally screams, throws away her plastic bag and runs. But outside the Arcade is just as dangerous. The Autons shoot a passing taxi driver. She hides behind the crashed vehicle, then three brides smash their way out of the shop behind her.)

DOCTOR: No!
NESTENE: Time Lord.

(Rose stands up and looks at the Doctor, then runs round the chamber.)

MICKEY: Just leave him! There's nothing you can do!
ROSE: I've got no A Levels, no job, no future.

(She grabs an axe as the three brides prepare to shoot Jackie.)

ROSE: But I tell you what I have got. Jericho Street Junior School under 7s gymnastic team. I got the bronze!

(Rose chops through the rope holding a very long chain to the wall and takes firm hold. She runs and swings out along the side of the catwalk, kicking the two Autons into the vat. The second one also drops the vial of anti-plastic into it. The golden Nestene screams as it starts to turn blue.)

DOCTOR: Rose!

(The Doctor grabs her as she swings back.)

DOCTOR: Now we're in trouble.

(Explosions start and the signals from the Eye stop. The shop dummies start to stagger then fall over. The Doctor and Rose run to the TARDIS, where Mickey is holding on for dear life, and they all go inside. The TARDIS dematerialises.)

[Outside Queens Arcade]

(The TARDIS materialises on the Embankment by a row of shuttered kiosks and Mickey runs out, terrified. Jackie answers her mobile phone.)

JACKIE: Rose, Rose, don't go out of the house.

[Embankment]

JACKIE [OC]: It's not safe. There were these things, and they were shooting! And they

[Outside Queens Arcade]

JACKIE: Hello? Hello?

[Embankment]

(Rose goes over to Mickey, who is trying to hide behind a pallet. The Doctor stays in the doorway of the TARDIS.)

ROSE: A fat lot of good you were.
DOCTOR: Nestene Consciousness? Easy.
ROSE: You were useless in there. You'd be dead if it wasn't for me.
DOCTOR: Yes, I would. Thank you. Right then, I'll be off, unless, er, I don't know, you could come with me. This box isn't just a London hopper, you know. It goes anywhere in the universe free of charge.
MICKEY: Don't. He's an alien. He's a thing.
DOCTOR: He's not invited. What do you think? You could stay here, fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go anywhere.
ROSE: Is it always this dangerous?
DOCTOR: Yeah.
ROSE: Yeah, I can't. I've er, I've got to go and find my mum and someone's got to look after this stupid lump, so.
DOCTOR: Okay. See you around.

(The TARDIS dematerialises.)

ROSE: Come on, let's go. Come on. Come on.

(The TARDIS materialises.)

DOCTOR: By the way, did I mention it also travels in time?
ROSE: Thanks.
MICKEY: Thanks for what?
ROSE: Exactly.

(Rose kisses Mickey on the cheek and runs into the TARDIS.)

Transcript originally provided by Chrissie. Adapted by TARDIS.guide. The transcripts are for educational and entertainment purposes only. All other copyrights property of their respective holders.

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