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CAST

Regular Cast

David Tennant (the Doctor)

Guest Cast

Lindsay Duncan (Adelaide Brooke), Peter O’Brien (Ed Gold), Aleksander Mikic (Yuri Kerenski), Gemma Chan (Mia Bennett), Sharon Duncan Brewster (Maggie Cain), Chook Sibtain (Tarak Ital), Alan Ruscoe (Andy Stone), Cosima Shaw (Steffi Ehrlich), Michael Goldsmith (Roman Groom), Lily Bevan (Emily), Max Bollinger (Mikhail), Charlie De’Ath (Adelaide’s father), Rachel Fewell (Young Adelaide), Anouska Strahnz (Ulrika Ehrlich), Zofia Strahnz (Lisette Ehrlich), Paul Kasey (Ood Sigma).

CREW

sypnosis

“Hello mum. Suzie says hello, don’t you sweetheart? That’s it, give a little wave” Far away, Adelaide Brooke watches her daughter and infant grandchild on her computer screen, displaying a satellite feed that sadly proceeds little beyond the initial greeting due to solar flare activity. Defeated, she turns away. Elsewhere, on a desolate red landscape somewhere nearby, the TARDIS arrives and the Doctor, dressed in his spacesuit, wanders outside to revel in his latest destination – the red plane: Mars. Across the surface of Mars is the human colony Bowie Base One. Uri Kerenski, one of the crew, clambers outside to set up a solar device and takes the opportunity to amuse himself by erecting a ‘No Trespassers’ sign.

His crewmate Mia Bennett, watching on a scanner, is highly amused but their superior Ed Gold is less so. Adelaide, their captain, also fails to see the funny side and blames Ed for this lack of discipline; assuming, much to his chagrin, that he is responsible. Back outside the Doctor arrives on a cliff top overlooking the base. However, before he can make more of his sightseeing a gun is pointed at his back. Turning to face his captor he discovers a robot standing before him…

NOTES

1. The Doctor references the Ice Warriors, a Martian race previously seen in The Ice Warriors, The Seeds of Death, The Curse of Peladon and The Monster of Peladon.
2. When talking about GADGET the Doctor voices his dislike of ‘funny’ robots, with the exception of robotic dogs – a reference to K-9.
3. The Doctor talks about fixed points in time, and alludes to the events of The Fires of Pompeii. He also claims that Jack is a fixed point in time in Utopia.
4. Adelaide’s encounter with the Dalek takes place during the events of The Stolen Earth / Journey’s End.
5. This story was originally entitled Red Christmas.
6. The episode ends with a dedication to Barry Letts. The former Doctor Who producer and writer had died several weeks before the broadcast.
7. The Doctor references Carmen’s prophecy, made at the end of Planet of the Dead. The prophecy claims that ‘he will knock four times’ – the true meaning of this is revealed in the Tenth Doctor’s final story – The End of Time.

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