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Doctor Who: The Lost Stories (The Tenth Doctor)
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| Century House |
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 |
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| Writer: Tom MacRae |
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Notes: After scripting Rise Of The Cybermen / The Age Of
Steel for Season Twenty-Eight, MacRae was commissioned to write
“Century House”. It wound up not fitting into the schedule
for Season Twenty-Nine, and so it was deferred to the following year.
Because of its almost exclusive focus on the Doctor, it was intended
that “Century House” would be made as part of Season
Thirty's sixth production block, double-banked with Turn Left (Block Seven), which
shone the spotlight firmly on Donna Noble. However, executive producer
Russell T Davies grew unsatisfied with the premise that he had given
MacRae, and he worried about the season having two comedy-oriented
episodes in “Century House” and The Unicorn And The Wasp.
Finally, in mid-October 2007, it was decided to replace “Century
House” with Davies' own script, Midnight.
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| Characters: The Tenth Doctor,
Martha (original version), Donna (revised version) |
| Episodes: 1
(45-minute) |
| Planned For: Season
Twenty-Nine (original version), eighth episode of Season Thirty (revised
version) |
| Stage Reached: Complete
script |
| Synopsis: While Donna watches with
Sylvia at home, the Doctor joins a live broadcast of paranormal reality
show Most Haunted. Their target is an old house purportedly
haunted by the “Red Widow”. The climax would have involved
the house catching fire. |
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| References: Doctor
Who Magazine Special Edition #20, Doctor Who: The Writer's
Tale |
| A Midwinter's Tale |
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| Writers: Russell T Davies,
Phil Ford |
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Notes: A potential storyline
conceived by Davies for the 2008 Christmas special involved the father
of a family suddenly finding himself alone in a deserted hotel at
Christmas. However, the spot was eventually taken by The Next Doctor. Some months
later, Davies decided to revisit the concept for what was intended to be
the 2009 Christmas special, which he would be co-writing with Ford.
Davies also drew upon elements of a second Christmas 2008 idea, in which
the Earth was transformed into a fantasy landscape generated by the
dormant mind of Harry Potter author JK Rowling. The replacement
of the father with a grandmother grew out of Davies' desire to include a
strong, older female as one of the temporary companions featured in the
2009 specials; he hoped to cast Helen Mirren in the role, while Dame
Judi Dench was touted as another possibility. Following a meeting on
July 11th, 2008, Ford took these ideas and developed a storyline called
“A Midwinter's Tale”. However, Davies was already beginning
to have misgivings about the adventure; he feared that it would be
impractical to effectively stage a deserted London, and he was unsure
that the notion could generate enough incident for a one-hour special.
After reading Ford's treatment, Davies decided that the fantasy element
was too strong, and concluded that “A Midwinter's Tale”
represented a “dead end” for the special. He had already
devised a replacement idea, which evolved into The Waters Of Mars. The
essential idea for “A Midwinter's Tale” was ultimately used
as the basis for The Empty
Planet, part of the fourth season of The Sarah Jane
Adventures.
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| Characters: The Eleventh
Doctor, “Gran” |
| Episodes: 1
(60-minute) |
| Planned For: Second 2009
special |
| Stage Reached:
Storyline |
| Synopsis: A grandmother is trapped in a
posh hotel with her unruly family. Wishing that they'd all just
disappear, she storms out of their suite to fetch some ice, only to find
the corridors deserted. Returning to her room, she discovers that her
family has indeed disappeared -- but so has all of humanity. Finally,
she comes upon the TARDIS and the Doctor. Investigating, they discover
eight-legged centaur-like creatures abroad in London. It transpires that
aliens from another dimension, the Shi'ar, have frozen time on Earth in
order to hold a festival celebrating the marriage of their queen. Should
the Doctor and the grandmother be caught, the Earth will be forfeited to
the Shi'ar. The Doctor and the grandmother prevail after a race through
secret tunnels beneath Buckingham Palace.
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|
| References: Doctor
Who: The Complete History #61, Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale --
The Final Chapter |
| The 1920s |
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| Writer: Stephen Fry |
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Notes: Fry had been associated
with
Doctor Who via his role as the Minister of Chance in the webcast
Death Comes To Time, before being invited to contribute to Season
Twenty-Eight. The Twenties setting was inspired by his screenplay for
the 2003 feature film Bright Young Things. In development from
about June 2005, “The 1920s” was intended to form part of
the season's sixth production block. By November, however, it was
realised that Fry's script would be too much of a drain on the
programme's budget late in the year, and the decision was made to defer
it to Season Twenty-Nine; it was replaced by Fear Her. However, the script
would have to undergo rewrites -- not least to replace Rose Tyler with
Martha Jones -- and Fry was now occupied with other commitments. By
mid-2006, “The 1920s” was withdrawn from the schedule
altogether.
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| Characters: The Tenth Doctor,
Rose |
| Episodes: 1
(45-minute) |
| Planned For:
Eleventh episode of Season Twenty-Eight; Season Twenty-Nine |
| Stage Reached: Complete
script |
| Synopsis: Concerned the Arthurian legend
of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which turned out to have an
extraterrestrial connection.
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|
| References: Doctor
Who Magazine Special Edition #14, Doctor Who: The Complete
History #53 |
| The Suicide Exhibition |
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|
| aka The Bog Men, The Man With The Celluloid
Hand |
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| Writer: Mark Gatiss |
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Notes: Gatiss submitted the story
idea for “The Bog Men” on March 27th, 2006. It was set
during the First World War, and used Rose Tyler as a placeholder for her
successor -- eventually, Martha Jones. The alien Fir Bholg took their
name from one of the mythical races said to have inhabited Ireland, who
ruled before the coming of the supernatural Tuatha Dé Danann.
Gatiss completed his first draft script on June 19th, by which time the
title had become “The Man With The Celluloid Hand”. However,
showrunner Russell T Davies sought an atmosphere more akin to the
Indiana Jones movies, which starred Harrison Ford as a
swashbuckling archaeologist who fought the Nazis. As such, Gatiss
resubmitted his script as “The Suicide Exhibition” on April
22nd, 2007. The setting was now the Second World War, and Prime Minister
Winston Churchill appeared. It was thought that “The Suicide
Exhibition” would be the third episode of Season Thirty, and some
thought was given to filming in the Natural History Museum itself.
However, Davies had now become concerned about revisiting the Second
World War so soon after it was showcased in 2005's The Empty Child / The Doctor
Dances. Furthermore, Davies was becoming excited by the
possibility of setting an adventure around the eruption of Mount
Vesuvius in AD 79. Finally, near the end of April, it was decided to
replace “The Suicide Exhibition” with James Moran's The Fires Of Pompeii. Later that
summer, problems with Moran's script and Davies' own Partners In Crime led the
showrunner to consider abandoning The
Fires Of Pompeii and reinstating Gatiss' script, but this did
not come to pass. Likewise, although it was thought that “The
Suicide Exhibition” might be repurposed as one of the specials
which aired during 2009, it was eventually abandoned altogether.
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| Characters: The Tenth Doctor,
Martha |
| Episodes: 1
(45-minute) |
| Planned For: Season
Twenty-Nine, third episode of Season Thirty |
| Stage Reached: Complete
script |
| Synopsis: In wartime London, the Doctor
and Martha are implicated in the death of Joseph Breen, the curator of
the National History Museum. Breen had assembled a collection of bog men
found buried in the Irish peat; they turn out to be powerful aliens
known as the Fir Bholg. Also present at the museum are a team of German
agents, a jewel thief known as the Spectre, and the mysterious Dr Ash
with his prosthetic hand. A gemstone discovered in the peat holds the
key to controlling Eborath, leader of the Fir Bholg.
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|
| References: Doctor
Who: The Writer's Tale, Doctor Who Magazine #431, DWM
Special Edition #26, Doctor Who: The Complete History
#57 |
| (untitled) |
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| Writer: Russell T Davies |
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Notes: Conceived in early 2007,
this was Davies' basic plan for a story to introduce new companion Penny
Carter. Elements would also tie into the eleventh episode of the season
-- eventually Turn Left --
which would have explored the ramifications of Penny turning right
instead of left, and therefore never meeting the Doctor because she
never became trapped under the dome. During March, Davies began
developing an alternative season
premiere, and Penny was soon replaced by Donna Noble when Catherine
Tate agreed to return to Doctor Who. Several months later, The
Simpsons Movie was released in theatres. It involved the town of
Springfield becoming trapped beneath a dome, and Davies was relieved
that he had avoided unintentionally duplicating this plot element.
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| Characters: The Tenth
Doctor, “Penny” |
| Episodes: 1
(45-minute) |
| Planned For: Episode one of
Season Thirty |
| Stage Reached: Story
idea |
| Synopsis: Investigative journalist Penny
Carter is driving her nagging mother, Moira, across suburban London to
visit her idealistic grandfather. Faced with a choice of directions at a
T-junction, Penny turns left, and suddenly finds herself trapped under
an enormous dome created by a spaceship. Penny meets the Doctor, and
learns that an alien is being hunted through the streets which have been
enclosed by the dome. She later saves the Doctor's life, and decides to
join him in the TARDIS.
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| References: Doctor
Who: The Writer's Tale |
| (untitled) |
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| Writer: Russell T Davies |
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Notes: Davies was developing this
notion around late March 2007. Originally, it would have introduced new
companion Penny Carter, but the character was replaced by Donna Noble
when Catherine Tate agreed to reprise the role she had originated in the
2006 Christmas special, The Runaway
Bride. One of Davies' goals was to depict alien hordes numbering
in the hundreds or even thousands, employing computer technology of the
type recently used to great success in movies such as 2002's The Lord
Of The Rings: The Two Towers. As such, he imagined legions of Vorlax
pouring through the portal to Earth. In early April, however, Davies
became disillusioned with the Vorlax plot. He had now realised that,
since Donna was not a new character who had to be introduced from
scratch, he could write a very different sort of season premiere. This
became Partners In Crime.
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| Characters: The Tenth
Doctor, Donna |
| Episodes: 1
(45-minute) |
| Planned For: Episode one of
Season Thirty |
| Stage Reached: Story
idea |
| Synopsis: An alien world has been
overrun with vicious, dog-like alien Vorlax. The last survivors open a
portal to Earth, in the hope of ridding their world of the invaders. It
manifests in a dilapidated old house, drawing the attention of both the
Doctor and his old friend, Donna Noble.
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|
| References: Doctor
Who: The Writer's Tale |
| (untitled) |
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| Writer: Russell T Davies |
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Notes: Davies began considering
this notion while on holiday in July 2007. He had unsuccessfully
approached Rowling -- author of the hugely popular Harry Potter
novels -- about writing for Doctor Who in 2004, and he now hoped
to persuade her to appear in the programme instead, as the focus of the
2008 Christmas special. Although she was not an actress, Davies felt
that Rowling was one of the few celebrities who might be even more
famous than Kylie Minogue, who was starring in the 2007 Christmas
special, Voyage Of The
Damned. However, David Tennant indicated that he felt the idea
veered to close to being a Doctor Who spoof, and Davies was
already becoming concerned about the likelihood of Rowling accepting the
role. In mid-August, he decided to return to his original idea for the
2008 special, which would evolve into The Next Doctor. Elements of the
JK Rowling idea were later reused for another ultimately-unmade
storyline, “A Midwinter's
Tale”.
|
| Characters: The Tenth
Doctor |
| Episodes: 1
(60-minute) |
| Planned For: 2008 Christmas
special |
| Stage Reached: Story
idea |
| Synopsis: On Christmas Eve, an alien
creature attaches itself to author JK Rowling. Suddenly, the real world
is replaced by a magical reality influenced by the writer's own
imagination. The Doctor must battle witches and wizards to reach Rowling
and put the world to rights.
|
|
| References: Doctor
Who: The Writer's Tale |
| (untitled) |
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|
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| Writer: Matthew Graham |
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Notes: In late August 2005, Graham
met with executive producers Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner about
writing a Doctor Who story. It would be kept in reserve in case
another Season Twenty-Eight script ran into problems; otherwise, it
would be held over until Season Twenty-Nine. This storyline was Graham's
original suggestion, but it was ultimately decided that he would instead
pursue a concept suggested by Davies, which became Fear Her.
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| Characters: The Tenth Doctor,
Rose |
| Episodes: 1
(45-minute) |
| Planned For: Seasons
Twenty-Eight and Twenty-Nine |
| Stage Reached: Story
idea |
| Synopsis: Involved a villain who has
discovered how to drain things of their beauty, and has reduced his
planet to a sterile grey landscape.
|
|
| References: Doctor
Who Magazine Special Edition #14 |
| (untitled) |
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| Writer: Unknown |
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Notes: During 2004, executive
producer Russell T Davies developed the idea of a Doctor Who
story intertwining Queen Victoria, werewolves, and warrior monks like
those in the 2000 movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; the first
two elements were partly inspired by Season Twenty-Seven's The Unquiet Dead, a ghost story
featuring Charles Dickens. Davies gave this concept to an unknown writer
-- a television veteran new to Doctor Who -- to develop as an
unslotted story, which would be used in an emergency during Season
Twenty-Eight, and otherwise held over until Season Twenty-Nine. It was
intended to depict Victoria investigating a series of gruesome slayings
centred upon Buckingham Palace, which turned out to be the work of a
vampiric creature. The storyline that was delivered bore little
resemblance to Davies' brief, however, and eschewed both the werewolf
and monk elements. Davies wound up tackling the scripting duties
himself, and the result became Tooth
And Claw.
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| Characters: The Tenth Doctor,
Rose |
| Episodes: 1
(45-minute) |
| Planned For: Seasons
Twenty-Eight and Twenty-Nine |
| Stage Reached:
Storyline |
| Synopsis: Set at Buckingham Palace, this
story concerned the Doctor operating on Queen Victoria after an alien
insect is found in her eye.
|
|
| References: Doctor
Who Magazine Special Edition #14, Doctor Who: The Complete
History #51 |
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