The Episode That Changed Alien Invasions Forever in Doctor Who

Aliens of London and World War Three set a new standard for putting Earth in jeopardy—by making it domestic.

Plot Summary

A greedy alien family hatches an elaborate plot to get the human race to nuke itself.

Notable for:

• First cliffhanger of NuWho!

• First appearance of Harriet Jones

• First appearance of the Slitheen family, NuWho’s first real attempt walking, talking CGI villains.

Pete commentary:

• Here’s NuWho trying out a lot of different things:

  • A proper time jump, dealt with realistically: What do companions leave behind?

  • For the first time, a sexual relationship with between the Doctor and his companion is even talked about.

  • The prime minister is often referred to in Doctor Who, and this one finally goes there, going direct to Downing Street.

  • Slitheen being the surname

• Ultimately this two-parter is a fun comedy with some real stakes. Not the invasion per se, but the relationships of the Doctor, Rose, Jackie and Mickey. Each one does an excellent job to get you to care about them and their point of view.

  

• RTD is superb at this: portraying relatable people and putting them in fantastic situations to get them to realize who they are by forcing them to make high-stakes decisions.

• “You’ve been gone a whole year.” — This makes Aliens of London one of the best-ever cold opens. Doctor Who was still brand new, and we weren’t sure what to expect, and RTD made sure we were not ever going to be too comfortable. This is so good. As it’s happening, you really wonder, “OMG, are they really doing this? Is he going to somehow go back and change it?” Nope! They just deal. Incredible choice.

• It also leads to NuWho’s first serious dating controversy: this story effectively establishes that most of contemporary NuWho is supposed to occur 1 year in the future.

• “Is this a sexual thing?” Just when you’re acclimating to the idea of the time jump, they throw in this genius line. It’s perfect, because it’s said by a policeman, which means the show gets to acknowledge the question everybody has always, always had in their minds about Doctor Who without actually going there. Of course, it opens the door, and gets readers used to the idea, because the show fully intends to absolutely go there.

• Finally see Downing Street in Doctor Who: It’s about time, really. I like the clever way they avoid saying who the current prime minister is with Rose saying, “How should I know? I’ve been gone a year.” The production team wanted to imply it was Tony Blair, but I think it’s better that it remains vague.

  

• It’s excellent to see Mickey and Jackie’s evolution. This is the story that goes a few inches deeper from the stock characters we saw in Rose.

  • Leads to the Doctor’s evolution of how he treats Mickey—invites him to come by the end

  • So does Rose! Not in love with the Doctor yet. Big contrast to her reaction in School Reunion when Mickey joins them.

  • It’s impressive what Noel Clarke was able to do with Mickey, turning him from the shallow coward that everyone was saying “dump him” to someone we care about.

  • “Do it then.” Mickey half wants her to.

  • Camille Coudri really sells the “Rose has been gone and I’ve been a wreck ever since” idea.

• “Narrows it down” — an excellent scene. Makes the Doctor less omnipotent and all-powerful, and show why he needs a team. Also good message for kids: here’s how you problem-solve.

• The ending is excellent: Emphasizes that Rose is now making a clear choice to go adventuring with the Doctor, and the end, with her mother waiting 10 seconds and then walking away is just the right amount of haunting.

What did Pete’s family think?

• Grace really likes this episode! Enthusiastically joined a rewatch.

Four Questions to Doomsday - Pete

1. Why did the Randomizer take us here? It’s a bit on the nose for Doctor Who, but aliens are pretty obsessed with Earth. Looking at the invasions we’ve recently done, Aliens of London and World War Three is giving Earthshock a run for its money in terms of the convoluted-plan-to-stated-goal ratio.

2. What if the evil plot had succeeded? Mickey doesn’t succeed in rerouting the interceptors from destroying the cruise missile. It never hits Downing Street, the Slitheen get the code, launch the nukes, everybody dies. Let’s assume somehow the Doctor and Rose survive by stowing away on the Slitheen spaceship. The Doctor, still dealing with the Time War, is driven over the edge by losing his favorite planet, too. He goes Time Lord Victorious, dematerializes the entire planet of Raxacoricofallapatorious, War Lords-style. Eventually he figures out Rose is supposed to be the Bad Wolf, which inspires him to go back, get the Moment, and erase this reality somehow.

3. Where's the Clara splinter? She’s a reporter for the Evening Standard—the first one to suggest the whole thing was a hoax.

4. Dalek, Ogron, Professor Hayter, Viscount Banger, Fixed Point in Time, Lady Cassandra, or Zarbi? It’s wrongly remembered for the Slitheen, which earned a reputation as being too childish on account of all the farting. Aliens of London/World War Three is the first time Doctor Who really set out to deconstruct the premise of the show, and deserves respect. It’s been long surpassed by the scripts that have come since, but this was the adventure in Series 1 that gave everyone permission. It’s a Fixed Point in Time.

   

   All images c/o The Black Archive