'The Almost People' (Story Code 6.6) by Matthew Graham

“Is that what you were thinking?” – The Ganger Doctor

“Yes. It’s just so inspiring when I hear me say it.” – The Doctor

As the Ganger Doctor struggles to deal with the memories of the Doctor’s past regenerations, the Gangers outside the Flesh chamber use acid to burn through the barricaded doors. Once ‘the Doctor’ finally stabilises he and the real Doctor form a mutual appreciation society, finishing each other’s sentences and marvelling at how clever they both are. With their pursuers almost through the doors, the Doctor urges his doppelganger, Amy, Cleaves, Jimmy, Buzzer and Dicken to make their escape through a ventilation shaft, narrowly avoiding capture by the Gangers. Heading for the Evac Tower, the party are assailed by poison gas, caused by the acid reacting with the stone walls of the monastery. Elsewhere, ‘Jennifer’ joins her fellow Gangers and incites them to destroy their originals, in retaliation for all the times their Flesh bodies have died for humanity. Arriving in the Evac Tower, the two Doctors begin restoring power to the communications system; Amy finds herself reacting against the Ganger Doctor, or ‘John Smith’ as he refers to himself, and chooses to avoid interacting with him. With the communication system restored Cleaves contacts the mainland and requests an army rescue mission for her and her team; she also gives the order for the destruction of the rogue Gangers – unaware that those in question have intercepted her conversation, using the main power room’s comm system. As Cleaves and her team prepare for their rescue the Doctor mysteriously sets a time-delayed phone call. Amy is worried about Rory, but gets distracted by the sight of the Eye Patch Lady appearing once again in a hatch set in the wall, which then promptly vanishes. When the Doctor dismisses her vision as a time-memory, like a mirage, Amy steps outside to talk to the Ganger Doctor; she starts to confide in him about the real Doctor’s death, but the Ganger Doctor turns on her, his mind unstable as from feeling the many deaths of his fellows Gangers. Regaining his composure, ‘the Doctor’ apologises for his actions and then warns that the Flesh wants revenge for all the pain that humanity has inflicted upon it... Making his way through darkened corridors filled with dripping acid, Rory encounters two Jennifers – but which is real? The two women fight, and after a brief struggle Jennifer pushes her Ganger into an acid pool; leaving the duplicate to melt, Jennifer leads Rory to the base’s thermostatic room so that she can use the ventilation controls to purge the acid-gas; Rory activates the controls – unaware that he has been tricked into turning off the underground cooling vents, which will cause the huge stocks of acid to overheat and explode… Back in the Flesh room, the Doctor tells Cleaves that he knows she has a terminal brain clot; at that moment the rescue team make contact – just as the comm system blows up, forcing everyone to flee from the room. Elsewhere, ‘Cleaves’ contacts the approaching shuttle and changes the pick-up point: she intends to leave the humans to die in the imminent explosion, while she and her comrades get to the mainland and incite a revolution amongst their fellow Gangers. Jennifer and Rory come across a huge pile of discarded, melted Flesh bodies, all still alive and left to rot; Rory is appalled, and vows to make humanity aware of the atrocity. Sent by the Doctor to look for Rory, Buzzer and the Ganger Doctor search the base and discover the body of the real Jennifer; as ‘the Doctor’ considers the fact that she died after several hours’ exposure to the cold, he is struck unconscious by Buzzer, who is acting on Cleaves’ orders. Meanwhile, the Doctor, Amy, Cleaves, Jimmy and Dicken find themselves in a corridor with Flesh eyes set into its walls by ‘Jennifer’, each staring out accusingly. Hearing Jennifer’s voice, Buzzer leaves the group and follows the sound; finding the rogue Ganger talking to the pile of Flesh bodies, Buzzer confronts her over the death of Jennifer – ‘Jennifer’s jaws distend unnaturally and then she attacks… Hearing a siren, the Doctor advises his party that the acid supplies will explode in less than an hour; the group are then joined by Rory, who tells of an escape route via the crypt. ‘Cleaves’, ‘Jimmy’ and ‘Dicken’ find ‘the Doctor’; now calling himself John Smith, the Time Lord Ganger joins their cause… Following Rory to the acid room, the Doctor, Amy and the others are surprised when their friend hangs back as Jennifer locks them inside. After explaining that he wants to keep them there while he contacts the mainland, Rory is shocked to learn he has been tricked: the Jennifer he has trusted is another Ganger, who has been manipulating him all along. As Rory is taken away, the Doctor observes that the acid in the vat is about to overheat and explode… In the mess hall, ‘the Doctor’s pre-booked phone call finally activates: a holo-call to Jimmy’s son, Adam, who is celebrating his fifth birthday; but when ‘the Doctor’ encourages ‘Jimmy’ to speak to his ‘son’, the Ganger has a change of heart, and races from the room so that he can save the real Jimmy. Seeing this, ‘Cleaves’ turns to ‘Jennifer’ and refuses to go ahead with the war: she now sees herself and her fellows for the monsters their actions have made them become. Arriving in the acid room, ‘Jimmy’ finds he is too late: the real Jimmy has been fatally wounded by boiling acid; as Jimmy dies in his Ganger’s arms, he entreats his copy to take over as Adam’s father. Back in the mess hall, Rory is shocked to discover that the Doctor is really a Ganger; they are soon joined by the real Doctor, along with Amy, Cleaves, Dicken and ‘Jimmy’. Addressing to the holo-image of Adam, the Doctor promises that the boy’s father will be home soon. Elsewhere in the factory, ‘Jennifer’ finally snaps, her body distorting into a horrific, spindly-limbed creature hell-bent on destroying all the humans. As the monstrous creatures closes in on her victims, Dicken gives up his life to seal the doorway leading to his comrades. Back in the crypt, the roof finally gives way to the acid above, dropping the TARDIS down in front of the Doctor and his friends. As everyone rushes inside, ‘Cleaves’ and the Doctor hold the door from ‘Jennifer’s assault; however, to Amy’s astonishment the Doctor she believed to be a Ganger reveals himself to be the real Doctor: they swapped places just to see how Amy and the others perceived them – and in the end, no-one could tell them apart. Leaving the sonic screwdriver with his doppelganger the Doctor bids goodbye to his copy and then urges Amy into the TARDIS. Having watched the space-time ship vanish, ‘the Doctor’ and Cleaves open the door and confront the monstrous form of the enraged ‘Jennifer’; activating the sonic, ‘the Doctor’ destroys the Ganger’s form – killing himself and ‘Cleaves’ in the process, as the base collapses around their liquefied bodies. Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor stabilises ‘Jimmy’ and ‘Dicken’s Flesh-forms and then gives Cleaves some medicine to cure her blood clot. After dropping off ‘Jimmy’ with his son Adam, the Doctor takes Cleaves and ‘Dicken’ to their employer’s head office; the duo agree to join forces to convince the authorities to end the use of the Flesh. When Amy suddenly doubles up in pain, Rory and the Doctor rush her into the TARDIS. Confessing that he deliberately went to the Flesh factory, the Doctor admits that he blocked a signal that was being sent from the Flesh to Amy. When he then orders Rory to step away from his wife, Rory reluctantly complies – and then looks on in horror and confusion as the Doctor zaps Amy with a replacement sonic that reduces her to liquid Flesh: Amy was a Ganger, and has been for a long time… Elsewhere, the real Amy wakes up with a start to find herself lying inside a cramped white coffin watched over by the Eye Patch Lady, who urges her to push. Looking down at her swollen belly, Amy gives a scream and as she goes into labour…

Matt Smith (The Doctor), Karen Gillan (Amy Pond), Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams), Mark Bonnar (Jimmy), Marshall Lancaster (Buzzer), Sarah Smart (Jennifer Lucas), Raquel Cassidy (Foreman Miranda Cleaves), Leon Vickers (Dicken), Frances Barber (Eye Patch Lady), Edmond Moulton (Adam)

Directed by Julian Simpson
Produced by Marcus Wilson
Executive Producers Steven Moffat, Piers Wenger and Beth Willis
A BBC Wales production

TX (BBC 1 & BBC 1 HD):
28th May 2011 @ 6.30 pm

Notes:
*Featuring the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory

*Part two of a two-part story

*Working title: 'Gangers'

*Immediately after the cliffhanger scene, the words ‘TO BE CONTINUED’ were superimposed over a black screen; no teaser clips of the next episode were featured…