'Army of Ghosts' (Story Code 2.12) by Russell T Davies

“They’re invading the whole planet!” – Yvonne Hartman

“It’s not an invasion, it’s too late for that. It’s a victory…” – the Doctor

Rose Tyler tells her story: of how she met a man named the Doctor, who took her away from her humdrum life and led her on travels through time and space – until the day she died… After the TARDIS arrives on the Powell Estate playground the Doctor and Rose pay a visit to Jackie, who, much to her daughter’s concern, is eagerly awaiting the arrival of her late father, granddad Prentis. However, Jackie’s claims appear to be true, as a spectral shape promptly materialises in her kitchen. Rushing outside, the Doctor and Rose see similar spectral forms throughout the street; but after two minutes have elapsed the ghosts then vanish – coinciding with the deactivation of complex machinery at the mysterious Torchwood Institute. Back at Jackie’s flat, the Doctor and Rose watch television, learning that ghosts have been sighted all over the world for the last two months, and have now become part of popular culture. But the Doctor is sceptical, believing that psychic creatures are using people’s belief that the dead are visiting them to pull themselves into this dimension. At Torchwood Tower, Doctor Rajesh Singh informs the director, Yvonne Hartman, that all attempts to analyse the huge, mysterious sphere in his laboratory have proved useless – the metallic globe has no weight, no atomic mass, and gives off no radiation, yet it still hangs suspended in mid-air in front of him… Back in the control room, operators Adeola and Gareth slip off for a quick snog in a part of the building currently being refurbished; but Gareth goes missing, and when Adeola goes to look for him she finds herself confronted by a tall, menacing, metallic creature: a Cyberman. Using equipment from the TARDIS, the Doctor creates a ghost detector in the playground, planning to triangulate the spectres’ point of origin at the next manifestation. As Yvonne gives the order to begin the next ‘ghost shift’, she is unaware that Adeola and Gareth have returned, and are now under Cyber control… When a ghost appears inside the Doctor’s apparatus, the Time Lord dons a pair of 3D glasses to help him see the creature; he activates his equipment, but the interference is detected at Torchwood, and Yvonne orders the cancellation of the ghost shift. After the source of the interference is traced, the director instructs an operative to hack into the estate’s CCTV system; looking on in amazement as the Doctor returns to his TARDIS, which then dematerialises, an overjoyed Yvonne realises that the Doctor is coming to Torchwood… In the TARDIS, the Doctor’s excitement at finding the origin of the ghosts is squashed when Rose points out that her mother is aboard the ship. Materialising at Torchwood Tower, the TARDIS is instantly surrounded by a squad of armed soldiers led by Yvonne; stepping outside, the Doctor is surprised to find his arrival greeted by a round of applause. Yvonne is thrilled at the Time Lord’s arrival, and asks to meet the companion that usually accompanies him; leaving Rose inside as his ‘Ace-in-the-hole’, the Doctor instead brings out Jackie, explaining that ‘Rose’ has been aged by an accident inside the ship. As Yvonne gives them a guided tour of the Torchwood Institute, she explains that the secret organisation was set up in 1879 by Queen Victoria to safeguard humanity from alien threat – and that the Doctor is now their prisoner. The Doctor is astonished to see all kinds of alien technology stored at the institute, including extraterrestrial weaponry, high-tech devices, a captured alien spaceship – and the TARDIS, as it is taken away on the back of a truck. Yvonne takes the Doctor and Jackie to the laboratory to see the sphere, where Jackie is unnerved by the object’s ‘wrongness’; the Doctor identifies the object as a Void Ship – a capsule designed to traverse dimensions, which exists outside time and space; he earnestly warns that the sphere should be sent back to where it came from. Rose sneaks out of the TARDIS and finds herself in a storage area; donning a lab coat, she sets off to investigate the base. Yvonne explains that the ghosts began appearing shortly after the sphere arrived, in the air directly above London’s Docklands; when the Torchwood Institute determined that they could harness the power of the hole, the institute built its headquarters around the rupture – but as far as the public are aware, the building known as Canary Wharf is merely an office block. The Doctor vehemently advises Yvonne to cancel the next ghost shift, warning that the arrival of the sphere in this dimension will have created fractures in the world that could result in the destruction of Earth; when Yvonne ignores him, the Doctor gives up, sarcastically pulling up a chair to watch the ensuing chaos in comfort. Realising he could be right, Yvonne gives the cancellation order. Rose tries to bluff her way into the sphere room using her psychic paper, but Doctor Singh’s training allows him to see through the deception, and he calls for an armed response; however, he is unaware that Rose has seen who his assistant, Samuel, is: none other than Mickey… Learning of Rose’s presence in the lab, Yvonne forces the Doctor to admit her identity – causing him further embarrassment when he has to explain that Jackie is actually Rose’s mother. In the control room, Adeola has managed to bring another colleague under Cyber-control; together with Gareth, the three agents activate the ghost shift, which causes the sphere to become active. Recognising the operatives’ ear-pods, the Doctor has no choice but to use his sonic screwdriver to deactivate the devices, killing their hosts; but he is too late: the enemy has overridden the system, and as the Doctor looks on in horror, ghosts step out of the dimensional hole situated in the control room. Across the world, millions of similar spectral forms suddenly shimmer into existence. As its equipment reports a massive surge in the sphere’s activity, Torchwood’s laboratory goes into quarantine – the globe is coming into existence. Tracing the source of the control signal, the Doctor, Yvonne and two soldiers investigate the section of building under construction, only to come face-to-face with a squad of Cybermen; the Doctor realises that they are an advance guard – with the worlds coming into collision, more Cybermen will soon be on their way. Grabbing a huge gun from its hiding place, Mickey trains it on the sphere; he tells Rose that the Cybermen on the alternate Earth were almost defeated, but some managed to escape, so he and Jake followed them to this Earth. As the sphere begins to open, the ghosts in the Torchwood control room become corporeal; the newly-arrived Cyber Leader orders the power supplying the ghost shift to be increased to a hundred percent – and all across the world, millions of Cybermen materialise into existence as the terrified population runs screaming in terror. The Doctor demands to know the origin of the sphere, but the Cyber Leader reveals that the object was not of Cyber origin, they merely followed its wake as it broke through the dimensional barriers. In the lab, Mickey, Rose and Singh steel themselves for the arrival of more Cybermen from the sphere – but instead, four Daleks fly out and train their deadly weapons upon them…

David Tennant (The Doctor), Billie Piper (Rose Tyler), Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler), Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith), Tracy-Ann Oberman (Yvonne Hartman), Raji James Doctor (Rajesh Singh), Freema Agyeman (Adeola), Hadley Fraser (Gareth), Oliver Mellor (Matt), Barbara Windsor (Peggy Mitchell), Hajaz Akram (Indian Newsreader), Anthony Debaeck (French Newsreader), Takako Akashi (Japanese Newsreader), Paul Fields (Weatherman), David Warwick (Police Commissioner), Rachel Webster (Eileen), Kyoko Morita (Japanese Girl), Derek Acorah (Himself), Alistair Appleton (Himself), Tricia Goddard (Herself), Paul Kasey (Cyber Leader), Nick Briggs (Dalek / Cyberman Voices), Barnaby Edwards, Nicholas Pegg, Stuart Crossman, Anthony Spargo, Dan Barratt, David Hankinson (Dalek Operators)

Directed by Graeme Harper
Produced by Phil Collinson
Executive Producers Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner
A BBC Wales production

TX:
1st July 2006 @ 7.00 pm

Notes:
*Featuring the Tenth Doctor, Rose, Jackie and Mickey

*Part 1 of a 2-part story

*Working title: 'Torchwood Rises'

*The 'Torchwood' Files: We finally get to learn the secret of the Torchwood Institute...

*TARDISODE: When a reporter begins an investigation into the enigmatic Torchwood organisation, he soon uncovers information linking Queen Victoria, a mysterious man known as ‘the Doctor’, and the ghosts that have begun appearing across the country. However, before the reporter can get his groundbreaking story printed on the front page it is suppressed by the authorities – who then consign him to a mental asylum… [Cast: Shane Zaza (Atif), Nicky Rainsford (Editor), Dafydd Emyr (Suited Agent), Gerard Cooke, Angus Brown (Men in White Coats), Catherine Harris (Woman With Jiffy Bag)]