'Blink' (Story Code 3.10) by Stephen Moffat

“Don’t blink. Don’t even blink. Blink and you’re dead. They are fast. Faster than you can believe. Don’t turn your back. Don’t look away. And don’t blink. Good luck…” – The Doctor

London, 2007: when a young woman named Sally Sparrow sneaks into an old, abandoned house to take some photographs, she is surprised to discover a message hidden behind some peeling wallpaper – a message addressed to her: “BEWARE THE WEEPING ANGEL OH, AND DUCK! REALLY DUCK! SALLY SPARROW DUCK NOW !” As Sally complies, a rock hits the space where she stood; looking outside, she sees a statues of an angel, her cold hands covering her eyes; turning back, Sally uncovers the last of the message: “LOVE FROM THE DOCTOR (1969)”… Intrigued, Sally returns home, where she finds her living room full of televisions, all playing a message from a mysterious man warning the viewer not to blink; the video equipment belongs to Larry Nightingale, brother of Sally’s flatmate, Kathy. The next day, after Sally tells Kathy about the hidden message she found, the two of them return to the old house, where Sally is surprised to see that the statue has moved closer to the building. Hearing the doorbell ring, Sally opens the door and meets a suited man, Malcolm Wainwright, who bears an envelope marked for Sally’s attention; Kathy hides in a nearby room, unaware that the stone angel has somehow moved inside the house – and is now standing right next to her. When the creature touches her, Kathy suddenly finds herself transported to a field full of cows, and on asking a young man, Ben, for help, she is shocked to learn that she has arrived in Hull, on the fifth December 1920… Sally also makes a surprise discovery: Malcolm’s grandmother was called Kathy Nightingale, and the envelope he holds contains pictures of a woman bearing an uncanny resemblance to Sally’s flatmate, and a letter from the past apparently written by Kathy… Shaken, Sally heads upstairs, where she finds three more stone angels, one of which holds a key. After taking the object from the angel’s hand, Sally hears the front door close; she too late to stop Malcolm from leaving, and is unaware that the angels are now watching her from the upstairs windows… Sally reads Kathy’s letter, in which her friend details her joy at gaining a new life with her husband, Ben Wainwright, and her daughter, also called Sally; she then visits Kathy’s grave – once again, a stone angel is not far away… Sally then visits the DVD store where Larry works, in order to pass on his sister’s message of love. Out in the back room, Sally is surprised to see another recording of the mysterious man; Larry explains that this footage is one of many ‘Easter Eggs’ found on seventeen different DVD titles; strangely, no-one knows who the man is – not Larry, the clique of internet nerds who discuss them with him, or even the DVDs’ manufacturers… When Sally reports Kathy’s disappearance to the police, she sees two weeping angels watching her from the church opposite; when Sally blinks the stone women appear to vanish – although they actually move to the ledge outside the window she is looking through… Sally meets Detective Inspector Billy Shipton, who is investigating the disappearance of several people who have each visited ‘Wester Drumlins’ house; the car park below the police station is filled with the cars of the victims – as well as an old blue Police Box. Sally turns down Billy’s offer of a drink, but is taken in by his charm enough to give him her mobile phone number; after she leaves, Billy turns and finds three stone angels surrounding the police box… Stepping outside, Sally realises that the key she found may fit the Police Box; she heads back to talk to Billy, only to find that he has vanished – and so has the Police Box… Elsewhere, Billy is confused by the discovery that he is now in 1969; here he meets a mysterious man who calls himself the Doctor, and his friend, Martha; the Doctor explains that the Weeping Angels are alien psychopaths who kill their victims nicely; they live on potentiality, existing by sending people into the past and then feeding off their stolen moments as they naturally age to death. The Doctor has lost his TARDIS, and is trying to detect the angels using a lashed up item of equipment – and he has a message that he wants Billy to give to Sally Sparrow, which may take some time to deliver… When Sally receives a phone call from Billy she immediately sets off to meet him, but to her amazement she finds that he is now an old, sick man, dying in a hospital bed; Billy shows her a picture of his wife – also called Sally – and then gives her the Doctor’s message to “Look at the list”. When Sally realises this refers to the list of DVDs containing the hidden messages, Billy tells her that after he left the police he went into publishing – it was he who left the messages in the only DVDs that Sally owned. Sally promises to stay with Billy, and that night, he passes away; the next morning, Sally calls Larry and instructs him to bring the seventeen DVD titles and a portable player to the old house. On meeting up at the decrepit property, they watch the Doctor’s messages; Larry is excited, as he has read the transcriptions of the Easter Eggs for years, but has never been able to decipher their meanings, so when Sally engages with a ‘conversation’ with the Doctor, he promptly begins filling in her responses too. Through the recording, the Doctor explains that he is stuck in 1969 with his friend, Martha; after the stone angels took his ship, he is using Larry’s transcripts via autocue to speak to Sally; the Weeping Angels, an ancient race colloquially known as ‘The Lonely Assassins’, and are quantum locked – they can only move when they are not being watched, and the reason they cover their eyes is to stop themselves from seeing each other; the Doctor needs Sally to send him the TARDIS before the stone angels can feast off its time energy. As the recording ends, Sally and Larry look up to find an angel almost upon them, her face contorted into a snarl, her taloned fingers reaching out to touch them… While a terrified Larry tries to keep the creature at bay with his stare, Sally looks for a way out, aware that the other three angels will not be far away, and that they want the key she carries. Desperately trying not to blink, Larry looks away for just a fraction of a second, allowing the angel to advance to within touching distance. Finding the exterior doors locked, Sally heads for the cellar, where she finds the TARDIS, surrounded by the other three angels. A frightened Larry joins Sally, but the fourth angel has followed him, and she uses her power to make the bulb illuminating the room begin to flicker. As the angels use the sputtering light to close in on their victims, Sally manages to open the TARDIS door, allowing her and Larry to reach safety inside. When the ship’s security protocols detect the presence of a control disc, a hologram of the Doctor appears and announces the activation of a pre-programmed trip; Larry opens the DVD case he carries, and finds that the disc inside is now glowing; as the angels try to break into the TARDIS, Larry pushes the disc into a slot on the ship's console. But as the TARDIS dematerialises on its preset course it leaves Sally and Larry behind; they find themselves back inside the cellar – surrounded by a ring of stone angels. However, with relief Sally realises that the Doctor has tricked the creatures: the statues are now all facing each other, preventing them from ever moving again…

One year later, Sally and Larry are now co-owners of the DVD shop. Sally still refuses to let go of the events surrounding the angels at the old house, feeling that there are still many questions left unanswered. While Larry goes to get milk, Sally sees two people arrive outside by cab: none other than the Doctor and Martha. Sally immediately rushes outside to talk to them, but the duo are too preoccupied with their mission to prevent a reptilian alien from spawning, and also have no idea who she is. With a jolt Sally realises that their adventure was solely due to her involvement, and so she gives the Doctor her folder detailing the events surrounding the Weeping Angels. As Larry returns and gapes in astonishment at the two people before him, Sally grasps his hand and bids goodbye to the Doctor and Martha…

David Tennant (The Doctor), Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones), Carey Mulligan (Sally Sparrow), Lucy Gaskell (Kathy Nightingale), Finlay Robertson (Lawrence 'Larry' Nightingale), Richard Cant (Malcolm Wainwright), Michael Obiora (Detective Inspector Billy Shipton), Louis Mahoney (Old Billy), Thomas Nelstrop (Ben Wainwright), Ian Boldsworth (Banto), Ray Sawyer (Desk Sergeant)

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

TX:
9th June 2007 @ 7.10 pm

Notes:
*Featuring the Tenth Doctor and Martha

*Working title: 'Sally Sparrow and the Weeping Angel'

*This episode is based upon the short story '"What I Did On My Christmas Holidays" - By Sally Sparrow', written by Steven Moffat and illustrated by Martin Geraghty, which was originally published in 'The Doctor Who Annual 2006'