'Detained' by Patrick Ness

A cluster of flaming asteroids speeds through space, towards a newly-opened rift… At Coal Hill Academy, Charlie is indignant that Miss Quill is putting him in detention for being late. She gleefully puts in him a classroom along with Ram, April, Tanya and Matteusz and then locks the door. In space, the rift closes and the asteroids explode – all except one, which has managed to get through the tear… Charlie’s claustrophobia immediately kicks off, so April unlocks the classroom door with the spare key she has been given – just as a blazing chunk of rock crashes into the classroom, smashing into the back wall and sending everyone reeling. As the students get to their feet they realise that the windows are now black outside, and the classroom door just leads out into an empty, black void… Led by the methodical Tanya, the friends try to work out what has happened to throw them out of space and time. After they discount Miss Quill, Matteusz finds the meteorite embedded in the wall, which is giving out heat, possibly radiation. Matteusz grabs the rock to throw it out the door, only to experience the memory of coming out to his Polish grandmother; he then tells his true feelings to Charlie, of being in love but also afraid of him. April knocks the rock from Matteusz’s hand, but when it passes the threshold of the door it bounces back inside the classroom. With Ram going stir crazy and upsetting April, Tanya deduces that there must be something alien stuck to the rock, which is making them all angry instead of scared. Tanya touches the meteorite: she has a memory of being forced to own up to stealing sweets from an off licence, and then tells the group how she feels patronised for being the youngest. Realising that the rock is making her tell the truth, Tanya urges the others to ask her about it; they learn that it holds a dangerous alien intelligence that had been imprisoned in space – and is now in the room with them. With Tanya unable to hold the rock any longer for fear of brain damage, it is left to Charlie, Ram and April to try next; but instead the claustrophobic Charlie tries putting his arm outside the doorway, only to see it come back in again next to him – the creature has brought its prison with it… As tempers continue to flare, April suggests waiting for Miss Quill to rescue them; but Charlie is unconvinced: with him no longer on Earth, Miss Quill is not his slave any more. With some encouragement, Ran picks up the rock, and sees himself telling his dad about his prosthetic leg; he then tells April that he loves her, but knows she doesn’t feel the same, and then collapses... After Ram wakes, the students compare notes; they now know that the meteors were each a prison for a criminal, which compelled their detainees to always tell the truth, but also made them angry; they also now the murderer in the classroom killed the other four prisoners… As the stress-levels continue to rise, April tries to comfort Tanya, only to come up against the young girl’s self-pity; this spills over to the rest of the group, and a fierce argument breaks out. Charlie manages to calm everyone down, but then he has a panic attack. As Matteusz calms Charlie in turn, April picks up the rock: she hears herself testifying against her father after his suicide attempt, and then confirms Ram’s suspicions about her true feelings for him. April then questions the intelligence, and learns that they are in no-time and no-space – they have been taken out of time, will never age or need to eat, and will never escape. Even worse, the prisons use guilt as a weapon, the only way out is for the students to kill each other – to confess their friends to death… Deducing that the prisoner is feeding off human emotions, Charlie considers picking up the meteor, but he is more afraid of feeling alone, despite his friends’ reassurances. April tries to make up with Ram, but he just pushes her away, and then picks a fight with Matteusz for loving an alien. Charlie breaks them up, and then confesses that he fears holding the rock because his worst secret is that he wants to use the Cabinet of Souls to kill the Shadow Kin. With no choice left, Charlie takes hold of the rock and demands the prisoner tell the truth instead; a battle of wills begins, and after the alien prince has told Matteusz that he is afraid of losing him, the rock splits open. Everyone hears the prisoner’s voice, as it urges Charlie to become its murderer. Charlie crushes the rock in his hand – and suddenly the classroom is back in Coal Hill Academy. The students are relieved, but also know they have much to talk about. They make to leave the classroom, but the rock unleashes a stream of energy that attaches itself to Charlie’s ankle – the prison still needs a prisoner, and Charlie is the guiltiest one among them. As Charlie is pulled towards the rock, Miss Quill arrives on the scene and shoots the energy manacle with her gun. Tanya, Ram and April quickly leave, but Charlie and Matteusz remain, wondering why Miss Quill now has long hair and an injured eye, and how she was able to use a weapon. In response, the teacher throws a plastic bag at the prince – the Arn implant that has been removed from her brain. Miss Quill has her free will back, and now things are going to change…


Katherine Kelly (Miss Quill), Greg Austin (Charlie Smith), Fady Elsayed (Ram Singh), Sophie Hopkins (April MacClean), Vivian Oparah (Tanya Adeola), Jordan Renzo (Matteusz), Ferdy Roberts (Voice of the Prisoner)

Directed by Wayne Che Yip
Produced by Derek Ritchie
Executive Producers Brian Minchin, Steven Moffat and Patrick Ness
A BBC Wales production

TX (BBC Three):
19th November 2016 @ 10.00

Notes:
*Featuring Miss Quill, Charlie, April, Ram, Tanya and Matteusz

*This episode was later shown on BBC 1 on 13th February 2017 @ 10.45 pm