'Closing Time' (Story Code 6.12) by Gareth Roberts

“I’m the Doctor. I work in a shop now. Here to help.” – The Doctor

It’s closing time at Sanderson and Grainger shopping mall in Colchester, as two salesgirls, Kelly and Shona, prepare to pack up as normal; but on this occasion, when Shona goes to tidy-up the changing rooms, she comes face-to face with a terrifying silver giant: a Cyberman! Elsewhere, Craig Owens says goodbye to his partner, Sophie, as she leaves to spend a restful weekend with her friend Melina. Left alone with his baby son, Alfie, Craig begins to feel the pressure of responsibility – but this is quickly forgotten when he answers a knock at the door and finds the Doctor standing outside; Craig’s former-flatmate explains that he has been travelling alone for some time, and as part of his “farewell tour”, he has decided to pop in to check on his old friend. The Doctor is surprised to discover that his former landlord is now a daddy, and his Time Lord ability to speak ‘baby’ enables him to hear that Alfie actually prefers to be known as “Stormageddon, Darklord of all.” His whirlwind visit complete, the Doctor makes to leave – but then he notices a report in the local newspaper, and sees the lights suddenly dip. Trying to stop himself from being drawn in, the Doctor bids goodbye to Craig and then heads for the TARDIS – but then his curiosity finally gets the better of him… The next day, Craig takes Alfie to the S&G mall, where he is astonished to find that the Doctor is now working as a sales assistant in the ‘Toy Town’ store. After explaining that he is investigating newspaper reports of mysterious disappearances, which are tied to the strange power fluctuations, the Time Lord attempts to hurry Craig and ‘Stormy’ away; however, Craig refuses to be fobbed off, and the Doctor is reluctantly forced to reveal that he has traced the power drains to a teleport relay located somewhere in the Sanderson and Grainger mall. Using his sonic screwdriver to fix a nearby broken lift, the Doctor escorts his two friends to safety – but then they are teleported into the control room of a Cyberman spaceship! The Doctor’s attempts to distract Craig with a kiss fail dismally, and so he is forced to concede that they are in real trouble; luckily, the Doctor is able to use his sonic screwdriver to reverse the transport beam, sending him, Craig and Stormy back to the mall, and fusing the teleport system behind them. After begrudgingly allowing Craig to stay and help, the Doctor continues his investigation of the mall. While the Doctor gets all the gossip from ‘Lady Val’ on the jewellery counter, and learns of a sighting of a silver rat, Craig checks out the ladies’ lingerie section; unfortunately Craig’s awkward tactics get him into trouble with the sales assistant, who immediately calls for George the security guard. Luckily the Doctor comes to the rescue, and he uses his popularity with his fellow shop assistances to get Craig out of trouble. Learning of Shona’s recent disappearance, the Doctor leads Craig and Stormy to the changing rooms; deducing that the “silver rat” is a lethal Cyberman device known as a Cybermat, the Doctor resolves to catch the creature. While Craig takes Alfie to the baby changing room, the Doctor is surprised to see Amy and Rory shopping in the store; when a small girl asks Amy for her autograph, the Doctor turns to see a billboard advertising a new perfume: the face of the poster girl is Amy’s, depicted next to the legend “Petrichor: For the girl who’s tired of waiting”. The Doctor is pleased: Amy has gotten on with her life without him… After the store has closed, the Doctor, Craig and Stormy go in search of the Cybermat; meanwhile, George the security guard checks the mall basement – and becomes the latest victim of the Cybermen. Having captured the Cybermat in a net, the Doctor and his friends hear George’s screams; racing to the scene, the Doctor is attacked by one of the Cybermen, and is knocked unconscious… Woken up by Craig, the Doctor tells his friend that George has been killed by the Cybermen, who have teleported him to their spaceship; these Cybermen are damaged, and are using people as spare parts – although the Doctor’s alien physiognomy makes him incompatible with their alien systems. Concerned for Craig and Stormy’s safety, the Doctor takes them back home. As Craig nips out to get some milk, the Doctor checks on Stormageddon and gives the baby some advice on his future; downstairs, the captive Cybermat reawakens and goes in search of its target: the Doctor. Confronted by the metallic creature, the Doctor zaps it with his sonic screwdriver and then rushes out the French windows with Stormy. Seeing Craig return, the Doctor calls his friend on his mobile phone to warn him – but the creature strikes, leaping at Craig’s throat and attempting to bite him with its sharp metal teeth; as Craig struggles with the Cybermat, the Doctor smashes through the French windows and deactivates the creature with his sonic. Explaining that the Cybermat was transmitting power to the Cyberman ship, the Doctor reprograms the device to use as a weapon against its masters. The Doctor is concerned that he has placed Craig in danger: his time is running out, and he knows he is going to die tomorrow; turning to his friend, the Doctor sees that he has fallen asleep… The following morning, the Doctor and his pet, “Bitey”, sneak out of the house and head for the Sanderson and Grainger shopping mall. Waking up, Craig finds two messages: Sophie is on her way home, and the Doctor has gone after the Cybermen. Knowing that his friend will need his help, Craig rushes to the mall… Checking out the S&G changing rooms, the Doctor finds a door hidden behind a mirror; stepping inside, the Time Lord finds himself in a passage cut into the rock that leads down to a massive chamber containing the wreckage of a Cyberman spaceship... Arriving at the mall, Craig gives Alfie to Val and then follows the Doctor; finding the tunnel leading from the changing rooms, he heads into the depths in search of his friend. Confronted by the six active Cybermen aboard the ship, the Doctor deduces what has been going on: when his enemies’ ship crashed centuries ago, its crew were all destroyed; however, the Cybermat laid dormant, until it was reawakened by power work carried out by the council; since then it has been transmitting power to the ship’s systems, which began recreating the crew. The Cybermen advance on the Doctor, but are stopped by the arrival of Craig, who attempts to hold them off with the aid of a barcode scanner ‘weapon; however, the Cybermen easily see through his bluff, and after stamping on the Doctor’s reprogrammed Cybermat, they decide that Craig will become their new Cyberleader and then force him into a Cyber-conversion system. As Craig is sealed inside a Cyberman suit, the Doctor desperately encourages his friend to resist – but his entreaties appear to be for nothing: the cyber-conversion completes, and Craig is seemingly lost. But at that moment the sound of Alfie’s crying is heard over the Cybermen’s monitoring system: the effect on Craig is miraculous: hearing his son crying, he rejects his Cyber-programming and throws off his metallic bonds, enabling himself to get free. As Craig’s emotional influx triggers an overload throughout the ship, the head of each surviving Cyberman explodes. The Doctor and Craig race for the teleport, managing to escape just as the Cybership explodes. Materialising back in the mall, Craig retrieves Alfie from Val; after listening to Doctor tell how he blew up the Cybermen with love, Craig is surprised to discover that his friend has somehow vanished… Returning home, Craig is surprised to find that not only has his house been fully repaired, but its walls are now adorned with pictures of him and Alfie; then the Doctor appears, admitting that he used the TARDIS to go back in time to tidy up before Sophie’s return. Finally bidding goodbye to Craig, the Doctor picks up a few blue envelopes from nearby, needed for a trip to America that he is planning. Before the Doctor departs Craig gives him a gift: a Stetson hat, just what his friend wanted. Shortly after the Doctor has left, Sophie returns; asking how things have been, she shares Craig’s surprise at Alfie’s first word: “Doctor”… About to enter the TARDIS for his final trip, the Doctor sees a gang of children – and his farewell to them stays with them all their life…

In the future, River Song reads the kids’ memories of the Doctor in notes held in a library. Then River finds she is not alone: the eye-patched Madame Kovarian steps from the shadows, accompanied by two of the sinister-looking Silence. Observing that River has just achieved her doctorate, Madame Kovarian informs her protégée that she never escaped from her influence. As two soldiers enter the room carrying an Apollo space suit, River is drugged with a syringe, and she falls unconscious… Sometime later, River awakes to find herself sealed inside an astronaut’s suit in the depths of Lake Silencio – she is about to fulfil her role as the woman who killed the Doctor…

Matt Smith (The Doctor), Karen Gillan (Amy Pond), Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams), James Corden (Craig Owens), Daisy Haggard (Sophie), Alex Kingston (Doctor River Song), Frances Barber (Madame Kovarian), Seroca Davis (Shona), Holli Dempsey (Kelly), Chris Obi (George), Lynda Baron (Val), Paul Kasey (Cyberman), Nicholas Briggs (Voice of the Cybermen)

Directed by Steve Hughes
Produced by Denise Paul
Executive Producers Steven Moffat, Piers Wenger and Beth Willis
A BBC Wales production, co-produced with BBC America

TX (BBC 1 & BBC 1 HD):
24th September 2011 @ 6.00 pm

Notes:
*Featuring the Eleventh Doctor, with Amy, Rory and River

*Working titles: 'Carry On Lodging', 'Everything Must Go' and 'The Last Adventure'

*Look out for Radio 1 presenter Greg James shopping in the ladies' underwear section of Sanderson and Grainger!

*'Petrichor', the name of Amy's perfume, is the word for the smell of rain on dry ground (and one of the passwords of the TARDIS' security system, as mentioned in 'The Doctor's Wife')