'Father's Day' Story Code 1.8 by Paul Cornell

“Time’s been damaged, and they’ve come to sterilise the wound.” – the Doctor

On the 7th November 1987, Rose’s father, Pete, was killed in a hit and run car accident as he was returning from buying a wedding gift for friends; ever since then Rose has regretted that her dad died alone. Initially, Rose asks the Doctor to take the TARDIS back in time so that she can see her parents’ wedding; then she makes another request: to travel into the past so that she can be there for her father when he dies. The Doctor is sympathetic, and agrees to travel back to the fateful day. The two time-travellers arrive in the London borough of Southwark and make their way to the place where the tragedy occurred. As Rose looks on, an oncoming vehicle hits her father, but she finds herself unable to step forward to help; she asks the Doctor for the opportunity to try again, and so the two friends travel back in time once more, staying in the background so that their earlier selves cannot see them. But as the Doctor and Rose prepare to watch the traumatic events unfold again, this time Rose intervenes, and pushes her father out of harm’s way. Time is changed, and the earlier versions of the Doctor and Rose vanish… Recovering from the incident, a grateful Pete takes the Rose and the Doctor to be another couple attending the wedding of his friends Stuart and Sarah, and he gives them a lift back to his flat. Rose is excited to revisit the place she grew up in, but the Doctor is furious that she has changed history, and realises that this was the reason she originally joined him in the TARDIS; in anger he takes the TARDIS key from her and storms out, leaving Rose to fend for herself. At the wedding, Stuart is concerned that many of his guests are missing; meanwhile, the Doctor is stalked by an unseen creature, and when he tries to enter the TARDIS, he finds it is now nothing but an ordinary police box. Rose and Pete head for the church, narrowly avoiding the car that was to have hit Pete in the other timeline, which suddenly appears out of nowhere. The bride arrives – along with Jackie, Rose’s mother, and a baby: Rose. While Rose is unnerved to see her mother and her younger self, Jackie takes Rose to be another of her husband’s girlfriends; an argument immediately breaks out, but is quickly interrupted by the arrival of a young boy, Mickey - Rose’s future boyfriend - who warns of monsters. The Doctor then arrives, just in time to save Rose from being devoured by a huge, vicious bat-like creature. As everyone flees in terror for the safety of the church, more of the monsters appear and attack the congregation. Inside the church, the Doctor reveals that time has been wounded, and that the creatures, known as Reapers, are sterilising the wound by consuming everything around them; the church is old enough to withstand the creatures’ attack – for the moment… Pete surmises that Rose is his daughter, and listens as she tells him about her time travelling. After the Doctor promises the bride and groom that he will do his best to save them, Jackie gives him baby Rose to look after. The Doctor then stops the adult Rose from touching her younger self, telling her that to do so will cause a paradox that will enable the Reapers to enter the building. The Doctor is still angry at Rose, because her actions have resulted in the sterilisation of the entire world apart from those inside the church, and confesses that he has no plan to save them; he remarks that the problem would have normally been resolved by his people, the Time Lords, but that things are different because they have been wiped out. Rose apologises, and the two friends make up. The Doctor finds that his TARDIS key is still hot, signifying that his ship is still alive; by using a mobile phone battery to charge the key, he hopes to cause the ship to rematerialise inside the church and use it to restore time. Meanwhile, Pete has guessed that Rose saved him from death; he reveals Rose’s identity to Jackie, who then hands over the baby to Rose. The Doctor tries to intervene but he is too late – the two girls touch, allowing a Reaper to appear inside the church. The Doctor sacrifices himself to save the others and is devoured by the creature; the Reaper then collides with the TARDIS, causing it to vanish. With the Doctor dead, Rose is distraught; however, Pete has realised what the Doctor had already worked out: a way to restore time to its correct track. After bidding a tearful goodbye to his wife and daughter Peter then leaves the church, steps into the path of the oncoming car, and is knocked down. Time is restored: the Doctor and the congregation reappear, and Pete dies from the accident. This time, however, Pete does not die alone, and Rose rushes forward to take her dying father in her arms…

Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who), Billie Piper (Rose Tyler), Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler), Shaun Dingwall (Peter 'Pete' Adam Tyler), Robart Barton (Registrar), Julia Joyce (Young Rose), Christopher Llewellyn (Stuart Hoskins), Frank Rozelaar-Green (Sonny), Natalie Jones (Sarah Clarke), Eirlys Bellin (Bev), Rhian James (Suzie), Casey Dyer (Young Mickey Smith)

Directed by Joe Ahearne
Executive Producers Russell T. Davies, Julie Gardner and Mal Young
A BBC Wales production

TX:
14th May 2005 @ 7.00 pm

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

*Working titles: 'Rose's Father, 'Broken Time', 'Wounded Time'

*First appearance of Pete Tyler

*Music heard in the episode: 'Never Can Say Goodbye' peformed by The Communards, 'Never Gonna Give You Up' by Rick Astley and 'Don't Mug Yourself' by The Streets

*Bad Wolf sightings: the phrase 'Bad Wolf' has been scrawled over a fly-poster for the club 'Energize', on the wall near the scene of Pete Tyler's death.

*More coincidences: in the church is a poster of a seaside scene, which was also on display in Clive's shed in 'Rose'. The psalm numbers on the board in St. Christophers church (23, 6 and 801) are the same as the numbers listed on a bus stop, and the BBC's 'Who is Doctor Who?' website had a fake posting by 'Steve M' saying "I saw him ... scrawling the numbers "23 6 801" on a wall .... ". The Ordnance Survey Grid Reference System uses a map reference of the convention of [2 Grid letters] [3 figures (easting)] [3 figures (northing)]; the United Kingdom is divided into a series of 100km squares, and each is assigned a unique two letter code - Wales uses the prefixes SH, SJ, SM, SN, SO, SR, SS, ST, and if you look up ST236801, it points to Hendre Road, Trowbridge, just north of Cardiff – the location of the space / time rift, or a production team in-joke? (And if you try TQ236801, it gives you the Racquet Club just behind Shepherd's Bush tube station - not far from the BBC's Television Centre!) The BBC website later admitted that "23-6-801 started as a mistake on the Psalm board in episode 8, and became a bit of misleading fun. But thanks for all your theories on that one."