'Fugitive of the Judoon' (Story Code 12.05) by Vinay Patel and Chris Chibnall

“Let me take it from the top. Hello. I'm the Doctor.” - Ruth

Ruth Clayton goes to work on her birthday, as a tour guide in the city of Gloucester. After fruitlessly handing out leaflets, Ruth takes a coffee break at a café run by ‘All Ears Allan’, a man so smitten with Ruth, he has compiled a dossier that shows how weird her husband Lee is. Meanwhile, a huge Judoon spaceship arrives in orbit around the Earth; the rhino-like mercenary police inside scan the UK, then fire a beam of green energy at Gloucester… In the TARDIS, Graham, Ryan and Yaz worry about the Doctor’s behaviour: she has become obsessed with her search for the Master, and admits has been making secret trips home to the ruins of Gallifrey. The TARDIS receives a warning transmission from the Judoon, giving notice of a zonal enforcement field, so the Doctor immediately decides to investigate… Judoon Captain Pol-Kon-Don and her troops teleport down to the city and begin scanning the locals; they are seen by Ruth, who is horrified when her friend, a little old lady named Marcia, is killed by the aliens’ enforcement field. Slipping through the enforcement field, the TARDIS materialises in the café kitchen, just as Allan is arguing with Lee over Ruth’s birthday cake; learning of the alien police, Lee rushes home. While the Doctor, Yaz and Ryan head outside, Graham stays for cake – only to be snatched away by a teleport beam. Questioned by the Judoon, Allan happily hands over his information about Lee, and then gets killed when he stands up to the aliens’ bullying. Having found Ruth, Lee rushes her home and asks her to trust him – but Ruth now has doubts about who her husband really is… Locating the Claytons’ flat, the Judoon congregate outside and set up a temporal isolator gun to freeze their quarry; they are stopped by the arrival of the Doctor, who convinces the Judoon captain to grant her five minutes to attempt an arbitration… Graham wakes up in a high-tech control room, where he is mistaken for the Doctor and snogged by none other than Captain Jack Harkness! As the stolen ship comes under fire from its real owners, Jack explains that he wanted to use its Quantum Scoop to grab and warn the Doctor that the future of the universe is at stake; to Jack’s delight, Graham explains that the Doctor is now a woman… In the Claytons’ flat, the Doctor, Yaz and Ryan try to get the truth from Ruth and Lee; although both are human, Lee has an alien box hidden in the bedroom. With the Judoon captain counting down their remaining moments, Lee implores the Doctor to take Ruth to safety so he can deal with the aliens. While the Doctor and Ruth flee via the fire escape, Yaz and Ryan stall the Judoon – and then get scooped away to Jack’s stolen ship... After Lee surrenders to the alien police, the Judoon Captain’s client, Commander Gat, teleports into the kitchen; having tracked her ‘old friend’ by the service medal inside his box, Gat registers her pleasure to see Lee back from the dead - and then shoots him with a laser gun. Hiding inside Gloucester Cathedral with the Doctor, Ruth receives a text message from Lee; it tells her to “Follow the light. Break the glass”, which triggers a memory of a lighthouse. Judoon enter the building and surround the Doctor and Ruth; the police captain replays a recording of Lee’s execution, then declares Ruth to be wearing biological shielding. Something snaps in Ruth –she becomes ruthless: she beats up the Judoon, tears off one of the captain’s horns, then activates the alien’s teleport controls, sending them all back to their ship in disgrace... Jack meets Yaz and Ryan, and learns that the Judoon enforcement field is preventing him from getting a lock on the Doctor… With Ruth back to normal and confused by her combat skills, the Doctor deduces that Lee’s text message activated another identity within her. Learning that the lighthouse was Ruth’s family home, the Doctor decides to pay it a visit… Aboard the stolen ship, Jack comes under attack from the vessel’s anti-theft nanogenes. Pre-setting the controls to return Graham, Yaz and Ryan home, Jack gives them a message for the Doctor, “beware the lone Cyberman”, and a warning not to give it what it wants, something stolen by the Alliance and sent back in time. As the nanogenes swamp his body, Jack teleports away, followed by Graham, Yaz and Ryan… Ruth drives the Doctor through the countryside, eventually arriving at the old, vacant lighthouse. While Ruth sets a fire in the living room, the Doctor climbs up to the lamp-room. Looking out at the surrounding area the Doctor spies the gravestone of Ruth’s parents, and decides to investigate; puzzled at finding the headstone blank, she grabs a spade and starts digging. Inside the lighthouse, Ruth is drawn to a fire alarm button on the wall marked ‘break glass’; smashing it with her elbow, Ruth is consumed by glowing red energy… The Doctor is shocked to discover a very familiar-looking police box is buried in the grave: the TARDIS. Ruth appears, now dressed in a flashy outfit and brandishing a laser rifle; she identifies the TARDIS as her ship, and then declares herself to be the Doctor. Ruth teleports them both inside her TARDIS’ control room, an older version of the real Doctor’s current model; while Ruth prepares for the arrival of Gat, the Doctor tries to work out what is happening: she and Ruth have the same brain and biology, but neither knows the other, which is impossible. When Ruth admits she once worked for Gat, the Doctor realises that she hid her true identity using her TARDIS’ Chameleon Arch, along with Lee, her protector. The Judoon use a tractor beam to pull the TARDIS out of the ground and aboard their ship. Stepping out of the TARDIS with the Doctor, Ruth trains her laser gun on Gat, but stands down when she sees the Judoon surrounding them. When Gat orders the Judoon to take Ruth to their client, the Doctor demands to know who they are all really working for. To Ruth’s fury the Doctor reveals that she is the Doctor too, a fact confirmed by a scan from the Judoon captain, who immediately demands two payments for the same fugitive. After Gat lets slip that they are returning to Gallifrey, the Doctor realises she is Gallifreyan too - but from a time in the planet’s history, before it was attacked by the Daleks and destroyed the Master. The Doctor mind-links with Gat, but her memories of a scorched Gallifrey confuse and enrage the commander, and she shoots Ruth with the laser rifle - but the weapon backfires and kills her instead, having been sabotaged by Ruth earlier. Ruth notes that the Judoon ship has now reached interstellar space, so her crime no longer falls under their jurisdiction; she sends the rhinos packing, along with a warning never to come after her again. Ruth uses her TARDIS to take the Doctor back to Gloucester, then makes her escape. The Doctor meets up with Ryan, Yaz and Graham, who give her Captain Jack’s message. Back inside her own TARDIS, the Doctor explains how Ruth was her – but not from her past, because she has no recollection of being her. With time swirling around her, and old friends and enemies returning, the Doctor worries that something is coming for her. Graham, Ryan and Yaz still have faith in their friend, and they vow to stand by her as her family. Just then the TARDIS gives out multiple alerts across three of Earth’s continents – grateful of the distraction, the Doctor decides to take a quick look…


Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor), Bradley Walsh (Graham O'Brian), Tosin Cole (Ryan Sinclair), Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan), Jo Martin (Ruth Clayton / The Doctor), John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Neil Stuke (Lee Clayton), Ritu Arya (Gat), Paul Kasey (Judoon Captain Pol-Kon-Don), Michael Begley (All Ears Allan), Judith Street (Marcia), Katie Luckins (Tourist), Nick Briggs (Voice of Judoon ), Simon Carew (Judoon), Richard Highgate (Judoon), Richard Price (Judoon), Matthew Rohman (Judoon)

Directed by Nida Manzoor
Produced by Nikki Wilson
Executive Producers Chris Chibnall and Matt Strevens
A BBC Wales production

TX (BBC 1 & BBC 1 HD):
26th January 2020 @ 7.10 pm

Notes:
*Featuring the Thirteenth Doctor, Graham, Ryan, Yaz, and Captain Jack Harkness, and introducing an unknown, previous incarnation of the Doctor: the 'Fugitive Doctor'

*This episode has no pre-title sequence

*To keep the surprise of his return, early cast lists omitted the appearance of John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness

*Working title: 'Semper Fidelis'