'The Girl Who Died' (Story Code 9.05) by Jamie Mathieson and Steven Moffat

“There’s going to be a war tomorrow. And here’s some news: this just in – we are going to win the hell out of it!”

Clara floats amongst the stars, her air running out and a giant alien spider crawling inside her space suit. Meanwhile, inside the TARDIS, the console room is filled with explosions as the Doctor comes under attack from several heavily -armed alien battle fleets. Luring his attackers away to drain their weapon banks, the Doctor then materialises his ship around Clara just in time to deal with the deadly space-arachnid, squishing it with his shoe. Stepping outside the TARDIS into a dark wood, the Doctor and Clara are immediately captured by a gang of sword-wielding Viking warriors; the Doctor tries to brazen it out with his sonic sunglasses, but one of the warriors just snaps them in two… Two days later, the Vikings return to their village with their two prisoners, and receive a heroes’ welcome. The Doctor’s attention is drawn to a young girl called Ashildr, and he feels a strange premonition about her... Having easily removed his manacles, the Doctor uses his ‘magical’ yo-yo in an attempt to convince the Vikings that he is their god Odin. Unfortunately his plan is ruined when a giant face appears in the clouds above: this image of an eye-patched Viking claims to be the real Odin, and promises to take all the warriors in the village to a feast in Valhalla. Suddenly a troop of heavily-armoured soldiers materialises in the middle of the village; they scan the Vikings to identify the strongest men, and teleport them away. Realising that they may also take the Doctor, Clara turns to Ashildr, who carries half of the Time Lord’s sonic shades, and orders her to use the device to remove her manacles; one of the alien troopers spots the sophisticated technology and teleports the two girls away. The Vikings, Ashildr and Clara find themselves inside a metal-walled chamber in the aliens’ spaceship; one of the warriors forces open the door with his axe, but when he steps into the corridor outside he is atomised by wall-mounted booby-traps. The rear cell wall starts to move inwards, pushing everyone into the death-dealing corridor; Clara grabs Ashildr’s hand and pulls her past the booby traps as they power up, and together they try to open the next door; behind them, the Vikings are pushed closer and closer to the now-fully-charged weapons… Meanwhile, the Doctor is left with the remaining villagers; explaining how they have just been raided, he then realises Clara has been taken too... On the raiders’ ship, Ashildr and Clara find a laboratory with pipes pumping a strange green liquid into test tubes; in the corridor behind them lie helmets and armour, all that remains of the kidnapped Vikings. Odin and his guards appear; after noting his intrigue at the sonic shades, the pirate drinks from one of the test tubes: adrenaline and testosterone, harvested from the dead Vikings. Unimpressed by Odin’s act, Clara tries to talk the mercenary into just leaving; Odin almost goes for it – until a furious Ashildr steps in and declares war on him. Changing his mind, Odin declares a battle between his men and the villagers, to be fought the next day. Dropping his Viking hologram disguise to show his captives his true features, Odin then teleports Clara and Ashildr back to the village. The Doctor is overjoyed to see his friend safe, and after a hug he explains that their attackers are the Mire, one of the deadliest warrior races in the galaxy. On hearing that Ashildr has put everyone in danger, the Doctor advises the villagers to run and hide – with their warriors gone, it is the only way the remaining women, children, farmers and fishermen will survive. But the proud menfolk refuse to listen, and instead they vow to stay and fight. Both Ashildr and Clara try ask the Doctor to help, but the Time Lord adamantly refuses, afraid that any interference will have drastic repercussions on established history. However, on hearing a baby crying the Doctor becomes moved by the child’s words, and he reluctantly agrees to train the motley assortment of villagers in the use of swords. But the Doctor faces a challenging task, especially when the use of real swords results in several huts being set on fire... That evening, as the villagers enjoy what will very likely be their final feast, the Doctor and Clara sit outside listening to the thunder - actually the weapon forges of the Mire. The Doctor reflects that while he has made Clara into a fighter, all he can hope for with the hapless villagers is to give them the means of an honourable death in the bloodbath to come. But Clara still believes in her friend, and encourages him to find a way to win. Passing Ashildr hut’s, the Doctor is intrigued by noises within; looking inside he finds the young girl play-fighting with a puppet of Odin that she has made. Seeing one of the men, nicknamed Lofty, taking his baby to the boathouse, the Doctor recalls the child talking of “fire in the water”, and immediately gets an idea. Racing to the boathouse, the Doctor shows Clara and Ashildr his new weapon: barrels full of electric eels! Now armed with a plan, the Doctor uses the wiring from Clara’s spacesuit to boost the eels’ electric charge, and utilises Ashildr’s latest puppet monstrosity… A while later, Odin and his pirates materialise in the village ready for battle, only to find everyone in the main barn in the middle of a party. While the Doctor distracts Odin and his troops, his team throw metal hoops over the pirates’ suit aerials; at a signal the eels are agitated, their electricity flowing along wires connected to the hoops, and electrocuting the pirates! Then an anvil suspended in the roof is magnetised, pulling off the pirates’ metal helmets and relieving them of their weapons! Grabbing one of the helmets, the Doctor quickly rewires it and puts it on Ashildr. Now able to access the optical systems of the eye-patched Odin and his armoured pirates, Ashildr makes them see a giant, ferocious dragon bursting into the barn. Faced with the terrifying monster the cowardly Mire retreat, fleeing back to their ship and leaving Odin surrounded by sword-carrying villagers. Confronting Odin, the Doctor reveals that the dragon was really just a large wooden puppet made by Ashildr; not only that, but thanks to Clara’s phone they have a recording of the Mire running away from the rubbish construction, now with the ‘Benny Hill’ theme added for comedic effect. The Doctor threatens to upload the recording to the Galactic Hub, which will ruin the Mire’s reputation as fearless warriors; Odin threatens the Time lord, but the Doctor just hacks his teleport and sends him packing. Once the Mire have departed in their spaceship, the villagers are ecstatic at their triumph – until they see Ashildr sitting slumped in her chair, the huge helmet still over her head. Ashildr’s father Nollarr removes the device, only to discover his daughter has died of heart failure. Leaving the devastated Nollarr cradling Ashildr’s lifeless form, the Doctor declares that he has had enough of losing people; Clara tries to reassure him, but the Doctor suddenly remembers where he has seen his own face before: it belonged to Caecilius, the Roman his tenth incarnation and Donna saved from the destruction of Pompeii. The Doctor realises that he subconsciously took Caecilius appearance as a reminder that he saves people – and now he will save Ashildr. Returning to the barn, the Doctor removes a small component from the Mire helmet: a battlefield medical kit. Reprogramming the device for humans, the Time Lord then places it on the dead girl’s forehead, watching as it melts into her skin. The medical kit quickly repairs Ashildr’s body, and to everyone’s astonishment and joy, she comes back to life! Giving Ashildr a second medkit, the Doctor makes his goodbyes and then leaves with Clara. Finally reaching the TARDIS, the Doctor tells his friend that the medkit will keep fixing Ashildr – she may well be immortal now. When Clara asks why he gave Ashildr a second device, the Doctor explains that it is for when she meets someone special. But has the Doctor made a mistake? Has he unwittingly created the human-alien hybrid abomination of ancient Time Lord prophecy? Only time will tell – as Ashildr lives through the centuries, but never ages…


Peter Capaldi (The Doctor), Jenna Coleman (Clara), Maisie Williams (Ashildr), David Schofield (Odin), Simon Lipkin (Nollarr), Ian Conningham (Chuckles), Tom Stourton (Lofty), Alastair Parker (Limpy), Murray McArthur (Hasten), Barnaby Kay (Heidi)

Directed by Ed Bazalgette
Produced by Derek Ritchie
Executive Producers Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin
A BBC Wales production

TX (BBC 1 & BBC 1 HD):
17th October 2015 @ 8.20 pm


Notes:
*Featuring the Twelfth Doctor and Clara

*Part one of a two-part story

*Working title: 'The Allfather's Army'