'Flux': Chapter 1 'The Halloween Apocalypse' (Story Code 13.01) by Chris Chibnall

“Trick or treat, Doctor!” – Swarm

The Doctor and Yaz are hot on the trail of an elusive alien named Karvanista – or at least they were, until they got captured, shackled upside-down from a gravity bar, and suspended over a sea of acid on a world facing imminent destruction. After the gloating Karvanista departs for planet Earth before it too faces destruction, the Doctor and Yaz make a hair-raising airborne escape with the aid of the TARDIS. Safely inside her space-time ship, the Doctor sets the controls in pursuit of Karvanista…

Liverpool, 1820: James Stonehouse pays a visit to Joseph Williamson, the manager of his mining operation, and complains that the local workforce is being used to excavate unnecessary tunnels… 201 years later, Liverpudlian Dan Lewis acts as an unofficial tour guide at the Museum of Liverpool, before being escorted off the premises by Diane, an actual member of staff. But Diane isn’t really cross, and she looks forward to Halloween drinks with Dan later…

While having trouble piloting the TARDIS, the Doctor experiences a psychic connection with Swarm, an ancient humanoid entity imprisoned within an asteroid since the dawn of the universe. The Doctor witnesses Swarm absorb the life essences of two visiting guards, allowing him to renew his body, throw off his chains and escape. As the vision ends, the Doctor is unnerved by the sight of the TARDIS control room’s crystal stanchions leaking black fluid…

Back on Earth, Dan finishes up his work at a local food bank and then heads home, unaware that a flying surveillance device is watching him. After a visit from some trick-or-treaters, Dan receives an unexpected guest in the shape of Karvanista, a dog-like alien who smashes down Dan’s back door and then imprisons him inside a force-cube. A few minutes later, the TARDIS arrives on the streets near Anfield football stadium. Using her sonic to track non-terrestrial weapon traces, the Doctor leads Yaz to Dan’s house; inside they find residue from the stun-cube, and then use Dan’s laptop to identify Karvanista’s ship as it heads towards a fleet of seven-billion Lupari spaceships. Realising that the high-tech laptop isn’t Dan’s kit, the Doctor and Yaz race outside - just before the device emits a compressor blast that reduces Dan’s house to micro-size.

In a remote house in the Arctic Circle, a married couple receive a visit from a small alien device that emits a bleeping alarm. Choosing to ignore the warning, the woman smashes the device…

Dan awakes to find himself imprisoned in an electrified cage, aboard Karvanista’s spaceship. Dan quickly works out that the canine alien wants him alive – but why?

Returning to the TARDIS, the Doctor and Yaz are approached by a woman named Claire; whilst they do not recognise her, Claire seemingly knows them, having met them in her past, their future. Receiving a warning of the approaching Lupari fleet, the Doctor and Yaz hurriedly leave Claire and enter the TARDIS, only to discover that the internal dimensions have created another, skewed, doorway into the ship. Setting the TARDIS on course for Karvanista’s ship, the Doctor runs a check on her mind after her earlier glitch. But Yaz is more concerned about her friend’s obsession over Karvanista, and suspects her of hiding something…

Claire goes home and finds a Weeping Angel waiting for her. Claire tries desperately not to blink so as to keep the creature immobile – but then she fumbles her keys, allowing the Angel to send her into the past…

Far out in space lies Observation Outpost Rose, maintained by observation officer Vinder. The service commander makes another report detailing a complete lack of activity – then watches in astonishment as a massive billowing cloud-like event appears on the fringes of a nearby solar system and begins destroying all planets in its path…

Arriving in the Arctic Circle, Swarm enters the house of the married couple. After absorbing the life of the husband, the creature causes his victim’s wife to transform into her true form: that of Swarm’s sister, Azure…

The TARDIS encounters temporal residue around Karvanista’s ship, but manages to slip through and materialise inside the vessel. Sending Yaz off to rescue Dan, the Doctor confronts Karvanista and demands that he call off his invasion of Earth and tell her everything about The Division. After refusing to divulge any information on the mysterious Time Lord Black Ops organisation, Karvanista explains that his people are not kidnapping humans – they are trying to save them; it seems that a cataclysmic event called the Flux is rapidly approaching the planet, and the Lupari fleet are charged with evacuating the human race as their species-bonded guardians, before the Earth is destroyed.

Aboard Observation Outpost Rose, Vinder watches as a third planet falls prey to the Flux’s wave of destruction. The commander manages transmit a warning, then escapes in a survival pod just before the cloud obliterates his outpost…

Having freed Dan, Yaz and her new friend arrive on the bridge just in time to hear Karvanista instruct the Lupari battalion to rescue the humans and their guardians. Karvanista is furious that his human has escaped, and he opens fire on the Doctor and Yaz as they rush Dan towads the TARDIS. Leading her companions through a new door in the floor of the console room, the Doctor hands Dan his tiny house and then explains about the oncoming threat of the Flux event.

Thirty trillion light years away, aboard a Sontaran Battleship, Commander Riskaw receives a report from a fellow officer, Skaak. The Sontarans are now aware that the Flux is approaching, and are looking forward to the glory of the oncoming battle…

Following readings associated with the Flux, the TARDIS takes the Doctor, Yaz and Dan to the edge of Earth’s solar system. As the ship’s Cloister Bell chimes a warning the cloud-like Flux arrives, displacing every particle in its path. The Doctor experiences another vision, in which she stands upon a desert world as it is consumed by the Flux - then Swarm appears. Amused to learn that his enemy has no recollection of their previous battles, the Swam gloats that he has the advantage in what will be their final fight. After Swarm releases his psychic hold on her, the Doctor fixes her attention back on the TARDIS, taking evasive action as the Flux comes directly at the ship. The Doctor contacts Karvanista with a warning: with the Flux so close, the Lupari fleet will not have time to evacuate the Earth…

Back in Liverpool, Diane waits for Dan on a dark suburban street. A strange voice compels her to walk inside a spooky-looking house nearby – and after stepping through its doorway and into a blazing white light, Diane finds herself standing in a water-logged cave, facing Swarm’s sister…

As the Flux closes in, the Doctor instructs Karvanista to align his battalion’s spaceships into their protective formation. The Lupari vessels quickly interlock, forming an impenetrable shield around the Earth that holds back the oncoming destructive cloud. Realising that the TARDIS cannot outrun the Flux, the Doctor hits her ship’s console with her trusty hammer, sending a beam of pure vortex energy into the deadly cloud. But this has no effect – the Flux is unrelenting, and the Doctor is powerless as the TARDIS doors burst open and the cataclysmic force rushes inside the ship…


Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor), Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan), John Bishop (Dan Lewis), Craige Els (Karvanista), Steve Oram (Joseph Williamson), Nadia Albina (Diane), Sam Spruell (Swarm), Rochenda Sandall (Azure / Anna), Jacob Anderson (Service Commander Inston-Vee Vinder), Annabel Scholey (Claire), Jonathan Watson (Commander Ritskaw ), Dan Starkey (Kragar), Matthew Needham (Old Swarm), Sarah Amankwah (En Sentac), Charlie Oscar (K-Toscs), Richard Tate (Wilder), Paul Leonard (James Stonehouse), Heather Bleasdale (Wilma), John May (Kev), Gunnar Cauthery (Jȯn), Barbara Fadden (Weeping Angel)

Directed by Jamie Magnus Stone
Executive Producers Nikki Wilson, Ben Irving, Matt Strevens and Chris Chibnall
A BBC Wales production

TX (BBC 1 & BBC 1 HD):
31st October 2021 @ 6.25 pm

Notes:
*Featuring the Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz and Dan, and introducing Vinder

*This 49-minute episode is part one of a six-part story

*The title sequence now credits Jodie Whittaker, Mandip Gill and John Bishop, and carries the overarching title of ‘Doctor Who - Flux’