The Lodger (Story Code 5.11) by Gareth Roberts

“All I have to do is pass as an ordinary human being. Simple. What could possibly go wrong?” - The Doctor

Instead of taking the Doctor and Amy to the moon of a far-off planet, the TARDIS materialises in Colchester, Essex. But as the Doctor steps outside, the ship’s console suddenly explodes: the TARDIS immediately dematerialises, taking Amy with it – but stranding the Doctor... The next day, a passer-by hears a cry for help issuing from the intercom of Flat 79B, Aickman Road; but once the unwitting Samaritan has gone inside to help the old man living upstairs, he never comes down again… In the flat downstairs, Craig Owens is looking forward to a quiet night in with a pizza and his workmate, Sophie; unfortunately, their evening is interrupted by the sudden appearance of a strange stain on the ceiling, oddly flickering lights, and a crash from upstairs – and then Sophie gets a phone call from a friend, and has to leave. Finally finding the courage to tell Sophie that he loves her, Craig races to the front door to answer the doorbell – only to meet the Doctor, who has come in response to Craig’s advert for a lodger! After handing Craig a paper bag full of cash, the Doctor gets acquainted with his new flatmate over an omelette, and then retires to his new bedroom. Using a handy communicator, the Doctor contacts Amy and informs her that the TARDIS is locked in a materialisation loop, and that whatever is preventing the ship from landing is situated in the flat above. While they chat, a passing clubber answers a call for help from the intercom of number 79B – and once she goes upstairs, the Doctor experiences a localised time-loop, while Amy and the TARDIS are thrown into chaos once more... Later that night, the Doctor brings home a shopping trolley full of junk, and then takes over the bathroom for a shower. Craig gets worried by more noises from upstairs, but when he checks up on his neighbour, he is turned away for his troubles. Things get even more annoying for Craig: Sophie turns up and remarks on how good-looking the Doctor is, and then Craig’s mates from his pub football team phone up with the news that they are a man down for that afternoon’s match – forcing Craig to turn to the Doctor for help. Even though he has never played the game before, the Doctor accepts… and that afternoon, he surprises everyone (including himself) with his football skills, scoring goal after goal after goal! Later, as the Doctor and the lads from the ‘Kings Arms’ celebrate their win over the ‘Rising Sun’ team (apart for Craig, who is a bit put out at being overshadowed by his new lodger), the occupant of 79B, Aickman Road claims another victim; as the Doctor looks on, Craig and the others are caught in another time-loop, which also momentarily affects the TARDIS. Some time later, back at the flat, Craig notices that the stain on his ceiling has gotten bigger; with the Doctor hard at work in his room, Craig looks forward to an evening alone with Sophie – but once again his plans are spoiled, when the Doctor joins them in the living room while he rewires the flat’s electrical system. To Craig’s further annoyance, Sophie actually enjoys the Doctor’s company, especially when he inspires her to do more with her life – unlike Craig... Later that evening, after Sophie has gone home, the Doctor retires to his room and activates the scanner he has built out of scrap; as the bizarre construction rotates with a life of its own, the Doctor contacts Amy and instructs her to look up the history of the house in the TARDIS data bank. Meanwhile, Craig decides to touch the stain on the ceiling – and gets his fingers stung by a jolt of strange energy… The next morning the Doctor takes Craig breakfast in bed and finds his flatmate close to death, apparently poisoned; luckily the Doctor knows just what to do, and he saves Craig’s life using copious amounts of healing tea. Craig spends much of the day in bed recovering, and when he finally wakes up, he is horrified at how late he is for work; however, after rushing to the call centre, Craig learns that instead of being in trouble with his manager he is actually in his good books – because the Doctor is there working as his representative; furthermore, not only is the Doctor doing a brilliant job, but Sophie has taken his advice and is looking into the job she has always wanted, as a wildlife volunteer overseas. Furious at how his sedentary life has been usurped by his flatmate, Craig storms home and bursts into the Doctor’s room, where he finds the scanner made out of junk. Arriving home, the Doctor learns from a helpful cat that although many people go upstairs, no one ever returns. Finally snapping, Craig confronts the Doctor and orders him to leave, forcing the Time Lord to take desperate action by sharing his thoughts via a particularly painful process to show Craig why he must stay. Unbeknownst to both of them, Sophie arrives outside, where she is drawn upstairs by a little girl asking for help… With Craig now fully aware of his lodger’s true identity and the real reason for his visit, the Doctor contacts Amy and tells her that someone upstairs has a time engine and is taking people’s energy to power it. When the two flatmates experience another short time loop they rush upstairs to investigate its cause – just as Amy warns them that there is no upstairs: number 79 is a one-storey house. Bursting into the upstairs flat, the Doctor and Craig find themselves in an impossibly-large chamber, its central console surrounded by desiccated corpses; the Doctor tells Craig and Amy that the ship is someone’s attempt to build a TARDIS, which has been hidden by a memory-influencing perception-filter. Seeing Sophie being pulled towards the controls by a beam of energy, the Doctor intervenes; then the image of the old man appears: the time ship’s emergency programme, automatically activated after the crew died in the crash. On scanning the Doctor, the hologram announces that after trying seventeen people, it has finally found a pilot that can enable it to leave. As the Doctor is pulled towards the console by a beam of energy, he realises his power is too much for the ship to control: activating its controls will destroy the entire solar system; needing someone who is his opposite, someone who wants to stay, the Doctor orders Craig to touch the controls instead, and then gets him to explain why he wants to stay so that the ship will stabilise; unwillingly, Craig obeys, finally admitting to Sophie that he doesn’t want to go anywhere without her. Hearing how Craig feels about her, Sophie reveals her love for him and, about flipping time, the two finally kiss – and elsewhere, Amy is relieved to find that the TARDIS is no longer in danger. However, when Craig and Sophie realise they can go anywhere together now, they cause the time ship to overload: the time ship’s hologram announces an emergency shut down – the vessel is about to implode! The Doctor, Craig and Sophie race outside, emerging onto the street just as the top floor of the house shimmers out of existence to be replaced by the form of the alien vessel – which promptly vanishes. A little while later, as Craig and Sophie enjoy a kiss and cuddle on the sofa under a stain-free ceiling, the Doctor tries to sneak away quietly. However, his two friends see him going, and after giving him the keys to the flat – just in case – they give him a proper goodbye hug. The Doctor then sets off for the TARDIS – unaware that back in the kitchen, just behind the fridge, another of the mysterious space-time cracks has appeared… Now safely in the TARDIS, the Doctor busies himself at the controls while he instructs Amy to write the note about Aickman Road that he read three days earlier in the local paper-shop window. But when Amy goes to get a pen from the Doctor’s jacket, she finds the engagement ring that Rory gave her, which causes her to recall the sinister cracks in time…

Matt Smith (The Doctor), Karen Gillan (Amy Pond), James Corden (Craig Owens), Daisy Haggard (Sophie), Owen Donovan (Steven), Babatunde Aleshe (Sean), Jem Wall (Michael), Karen Seacombe (Sandra), Kamara Bacchus (Clubber)

Directed by Catherine Morshead
Produced by Peter Bennett
Executive Producers Steven Moffat, Piers Wenger and Beth Willis
A BBC Wales production

TX (BBC 1 & BBC HD):
12th June 2010 @ 6.45 pm

Notes:
*Featuring the Eleventh Doctor and Amy

*Working titles: 'Mrs Meglos', 'Something at the Top of the Stairs' and 'Don't Go Up the Stairs'

*This story is based upon a comic strip Gareth Roberts wrote for ‘Doctor Who Magazine’, also called ‘The Lodger’, in which the Tenth Doctor stayed with Mickey Smith