'Love & Monsters' (Story Code 2.10) by Russell T Davies

"You can't imagine it. The Doctor's machine. The most beautiful sound in the world..." - Elton Pope

Elton Pope, an everyday man living in an everyday bedsitter, records a video diary recounting the not-so-everyday tale of his life. He begins by telling of the time he found a mysterious Police Telephone box standing outside an abandoned factory; looking inside the building, he witnessed an enigmatic man known as ‘The Doctor’ dealing with what appeared to be a ferocious alien monster with the help of his attractive and feisty young companion. When the Doctor recognised Elton, the young man ran off, only to hear a mysterious wheezing, groaning noise ring out all around him… Elton first met the Doctor when he was a small boy: hearing a noise downstairs, Elton saw the strange man standing in his living room; however, the events surrounding that particular incident are cloudy… Other amazing things have happened to Elton: two years ago he was out shopping, when a host of shop dummies came to life and attacked shoppers; a year later, and he saw an alien spaceship smash into Big Ben; then, at Christmas, another huge, spaceship appeared in the skies over London. Looking for information on the internet, Elton discovered a blog written by a girl named Ursula Blake, and a new picture of the Doctor, looking exactly as he did in Elton’s living room all those years ago. After Elton made contact with Ursula he learnt that there were other people with similar sightings of the Doctor and the Police Box; this ‘Inner Sanctum’ met regularly in a warehouse under the public library. Ursula took Elton to meet the group, and introduced him to her friends Mr Skinner, Bridget and Bliss; Elton accepted their invitation to join them, and even gave them a name: L.I.N.D.A. – the London Investigation ‘n’ Detective Agency. They all became good friends, meeting regularly, sharing stories of the Doctor, and even combining their love of music to form an amateur band. However, this all changed with the arrival of Victor Kennedy, an overbearing, flamboyantly dressed man, who had plans for the group... Victor had footage of the Doctor and his friend, and a recording of the sound of the Police Box – his spaceship, something that Elton recalled hearing on that fateful day in his past. Victor soon took over the group, handing them files stolen from ‘Torchwood’ and then sending them out to find the Doctor – all except Bliss, who stayed behind to talk to Victor, and was never seen again… When Elton later told Victor that he saw the Doctor and Rose, but let them get away, Victor was furious; he then gave the order to search for the Doctor’s companion. Apparently, information on her was sketchy, as the Torchwood files were corrupted by a virus called ‘Bad Wolf’; but having determined that her accent was from London, the group were sent to scour the capitol to find her. Elton lucked out when an old lady recognised the picture of Rose; after seeing the girl’s mother, Jackie, enter a laundrette, he was quickly able to befriend her. That night, Victor was pleased with Elton’s report, and sent the members of L.I.N.D.A. out to gather more intelligence – all except Bridget, who stayed bahind… Jackie became very taken with Elton, and deliberately found things for her new ‘handyman’ to do around the house. It wasn’t long before she tried to seduce him, but before Elton could score, the mood was broken by a phone call from Rose. Elton offered to cheer Jackie up with a pizza, but when he returned, he found am angry Jackie, furious after inadvertently finding the picture of Rose in his jacket. Having realised how shameful his behaviour had been, Elton returned to L.I.N.D.A. and informed Victor that he was leaving the group; Ursula and Mr Skinner agreed, also believing that the group had lost its focus ever since Victor arrived. As they stormed out, Victor offered to give Mr Skinner information to help him find Bridget; outside, Elton and Ursula failed to hear their colleague’s scream, but they had to return when Ursula found that she had left her phone behind. Back inside the meeting room they saw Victor in his true form: a hideous, fat, green alien creature, whose body contaoined the wailing faces of their lost comrades in its folds of skin. When Victor revealed that he absorbed the others, Elton dubbed him an ‘Absorbaloff’; Ursula attempted to rescue her friends by threatening Victor with his cane, but he merely absorbed her too. Elton fled in terror, but Victor pursued him, easily keeping pace with the young man, and eventually cornering him in a cul-de-sac. With Ursula now gone, Elton gave up hope; but before Victor could absorb him, he was interrupted by the arrival of the Doctor’s spaceship. The Doctor emerged, closely followed by Rose, who immediately remonstrated Elton for upsetting her mother. After Victor announced that he came from the Slitheen’s sister planet of Clom, he threatened to absorb Elton unless the Doctor allowed himself to be absorbed. But the Doctor called Victor’s bluff, and encouraged the remnants of L.I.N.D.A. to rebel; as Victor was pulled apart, Elton snapped the alien’s cane, ceasing the limitation field that it was projecting. Victor instantly dissolved into a pool of liquid, which was quickly absorbed into the ground. The Doctor then told Elton why he was in the boy’s living room all those years ago: the Time Lord was chasing an elemental shade, a shadow creature that had escaped from the Howling Halls, which killed Elton’s mother before he could destroy it. With his memory unlocked, Elton was wracked with tears, and comforted by his new-found friends; however, all was not lost, as the Doctor was then able to use his sonic screwdriver to save the last remnant of Ursula… Some time later, after the Doctor and Rose have left, Elton wraps up his video diary, reflecting on the impact that the Doctor has on people’s lives. Despite everything that has happened he is still happy because he still has his lover, Ursula, in his life – albeit it the form of a face stuck in a paving stone…

David Tennant (The Doctor), Billie Piper (Rose Tyler), Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler), Peter Kay (Victor Kennedy [The Abzorbaloff]), Marc Warren (Elton Pope), Shirley Henderson (Ursula Blake), Simon Greenall (Mr Skinner), Moya Brady (Bridget), Kathryn Drysdale (Bliss), Paul Kasey (The Hoix), Bella Emberg (Mrs Croot)

Directed by Dan Zeff
Produced by Phil Collinson
Executive Producers Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner
A BBC Wales production

TX:
17th June 2006 @ 7.00 pm

Notes:
*Featuring the Tenth Doctor, Rose and Jackie

*Working title: 'I Love the Doctor'

*The Abzorbaloff creature was created by 'Blue Peter' viewer William Grantham for the show's 'Design a Monster' competition; the nine-year old's winning entry was one of 43,920 submissions, and was chosen by Russell T Davies and David Tennant

*Keep an eye out for 'Totally Doctor Who' presenter Barney Harwood, who plays a market stall holder in the scene where Elton meets Mrs Croot

*The Absorbaloff hides behind a newspaper which has a headline of "Saxon leads polls with 64 per cent"; for more on the mysterious Saxon, see 'The Sound of Drums'

*Music tracks heard in this episode include 'Daniel' by Elton John; 'Don't Bring Me Down', 'Mr. Blue Sky' and 'Turn to Stone' by The Electric Light Orchestra; 'Regresa A Mi' by Il Divo (a cover version of Toni Braxton's Spanish version of 'Un-Break My Heart'); the L.I.N.D.A. gang also give performances of 'Don't Bring Me Down' by The Electric Light Orchestra, the traditional folk song 'I Gave My Love a Cherry' (a.k.a. 'The Riddle Song'), and 'Brand New Key' by Melanie Safka (or The Wurzels!)

*The 'Torchwood' Files: Victor’s files on the Doctor are from the Torchwood Archive; he also mentions that all files on Rose were deleted by the 'Bad Wolf' virus

*TARDISODE: Someone is monitoring a website devoted to the Doctor, a website run by a secret organisation named L.I.N.D.A. But is this someone human – or a monster..? [Cast: Olwyn Rees (Secretary), Dean Harris (Victor Kennedy)]