'Flux': Chapter 3 'Once, Upon Time' (Story Code 13.03) by Chris Chibnall

“Time is playing games with you all.” - The Mouri

In the aftermath of the Flux event, a young woman named Bel fights for survival on a ravaged world. Evading Daleks and swarms of deadly blue mites, Bel searches for her lost love…

On the planet Time, Swarm activates the Temple of Atopos, unleashing time upon the imprisoned Yaz and Vinder. In a split-second before, the Doctor grabs Dan, showves him onto one of the burned-out Mouri’s platforms, then stands on another and activates her sonic screwdriver – sending them both into the heart of the timestorm, along with Yaz and Vinder. But the Doctor’s attempt to shelter her friends in the eye of the storm is quickly ruined, and as her friends are pulled away into time, the Doctor narrowly misses an attack by a Weeping Angel, as time claims her too…

The Doctor finds herself back on the planet Time, at the Siege of the Temple of Atropos; she is accompanied by Yaz, Dan and Vinder, who wield heavy weapons and wear the uniforms of agents of the Division, the Time Lord black ops organisation… Elsewhere, in Liverpool, Dan meets Diane for an after-work coffee. After seeing a swarm of strange blue mites in the sky, Dan is surprised when day suddenly becomes night, and Diane disappears. Seeing the Passenger standing before him, Dan is then visited by a ghost-like image of the Doctor… Yaz is back on police patrol, with a partner who keeps turning into the Doctor. When Yaz sees a Weeping Angel in their patrol car’s mirrors, the Doctor warns that the deadly assassin is trying to break though into Yaz’s timestream… Vinder relives the time his commanding officer posted him as guardian to a powerful politician known as the Grand Serpent; but in this version of events, Vinder’s commander keeps turning into Yaz, and a wraith-like Doctor floats close by… On Time, the Doctor and her team blow the gates of the temple and make their way inside; their mission is to apprehend the Ravagers who have seized control of the building, and to release the hostages they have taken. Thrown back into the timestorm, the Doctor is confronted three giant Mouri, who warn that time is playing games with her. Adamant at saving her friends, the Doctor is sent back to the Temple of Atropos, where she sees a reflection of herself in the mirror - but instead of the face of her Thirteenth incarnation, the Doctor see the image of the ’Fugitive Doctor’. Realising that she is inside a hidden memory, and that her teammates are not really Yaz, Dan and Vinder, the Doctor deduces that her real friends are in danger of being submerged in their own timestreams… Dan is transported to an underground tunnel, where he meets Joseph Williamson, who is busy firing an alien gun at an unseen enemy; after a swarm of alien mites sweeps past them, Dan is transported to the Liverpool docks in the present, where the spectre of the Doctor tells him that she is trying to hide him in his timestream…

Bel escapes her world in a stolen Lupari spaceship, only to land on world occupied by a massive army of Cybermen…

Vinder meets the Grand Serpent, who explains his new responsibilities, while Yaz seemingly watches from nearby. As the politician makes plans to meet with visiting alien representatives, Vinder objects to reliving this painful memory… Yaz and her sister are playing videogames together when the Doctor finally breaks into Yaz’s timestream by swapping places with Sonya; she explains that she is trying to keep Yaz safe, but splitting her attention across multiple timestreams is proving a strain. The Weeping Angel tries to break into reality through Yaz’s game; before the Doctor can help, she fades away, leaving Yaz to save herself and Sonya by smashing the games console... Dragged back to the Temple of Atropos, the Doctor inhabits the body of the Fugitive Doctor as she confronts Swarm and Azure. The two Ravagers sit upon self-appointed thrones, flanked by five Passengers. After explaining how each Passenger is a forbidden ‘holding entity’ that contains a hundred-thousand hostages, Swarm and Azure callously destroy two of them. But the Doctor has a plan: activating a control device, she reveals that she has substitued one of the Passengers with her own - one that contains the Mouri. Before Swarm can do anything, the alien priestesses take control of the Temple, allowing the Doctor’s team to imprison the two Ravagers inside stasis fields and teleport them away to be dealt with by the Division. Transported back into the timestorm, the Doctor asks the three Mouri for help in saving her friends, by using the same tactic they used in the past… Bel continues her search through space, when her ship is boarded by Cybermen; luckily Bel is handy with a gun, and she quickly deals with the invaders. Interrogating a dying Cyberman, Bel learns that the metal warriors are at war with the Daleks and Sontarans, as they fight for control over the remains of the universe…

The Grand Serpent meets with the alien representatives, and uses their negotiations for forming an alliance as an opportunity to deal with some of his personal enemies. Vinder later reports this act to his commander, a whistleblowing act of honesty that leads to his reposting in a remote outpost station in deep space. Cut off from home, Vinder sends one last message to his family… On Time, the Doctor deduces that ‘Dan’ is really Karvanista, but before she can learn more, she is pulled back into the timestorm. The Doctor uses the chance to implore the Mouri to send four priestess to replace those lost and damaged in the present; however, when she asks for answers to her hidden past, the Mouri refuse to allow any further exposure to time, which will surely kill her. In an instant the Doctor finds herself transported to an unfamiliar room, where a mysterious old lady informs her that the universe is over. After revealing that the Flux was deliberately implemented because of the Doctor, the old lady sends her back to the temple in the present. The Doctor arrives just as the Mouri take control of the inner temple’s controls, freeing Yaz, Vinder and Dan. His plan thwarted, Swarm summons a mass of the blue time force particles, then shows Dan that Diane is held prisoner inside the Passenger; leaving that threat hanging, Swarm departs, taking Azure and the Passenger with him. Left with more questions than answers, the Doctor urges her friends into the TARDIS, promising Dan that she will rescue Diane after they have taken Vinder home...

Bel rewatches a recording of her partner, Vinder. After hearing his last words to her and their unborn child, Bel promises to find him…

The TARDIS takes Vinder home, only to discover a world destroyed by the Flux. Vinder accepts a comms device from the Doctor, then sets off to find his family. Inside the safety of the TARDIS, Yaz takes out her mobile phone, only to recoil in horror as a Weeping Angel emerges from the device. Before the Doctor can do anything, the Angel seizes control of the TARDIS…


Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor), Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan), John Bishop (Dan Lewis), Thaddea Graham (Bel), Rochenda Sandall (Azure), Sam Spruell (Swarm), Jacob Anderson (Vinder), Nadia Albina (Diane), Jo Martin (Fugitive Doctor), Steve Oram (Joseph Williamson), Craig Parkinson (Grand Serpent), Bhavnisha Parmer (Sonya Kahn), Matthew Needham (Old Swarm), Craige Els (Karvanista), Barbara Flynn (Awsok), Jonny Mathers (Passenger), Chantelle Pierre (Police Officer), Amanda Drew (Voice of the Mouri), Nigel Richard Lambert (Priest Triangle)

Directed by Azhur Saleem
Produced by Pete Levy
Executive Producers Nikki Wilson, Ben Irving, Matt Strevens and Chris Chibnall
A BBC Wales production

TX (BBC 1 & BBC 1 HD):
14th November 2021 @ 6.30 pm

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

*This 49-minute story is part three of a six-part story