'Orphan 55' (Story Code 12.03) by Ed Hime

“The native species want you and your guests dead.” - The Doctor

While the Doctor, Yaz and Ryan clean up the TARDIS after a messy encounter with mating alien space squid, Graham digs out some coffee tokens he has saved up for a free holiday. Before the Doctor can stop him, Graham assembles the objects into a cube, which teleports the gang to the luxury resort Tranquillity Spa. Here they meet their host, the dog-like Hyph3n, who announces that they have been booked in for a two-week all-inclusive stay. The gang split to up explore, but Ryan quickly gets into trouble by contracting a ‘hopper virus’ from a drinks machine; luckily the Doctor has first aid training, and gets Ryan to sneeze the virus worm into an empty crisp packet. In the base command centre, the security officer, Kane, learns of further virus outbreaks and a break-in; she orders an armed security guard, Vorm, to investigate, then announces a routine drill to send the guests to muster stations. Left behind in the canteen to recover while the Doctor investigates the commotion, Ryan meets a girl called Bella; seeing the armed security guard, they decide to follow... Cornering Hyph3n in a corridor, the Doctor uses her psychic paper to pose as a resort inspector; Hyph3n shows her inside a ‘linen cupboard’, actually the hidden command centre. Noticing how the overload of targeted hopper virus attacks has caused a failure in the resort’s ionic membrane, the Doctor wonders why Tranquillity Spa needs such safeguards… Terrifying monsters break into the resort and begin slaughtering the holidaymakers. Graham meets maintenance engineer Nevi and his son Sylas, and together they watch as the guests’ life-signs go offline. Using the PA, the Doctor orders everyone to the command centre; with her sonic screwdriver she neutralises the virus and starts building a new security membrane. Yaz leads a group of guests to the command centre, meeting Graham and his new pals; but while Velma gets inside, Benni is taken by the creatures. Ryan and Bella are trapped in the steam room with one of the creatures, but it is forced away as the new ionic membrane activates across the base. In the aftermath, the Doctor and her friends learn from Kane that the monsters, the Dregs, are the indigenous life-forms of the alien planet where Tranquillity Spa is located; the hotel is surrounded by a holographic wall, and its real surroundings are far from the idyllic landscape displayed… Detecting Benni’s life-signs outside the base, the Doctor and her fam form a rescue party of Velma, Bella, Nevi, Sylas, Hyph3n, Kane and Vorm. After donning breathing apparatus, the team take Nevi’s armoured truck outside Tranquillity’s dome and into the uninhabitable wasteland of the planet Orphan 55, a dead planet rendered toxic to life by over-industrialization. Noting how fast Benni’s life-signs are moving, Kane suspects the Dregs are using him as a lure, but the Doctor refuses to abort their mission. Seeing the randomised settings on the Kane’s gun, the Doctor deduces that the Dregs have become hyper-adaptable to survive the heavy industrial fallout. The truck crashes into a barricade set by the Dregs, who surround the vehicle. Velma hears Benni calling out for his own death, then the Dregs begin tearing open the truck. While Kane and Vorm keep the creatures at bay, the Doctor leads everyone out through the escape hatch under the vehicle; Hyph3n is killed, but the others manage to a grab an injured Kane as they reach the safety a nearby service hatch. In the tunnel below they find a short-range teleport, but then Bella seizes Kane’s gun and reveals that she is her daughter. Bella’s anger at being abandoned by her mother, and the recent death of her father, has led her to sabotage of Tranquillity Spa, which she wants destroyed. When a Dreg appears, Ryan pushes Bella into the teleport, taking them both back to Tranquillity; here Bella sets about activating her homemade bombs, but one blows up early, destroying the hotel’s mainframe… Fleeing from the Dregs, Kane leads the group along the service tunnels back to Tranquillity; the Doctor notices an ancient sign written in Russian, which states that they are inside a Siberian underground station - with horror, Yaz and Graham realise they are on Earth. The Dregs start to close in, but Velma gives up her life to buy the others time to escape. With their oxygen supplies running out, the survivors make their way through a nest of sleeping Dreg and finally reach the stairs leading up to Tranquillity base. But the Doctor goes back to examine a larger Dreg - the Alpha - and discovers that it is breathing in carbon dioxide and exhaling oxygen, allowing her to replenish her air supply. The Doctor tries a mind-meld with the Alpha Dreg, but this only wakes the creature, and it attacks - only to be forced back by a blast from Kane’s gun. Reaching the bomb-blasted remains of the bar, the Doctor, Graham and Yaz are reunited with Ryan and Bella; after explaining the situation, and how the Dregs are mankind’s mutated future after global warming, famine and war have ravaged the planet, they begin barricading the resort in preparation for attack. But the Alpha Dreg follows them, and with a roar it summons thousands of Dregs that amass outside… With the ionic membrane down and the base on phantom power, the Doctor and Nevi work out a way of fixing the teleport by using the hopper virus to mutate the existing fuel supply; Nevi starts work, but upsets his son, who leaves the command centre in a sulk. After increasing the oxygen level in the base to help drive off the Dreg, the Doctor sends Ryan and Yaz to barricade the Spa against the invaders, while Graham and Nevi begin work on the teleport. The Doctor and Bella search for Sylas; they find him in the canteen, under threat from the Alpha Dreg, but manage to lead the monster into the security cage inside the command centre. Ryan and Yaz are attacked by Dreg and forced to flee; they race outside and join the others just as Bella’s bombs detonate, destroying Tranquillity Spa. With Sylas’ help Nevi repairs the teleport, but it is unable to transport everyone. Bella takes up her mother’s gun to draw away the approaching Dregs, but the weapon fails; Kane steps forward to help her daughter, and together they make their stand. The Doctor sends Nevi and Sylas home, and then she, Graham, Yaz and Ryan are returned to the TARDIS. After wondering at the fate of Bella and Kane, Ryan and his friends consider their shocking vision of Earth’s fate. The Doctor reassures them that it is just a possible future, but could still come true if humanity doesn’t change its ways…


Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor), Bradley Walsh (Graham O'Brian), Tosin Cole (Ryan Sinclair), Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan), Laura Fraser (Kane), Gia Ré (Bella), James Buckley (Nevi), Julia Foster (Vilma), Amy Booth-Steel (Hyph3n), Will Austin (Vorm), Col Farrell (Benni), Lewin Lloyd (Sylas), Spencer Wilding (Lead Dreg / Creature Movement)

Directed by Lee Haven Jones
Produced by Alex Mercer
Executive Producers Chris Chibnall and Matt Strevens
A BBC Wales production

TX (BBC 1 & BBC 1 HD):
12th January 2020 @ 7.10 pm

Notes:
*Featuring the Thirteenth Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz

*This episode has no pre-title sequence

*Working title: 'Safari'