'The Well' (Story Code 15.03) by Russell T Davies and Sharma Angel Walfal

“There’s something behind me. I don't know what it is. No-one knows what it is! But it can't be seen and it can't be stopped. There’s something behind me all the time!” - Aliss Fenly

The Doctor is still unable to get Belinda home, leading them both to wonder if something has happened to the Earth. The TARDIS lands five-hundred-thousand years in the future, so the Doctor and Belinda change into spacesuits and eagerly head outside; they find themselves in a spaceship corridor, inadvertently joining a platoon of troopers, who promptly jump out into space. To Belinda’s relief they make a safe landing on the planet below. The Doctor takes a location reading with the Vindicator, then his psychic paper to convince the soldiers that they have been sent to review their performance. The troopers’ leader, Shaya Costallion, explains that they are on the inhospitable planet 6-7-6-7, where the atmosphere is doused in deadly galvanic radiation: whilst their suits will protect them, it will take five hours for their ship - and the TARDIS - to arrive safely at retrograde velocity. The eleven-strong squad has been sent to investigate Colony Base 15, a mining operation that they lost contact with fifteen days ago. The platoon soon arrives at the mining facility, entering in groups because of the six-person capacity of the airlock. Inside the devastated base they find the bodies of the colonists, all either shot or assaulted, lying in the shattered remains of every mirror in the base. Detecting a heartbeat on their scanner, the troopers lead the Doctor and Belinda to a circular room where their find a sole survivor, a terrified young deaf woman named Aliss Fenly. When the Doctor uses sign language to privately talk to Aliss, Shaya orders him to use a translation device, which displays a transcript of their conversation for all to see. Aliss explains that she had to shoot her best friend after everyone went mad and killed each other; Aliss is just the colony’s cook, and has no idea what caused the insanity. Belinda stays behind to tend Aliss’ wounds, guarded by several troopers, including the medically-trained Mo. Meanwhile, Shaya leads the rest of her team to the facility’s Central Control, the Doctor tagging along too; inside the huge circular chamber they find a bore hole that runs five miles deep beneath the planet’s crust. After deftly shooting off the restraining bolts on the computer system, Shaya tells the Doctor that she is from the planet Lombardo; the Doctor knows that world is part of a joint foundation with Earth - but curiously, Shaya has never heard of that planet, or of humans… Belinda glimpses something behind Aliss, but when she looks again, there is nothing there; she puts it down to paranoia, but the troopers see something too. Aliss ominously warns this is how the massacre started… Restoring the base’s records the Doctor, Shaya, and her second-in-command, Cassio Palin-Paleen, watch a corrupted recording of the miners and their commander, all screaming in terror. Hearing one of the colonists yelling “we don’t know what it is” the Doctor asks about the galvanic radiation covering the planet; Shaya explains that emanates from the nearby grey star, which was an Xtonic Star four-hundred-thousand years ago. Learning that the planet’s surface was stripped of its diamond surface, the Doctor realises where they are: the planet originally known as Midnight. Fearing for Belinda’s safety, the Doctor races back to his friend, only to discover that one of the troopers has just been killed by an unseen force. Aliss breaks down and confesses that something is constantly behind her: a creature that came out of the well, laughing, and which can be glimpsed from every angle. After Belinda notes that whatever is behind Aliss, anyone going directly it will be killed, the Doctor remarks that if the room were a clock-face, everyone would die at midnight. Cassio proposes shooting Aliss, but the woman warns that the malevolent creature will transfer to him - the colonists killed each other trying the same thing. The Doctor reveals that he visited the planet in a past life and encountered a vile monster that played games with its victims. Shyla believes his story, but Cassio just scoffs, and seizes the opportunity to relieve Shyla of duty and take command himself. Ignoring the Doctor’s warnings, Cassio decides to test Belinda’s theory and bring the creature out into the open, but this just results in the death of the trooper standing behind Aliss. Cassio panics, and as he wildly circles back around Aliss, more troopers are brutally killed. Taking command, Shyla orders Aliss to turn her back to Cassio: his immediate death ends the slaughter - for now. Declaring the mission a failure, Shyla gives the order to retreat and leave Aliss behind. The Doctor objects, and instead addresses the thing behind Aliss; hearing a voice whispering his name, the Doctor looks on in terror at the thins only he can now see. But this gives the Doctor an idea: if the thing behind the murdering creature gets killed, what if the thing behind it was itself? At the Doctor’s instruction, Shyla shoots the vents on a pipe feed behind the creature, causing mercury to flood out and create a huge mirror. Everyone then looks at Aliss, causing the creature to release her. Ordering everyone to run for the airlock, the Doctor looks back and sees the monster, still very much alive and in pursuit. Aliss and five troopers escape through the airlock, leaving the Doctor, Belinda, Shyla and Mo to await their turn; but they are too late: the creature has reached them, and is now behind Belinda. The Doctor offers himself to the monster instead, but Shyla has a better plan: she skilfully shoots Belinda just above her heart, killing her and transferring the things to herself. As Mo and the Doctor use a defibrillator to revive Belinda, Shyla rushes back to Central Control; the Doctor races after her, but is too late to prevent Shyla from throwing herself - and the creature - into the deep well… The Doctor takes Belinda back to the TARDIS to recover, both wondering at the fate of the Earth. On the troopers’ ship Mo makes a video report to her commanding officer, recommending that they nuke the mining site from orbit; but her officer - Mrs Flood again - is more interested in the Doctor’s use of the Vindicator. Hearing the TARDIS dematerialising, Mo rushes out to the corridor, where she is joined by another trooper, Val. To Mo’s horror, Val sees something behind her…

Ncuti Gatwa (The Doctor), Varada Sethu (Belinda Chandra), Annabel Brook (Hanno Yeft), Luke Rhodri (Callo Rence), Bethany Antonia (Mo Gilliben), Gaz Choudry (Kai Sabba), Christopher Chung (Cassio Palin-Paleen), Caoilfhionn Dunne (Shaya Costallion), Gary Lillai (Albie Bethick), Rose Ayling-Ellis (Aliss Fenly), Frankie Lipman (Sal Van Hyten), Paul Kasey (It Has No Name), Jermaine Dominique (Ulic Dazen), Anita Dobson (Mrs Flood), Amy Tyger (Val Vivo), Meg Abernethy Hope (Trooper 5), Beyagy Demba (Trooper 6), Sophie Cull (Trooper 7), Paul Skudder (Trooper 9), Umit Gozuacik (Trooper 10)

Directed by Amanda Brotchie

Produced by Chris May
Executive Producers Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner, Jane Tranter, Joel Collins and Phil Collinson
A Bad Wolf / BBC Wales production

TX (BBC 1 & BBC 1 HD):
26th April 2025 @ 7.20 pm


Notes:
*Featuring the Fifteenth Doctor and Belinda

*This story is a sequel to the 2008 story ‘Midnight’

*The Doctor and Belinda get changed to the tune of 'Toxic' by Britney Spears

*This episode premiered in the UK on the BBC's iPlayer in Ultra-High Definition (UHD) at 08.00 on the morning of 26th April 2025, and was simultaneously streamed on Disney+ outside the UK and Ireland