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The Unquiet Dead
"The Unquiet Dead" is the third episode of the first series of the British science-fiction television programme Doctor Who, first broadcast on 9 April 2005 on BBC One. It was written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Euros Lyn.
In the episode, the alien time traveller the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and his companion Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) travel to Victorian Cardiff on Christmas Eve, 1869 where there have been sightings of strange gas-like creatures. The Doctor and Rose team up with Charles Dickens (Simon Callow) to investigate Mr Sneed (Alan David), a man who runs a funeral parlour where it seems that corpses have come to life. It is revealed that the gaseous Gelth (voiced by Zoe Thorne) have entered Cardiff through a Rift, and wish to survive by taking over the corpses.
"The Unquiet Dead" is the first episode of the revival to be set in the past, and was intended to show the series' range. The original brief and script included a focus on mediums and was grimmer in tone, but it evolved into a story about zombies and became more of a "romp". Callow, who had researched Dickens as well as portraying him on multiple occasions, accepted the guest starring role in "The Unquiet Dead" because he felt the historical figure was written accurately. The episode introduced the Cardiff Rift, and also features a guest appearance by actress Eve Myles; Myles would go on to play Gwen Cooper in the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood from 2006. As contemporary Cardiff, location of the Doctor Who production, did not have enough Victorian architecture, location work for the episode was filmed in Swansea and Monmouth in September 2004 and Penarth in September and October, though one location scene was shot in Cardiff in September. Studio work was recorded at the Unit Q2 warehouse in Newport in September and October.
Computer-generated imagery (CGI) was used as the main visual effect for the Gelth. "The Unquiet Dead" was seen by 8.86 million viewers in the United Kingdom on first broadcast. It attracted generally positive reception, although some reviewers criticised some plot points and lack of moral dilemma.
The Ninth Doctor and Rose land in Cardiff on Christmas Eve, 1869. At a nearby funeral parlour, run by Gabriel Sneed and his servant Gwyneth, the corpse of the late Mrs Peace has been taken over by a blue vapour. She kills her grandson Mr. Redpath and escapes from the parlour. Gwyneth, a clairvoyant, senses that the corpse is going to see Charles Dickens at a nearby theatre. In the middle of Dickens' performance, the blue vapour leaves Mrs Peace and scares the audience away. The commotion attracts the attention of the Doctor and Rose, who rush to investigate. Sneed and Gwyneth arrive and capture the corpse, as well as Rose, who confronts them.
At the funeral parlour, Rose wakes up along with the newly-reanimated corpses of Mrs Peace and Mr Redpath. The Doctor and Dickens arrive and break into the parlour just in time to rescue Rose. The Doctor convinces Gwyneth to help him hold a séance to attempt to communicate with the corpses. The blue vapours fill the room and reveal that they are the Gelth, a once-corporeal alien race until they were devastated by the Time War. They plead with the Doctor to open the rift that exists in the morgue and allow "a few" Gelth to cross over. The Doctor offers the Gelth temporary use of the corpses until he can transport them to a place where they can build new bodies, using Gwyneth as a bridge to cross the rift.
Gwyneth stands in the middle of an arch and opens the rift, allowing the Gelth to cross over. The Gelth deceived how many of them there are, and their true motive is revealed: they intend to kill the living to give themselves more hosts and take over the planet. Sneed is killed and his body is possessed by the Gelth. Realising the Gelth are affected by the gas, Dickens extinguishes the gaslights and turns the gas on full, pulling the Gelth out of the bodies. Unable to send the Gelth back, Gwyneth takes out a box of matches, intending to ignite the gas and hold the Gelth in one spot with the explosion. The Doctor determines that Gwyneth is already dead, and that by opening the rift, she had doomed herself. The Doctor, Rose, and Dickens flee the parlour just before it explodes and burns, trapping the Gelth and closing the rift.
Executive producer and head writer Russell T Davies came up with the concept of "The Unquiet Dead". As the third episode of the revived series, it was designed to continue to show the range of the programme by exploring the past, after the contemporary "Rose" and far-future "The End of the World". The episode also reintroduces the TARDIS' habit of taking the Doctor to the wrong places, something that had not yet happened in the revived series. Davies felt that it was important for an episode to be set in Cardiff as that is where the new series is produced, and wanted the story to be set in Victorian times and feature Charles Dickens. Davies' original brief also included "fake mediums", and Gatiss originally set it in a "spiritualist hotel", which had fake mediums (such as a character named Mrs Plumchute) on the lower floors and Mr Sneed on the top, though he was unaware he was a true medium. However, Gwyneth became a more popular character with the production team, and she took on much of the medium role. Gatiss was also more interested in possession and zombies. Mrs Sneed was another character that was cut out of the episode; Gatiss believed she was unnecessary as Gwyneth was the "heart" of the story.
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The Unquiet Dead
"The Unquiet Dead" is the third episode of the first series of the British science-fiction television programme Doctor Who, first broadcast on 9 April 2005 on BBC One. It was written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Euros Lyn.
In the episode, the alien time traveller the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and his companion Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) travel to Victorian Cardiff on Christmas Eve, 1869 where there have been sightings of strange gas-like creatures. The Doctor and Rose team up with Charles Dickens (Simon Callow) to investigate Mr Sneed (Alan David), a man who runs a funeral parlour where it seems that corpses have come to life. It is revealed that the gaseous Gelth (voiced by Zoe Thorne) have entered Cardiff through a Rift, and wish to survive by taking over the corpses.
"The Unquiet Dead" is the first episode of the revival to be set in the past, and was intended to show the series' range. The original brief and script included a focus on mediums and was grimmer in tone, but it evolved into a story about zombies and became more of a "romp". Callow, who had researched Dickens as well as portraying him on multiple occasions, accepted the guest starring role in "The Unquiet Dead" because he felt the historical figure was written accurately. The episode introduced the Cardiff Rift, and also features a guest appearance by actress Eve Myles; Myles would go on to play Gwen Cooper in the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood from 2006. As contemporary Cardiff, location of the Doctor Who production, did not have enough Victorian architecture, location work for the episode was filmed in Swansea and Monmouth in September 2004 and Penarth in September and October, though one location scene was shot in Cardiff in September. Studio work was recorded at the Unit Q2 warehouse in Newport in September and October.
Computer-generated imagery (CGI) was used as the main visual effect for the Gelth. "The Unquiet Dead" was seen by 8.86 million viewers in the United Kingdom on first broadcast. It attracted generally positive reception, although some reviewers criticised some plot points and lack of moral dilemma.
The Ninth Doctor and Rose land in Cardiff on Christmas Eve, 1869. At a nearby funeral parlour, run by Gabriel Sneed and his servant Gwyneth, the corpse of the late Mrs Peace has been taken over by a blue vapour. She kills her grandson Mr. Redpath and escapes from the parlour. Gwyneth, a clairvoyant, senses that the corpse is going to see Charles Dickens at a nearby theatre. In the middle of Dickens' performance, the blue vapour leaves Mrs Peace and scares the audience away. The commotion attracts the attention of the Doctor and Rose, who rush to investigate. Sneed and Gwyneth arrive and capture the corpse, as well as Rose, who confronts them.
At the funeral parlour, Rose wakes up along with the newly-reanimated corpses of Mrs Peace and Mr Redpath. The Doctor and Dickens arrive and break into the parlour just in time to rescue Rose. The Doctor convinces Gwyneth to help him hold a séance to attempt to communicate with the corpses. The blue vapours fill the room and reveal that they are the Gelth, a once-corporeal alien race until they were devastated by the Time War. They plead with the Doctor to open the rift that exists in the morgue and allow "a few" Gelth to cross over. The Doctor offers the Gelth temporary use of the corpses until he can transport them to a place where they can build new bodies, using Gwyneth as a bridge to cross the rift.
Gwyneth stands in the middle of an arch and opens the rift, allowing the Gelth to cross over. The Gelth deceived how many of them there are, and their true motive is revealed: they intend to kill the living to give themselves more hosts and take over the planet. Sneed is killed and his body is possessed by the Gelth. Realising the Gelth are affected by the gas, Dickens extinguishes the gaslights and turns the gas on full, pulling the Gelth out of the bodies. Unable to send the Gelth back, Gwyneth takes out a box of matches, intending to ignite the gas and hold the Gelth in one spot with the explosion. The Doctor determines that Gwyneth is already dead, and that by opening the rift, she had doomed herself. The Doctor, Rose, and Dickens flee the parlour just before it explodes and burns, trapping the Gelth and closing the rift.
Executive producer and head writer Russell T Davies came up with the concept of "The Unquiet Dead". As the third episode of the revived series, it was designed to continue to show the range of the programme by exploring the past, after the contemporary "Rose" and far-future "The End of the World". The episode also reintroduces the TARDIS' habit of taking the Doctor to the wrong places, something that had not yet happened in the revived series. Davies felt that it was important for an episode to be set in Cardiff as that is where the new series is produced, and wanted the story to be set in Victorian times and feature Charles Dickens. Davies' original brief also included "fake mediums", and Gatiss originally set it in a "spiritualist hotel", which had fake mediums (such as a character named Mrs Plumchute) on the lower floors and Mr Sneed on the top, though he was unaware he was a true medium. However, Gwyneth became a more popular character with the production team, and she took on much of the medium role. Gatiss was also more interested in possession and zombies. Mrs Sneed was another character that was cut out of the episode; Gatiss believed she was unnecessary as Gwyneth was the "heart" of the story.