Doctor Who: The Cancelled Years Wiki
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Under the Lake was the first serial of Season 51 of Doctor Who. It was written by Toby Whithouse, directed by Daniel O'Hara and starred Damien Molony as the Fourteenth Doctor & Kate Bracken as Heather McKenzie.

Synopsis[]

Arriving on an underwater base under attack, it's up to the Doctor and Heather to save the frightened crew. But also onboard is an alien spaceship, and the base is being haunted by the most impossible of things.

The Doctor's deepest beliefs are challenged when he encounters something he cannot explain. Can it really be possible? Can ghosts be real?

Plot[]

To be added.

Cast[]

  • The Doctor - Damien Molony
  • Heather McKenzie - Kate Bracken
  • Moran - Colin McFarlane
  • Cass - Sophie Stone
  • Lunn - Zaqi Ismail
  • O'Donnell - Morven Christie
  • Bennett - Arsher Ali
  • Pritchard - Steven Robertson
  • Prentis - Paul Kaye
  • Fisher King - Neil Fingleton
  • Voice of Fisher King - Peter Serafinowicz
  • Roar of Fisher King - Corey Taylor

Crew[]

To be added.

Memorable Quotes[]

To be added.

References[]

Astronomy[]

  • The ghosts refer to Orion's sword.
  • The Orion Nebula, Orion, Rigel, and Betelgeuse are mentioned on a map of constellations.

The Doctor[]

  • The Doctor once converted his radio into a clockwork squirrel.
  • The conversion occurred because he could not stand hearing the song "Mysterious Girl" by Peter Andre any longer. Apparently each morning his radio was tuned to an Earth broadcaster that played the song daily for two weeks, which caused the song to replay itself in his mind for the rest of the day.
  • O'Donnell is familiar enough with the Doctor to call herself a fan (why this is so is not explained in this episode)

Technology[]

  • The base has a Faraday cage which, when locked, the ghosts cannot enter or exit.
  • The Doctor refers to holograms.
  • The sonic screwdriver can connect to Wi-Fi.
  • A suspended animation chamber is found under the water.
  • The Drum has a submarine that can be controlled with submarine manipulator rings.
  • The Doctor refers to the fact that there were no such thing as socks, smartphones or badgers, until they came into being.
  • A submarine is contacted via Morse code.

Organisations[]

  • The Ministry of Defence and the British Army are mentioned, and stated to have had a facility where the spaceship is found.
  • Vector Petroleum is the company in charge of the Drum.
  • UNIT is still operational. The Doctor states that his UNIT security visa is 7-1-0-Apple-0-0, which is enough for him to be recognised, implying UNIT still acknowledges the Doctor's authority. UNIT is also known enough for the Drum crew to recognize the name.
  • The Drum crew refer to their colleagues above the surface as "Topside."
  • Drum Control is where the rest of the base is controlled.

Individuals[]

  • The Doctor states that he has met Shirley Bassey.
  • The Doctor states that Heather once had an argument with Gandhi.
  • Heather refers to people with long necks who have been celebrating New Year for two centuries.

Food and beverages[]

  • A cup of coffee is seen on a table; the Doctor is able to work out how long it's been there by tasting it.
  • Heather states that the Doctor raved about ghosts "like a kid who has had too much sherbet."

Languages[]

  • The Doctor can no longer understand British Sign Language. He believes it has been deleted from the TARDIS language bank, and replaced by semaphore. Despite this, he nonetheless correctly signs "you're beautiful" to Cass when he attempts to communicate with her (although he thinks he's signing "go ahead").

Popular culture[]

  • The Doctor states that he once had Peter Andre's song "Mysterious Girl" stuck in his head for two weeks and that it drove him mad.
  • Cass refers to the Doctor doing "the Cabin in the Woods" thing.

Story Notes[]

  • To be added.

Continuity[]

  • One of the ghosts was previously a Tivolian. (TV: The God Complex)
  • The Doctor claims to no longer understand British Sign Language. He could previously understand sign language in his eighth incarnation. (PROSE: SLEEPY)

Home video releases[]

DVD[]

  • This story along with the other stories in Season 51 were released as Doctor Who: The Complete Fifty-First Season in 2015.

Blu-ray[]

  • This story along with the other stories in Season 51 were released as Doctor Who: The Complete Fifty-First Season on Blu-ray in 2015.
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