Doctor Who - The Television Stories

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The End of the World

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Appreciation

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Story Images

Quote of
the Story

Release
Information

In Print

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Synopsis

Cassandra

The Doctor takes Rose on her first voyage through time, to the year Five Billion. The Sun is about to expand, and swallow the Earth.

But amongst the alien races gathering to watch on Platform One, a murderer is at work. Who is controlling the mysterious and deadly Spiders?

Source: BBC DVD

General Information

Season:

Twenty Seven (New Series 1)

Production Code:

1-2

Story Number:

158 (New Series: 2)

Episode Number:

698 (New Series: 2)

Number of Episodes:

Percentage of Episodes Held:

100%

Production Dates:

September 2004 - February 2005

Broadcast Date:

02 April 2005

Colour Status:

Colour

Studio:

BBC Wales (Unit Q2, Newport)

Location:

Cathays Park, Churchill Way and Queen Street (Cardiff), Headlands School (Penarth) and Llandaff.

Writer:

Russell T Davies

Director:

Euros Lyn

Producer:

Phil Collinson

Executive Producers:

Julie Gardner, Mal Young and Russell T Davies

Associate Producer:

Helen Vallis

Script Editor:

Elwen Rowlands

Editor:

John Richards

Production Manager:

Tracie Simpson

Production Designer:

Edward Thomas

Director of Photography:

Ernie Vincze BSC

Casting Director:

Andy Pryor CDG

Costume Designer:

Lucinda Wright

Make-Up Designer:

Davy Jones

Cameramen:

Anna James (Assistant), David Jones (Assistant), Martin Stephens (Operator) and Mike Costelloe (Operator)

Visual Effects:

The Mill

Special Effects:

Any Effects

Prosthetics:

Millennium Effects

Stunt Co-ordinator:

Lee Sheward

Stunt Performers:

Jamie Edgell and Sarah Franzl

Incidental Music:

Murray Gold

Special Sounds (SFX Editor):

Paul Jefferies

Sound Recordist:

Ian Richardson

Title Music:

Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Murray Gold

Number of Doctors:

The Doctor:

Christopher Eccleston (The Ninth Doctor)

Number of Companions:

The Companion:

Billie Piper (Rose Tyler)

Number of Acquaintances:

The Acquaintance:

Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler)

Guest Cast:

Zoe Wanamaker (Cassandra)

Additional Cast:

Simon Day (Steward), Yasmin Bannerman (Jabe), Jimmy Vee (Moxx of Balhoon), Beccy Armory (Raffalo), Sara Stewart (Computer Voice), Silas Carson (Alien Voices)

Setting:

Platform One, Earth orbit, far future.

Villain:

Cassandra

The Episodes

No.	Episodes	Broadcast (UK)	Duration	Viewers (Millions)	In Archive
698	The End of the World	02 April 2005	44'43"	8.0	Yes

Total Duration

45 Minutes

Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions)

8.0

Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2005)	73.68% (Position = 6 out of 10)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009)	70.98% (Position = 94 out of 200)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)	70.19% (Position = 134 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023)	Position = 7 out of 10

Archives

This story exists and is held in the BBC's Film and Videotape Library.

Notes

A special-effects bonanza also featuring a variety of new alien races including the Forest of Cheem, the Moxx of Balhoon, the Face of Boe, Cassandra as well as The Spiders.

This is the first time in the revived show that The Doctor’s home planet of Gallifrey is mentioned (though not by name).

'The Eye of Harmony' on Gallifrey is mentioned in this story as being the power source of the TARDIS, as it is in a number of earlier stories, particularly 1976 story "The Deadly Assassin" and the 1996 Television Movie.

The new console in the TARDIS includes what looks like a bicycle-pump mechanism; this was subsequently identified as a Vortex Loop in 2005 special "Attack of the Graske".

This isn't the first time in the shows history that the Earth has been burned by the Sun. Other stories include "The Ark" (in 1966), "The Ark in Space" (in 1975) and "The Mysterious Planet" (in 1986).

The Spiders were fully CGI creations by the effects house The Mill, as was the face of Cassandra, whose voice was provided by famed actress Zoe Wanamaker. She also appears onscreen in the Season Twenty Eight (New Series 2) story "New Earth".

The Doctor is heard to drop another hint that he was on the (real) RMS Titanic when it sank, when he tells Jabe of an incident when he had to cling to an Iceberg the last time he was on an unsinkable ship. He has previously been associated with the doomed ship in "Rose", "The Invasion of Time" and the Virgin Books' The New Adventures novel "The Left-Handed Hummingbird".

References are made to the iPod (although Cassandra's demo model actually turns out to be a 1950's jukebox); among the selections in the jukebox, played during the story, are "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell and "Toxic" by Britney Spears.

Before the title sequence there is a brief recap from "Rose" that leads directly into a pre-credits sequence. The end of the story contains a trailer for the next story "The Unquiet Dead".

Following on immediately after this story, on BBC3, was the second chapter of Doctor Who Confidential "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" looking into the making of the aliens for the revived show.

First and Last

The Firsts:

Rose Tyler's first trip into the future.

The first appearance in the show of Cassandra played by Zoe Wanamaker.

The first appearance in the show of The Face of Boe.

The first time a story includes a pre-credits sequence.

The first time in the new series that The Doctor’s home planet of Gallifrey is mentioned (though not by name).

The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Euros Lyn.

Story Images

Show Text

Platform One

Rose Tyler and The Doctor

Looking at the Earth

Cassandra

Jabe

The Face of Boe

Rose Tyler

The Moxx of Balhoon

Jabe and The Doctor

Watching the Earth Burn

Rose Tyler

The Doctor

Quote of the Story

'You let, you spend all your time thinking about dying. Like you’re gonna get killed by eggs, or beef or global warming, or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible. That maybe you survive…'

The Doctor

Release Information

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Code Number	Cover Art	Remarks
DVD	Rose - The End of the World - The Unquiet Dead	May 2005	BBCDVD 1755	Photo-montage
DVD	The Complete First Series	November 2005	BBCDVD 1770	Photo-montage	TARDIS Boxed Set containing all 10 stories
CD	Original Television Soundtrack - Series 1 and 2	2007		Photo-montage	Music by Murray Gold
DVD	Series 1 - 4 Box Set	October 2009	BBCDVD 3058		Boxed set containing all 43 stories on 23 Discs
Blu-Ray	The Complete Series 1-7 Box Set (Limited Edition)	December 2013	BBCBD 0242	Photo-montage	Limited Edition Blu-Ray boxed set containing all Series 1-7 stories at full 1080p high definition
DVD	The Complete First Series (2014 Re-release)	August 2014	BBCDVD 3965	Photo-montage	Boxed set containing all 10 stories
CD	The 50th Anniversary Collection	December 2013		Photo-montage	Original Television Soundtracks
Blu-Ray	The Complete First Series Box Set	August 2015	BBCBD 0261	Photo-montage	Blu-Ray boxed set containing 10 stories
LP	Original Television Soundtrack - Series 1 and 2	2016		Photo-montage	Music by Murray Gold
DVD	The Complete First Series Box Set (Limited Edition Steelbook)	March 2017		Photo-montage	Limited Edition DVD Steelbook boxed set containing 10 stories (Amazon Exclusive)
Blu-Ray	The Complete First Series Box Set (Limited Edition Steelbook)	March 2017	BBCBD 0343	Photo-montage	Limited Edition Blu-Ray Steelbook boxed set containing 10 stories (Amazon Exclusive)
Blu-Ray	Series 1 - 4 & Specials Blu-Ray Collection	November 2023	BBCBD 0582	Photo-montage	Boxed set containing all Ninth and Tenth Doctor stories upscaled to high definition

In Print

No Book Release

Doctor Who Magazine - Preview	Issue 355 (Released: April 2005)
Doctor Who Magazine - After Image	Issue 356 (Released: May 2005)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team	Issue 431 (Released: March 2011)
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction	Issue 506 (Released: Winter 2016/17)
Doctor Who DVD Files	Volume 1 (Released: January 2009)

Photo Gallery

The Doctor and Companion/Acquaintance

The Ninth Doctor

Rose Tyler

Jackie Tyler

On Release

DVD Cover

VIDEO

Complete Series DVD Box Set

VIDEO

Original Television Soundtrack Silva Screen CD Cover

AUDIO

Series 1-4 DVD Box Set

VIDEO

Complete Series 1-7 Ltd Edition Blu-Ray Box Set

VIDEO

Complete Series DVD Box Set<BR>(2014 Re-release)

Complete Series DVD Box Set
(2014 Re-release)

VIDEO

The 50th Anniversary Collection Cover

AUDIO

Complete Series Blu-Ray Box Set

VIDEO

Original Television Soundtrack Vinyl Cover

AUDIO

Complete Series DVD Limited Edition Steelbook Box Set

VIDEO

Complete Series Blu-Ray Limited Edition Steelbook Box Set

VIDEO

Series 1 - 4 & Specials Blu-Ray Collection Cover

VIDEO

Magazines

Doctor Who Magazine - Preview: Issue 355

Doctor Who Magazine - After Image: Issue 356

Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 431

Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 506

Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 1

Who's Who

Who Me

Episodes of the
Ninth Doctor

Season 27 (New Series 1)

References

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