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Synopsis

Cassandra

In the far distant future, an order of cat-nuns cure all illnesses, but The Doctor is suspicious of their methods.

He must uncover the truth and save Rose from the revenge of his old enemy, the Lady Cassandra.

Source: BBC DVD

General Information

Season:	Twenty Eight (New Series 2)
Production Code:	2-1
Story Number:	168 (New Series: 12)
Episode Number:	711 (New Series: 15)
Number of Episodes:	1
Percentage of Episodes Held:	100%
Working Titles:	“Body Swap”
Production Dates:	August - October 2005
Broadcast Date:	15 April 2006
Colour Status:	Colour
Studio:	BBC Wales (Unit Q2, Newport) and Enfys Television Studios (Cardiff)
Location:	Millennium Stadium (Cardiff), Ely Paper Mill (Cardiff), Tredegar House (Newport) and Worm's Head (The Gower Peninsula).

Writer:

Russell T Davies

Director:

James Hawes

Producer:

Phil Collinson

Executive Producers:

Julie Gardner and Russell T Davies

Associate Producer:

Helen Vallis

Script Editor:

Helen Raynor

Editor:

Liana Del Giudice

Production Manager:

Tracie Simpson

Production Designer:

Edward Thomas

Director of Photography:

Ernie Vincze BSC

Casting Director:

Andy Pryor CDG

Costume Designer:

Louise Page

Make-Up Designer:

Sheelagh Wells

Cameraman:

Julian Barber (Operator)

Visual Effects:

The Mill

Special Effects:

Any Effects

Prosthetics:

Millennium Effects and Neill Gorton

Stunt Co-ordinator:

Peter Brayham

Stunt Performers:

Dean Foster, Kim McGarrity and Maurice Lee

Incidental Music:

Murray Gold

Special Sounds (SFX Editor):

Paul Jefferies

Sound Recordist:

Simon Fraser

Sound Editors:

Doug Sinclair and Paul McFadden

Music Performed By:

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Title Music:

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

Number of Doctors:

The Doctor:

David Tennant (The Tenth Doctor)

Number of Companions: 1The Companion: Billie Piper (Rose Tyler) Number of Acquaintances: 2The Acquaintances: Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler) and Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith) Guest Cast: Zoe Wanamaker (Cassandra) Additional Cast: Sean Gallagher (Chip), Dona Croll (Matron Casp), Michael Fitzgerald (Duke of Manhattan), Lucy Robinson (Frau Clovis), Adjoa Andoh (Sister Jatt), Anna Hope (Novice Hame), Simon Ludders (Patient), Struan Rodger (Face of Boe)Setting: Powell Estate, London (2007) and planet New Earth, M87 Galaxy (5,000,000,023). Villains: Cassandra and Sisters of Plenitude

The Episodes

No.	Episodes	Broadcast (UK)	Duration	Viewers (Millions)	In Archive
711	New Earth	15 April 2006	44'01"	8.6	Yes

Total Duration

44 Minutes

Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions)

8.6

Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2006)	64.34% (Position = 9 out of 11)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009)	63.39% (Position = 143 out of 200)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)	62.07% (Position = 182 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023)	Position = 29 out of 36

Archives

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

Notes

This story is technically the first of Season Twenty Eight (New Series 2). However it is not the first for the Tenth Doctor's tenure. This belongs to "The Christmas Invasion" that was broadcast in December 2005.

As with all the other stories in this season (except for The Christmas Invasion"), "New Earth" was trailed by a one-minute prologue which could be downloaded from the BBC Doctor Who website or via a mobile phone. These teasers - all of which were written by Gareth Roberts - initially went under the banner “Vortext” (after names such as “Whosode”, “Epi-mobe” and “Who Alert” were rejected) but were rechristened to TARDISode. The 46 second TARDISode for "New Earth" took the form of an advertisement for the hospital and featured Anna Hope reprising her role as Novice Hame. It was recorded on 26th January 2006 at Enfys Television Studios in Cardiff. This TARDISode became available on March 31st - so making this story the first Doctor Who story to have an accompanying TARDISode.

Former Casualty actress Adjoa Andoh went from playing a Cat Nun in this story to Martha Jones's mum, Francine Jones, in Season Twenty Nine (New Series 3).

This story features the return of Zoe Wanamaker as Cassandra and the Face of Boe. Both were last seen in the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "The End of the World". This is Zoe Wanamaker' actual first on-screen appearance, having only featured as Cassandra's voice in "The End of the World".

Cassandra is heard to use slang term 'chav', although she is unable to mimic Rose Tyler's accent properly, instead making attempts at Cockney rhyming slang.

Rose is also heard to refer to Cassandra as 'Michael Jackson' as she did in "The End of the World". She also refers to Chip as 'Gollum'.

Excluding the special interactive story "Attack of the Graske", "New Earth" is the first story, since the revival of the show to be set on a planet other than Earth (although references to adventures on other planets had been made previously).

The Sisters of Plenitude are not the first feline aliens to feature in the show. Feline aliens were seen in the 1981 Fourth Doctor story "Warrior's Gate" and the 1989 Seventh Doctor story "Survival".

There have been several planets called "New Earth" in Doctor Who: the planet where Sarah Jane Smith was told she was being taken to in a spaceship in the 1974 Third Doctor story "Invasion of the Dinosaurs"; a planet from the Fourth Doctor comic strip story "Doctor Who and the Iron Legion" (Doctor Who Weekly - Issues 1 to 8); a planet in the New Earth system colonised by humans in the year 2380 in the comic strip story "Doctor Who and the Dogs of Doom" (Doctor Who Weekly - Issues 27 to 34); the homeworld of the Sixth Doctor novel companion Grant Markham and the setting of the Virgin Books' The Missing Adventures novel "Time of Your Life" by Steve Lyons; and the "New Earth Republic", a future Earth colony and the setting of The Past Doctors Stories "Synthespians™" by Craig Hinton.

'New New York' is also the name of the city in the animated series Futurama. This is one of the two Futurama 'similarities' in Doctor Who, the other being the space replica of the Titanic, which appeared in the 2007 Christmas special "Voyage of the Damned".

The ailment that the Duke of Manhattan is dying from, Petrifold Regression - a disease that turns its victims to stone - is also mentioned in the BBC Books The Tenth Doctor Stories novel "The Stone Rose" by Jacqueline Rayner.

The exterior scenes on New Earth were shot on the Gower peninsula. The hospital basement scenes were recorded at Tredegar House in Newport. The location for the pods containing the human specimens was a disused paper mill previously used as the base of the Nestene Consciousness in the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "Rose".

The hospital scenes were filmed inside the Wales Millennium Centre, which appeared in the previous season's story "Boom Town". This has become a common fixture in the spin-off series Torchwood.

The ending of this story contains a trailer for the next story - "Tooth and Claw".

Following on immediately after this story, on BBC3, was the first chapter of the second series of Doctor Who Confidential, "New New Doctor" presented by Mark Gatiss.

First and Last

The Firsts:

The first true story of Season Twenty Eight (New Series 2).

The first story, since the revival of the show, to be set on a planet other than Earth.

Zoe Wanamaker' actual first on-screen appearance, having only featured as Cassandra's voice in "The End of the World".

The first appearance of Adjoa Andoh, in the role of Cat Nun Sister Jatt, before she played regular supporting character Francine Jones.

The first time The Doctor is kissed by a companion (albeit it was Cassandra in the body of Rose Tyler).

The first story to have a one-minute prologue (known as TARDISodes) which could be downloaded from the BBC Doctor Who website or via a mobile phone.

Story Images

Show Text

New Earth hospital

Rose Leaving the TARDIS

A Sister of Plenitude

The Face of Boe

Cassandra

Transformation

Cassandra as Rose

Snogging The Doctor

Rose Tyler

Diseased Rats

Doctor to the Rescue

A Younger Cassandra

Quote of the Story

'Strictly speaking, it's the fifteenth New York, which makes it New New New New New New...New New New New New New...New New New York.'

The Doctor

Release Information

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Code Number	Cover Art	Remarks
DVD	The Christmas Invasion - New Earth	May 2006	BBCDVD 1960	Photo-montage
DVD	The Complete Second Series	November 2006	BBCDVD 2122	Photo-montage	Boxed set containing all 11 stories
DVD	The Complete Second Series (Amazon Version)	November 2006	BBCDVD 2122	Photo-montage	Limited Edition 'Cyberman Head' box set containing all 11 stories
CD	Original Television Soundtrack	December 2006	SILCD1224	Photo-montage	Music by Murray Gold
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 Second Series (2014 Re-release)	August 2014	BBCDVD 3966	Photo-montage	Boxed set containing all 11 stories
DVD	The Complete David Tennant Years Box Set	November 2014	BBCDVD 4000	Photo-montage	Boxed set containing all 37 stories on 26 Discs
Blu-Ray	The Complete Second Series Box Set	August 2015	BBCBD 0262	Photo-montage	Blu-Ray boxed set containing 11 stories
LP	Original Television Soundtrack - Series 1 and 2	2016		Photo-montage	Music by Murray Gold
DVD	The Complete Second Series Box Set (Limited Edition Steelbook)	July 2017	BBCDVD 2317	Photo-montage	Limited Edition DVD Steelbook boxed set containing 10 stories (Amazon Exclusive)
Blu-Ray	The Complete Second Series Box Set (Limited Edition Steelbook)	July 2017	BBCBD 0393	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 368 (Released: April 2006)
Doctor Who Magazine - Article	Issue 369 (Released: May 2006)
Doctor Who Magazine - After Image	Issue 370 (Released: June 2006)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team	Issue 443 (Released: February 2012)
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction	Issue 522 (Released: March 2018)
Doctor Who DVD Files	Volume 8 (Released: April 2009)

Photo Gallery

The Doctor and Companion/Acquaintances

The Tenth Doctor

Rose Tyler

Jackie Tyler

Mickey Smith

On Release

DVD Cover

VIDEO

Complete Series DVD Box Set

VIDEO

DVD Box Set
(Amazon Version)

VIDEO

Original Television Soundtrack Cover

AUDIO

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

Complete David Tennant Years DVD Box Set

VIDEO

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 368

Doctor Who Magazine - Article: Issue 369

Doctor Who Magazine - After Image: Issue 370

Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 443

Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 522

Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 8

Who's Who

Who Me

Episodes of the
Tenth Doctor

Season 28 (New Series 2)

References

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