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David Tennant
Utopia
Tenth Doctor Logo


Synopsis


Regeneration
Regeneration
 Jack’s back! As Captain Jack comes storming into The Doctor’s life again, the TARDIS is thrown to the end of the universe itself.

Source: BBC DVD


General Information

Season: Twenty Nine (New Series 3)
Production Code: 3-11
Story Number: 187a (New Series: 31a)
Episode Number:735 (New Series: 39)
Number of Episodes: 1
Percentage of Episodes Held:100%
Production Dates: January - March 2007
Broadcast Date: 16 June 2007
Colour Status: Colour
Studio: BBC Wales (Upper Boat, Pontypridd)
Location: Trident Park (Cardiff Bay), Argoed Quarry (Llanharry), Wenvoe Quarry (Wenvoe) and Millennium Square (Cardiff Bay).
Writer:Russell T Davies
Director:Graeme Harper
Producer:Phil Collinson
Executive Producers:Julie Gardner and Russell T Davies
Script Editor:Simon Winstone
Editor:William Oswald
Production Executive:Julie Scott
Production Manager:Patrick Schweitzer
Production Designer:Edward Thomas
Director of Photography:Ernie Vincze BSC
Casting Director:Andy Pryor CDG
Costume Designer:Louise Page
Make-Up Designer:Barbara Southcott
Cameraman:Roger Pearce (Operator)
Visual Effects:The Mill
Special Effects:Any Effects
Prosthetics:Millennium FX
Stunt Co-ordinator:Abbi Collins
Incidental Music:Murray Gold
Special Sounds (SFX Editor):Paul Jefferies
Sound Recordist:Ron Bailey
Sound Supervisor:Paul McFadden
Sound Editor:Doug Sinclair
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: 1
The Doctor: David Tennant (The Tenth Doctor)
Number of Companions: 2The Companions: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness) (Rejoins) and Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones) Guest Cast: Sir Derek Jacobi (Professor Yana), John Simm (The Master) Additional Cast: Chipo Chung (Chantho), Rene Zagger (Padra), Neil Reidman (Lieutenant Atillo), Paul Marc Davies (Chieftain), Robert Forknall (Guard), John Bell (Creet), Deborah Maclaren (Kistane), Abigail Canton (Wiry Woman)Setting: Cardiff (2008) and The End of the Universe Villain: The Master

The Episodes

No. Episodes Broadcast
(UK)
Duration Viewers
(Millions)
In Archive
735Utopia16 June 200745'53"7.8Yes

Total Duration 46 Minutes


Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions) 7.8
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2007)84.97%  (Position = 3 out of 10)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009)82.23% Lower (Position = 27 out of 200)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)78.70% Lower (Position = 55 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023) Position = 11 out of 36


Archives


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



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Notes


"Utopia" was the title of a book by Sir Thomas Moore which was first published in 1516. The book describes the narrator's search for the perfect form of government.

Utopia has come to mean an imaginary place, state or society of idealised perfection.

Sir Derek Jacobi is the first Knight of the Realm to have acted in Doctor Who. It's not his first connection with the show; in 2003 he guest-starred in the online adventure "Scream of the Shalka" by Paul Cornell. He also starred in an audio adventure by Robert Shearman entitled "Deadline".

Other renegade Time Lords who have crossed The Doctor's path include: The Meddling Monk (played by Peter Butterworth), Omega (played by Stephen Thorne and Ian Collier), Morbius (or at least his brain), The Rani (played by Kate O'Mara) and of course his arch enemy The Master.

Previously there have been five different actors who have played The Master. The first was Roger Delgado (1971 - 1973) followed by: Peter Pratt in 1976, Geoffrey Beevers in 1981, Anthony Ainley (1981 - 1989) and the most recent was Eric Roberts in the 1996 television movie "Doctor Who: The Movie".

Strangely Professor Yana's name is an acronym of the Face of Boe’s last words - ‘You Are Not Alone’ (whether this is deliberate is unknown).

This story includes a title card, before the main end credits, reading "To be continued...". After the end credits is a trailer for the first episode of next story "The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords".

Following on immediately after this story, on BBC3, was the eleventh chapter of the third series of Doctor Who Confidential, "'Ello, 'Ello, 'Ello" presented by Anthony Head.



First and Last

The Firsts:

 The first story for semi-regular companion Captain Jack Harkness (played by John Barrowman) since he left the show at the end of "Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways".

 The first appearance for The Master (played by Sir Derek Jacobi and then John Simm) in the revived television series and the first for 11 years - since the 1996 Eighth Doctor TV Movie.

 Sir Derek Jacobi (who plays The Master before he regenerates) is the first Knight of the Realm to have acted in Doctor Who.

 Depending on how you count the episodes/stories in this season, along with "The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords", this is the first three-part story of the revived television series.


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The Plot

WARNING: May Contain SpoilersHide Text
The TARDIS Lands in Cardiff
The TARDIS Lands in Cardiff

When The Doctor and Martha Jones stop off in Cardiff to refuel the TARDIS at a rift in time and space they get more than they bargained for - an unwelcome hitchhiker in the form of Captain Jack Harkness – who has been watching out for the return of the TARDIS and The Doctor for a long time.

They then start to investigate their surroundings and find themselves helping a human who is being chased by the Wild Ones. Their only place of safety is The Silo and it is there that they find a human populace living in fear of the Wild Ones. They also find within The Silo a brave scientist who is striving to save his people. But the humans are not refugees but passengers who are living in the hope of leaving this planet and being transported to a place they call Utopia.

A terrifying journey to the end of the universe leads them to a very dark and desolate planet where they find their hitchhiker seeming dead after enduring the Time Vortex on the outside of the TARDIS. But Captain Jack Harkness has the ability of being unable to die and so he soon recovers and reacquaints himself with what has happened to his fellow time travellers since his was forced to part company with The Doctor - who he last met when The Doctor was in his ninth incarnation and so was with Rose Tyler and not Martha.

Hitchhiking
Hitchhiking

When The Doctor, Martha and Captain Jack Harkness meet Professor Yana they soon become involved in helping him prepare the space craft. But not is all well – and not just with the technology. The Doctor at first is able to restore power to the space craft and then, because of problems with the couplings, he uses Captain Jack Harkness’ ability of being unable to die to good use when by getting him to enter a room under the space craft that is flooded with deadly Stet radiation, so as to reset them.

Martha though is the one to discover that it is Professor Yana who is not as he seems and that once his secret is revealed The Doctor’s future will be changed forever. As Professor Yana is in procession of a fob watch that is exactly the same as the one The Doctor used to hide his true identity from The Family of Blood – and so could he also be a Time Lord in hiding?

Professor Yana and Chantho
Professor Yana and Chantho

As the spacecraft takes off the Wild Ones manage to infiltrate the base and Professor Yana’s true identity is revealed. But The Doctor can't believe he is not the only Time Lord still alive. But what if Professor Yana is a Time Lord and if so which one will be revealled when Professor Yana opens the fob watch? When The Doctor comes face-to-face with his fellow Time Lord there is no satisifaction for him when it turns out to be his arch enemy The Master.

Unable to stop The Master from entering his TARDIS, The Doctor, Martha and Captain Jack Harkness are horrified when The Master regenerates and then the TARDIS dematerialises leaving them all stranded…

 
The Chieftain
The Chieftain
Martha
Martha
Captain Jack is Back
Captain Jack is Back
Chantho
Chantho
 
The Doctor
The Doctor
He has the Same Watch!
He has the Same Watch!
All is Revealed
All is Revealed
Regeneration
Regeneration




Quote of the Story


 'Not even the Time Lords came this far. We should leave. We should go. We should really, really go.'

The Doctor



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Release Information

FormatTitleRelease Date (UK)Code NumberCover ArtRemarks
Video
DVD
Utopia - The Sound of Drums - Last of the Time LordsAugust 2007BBCDVD 2384Photo-montage
Video
DVD
The Complete Third Series (Standard Version)November 2007BBCDVD 2579Photo-montageBoxed set containing all 11 stories
Video
DVD
The Complete Third Series (Amazon Version)November 2007BBCDVD 2579Photo-montageBoxed set containing all 11 stories
Video
DVD
The Complete Third Series (Woolworths Version)November 2007BBCDVD 2579Photo-montageBoxed set containing all 11 stories
Audio
CD
Original Television Soundtrack - Series 3November 2007SILCD1250Photo-montageMusic by Murray Gold
Video
DVD
Series 1 - 4 Box SetOctober 2009BBCDVD 3058Boxed set containing all 43 stories on 23 Discs
Video
Blu-Ray
The Complete Series 1-7 Box Set (Limited Edition)December 2013BBCBD 0242Photo-montageLimited Edition Blu-Ray boxed set containing all Series 1-7 stories at full 1080p high definition
Video
DVD
The Complete Third Series (2014 Re-release)August 2014BBCDVD 3967Photo-montageBoxed set containing all 11 stories
Video
DVD
The Complete David Tennant Years Box SetNovember 2014BBCDVD 4000Photo-montageBoxed set containing all 37 stories on 26 Discs
Video
Blu-Ray
The Complete Third Series Box SetAugust 2015BBCBD 0263Photo-montageBlu-Ray boxed set containing 11 stories
Video
Blu-Ray
The Complete Third Series Box Set (Limited Edition Steelbook)May 2018BBCBD 0436Photo-montageLimited Edition Blu-Ray Steelbook boxed set containing 11 stories
Video
Blu-Ray
Series 1 - 4 & Specials Blu-Ray CollectionNovember 2023BBCBD 0582Photo-montageBoxed set containing all Ninth and Tenth Doctor stories upscaled to high definition


In Print

No Book Release
Doctor Who Magazine - PreviewIssue 383 (Released: June 2007)
Doctor Who Magazine - ArticleIssue 384 (Released: July 2007)
Doctor Who Magazine - After ImageIssue 386 (Released: September 2007)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time TeamIssue 465 (Released: November 2013)
Doctor Who DVD FilesVolume 20 (Released: October 2009)

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Photo Gallery


The Doctor and Companions

 
David Tennant
The Tenth Doctor

   

John Barrowman
Captain Jack Harkness
 
Freema Agyeman
Martha Jones
   




On Release

DVD Cover
DVD Cover

BBC
VIDEO
DVD Box Set<BR>(Standard Version)
DVD Box Set
(Standard Version)

BBC
VIDEO
DVD Box Set<BR>(Amazon Version)
DVD Box Set
(Amazon Version)

BBC
VIDEO
DVD Box Set<BR>(Woolworths Version)
DVD Box Set
(Woolworths Version)

BBC
VIDEO
   
Original Television Soundtrack Cover
Original Television Soundtrack Cover

BBC
AUDIO
Series 1-4 DVD Box Set
Series 1-4 DVD Box Set

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

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

BBC
VIDEO
   
Complete David Tennant Years DVD Box Set
Complete David Tennant Years DVD Box Set

BBC
VIDEO
Complete Series Blu-Ray Box Set
Complete Series Blu-Ray Box Set

BBC
VIDEO
Complete Series Blu-Ray Limited Edition Steelbook Box Set
Complete Series Blu-Ray Limited Edition Steelbook Box Set

BBC
VIDEO
Series 1 - 4 & Specials Blu-Ray Collection Cover
Series 1 - 4 & Specials Blu-Ray Collection Cover

BBC
VIDEO
   



Magazines

Doctor Who Magazine - Preview: Issue 383
Doctor Who Magazine - Preview: Issue 383

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - Article: Issue 384
Doctor Who Magazine - Article: Issue 384

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - After Image: Issue 386
Doctor Who Magazine - After Image: Issue 386

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 465
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 465

Marvel Comics
   
Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 20
Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 20

GE Fabbri


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