An Unearthly Child


(In a bright white room, an old man stands at a six-sided control console. The Doctor. Behind him, sitting in a reading chair with a book, is an old woman. She has long, smooth red hair, wrinkled but kind face, and grey blue eyes. This, is the Princess. For a while, both are content. The Doctor fiddling with the controls on his console and the Princess reading her book. Then…)

DOCTOR: You know, my dear, I fancy a walk, don't you?

PRINCESS: In this weather?

DOCTOR: Oh, a little fog never hurt anyone.

(The Doctor retrieves his astrakhan hat and coat from the nearby stand. The Princess remains seated as he dresses. Once finished however, the Doctor looks to the Princess expectedly. She remains seated.)

DOCTOR: There's a whole world out there, waiting to be explored, you know.

PRINCESS: Then go on ahead. I'm not stopping you.

DOCTOR: My dear…

PRINCESS: I have already seen what lies beyond those doors plenty of times over the last five months. If you want to go and see it again, then by all means, go. But I'm going to sit here and wait for Susan. She should be back in an hour or two.

DOCTOR: You worry far too much about that child.

PRINCESS: And yet, she's your granddaughter.

DOCTOR: Are you saying I don't worry about her?

PRINCESS: I never said that. I was merely pointing out the irony.

DOCTOR: Why do you think I keep suggesting that we leave this place? Hmm? You think I say it for my own amusement? I say it because I worry about her. The longer we stay here the longer–

PRINCESS: (Curtly shuts book) All right. If accompanying you on this walk will make you happy, I'll go.

DOCTOR: (Smiling) Splendid.


(After their late-night walk through foggy London, the Doctor and Princess return to a junkyard. The Doctor is still wearing his astrakhan hat and coat, as well as a long scarf, while the Princess is dressed in a simple black shawl. The Doctor coughs as they enter the yard.)

PRINCESS: Are you sure you're alright?

DOCTOR: Oh, yes, yes, yes, I'm quite all right.

(He coughs again, as the two move over to a police box in the corner. Producing a key and a small torch from his pocket, the Doctor puts the key in the lock.)

DOCOTR: Now, let's get inside, shall we?

PRINCESS: Yes, let's.

(The door to the police box unlocks and begins to open.)

SUSAN: (From inside the box) There you are, Grandfather!

(The Doctor quickly closes the door suddenly, confusing the Princess. The Doctor then shines his light on a man, as he comes out from his hiding place. Ian Chesterton. He approaches the Doctor and Princess.)

IAN: Excuse me.

DOCTOR: What are you doing here?

IAN: We're looking for a young girl.

PRINCESS: We?

(A woman comes out from the same place as man and joins them. Barbara Wright.)

BARBARA: Good evening.

PRINCESS: Oh, hello.

DOCTOR: What do you want?

IAN: One of our pupils, Susan Foreman, came into this yard.

DOCTOR: Really? In here? Are you sure?

BARBARA: Yes, we saw her from across the street.

DOCTOR: (To the Princess, quietly) One of their pupils, not the police, then.

PRINCESS: Yes, I did notice.

IAN: I beg your pardon?

PRINCESS: Why were you looking for this girl? It's a little late for a school trip, is it not?

BARBARA: Well, yes. You see…we were worried about her and wanted to speak to her.

DOCTOR: Well, one would hardly think that you would find any girl here, in a junkyard, at this hour.

IAN: Well, we heard a young girl's voice call out to you.

DOCTOR: Your hearing must be very acute. I didn't hear anything.

BARBARA: It came from in here. (She points to the police box)

DOCTOR: You imagined it.

BARBARA: I certainly did not imagine it.

(The Doctor takes Ian aside.)

DOCTOR: Young man, is it reasonable to suppose that anybody would be inside a cupboard like that, hmm?

IAN: Would it therefore be unreasonable to ask you to let us have a look inside?

(The Doctor leaves Ian and goes over to pick up a discarded picture frame.)

DOCTOR: (To self) I wonder why I've never seen that before. Now isn't that strange. Very damp and dirty.

(The Princess moves over to join the Doctor.)

PRINCESS: (Quietly) You're being rude.

DOCTOR: Well, so are they. And besides, this is far more interesting. (Goes back to looking at the frame)

BARBARA: Won't you help us? We're two of her teachers from the Coal Hill School. We saw her come in and we haven't seen her leave. Naturally, we're worried.

DOCTOR: (Muttering to himself) Have to be cleaned. (Notices Barbara) Hmm? Oh, I'm afraid it's none of my business. I suggest you leave here.

IAN: Not until we're satisfied that Susan isn't in there. And frankly, I don't understand your attitude.

DOCTOR: Yours leaves a lot to be desired.

IAN: Will you open the door?

DOCTOR: There's nothing in there.

IAN: Then what are you afraid to show us?

DOCTOR: Afraid? Oh, go away.

PRINCESS: I assure you, there's no one in there. (Shakes the door handle) See, we can't even open it.

IAN: But I saw him with a key before, and that door definitely opened.

DOCTOR: More lies.

IAN: I think we'd better go and fetch a policeman.

DOCTOR: Very well.

IAN: And you're both coming with us.

DOCTOR: Oh, are we? I don't think so, young man. No, I don't think so.

(The Doctor walks away to examine something else. The Princess follows him.)

BARBARA: (To Ian) We can't force them.

IAN: But we can't leave them here. Doesn't it seem obvious to you they've got her locked up in there? Look at it. There's no door handle. There must be a secret lock somewhere.

BARBARA: That was Susan's voice.

IAN: But of course it was. (To the box) Susan! Susan, are you in there? It's Mister Chesterton and Miss Wright, Susan.

DOCTOR: Don't you think you're being rather high-handed, young man? You thought you saw a young girl enter the yard. You imagine you heard her voice. You believe she might be inside there. It's not very substantial, is it?

BARBARA: But why won't you help us?

DOCTOR: We're not hindering you. If you both want to make fools of yourselves, I suggest you do what you said you'd do. Go and find a policeman.

IAN: While you and she nip off quietly in the other direction.

DOCTOR: Insulting. There's only one way in and out of this yard. I shall be here when you get back. I want to see your faces when you try to explain away your behaviour to a policeman.

PRINCESS: And while you get one, we'll look for this student of yours. I'm sure if she's in here she couldn't have gotten far.

DOCTOR: If such a student even exists.

IAN: She does exist, and I saw her come in her, both of us did. Come on, Barbara.

(Ian takes Barbara and is about to leave when the door to the police box opens ajar.)

SUSAN: (From inside the box) What are you doing out there?

IAN: She is in there!

DOCTOR: Close the door!

(The Doctor grabs Ian from behind while Barbara makes a run towards the police box door.)

IAN: Barbara!

PRINCESS: Susan, close the door!

(The Princess tries to catch Barbara but is too late as she makes it inside the box. Now inside, Barbara finds herself in the same bright white room as before, with Susan standing by the control console. The Princess comes inside, but it's too late. Ian is then pushed in by the Doctor, as he too enters.)

DOCTOR: Close the door, Susan.

(Susan shuts the doors with the controls, causing the wall to close over behind Ian and Barbara.)

DOCTOR: I believe these people are known to you.

SUSAN: They're two of my schoolteachers. (To Ian & Barbara) What are you doing here?

BARBARA: (Shocked) Where are we?

DOCTOR: They must have followed you. That ridiculous school. I knew something like this would happen if we stayed in one place too long.

PRINCESS: Don't be unreasonable. This is hardly her fault.

DOCTOR: Then who's fault is it? Hmm? Theirs? Yours, my dear?

PRINCESS: Now don't you go taking that attitude with me.

DOCTOR: Ah, there's some of that royal blood in you, yes. Come to rear its ugly head again.

(The Princess glares at the old cheeky man.)

BARBARA: Is this really where you live, Susan?

SUSAN: Yes.

DOCTOR: And what's wrong with it?

IAN: (Shocked) But it was just a telephone box.

DOCTOR: Perhaps.

BARBARA: And these are your grandparents?

PRINCESS: No, I'm not her grandmother, but this gentleman here is her grandfather.

BARBARA: But why didn't you tell us that?

DOCTOR: I don't discuss my private life with strangers.

IAN: But it was a police telephone box. I walked all around it. Barbara, you saw me.

DOCTOR: You don't deserve any explanations. You pushed your way in here uninvited and unwelcome.

(The Princess begins removing her shawl to reveal a black and red patterned dress with a blue belt around the waist. She then hangs up her shawl on the coat stand.)

BARBARA: (To Ian) I think we ought to leave.

IAN: No, just a minute.

(Ian strides over to the Doctor who is already examining an ornate clock on a stand.)

IAN: I know this is absurd, but I feel–

DOCTOR: (Ignoring Ian) Oh dear, dear, dear dear. This is very–

IAN: (Continuing) I walked all round it!

DOCTOR: (Continuing) It's stopped again, you know, and I've tried– (Notices Ian) Hmm? Oh, you wouldn't understand.

IAN: But I want to understand!

DOCTOR: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. (He begins removing his coat and scarf) By the way, Susan, I managed to find a replacement for that faulty filament. It's an amateur job, but I think it'll serve.

(With his scarf and coat removed, the Doctor goes over to the console.)

IAN: It's an illusion. It must be.

DOCTOR: What is he talking about now?

PRINCESS: He's still processing it all.

DOCTOR: Just as I thought, nothing of interest.

SUSAN: (To Ian & Barbara) What are you doing here?

DOCTOR: You don't understand, so you find excuses. Illusions, indeed? You say you can't fit an enormous building into one of your smaller sitting rooms.

IAN: No.

DOCTOR: But you've discovered television, haven't you?

IAN: Yes.

DOCTOR: Then by showing an enormous building on your television screen, you can do what seemed impossible, couldn't you?

IAN: Well, yes, but I still don't know–

DOCTOR: Not quite clear, is it. I can see by your face that you're not certain. You don't understand. And I knew you wouldn't. Never mind. Now then, which switch was it? No. No, no… Ah yes, that is it. The point is not whether you understand. What is going to happen to you, hmm? (To Susan) They'll tell everybody about the ship now.

IAN: Ship?

DOCTOR: Yes, yes, ship. This doesn't roll along on wheels, you know.

BARBARA: You mean it moves?

SUSAN: The Tardis can go anywhere.

BARBARA: Tardis? I don't understand you, Susan.

PRINCESS: Do forgive her, it's one of her colourful names for the ship.

SUSAN: You see, I made up the name Tardis from the initials, Time And Relative Dimension In Space. I thought you'd both understand when you saw the different dimensions inside from those outside.

PRINCESS: You shouldn't hold them to too high a standard I think, Susan. After all, they're only humans.

IAN: Just let me get this straight. A thing that looks like a police box, standing in a junkyard, it can move anywhere in time and space?

SUSAN: Yes.

PRINCESS: Yes.

DOCTOR: Quite so.

IAN: But that's ridiculous.

SUSAN: Why won't they believe us?

BARBARA: How can we?

DOCTOR: Now, now, don't get exasperated, Susan. Remember the Red Indian. When he saw the first steam train, his savage mind thought it an illusion, too.

IAN: You're treating us like children.

DOCTOR: Am I? The children of our civilisation would be insulted.

IAN: Your civilisation?!

DOCTOR: Yes, our civilisation. I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it. Have you ever thought what it's like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension? Have you? To be exiles? We are cut off from our own planet, without friends or protection. But one day we shall get back. Yes, one day. One day.

PRINCESS: (To self) Though hopefully not for many days to come.

DOCTOR: Oh, really! You know we have to go home sometime. We all have to grow up.

PRINCESS: You've certainly changed your tune.

(The Doctor waves at Princess as he continues with his work at the console.)

SUSAN: (To Ian & Barbara) It's true. Every word of it's true. You don't know what you've done coming in here. Grandfather, let them go now, please. Look, if they don't understand, they can't, they can't hurt us at all. I understand these people better than you. Their minds reject things they don't understand.

PRINCESS: I must agree. Keeping them here will only cause more problems, and they're clearly distressed. Why not just let them move on and forget about all this?

DOCTOR: (Thinks for a moment) No.

(The Doctor walks away.)

IAN: He can't keep us here.

BARBARA: Susan, listen to me. Can't you see that all this is an illusion? It's a game that you and your grandfather are playing, if you like, but you can't expect us to believe it.

SUSAN: It's not a game!

BARBARA: But Susan, it–

SUSAN: It's not! Look, I love your school. I loved England in the twentieth century. The last five months have been the happiest of my life.

BARBARA: But you are one of us. You look like us, you sound like us.

SUSAN: I was born in another time, another world.

IAN: Now look here, Susan, you... (Susan's looks at him seriously) Oh, come on, Barbara, let's get out of here.

SUSAN: It's no use, you can't get out. He won't let you go.

(As Ian and Barbara try to find the door, the Doctor watches and chuckles.)

PRINCESS: So much for growing up, Mister.

DOCTOR: Well, it's quite amusing don't you think?

(The Doctor and Princess continue to watch as Ian and Barbara search the wall for the door that has closed over.)

IAN: (Looks over to the console) He closed the doors from over there. I saw him. (He runs over to the console) Now, which is it? Which is it? Which control operates the door?

DOCTOR: You still think it's all an illusion?

IAN: I know that free movement time and space is a scientific dream I don't expect to find solved in a junkyard.

DOCTOR: Your arrogance is nearly as great as your ignorance.

IAN: Will you open the door? Open the door! Susan, will you help us?

SUSAN: I mustn't.

IAN: (To Princess) What about you?

PRINCESS: It's not quite as simple as that.

IAN: Very well, then. I'll have to risk it myself.

DOCTOR: I can't stop you.

(The Doctor subtly presses a button of his own.)

SUSAN: Don't touch it, it's live!

(Ian gets an electric shock from the console.)

BARBARA: Ian!

PRINCESS: Really! Was that necessary?!

DOCTOR: I believe it was.

PRINCESS: Stupid old man!

DOCTOR: Don't go using that tone with me! And I'm not that much older than you, remember.

PRINCESS: (Muttering) Old enough to make you a stupid old man.

SUSAN: Grandfather, let them go now, please.

DOCTOR: And by tomorrow we shall be a public spectacle, a subject for news and idle gossip.

SUSAN: But they won't say anything.

DOCTOR: My dear child, of course they will. Put yourself in their place. They are bound to make some sort of a complaint to the authorities, or at the very least talk to their friends.

PRINCESS: But who would believe them? You've heard them speak, they don't believe it themselves. And how on Earth could they convince anyone of something they themselves don't believe?

DOCTOR: They don't have to believe in it to lead others back here, and that's what they'll do if I let them go. And if I do let them go, you both realise of course, we must go, too.

SUSAN: No, Grandfather, we've had all this out before.

DOCTOR: There's no alternative, child.

SUSAN: I want to stay! But they're both kind people. Why won't you trust them? All you've got to do is ask them to promise to keep our secret–

DOCTOR: It's out of the question.

PRINCESS: Oh, stop bullying the poor child. I'm sure we can find a way around this that allows us to stay and these people go.

DOCTOR: My mind is made up.

SUSAN: I won't go, Grandfather. I won't leave the twentieth century. I'd rather leave the Tardis and you.

PRINCESS: Susan?!

DOCTOR: Now you're being sentimental and childish.

SUSAN: No, I mean it.

DOCTOR: (Thinks for a moment) Very well. Then you must go with them. I'll open the door.

(The Doctor returns to the control console with the Princess following him swiftly.)

PRINCESS: You can't be serious?

BARBARA: Are you coming, Susan?

(But instead of using the door switch, the Doctor presses a different button... One that starts the take-off sequence.)

DOCTOR: If she wants to go, then go we shall.

PRINCESS: You're just being cruel now!

SUSAN: (Realising what is happening) Oh, no, Grandfather! No!

(Susan runs over and grabs a hold of the Doctor to try and stop him.)

DOCTOR: Let me go!

SUSAN: No!

(The Princess pulls Susan off the Doctor so he can continue piloting the ship.)

PRINCESS: It's too late, Susan. We've begun!

(The room begins to shake, throwing Ian and Barbara from side to side before they collapse. At the console, the Doctor, Princess and Susan hang on. In the centre of the console, the glass column begins to rise and fall as a strange noise echoes around them. On the scanner, a picture of London is shown before it shrinks away into blackness. As the Doctor, Princess and Susan hold on, they each see a strange swirling vortex and are all stunned. Then finally, the room stops shaking and the strange noise fades away with a thud. The scanner now shows a picture of a wasteland. The Doctor, Princess and Susan stand by the console frozen. On the floor, Ian lies unconscious. Next to him, Barbara has collapsed into a chair, also unconscious. Outside, the police box has landed in the wasteland shown on the scanner. All is still…until the long shadow of a man appears across the ground.)


Next Episode – The Cave of Skulls