Army of Ghosts
Ghosts become Cybermen as a Void ship brings Daleks.
"Army of Ghosts" is the twelfth episode of the second series of Doctor Who, first broadcast on BBC One on 1 July 2006. It is the first part of a two-story conclusion, followed by "Doomsday" on 8 July. The episode introduces the Cybermen crossing from a parallel universe into the main reality via an interdimensional breach.
Quick Facts
- Doctor
- David Tennant – Tenth Doctor
- Companion
- Billie Piper – Rose Tyler
- Director
- Graeme Harper
- Writer
- Russell T Davies
- Producer
- Phil Collinson
- Executive producers
- Russell T Davies; Julie Gardner
- Composer
- Murray Gold
- Series
- Series 2
Facts from the source article.
Plot
She explains that for two months, millions of such ghosts have appeared worldwide, and people accept them as manifestations of loved ones. The Doctor determines through an experiment that the ghosts are impressions of something forcing its way into this universe. He tracks the signal and travels with Rose and Jackie in the TARDIS to the Torchwood Institute at Canary Wharf. Soldiers take the Doctor and Jackie to director Yvonne Hartman, while the TARDIS is impounded with Rose inside. Yvonne shows the Doctor an invisible breach generating the ghost energy, and a Void ship that came through it—a vessel designed to exist in the space between universes called the Void. Torchwood built One Canada Square around the breach and forced it open to harness energy. Yvonne also reveals that the Doctor's encounter with Queen Victoria made him an enemy of the state and led to Torchwood's creation. Meanwhile, Rose slips out of the TARDIS disguised as a Torchwood employee and reaches the sphere chamber, where she finds Mickey, also in disguise. An advance guard of Cybermen subverts three employees to initiate an unscheduled ghost shift, forcing the breach open. Millions of ghosts appear globally before materialising into Cybermen. As the Cybermen arrive, the sphere activates and begins to open. Mickey explains he followed the Cybermen from a parallel universe after they disappeared during a battle; he believes they control the sphere and draws a gun. The sphere opens to reveal four Daleks.
Production
To secure the availability of Noel Clarke and Shaun Dingwall, the story was filmed in the season's third production block alongside "Rise of the Cybermen" and "The Age of Steel". Location filming began on 2 November 2005 in Kennington, but the story became the primary focus on 29 November when filming started on scenes in and around the sphere chamber. Lever room scenes, the main setting, were filmed between 12 and 15 December 2005 and 3 and 5 January 2006. The episode includes cameos by Barbara Windsor as Peggy Mitchell from EastEnders, where she bars a ghost she presumes to be Den Watts, and by Trisha Goddard, Alistair Appleton, and Derek Acorah appearing as themselves. The shot of One Canada Square comes from the opening credits of The Apprentice. A programme with the same name as the controversial 1992 BBC broadcast Ghostwatch also appears. Location shooting took place at the Coal Exchange and Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff Bay.
Broadcast and reception
To keep the Daleks a surprise, the final scene was cut from all preview copies and swapped with a card that read "final scene withheld until transmission," even the one sent to the Doctor Who microsite's fear forecast team. The episode pulled in 8.19 million viewers, making it the week's seventh most-watched show, trailing four World Cup matches and two episodes of Coronation Street. The companion Doctor Who Confidential drew 570,000 viewers. Critics generally praised it. The Stage called it "a tense contest, full of drama, tears, adversity and two powerful forces coming face to face in the ultimate battle," while taking a jab at the England football team's earlier loss. The Guardian said it was "Who back at its best." The People liked the humor in the Doctor channel surfing. Jacob Clifton of Television Without Pity gave it an A−. Ahsan Haque of IGN scored it 9.8 out of 10, praising the pacing and the reveal of both the Cybermen and the Daleks, and noted "you couldn't ask for a better cliffhanger." The story, paired with "Fear Her" and "Doomsday," came out on DVD on 25 September 2006, and earned a Hugo Award nomination for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form in 2007.
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