"An Unearthly Child"

Written by Anthony Coburn

Broadcast 23 November 1963

Duration: 23 minutes 10 seconds

1: EXT. TOTTERS LANE (NIGHT)

(On a dark foggy night a lone policeman patrols his b*at through the empty streets of London. Nearby a clock chimes 3 a.m. The policeman walks up to a pair of tall shabby wooden gates on which is painted

I.M. Foreman

Scrap Merchant

Totters Lane

The policeman shines his torch onto the gates then proceeds into the night. Behind him, one of the gates creaks open revealing that hidden within the scrap and junk of yard is the incongruous shape of a London police box. That is strange enough in itself, but even stranger is the fact that the box is emitting a low electronic hum.)

2: INT. COAL HILL SCHOOL. CORRIDOR

(The ringing of the bell brings an end to another day at the school. The students spill out of the classrooms, chattering to each other. A woman, BARBARA WRIGHT, follows the students out, calling back into the classroom.)

BARBARA: Wait in here please, Susan. I won't be long.

(Various pupils say “Good night, Miss Wright as they walk past BARBARA. Two female students walk along the corridor, very interested in the paper they're reading. A young male student comes up, mocking their excited tones. The girls roll their eyes. One whispers something naughty to the other, they smile and move along. BARBARA walks up behind them up to another classroom door. With a quick knock, she walks in.)

3: INT. COAL HILL SCHOOL. LABORATORY

(Inside another teacher, IAN CHESTERTON sits at a lab bench, marking some papers. He looks up as BARBARA enters.)

IAN: Not gone yet?

BARBARA: Obviously not.

IAN: Ask a silly question...

BARBARA: I'm sorry.

IAN: It's all right. I'll forgive you this time.

(BARBARA walks up to the bench and sits.)

BARBARA: Oh, I've had a terrible day. I don't know what to make of it.

IAN: Oh? What's the trouble? Can I help?

BARBARA: Oh, it's one of the girls: Susan Foreman.

IAN: Susan Foreman? Oh ho. She your problem too?

BARBARA: Yes.

IAN: And you don't know what to make of her?

BARBARA: No.

IAN: How old is she, Barbara?

BARBARA: fifteen

IAN: Fifteen...she lets her knowledge out a bit at a time, so as not to embarrass me: that's what I feel about her. She knows more science than I'll ever know. She's a genius! Is that what she's doing with history?

BARBARA: Something like that.

IAN: So, your problem is whether to stay in business or hand over the class to her.

BARBARA: No, not quite.

IAN: (Laughs.) what then?

BARBARA: Ian, I must talk to someone about this, but I don't want the girl to get into trouble. And I know you're going to tell me I'm imagining things.

IAN: No, I'm not.

BARBARA: Well, I told you how good she is at history. I had a talk with her, and I told her she ought to specialise. Well, she seemed quite interested
'till I said I'd be willing to work with her at her home. Then she said that would be “absolutely impossible” as her grandfather didn't like strangers.

IAN: (Getting up and walking around to a sink.) He's a doctor, isn't he? It’s a bit of a lame excuse.

BARBARA: Well, I didn't pursue the point. But then recently, her homework's been so bad.

IAN: (Washing his hands.) Yes, I know.

BARBARA: Finally, I was so irritated with all her excuses, I decided to have a talk with this grandfather of hers and tell him to take some interest in her.

IAN: Oh, did you indeed? And what's the old boy like?

BARBARA: Well, that's just it. I got her address from the secretary - 76 Totters Lane - and I went along there one evening.

(IAN finishes washing his hands.)

BARBARA: Oh Ian, do pay attention!

(He walks across the room to dry his hands.)

IAN: Sorry. You went along there one evening...

BARBARA: Well, there isn't anything there. It's just an old junkyard.

IAN: Well, you must've gone to the wrong place.

BARBARA: Well that’s the address the secretary gave me.

IAN: Well the secretary got it wrong then…

BARBARA: No. I checked. There’s a big wall on one side, houses on the other, and nothing in the middle. And this 'nothing in the middle' is No. 76
Totters Lane!

IAN: Mmm…that's a bit of mystery. Well, there must be a simple answer somewhere.

BARBARA: Well, what?

IAN: (Grins.) Well, we'll have to find out for ourselves, won't we?

BARBARA: (Grins.) Thank you for the “we”. She's waiting in one of the classrooms. I'm lending her a book on the French Revolution.

IAN: What's she going to do - rewrite it?

(BARBARA rolls her eyes, and the two teachers get up to leave.)

IAN: Oh, all right! (He grabs his coat.) What do we do? Ask her point blank?

BARBARA: No. I thought we could drive there, wait 'till she arrives and see where she goes.

IAN: (Puts his coat on.) Oh...all right.

BARBARA: Well, that is, if you're not doing anything.

IAN: No, I'm not. (He opens the door.) After you...

4: INT. COAL HILL SCHOOL. CLASSROOM

(15-year old SUSAN FOREMAN - the subject of the teacher's conversation - is listening to a little pocket radio, putting it up to her ear. She's a slim beauty with elfin features, unusually short dark hair and unusual eyes. She dances strangely to the music by making abrupt movements with her right hand and fake strumming a guitar. Behind her, IAN and BARBARA walk in. She's oblivious to them. Both smile with amusement.)

BARBARA: Susan?

SUSAN: (Putting down the radio.) Oh, I-I'm sorry, Miss Wright! I didn't hear you coming in. Aren't they fabulous?

BARBARA: Who?

SUSAN: I-It's John Smith and the Common Men. They've gone from 19 to 2.

BARBARA: (Not understanding a bit of it.) Hmm. (She looks puzzled.)

IAN: (Laughing.) "John Smith" is the stage name of the honourable Aubrey Waites. He started his career as Chris Waites and the Carollers, didn't he, Susan?

SUSAN: You are surprising, Mr. Chesterton. I wouldn't expect you to know things like that.

IAN: I have an enquiring mind…(Motions to the loud radio.) and a very sensitive ear.

SUSAN: Oh, (Turning the radio off, slightly flustered.) I'm sorry.

IAN: Thank you.

SUSAN: (Noticing the book that BARBARA is holding.) Is that the book you promised me?

BARBARA: (Hands it over.) Yes.

SUSAN: Thank you very much. It will be interesting...I'll return it tomorrow.

BARBARA: Oh, that's not necessary. Keep it until you've finished it.

SUSAN: (She picks up her school bag.) I'll have finished it.

(IAN and BARBARA glance at each other in surprise.)

IAN: Oh, where do you live, Susan? I'm giving Miss Wright a lift. I've room for one more.

SUSAN: Er...no thank you, Mr. Chesterton. Er…I like walking through the dark. It's mysterious.

BARBARA: Be careful, Susan. There’ll probably be fog again tonight.

SUSAN: (Arranging things in her school bag.) Hmm.

BARBARA: See you in the morning.

SUSAN: I expect so. Good night.

BARBARA: Good night.

IAN: Good night, Susan.

(IAN and BARBARA leave the room. SUSAN looks behind her at the closing door then picks up her book - "The French Revolution," and starts to read a page at random. A moment later, she blinks at the book, startled.)

SUSAN: That's not right...!

5: EXT. TOTTERS LANE. (NIGHT)

(IAN and BARBARA are in his car as it arrives in Totters Lane.)

BARBARA: Over there!

(The car comes to a stop before the old wooden gate to the junkyard. The two teachers remain in the vehicle.)

IAN: Lucky there was no fog. I'd never have found this.

BARBARA: Well, she doesn't seem to have arrived yet. (She pauses nervously.) I suppose we are doing the right thing, aren't we?

IAN: You can’t justify curiosity.

BARBARA: But her homework…

IAN: Bit of an excuse, really, isn't it? I've seen far worse. The truth is, we're both curious about Susan, and we won't be happy until we know some of the answers.

BARBARA: Well, you can't just pass it off like that. If I thought I was just being a busybody, I'd go straight home! I thought you agreed she was a bit of a mystery!

IAN: Yes, but I think you'll find there's a very simple explanation to all this.

BARBARA: Well, I don't know how you explain the fact that a teenage girl does not know how many shillings there are in a pound.

IAN: (Surprised.) Really?

BARBARA: Really! She said she thought we were on the decimal system.

IAN: The decimal system?

6: INT. COAL HILL SCHOOL. BARBARA 'S CLASSROOM (FLASHBACK)

(The whole of BARBARA'S history class is laughing at SUSAN'S naiveté. A visibly stung SUSAN turns her back on the other students and stares directly at BARBARA - the scene is seen from her point of view.)

SUSAN: I'm sorry, Miss Wright.

BARBARA: (OOV: Cross.) Don't be silly, Susan. The United States has a decimal system. You know perfectly well that we do not.

SUSAN: (In a shock of understanding.) Of course - the decimal system hasn't started yet!

7: EXT. TOTTERS LANE. (CONTINUED)

(IAN rubs his chin in thought.)

IAN: I suppose she couldn’t be a foreigner...no, it doesn't make sense! Nothing about this girl makes sense. For instance, just the other day, I was talking about chemical changes. I'd given out the litmus paper to show cause and effect…

BARBARA: …and she knew the answer before you'd started.

IAN: Well, not quite. The answer simply didn't interest her...

8: INT. COAL HILL SCHOOL. LABORATORY (FLASHBACK)

(A nervous SUSAN at the lab bench, again surrounded by her fellow pupils, addresses IAN, who's walking toward her - again it is from the teachers point of view.)

SUSAN: Yes, I can see red turns to blue, Mr. Chesterton, but that's because we're dealing with two inactive chemicals. They only act in relation to each other.

IAN: (OOV, Exasperated.) But that's the whole point of the experiment, Susan.

SUSAN: Yes, it's a bit obvious, isn't it? Well, I-I'm not trying to be rude, but...couldn't we deal with two active chemicals? Then red could turn blue all by itself and we could get on with something else.

(Her expression turns sheepish as she glances at her fellow pupils and she speaks more quietly.)

SUSAN: I'm sorry. It was just an idea.

9: EXT. TOTTERS LANE. (CONTINUED)

IAN: She means it. These simple experiments are child's play to her.

BARBARA: You know, it's almost got to the point where I want to deliberately trip her up.

IAN: (Laughing quietly.) Yes...something like that happened the other day. I’d set the class a problem with A, B, and C as the three dimensions...

10: INT. COAL HILL SCHOOL. LABORATORY (FLASHBACK)

(SUSAN is clearly upset. For the final time she faces IAN full on.)

SUSAN: It's impossible unless you use D and E!

IAN: (OOV.) D and E? Whatever for? Do the problem that’s set, Susan.

SUSAN: I can’t, Mr. Chesterton! You can't simply work on three of the dimensions!

IAN: (OOV.) Three of them? Oh. Time being the fourth, I suppose. Then what do you need E for? What do you make the fifth dimension?

SUSAN: (Quietly and somewhat mysteriously.) Space...

11: EXT. TOTTERS LANE. (CONTINUED)

BARBARA: Too many questions and not enough answers.

IAN: Too stupid...or just doesn't know. So, we have a fifteen-year old girl who is absolutely brilliant at some things and excruciatingly bad at others.

BARBARA: (Pointing out of the cars windscreen window.) There she is!

(At the entrance to the junkyard, SUSAN, in her hat and coat with her bag over her shoulder, looks round furtively, then pushes open the gate and enters the yard.)

BARBARA: Look, can we go in? I..I hate to think of her, alone in that place.

IAN: If she is alone. Look, she is fifteen…she might be meeting a boy. Didn't that occur to you?

BARBARA: I almost hope she is.

IAN: What do you mean?

BARBARA: Well, it would be so wonderfully normal.

(Both teachers laugh. But BARBARA grows sombre.)

BARBARA: It's silly, isn't it? I feel frightened…as if we're about to interfere in something that is best left alone...

12: EXT. JUNKYARD. 76 TOTTERS LANE

(SUSAN walking through the junkyard, puts something to eat in her mouth. A tailors dummy with a broken head stands behind her.)

13: EXT. TOTTERS LANE

(IAN opens up the car door.)

IAN: Come on, let's get it over with.

(He and BARBARA get out of the car, and start toward the gate. BARBARA is getting more and more uneasy, and hangs back.)

BARBARA: Well, don't you feel it?

IAN: I take things as they come, come on.

(The two teachers walk towards the gates.)

14: EXT. JUNKYARD. 76 TOTTERS LANE

(With a creak of the gate, IAN and BARBARA enter the junkyard. IAN switches on his torch and they stare at the mounds of junk. SUSAN is nowhere in sight.
They briefly examine the tailors dummy.)

IAN: What a mess. I'm not turning any of this stuff over to find her...

BARBARA: (Points.) Over there?

(IAN starts in the direction indicated, only to stumble over one of the pieces of junk. He picks himself back up.)

IAN: Blast! I dropped it!

BARBARA: What?

IAN: The torch!

BARBARA: Well, use a match!

IAN: No, I haven't got any. Oh, never mind.

(The two teachers continue their exploration of the junkyard - now somewhat in darkness.)

BARBARA: Susan?

IAN: Susan? Susan?

(IAN starts up a short flight of stairs which lead to the building at the back of the yard.)

IAN: Susan?

(He comes back down.)

IAN: Susan! Mr. Chesterton and Miss Wright!

(He looks behind the stairs then, quietly to himself.)

IAN: Can’t have got out without us seeing her?

BARBARA: Ian...look at this!

(BARBARA has found the Police Box, which stands next to the stairs.)

IAN: Well, it's a police box! What on earth's it doing here? Well, these things are usually on the street…

(IAN has put his hand on the box's side whilst saying this but he stops d*ad in surprise. He touches it with his full hand, more firmly.)

IAN: Feel it! Feel it!

(BARBARA quickly puts the back of her hand on and off the side of the box.)

IAN: Did you feel it?

BARBARA: It's a faint vibration...

(He takes a step back from the box.)

IAN: It's alive!

(IAN quickly walks around the back of the box as BARBARA waits.)

IAN: It's not connected to anything, unless it's through the floor.

BARBARA: Look, I-I've had enough. Let's go and find a policeman.

IAN: Yes, all right…

(A coughing sound echoes through the junkyard from outside the gates.)

BARBARA: Is that her?

IAN: That’s not her…

(The gate creaks open.)

IAN: Quick!

(They hide behind the stairs. An OLD MAN walks into view. Seemingly in his mid seventies, with straight, slightly long white hair, wearing an Astrakhan hat, cloak and scarf. He coughs and waves a handkerchief to clear the air. He walks up to the box, pulling out a key and, holding a slim pen flashlight in the other hand, starts to insert the key into the lock set into the box's door.)

SUSAN: (OOV.) There you are, Grandfather!

BARBARA: (Whispering but shocked.) It’s Susan!

IAN: Shh!

(The OLD MAN has heard them. He pockets the key and shines the torch on the stairs as IAN comes out of hiding.)

IAN: (Sheepishly.) Excuse me...

OLD MAN: (Shining the pen torch at his face.) What are you doing here?

IAN: Uh, we're looking for a girl.

OLD MAN: We?

BARBARA: (Stepping into view.) Good evening.

OLD MAN: What do you want?

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

OLD MAN: (A smile on his face.) Really? In here? Are you sure?

BARBARA: Yes. We saw her from across the street.

OLD MAN: (To himself.) One of their pupils. Not the police, then...

IAN: Er…I…I beg your pardon??

OLD MAN: (He fixes IAN with a stare.) Why were you spying on her? Who are you?

IAN: We heard a young girl's voice call out to you...

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

BARBARA: (She points at the box.) It came from in here!

OLD MAN: (A flash of fear crosses his face.) You imagined it.

BARBARA: I certainly did not imagine it!

(The OLD MAN pulls IAN by the arm to one side.)

OLD MAN: Young man...Is it reasonable to suppose that anyone 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 OLD MAN’S attention is suddenly drawn to a painting amid the junk.)

OLD MAN: (Picks the painting up.) I wonder why I've never seen that before. Now, isn’t that strange? Pretty damp and dirty...hmm...

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...

OLD MAN: (Not paying attention and muttering to himself.) Have to be cleaned... (He suddenly seems to notice her again.) Mmm? Oh, I'm afraid it's none of my business. I suggest you leave here.

(He puts the painting back down and walks back to the Police box.)

IAN: Not until we're satisfied that Susan isn't here and, frankly, I don't understand your attitude…

OLD MAN: Oh, yours leaves a lot to be desired.

IAN: Will you open the door?

OLD MAN: There's nothing in there!

IAN: Then what are you afraid to show us?

OLD MAN: Afraid? Oh, go away!

IAN: (To BARBARA.) I think we'd better go and fetch a policeman.

OLD MAN: Very well.

IAN: And you're coming with us.

OLD MAN: Oh...am I? (He chuckles.) I don't think so, young man. No, I don't think so...

BARBARA: (Whisper.) We can't force him!

IAN: (Whisper.) But we can't leave him here! Doesn't it seem obvious to you he's got her locked up in there? (BARBARA nods.) Look at it!

(The OLD MAN is standing away from them again, now seemingly examining a small jug but his real attention is occupied by the teachers conversation as IAN examines the box's door.)

IAN: There's no door handle...must be a secret lock somewhere.

BARBARA: That was Susan's voice.

IAN: Of course it was! Susan...Susan? Are you in there? It's Mr. Chesterton and Miss Wright, Susan!

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

BARBARA: But why won't you help us?

(He puts the jug back down and faces the teachers.)

OLD MAN: I'm 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 nip off quietly in the other direction.

OLD MAN: (Momentarily closes his eyes.) Insulting. (He faces them again.) 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.

IAN: Nevertheless, we're going to find one. Come along, Barbara.

(The two teachers turn their backs on the OLD MAN, toward the gate. They've taken only a step when the door of the box opens.)

SUSAN: (OOV.) What are you doing out there?

IAN: She is in there!

(Suddenly the OLD MAN rushes at the two teachers, trying to hold them back.)

OLD MAN: Close the door!

IAN: Barbara!

(As IAN struggles with the OLD MAN, BARBARA dashes through the box's open door…)

15: INT. POLICE BOX

(…and into a large brilliantly lit white room. The walls are covered with circular, indentations. A hexagonal-shaped control console with a cylindrical tube inset in the centre with machinery visible inside. Various antiques decorate the place. A monitor is set into the upper wall. A shocked SUSAN walks from behind the console. The OLD MAN and IAN walk inside behind BARBARA.)

OLD MAN: Close the doors, Susan.

(SUSAN activates a switch on the console, and the large double doors behind the group close with an electronic hum.)

OLD MAN: (To SUSAN.) I believe these people are known to you.

SUSAN: They're two of my schoolteachers! What are you doing here?

BARBARA: (Looking around in wonder.) Where are we?

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

SUSAN: But why should they follow me.

BARBARA: Is this really where you live, Susan?

SUSAN: Yes.

OLD MAN: And what's wrong with it?

IAN: But it was just a telephone box...

OLD MAN: Perhaps.

BARBARA: And this is your grandfather...?

SUSAN: Yes.

BARBARA: (To the OLD MAN - the DOCTOR that she spoke of earlier with IAN.) Well, 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 round it! Barbara, you saw me!

(The DOCTOR crosses to an antique ormolu clock on a nearby stand.)

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

BARBARA: I think we ought to leave...

IAN: (To Barbara.) No, just a minute. (He crosses to the DOCTOR.)

DOCTOR: (To himself as he examines the clock.) Dear, dear, dear, this is very….

IAN: I know this is absurd, but I feel...I walked all around it!

(The DOCTOR'S attention is still occupied by the clock.)

DOCTOR: It's stopped again, you know, and I've tried... (He takes notice of IAN.) Hmm? Oh, you wouldn't understand at all.

(He walks back to the console. IAN follows him.)

IAN: But I want to understand!

DOCTOR: (Uninterested.) Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

(The DOCTOR sheds his cloak and scarf over an old chair, keeping his hat on.)

DOCTOR: Oh by the way Susan, I've managed to find a replacement for that faulty filament. Bit of an amateur job, but I, er, I think it'll serve.

(The DOCTOR takes an electronic object out of his pocket and walks to the console. He starts to insert the object into the console, effecting repairs.)

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

DOCTOR: What is he talking about now?

SUSAN: What are you doing here?

DOCTOR: (Coughing quietly for attention.) 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: It’s not quite clear, is it? I can see by your face that you're not certain. You don't understand. (He laughs.) and I knew you wouldn't!
Never mind. (He turns back to the console.) Now then, which switch was it...? No, no, no...Ah yes, that is it! (He flips the switch.) The point is not whether you understand... (He turns back to IAN.) What is going to happen to you, hmm? (To SUSAN.) They'll tell everybody about the ship now.

IAN: The 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.

SUSAN: Well, I made up the name TARDIS from the initials. Time And Relative Dimension In Space. I’d thought you both would understand when you saw the different dimensions inside from those outside.

IAN: 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!

DOCTOR: Quite so.

IAN: But that's ridiculous!

SUSAN: (Exasperated, to the DOCTOR.) Why won't they believe us?

BARBARA: Well, how can we?

DOCTOR: (He puts his hands on SUSAN’S shoulders.) 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: (Stung at the comparison.) You're treating us like children!

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

IAN: Your civilisation?

DOCTOR: Yes, my civilisation. I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it. Have you ever thought about what it's like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension? Have you? To be exiles? (He motions to himself and SUSAN.) Susan and I are cut off from our own planet, without friends or protection. But one day... (He gazes into the distance, his arm around SUSAN.) ...we shall get back. Yes, one day…one day...

SUSAN: (A little distraught as she faces the teachers.) It's true. Every word of it's true. You don't know what you've done coming here… (She turns to the DOCTOR.) 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...

(The old man's icy look is his answer. The girl's words seize up in her throat.)

DOCTOR: No.

(He walks to the back of the room.)

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…

SUSAN: (Very upset.) It's not! Look, I love your school. I love England in the 20th 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: (Tightly.) I was born in another time. Another world.

IAN: Now look here Susan, you... (He finally gives up and grabs BARBARA'S arm.) Oh come on, Barbara, let's get out of here.

(They walk towards the wall, trying to find the doors.)

SUSAN: No, you two can't get out. He won't let you go.

(A high pitched whining sound echoes through the room. At the console, the DOCTOR is laughing.)

IAN: (Points at the console.) He closed the doors from over there. (He moves toward it.) I saw it... (He looks over the console.)
Now which is it...? Which is it? (To the DOCTOR.) Which control operates the door?

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

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

DOCTOR: Oh, your arrogance is nearly as great as your ignorance! (He laughs.)

IAN: Will you open the door? Open the door! (The DOCTOR laughs.) Susan, will you help us?

SUSAN: I mustn't! I mustn’t!

IAN: (He sighs and faces the console.) Very well then. I'll have to risk it myself.

DOCTOR: (With suspicious acceptance.) I can't stop you...

(The old man's hand brushes a switch just as IAN'S comes down on a button...)

SUSAN: Oh, don’t touch it! It’s live!

(The shock flings IAN to the floor.)

BARBARA: Ian! (She helps him up and shouts at the DOCTOR.) What on earth do you think you're doing?

SUSAN: Grandfather, let them go now! Please!

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

(He resolutely turns to the console. SUSAN moves to stop him.)

SUSAN: But they won't say anything…

DOCTOR: (He claps hands on the girl's shoulders.) My dear child, of course they will. Put yourself in their place. They're bound to make some sort of a complaint to the authorities - or at the very least talk to their friends. (He wags his finger at her.) If I do let them go, Susan, you realise of course we must go too.

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

DOCTOR: (Firmly.) There's no alternative, child.

SUSAN: I want to stay! Look, 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 and…

DOCTOR: It's out of the question.

SUSAN: I won't go, Grandfather. I won't leave the 20th century…I'd rather leave the TARDIS and you!

DOCTOR: Now you're being sentimental and childish.

SUSAN: No, I mean it.

(The DOCTOR looks at her and the teachers and seems to reach a decision.)

DOCTOR: Very well. Then you must go with them. I’ll open the door. (He turns to the console.)

BARBARA: Are you coming, Susan?

(The DOCTOR starts to activate switch after switch on the console.)

SUSAN: Oh no grandfather, no!

(She grabs at him, trying to pull him away.)

DOCTOR: Let me go!

SUSAN: No!

(He keeps activating controls despite SUSAN’S best efforts. The room starts to shake as the lighting within pulses. Instruments and dials on the console burst into life.)

DOCTOR: Get back to the ship’s side! Hold it...

(The shaking worsens, and the teachers are flung across the room, BARBARA into a chair and IAN onto the floor - a raucous grinding engine sound rises and falls through the room, the cylindrical column begins to rise and fall. And on the monitor, an overhead view of London is shown, that shrinks, fades...and is replaced by a blinding vortex of light and energy...)

16: EXT. DESERT

(A barren wasteland of rock. There is very little vegetation. There is a howling wind. Almost, but not quite, a desert.)

17: INT. TARDIS. CONSOLE ROOM

(The wasteland fills the monitor screen. The old man does not seem to see it. He seems shocked by what has taken place. IAN and BARBARA remain unconscious nearby.)

18: EXT. DESERT

(Outside, a new element has entered the rocky wastes - the odd image of the police box, it's lantern still flashing, standing ungainly on the uneven ground.
Part of the wasteland is suddenly obscured by a shadow - what looks like the shadow of a humanoid…)
{"type": "series", "show": "Doctor Who", "episode": "01x01 - An Unearthly Child"}