The Runaway Bride is a special episode of the long running British science fiction television series Doctor Who starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. The special is to be produced for Christmas 2006, set to air on December 25 (Christmas Day)[1], and will play much the same role that The Christmas Invasion did the previous year, introducing the third series while not actually being part of it.
It was written by Russell T. Davies and directed by Euros Lyn. The special features Catherine Tate as the Bride. She appeared in the TARDIS at the end of Doomsday.
As Donna is about to marry her boyfriend Lance on Christmas Eve, she suddenly finds herself aboard the TARDIS. As the Doctor tries to get Donna to the church on time, the alien Empress of Racnoss watches closely from the throne in her spaceship. How is Donna the key to an ancient plot to destroy the Earth? With time running out, can the Doctor solve the puzzle, defeat the Empress and stop her army of robot santas?[2]
Trivia
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Doctor Who is back this Christmas, with David Tennant once again saving the world as the wise-cracking Timelord. Probably
-------------------------
This time he's got another lady travelling with him - comedian Catherine Tate. Doesn't she look full of Christmas cheer?
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And a Christmas special wouldn't be worth doing if Father Christmas didn't make an appearance or three. These guys look a bit scary though
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A big part of the episode is a high-speed chase with the Tardis following Catherine's character Donna in a black cab. She is at first unaware it is being driven by a robot Santa (you can just about see it in the driver's seat). The Doctor gives chase in the TARDIS, flying it down the motorway and trying to persuade Donna to jump between the moving vehicles
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It looks like the Doctor may have left his shopping until the last minute, but surely he doesn't need to use a cashpoint?
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Now this is more like it! A slightly mysterious looking gadget, probably from some alien race has got the Doctor interested
----------------------
And of course the Tardis plays a big role. But just how did Donna appear inside it from nowhere at the end of season 2?
---------------------
It looks like London is once again the location for the Christmas special, but the Doctor won't be dropping in for tea with Rose's mum Jackie
----------------------
Aren't weddings supposed to be happy occasions for the people involved? It doesn't look like Donna is having a very good time...
-----------------------
And the Doctor looks pretty unhappy too. Perhaps they haven't got his favourite drink
news.bbc.co.uk
It was written by Russell T. Davies and directed by Euros Lyn. The special features Catherine Tate as the Bride. She appeared in the TARDIS at the end of Doomsday.
As Donna is about to marry her boyfriend Lance on Christmas Eve, she suddenly finds herself aboard the TARDIS. As the Doctor tries to get Donna to the church on time, the alien Empress of Racnoss watches closely from the throne in her spaceship. How is Donna the key to an ancient plot to destroy the Earth? With time running out, can the Doctor solve the puzzle, defeat the Empress and stop her army of robot santas?[2]
Trivia
- The Doctor's new companion Martha Jones, played by Freema Agyeman, will not appear in this episode.[6] (She'll arrive in 2007)
- According to the commentary for Doomsday, the Bride's name is Donna. This has now been confirmed on the Doctor Who website.[7]
- The Daily Star reported that the special was a three-parter to be shown over the Christmas period, and that the Doctor would come face-to-face with a "Cyberwoman".[8] However, Russell T. Davies subsequently confirmed that the special will air in one 60-minute slot;[9] the "Cyberwoman" rumour stemmed from confusion with a Torchwood episode.
- For legal reasons, the production team were forced to make obviously fake banknotes for a scene. The £10 notes feature the Doctor's face and the phrases "I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of ten satsumas" and "No second chances - I'm that sort of a man".[10][11] The text is a reference to the Doctor's actions and dialogue near the end of The Christmas Invasion. There were also £20 notes featuring producer Phil Collinson. These had the phrase 'There's no point being grown up if you can't be a little childish sometimes.' printed on them, seemingly misquoting the line originally spoken by the Fourth Doctor, (Tom Baker), in Robot, "There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes."[10][12] All notes and the cash machine were labelled "London Credit Bank".
- Night filming of scenes involving gunfire, explosions and a tank disturbed some Cardiff residents, including one American woman returning home from the conflict in Israel. [13]
- The Daily Mirror reported that Sarah Jane Smith and K-9 will appear in The Runaway Bride. The same report said that the special has a theme of "past, present and future" and described it as "a combination of A Christmas Carol and It's A Wonderful Life, set in London's West End — with scores of evil aliens."[14] This has not been confirmed by the BBC. In the same week, the BBC's internal newsletter Ariel reported that CBBC was developing a spin-off series featuring Sarah Jane.[15][16] The Mirror's report may reflect confusion with this project.
- Guest star Sarah Parish's role is described as an "evil, alien mastermind".[3] Russell T. Davies, in his interview with Newsround, said that "Parish will be hard to recognise". This implies that her character will include prosthetics, covering her face. This is backed up by The Guardian Weekend Magazine in which Sarah Parish revealed that she plays "the Empress of Racnoss". According to Parish, the character is "half-woman, half-spider. It took four hours to apply all the prosthetics in the morning and an hour and a half to remove them at the end of the day".[4] Parish has co-starred alongside David Tennant in two other BBC One dramas — 2004's Blackpool and 2006's Recovery.
- The "robot Santas" from The Christmas Invasion will return in this story. [3]
- A four-minute clip of the special was shown at a concert organised for Children in Need. It features Donna riding in a taxi, at first unaware it is being driven by a robot Santa. The Doctor gives chase in the TARDIS, flying it down the motorway and trying to persuade Donna to jump between the moving vehicles. This clip was leaked online shortly after the event.
- According to issue 372 of Doctor Who Magazine, this episode contains the words Morocco, Biodamper, Lotto and "you can do the explaining, Martian boy".
- Much like The Christmas Invasion's use of the original tune "Song for Ten", composer Murray Gold has written a song titled "Love Don't Roam" for this special. The song was previewed at the Doctor Who: A Celebration concert on 19 November 2006 at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff; a studio version is on the soundrack album released on 4 December.
- This will be the first Doctor Who story to be broadcast with in-vision British Sign Language interpretation, in a UK repeat scheduled for 30th December 2006.[18]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doctor Who is back this Christmas, with David Tennant once again saving the world as the wise-cracking Timelord. Probably
-------------------------
This time he's got another lady travelling with him - comedian Catherine Tate. Doesn't she look full of Christmas cheer?
------------------------
And a Christmas special wouldn't be worth doing if Father Christmas didn't make an appearance or three. These guys look a bit scary though
----------------------
A big part of the episode is a high-speed chase with the Tardis following Catherine's character Donna in a black cab. She is at first unaware it is being driven by a robot Santa (you can just about see it in the driver's seat). The Doctor gives chase in the TARDIS, flying it down the motorway and trying to persuade Donna to jump between the moving vehicles
--------------------
It looks like the Doctor may have left his shopping until the last minute, but surely he doesn't need to use a cashpoint?
----------------------
Now this is more like it! A slightly mysterious looking gadget, probably from some alien race has got the Doctor interested
----------------------
And of course the Tardis plays a big role. But just how did Donna appear inside it from nowhere at the end of season 2?
---------------------
It looks like London is once again the location for the Christmas special, but the Doctor won't be dropping in for tea with Rose's mum Jackie
----------------------
Aren't weddings supposed to be happy occasions for the people involved? It doesn't look like Donna is having a very good time...
-----------------------
And the Doctor looks pretty unhappy too. Perhaps they haven't got his favourite drink
news.bbc.co.uk
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