"The Unquiet Dead" is a Christmas-themed episode of the BBC One sci-fi series Doctor Who.
Synopsis
The Ninth Doctor and Rose land in Cardiff on Christmas Eve, 1869. At a nearby funeral parlour, run by Gabriel Sneed and his servant Gwyneth, the corpse of the late Mrs. Peace has been taken over by a blue vapour. She kills her grandson Mr. Redpath and escapes from the parlour. Gwyneth, a clairvoyant, senses that the corpse is going to see Charles Dickens at a nearby theatre. In the middle of Dickens' performance, the blue vapour leaves Mrs. Peace and scares the audience away. The commotion attracts the attention of the Doctor and Rose, who rush to investigate. Sneed and Gwyneth arrive and capture the corpse, as well as Rose, who confronts them.
At the funeral parlour, Rose wakes up along with the newly-reanimated corpses of Mrs. Peace and Mr. Redpath. The Doctor and Dickens arrive and break into the parlour just in time to rescue Rose. The Doctor convinces Gwyneth to help him hold a séance to attempt to communicate with the corpses. The blue vapours fill the room and reveal that they are the Gelth, a once-corporeal alien race until they were devastated by the Time War. They plead with the Doctor to open the rift that exists in the morgue and allow "a few" Gelth to cross over. The Doctor offers the Gelth temporary use of the corpses until he can transport them to a place where they can build new bodies, using Gwyneth as a bridge to cross the rift.
Gwyneth stands in the middle of an arch and opens the rift, allowing the Gelth to cross over. The Gelth deceived how many of them there are, and their true motive is revealed: they intend to kill the living to give themselves more hosts and take over the planet. Sneed is killed and his body is possessed by the Gelth. Realising the Gelth are affected by the gas, Dickens extinguishes the gaslights and turns the gas on full, pulling the Gelth out of the bodies. Unable to send the Gelth back, Gwyneth takes out a box of matches, intending to ignite the gas and hold the Gelth in one spot with the explosion. The Doctor determines that Gwyneth is already dead, and that by opening the rift, she had doomed herself. The Doctor, Rose, and Dickens flee the parlour just before it explodes and burns, trapping the Gelth and closing the rift.
Cast
| Actor/actress | Character |
|---|---|
| Christopher Eccleston | The Doctor |
| Billie Piper | Rose Tyler |
| Alan David | Gabriel Sneed |
| Huw Rhys | Redpath |
| Jennifer Hill | Mrs. Peace |
| Eve Myles | Gwyneth |
| Simon Callow | Charles Dickens |
| Wayne Cater | Stage Manager |
| Meic Povey | Driver |
| Zoe Thorne | The Gelth |
External links
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| Doctor Who Christmas specials | ||
| Tenth Doctor | "The Unquiet Dead" • "The Christmas Invasion" • "The Runaway Bride" • "Voyage of the Damned" • "The Next Doctor" • "The End of Time" | |
| Eleventh Doctor | "A Christmas Carol" • "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" • "The Snowmen" • "The Time of the Doctor" | |
| Twelfth Doctor | "Last Christmas" • "The Husbands of River Song" • "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" • "Twice Upon a Time" | |
| Fifthteenth Doctor | "The Church on Ruby Road" • "Joy to the World" | |
| See also | "The Feast of Steven" • "Attack of the Graske" | |