Doctor Who Planet of the Dead

Welcome to our Hubpage all about the Doctor Who special episode Planet of the Dead! Here we'll be taking a look at the action in front of and behind the cameras for this special story, which is one of David Tennant's final episodes as the Doctor. Screened in April 2009, it is the last episode of Doctor Who to be aired before the first part of the final two-part finale that will see David Tennant's tenth Doctor regenerate into Matt Smith as the eleventh Doctor. These special episodes got off to a great start with the Christmas 2008 special, The Next Doctor, starring David Morrissey alongside David Tennant. Planet of the Dead is a very different tale indeed. Read on...

The Doctor boards an everyday London bus, as does a legendary jewel thief known as Lady Christina (Michelle Ryan), which is hurled into peril when it is sucked into a wormhole and flung onto a desert planet. The planet is infested by a terrifying flying swarm, and the neighbours, the Tritovore, aren't too friendly either. The Doctor teams up with Lady Christina in order to try and get the wrecked bus and its inhabitants back to Earth, without the help of his TARDIS, before they are all consumed by the Swarm or destroyed by the Tritovore.

Planet of the Dead stars David Tennant in the role of the tenth Doctor and former Eastenders/Bionic Woman star Michelle Ryan as Lady Christina, a notorious jewel thief. The cast also includes comedian Lee Evans as Professor Malcolm Taylor. The production on this special episode was far from straightforward, as location filming for the episode took place in Dubai. The BBC shipped a full size London bus overseas to use in the episode, and when the bus was damaged severely during filming, the script had to be altered to accommodate a reason for the damage!

Russell T Davies stated that this episode would be all new in origin, and feature no old monsters and very little continuity from earlier episodes, as an antidote to the fan-pleasing Journey's End episode and The Next Doctor's references to the classic series and classic monsters. It is the first Doctor Who story to be filmed and broadcast in HD. David Tennant has gone on record to say that he had to practice the Doctor’s voice again as he's just been playing hamlet for six months previous to starting work on Planet of the Dead.

This is to be the last standalone story before the two-part climax to the era of the tenth Doctor. Russell T Davies has stated that the first part of the double-episode ending will air 'sometime in November-ish'.

Doctor Who merchandise featuring David Tennant as the tenth Doctor continues to be popular with fans of the show, and as his finale draws closer, interest will once again rise. At present there are a selection of posters, action figures, calendars and collectibles featuring his incarnation of the rogue Time Lord known as The Doctor, and tenth Doctor merchandise has proven to be the most popular in the entire history of Doctor Who. Action figures based on Planet of the Dead are planned and should include figures of Lady Christina and the Tritovore as well as a box set containing the Doctor, Lady Christrina, a Tritovore and various Swarm creatures. This page will be updated as soon as we know more!