The Sound of Drums

Not to be confused with the Kula Shaker song Sound of Drums or the Rogue Traders album The Sound of Drums.

187b – "The Sound of Drums"
Doctor Who episode
A rift opens above the Valiant to allow the Toclafane to descend.[1]
Cast
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companions Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones) John Barrowman (Jack Harkness)
Others John Simm – The Master/Harold Saxon Adjoa Andoh – Francine Jones Trevor Laird – Clive Jones Gugu Mbatha-Raw – Tish Jones Reggie Yates – Leo Jones Alexandra Moen – Lucy Saxon Elize du Toit – Sinister Woman Nichola McAuliffe – Vivien Rook Nicholas Gecks – Albert Dumfries Colin Stinton – President Arthur Colman Winters Olivia Hill – BBC Newsreader Daniel Ming – Chinese Newsreader Lachele Carl – US Newsreader Sharon Osbourne – Herself McFly – Themselves Ann Widdecombe – Herself Zoe Thorne, Gerard Logan, and Johnnie Lyne-Pirkis – Sphere voices
Production
Writer	Russell T Davies
Director	Colin Teague
Script editor	Simon Winstone
Producer	Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s)	Russell T Davies Julie Gardner
Production code	3.12
Series	Series 3
Length	2nd of 3-part story, 45 minutes
Originally broadcast	23 June 2007
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → "Utopia" "Last of the Time Lords"

"The Sound of Drums" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 23 June 2007,^[2] and is the twelfth episode of Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who series. It is the second of three episodes that form a linked narrative, following "Utopia" and followed by "Last of the Time Lords".

The Master arrives in the 21st Century — as Harold Saxon, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom — and the world enters a period of terror when contact with an unknown alien race whom the Master calls the Toclafane is announced.

Plot

The Doctor, Martha, and Jack manage to escape from Futurekind in the year 100 trillion through Jack's repaired Vortex Manipulator, finding themselves in London. They quickly learn that the Master has taken on the persona of "Mr. Harold Saxon", the newly elected Prime Minister, using his Archangel phone network to subliminally influence the population into voting for him while masking his presence from the Doctor. The three narrowly avoid a bomb placed in Martha's flat, and the arrest of Martha's family, before the Master contacts them to gloat about his seeming victory.

The Doctor learns that the Master was resurrected by the Time Lords to fight in the Time War to be the perfect warrior, but instead the Master fled to the end of the universe and made himself human when defeat seemed inevitable. The Master reveals that the three are now England's most wanted criminals and has stripped them of any help, including sending Jack's Torchwood team on a wild goose chase to the Himalayas. In a conversation on Martha's mobile phone, the Master asks the Doctor where Gallifrey is, and the Doctor responds that Gallifrey is "gone" and "burned". With respect to his own role in the Time War, the Doctor says "I had to end it", only goading the Master to taunt the Doctor more about his part in the destruction of the Daleks and Time Lords.

Hiding in an abandoned building, the Doctor uses parts of Martha's laptop and the TARDIS keys to create a perception filter so they can move about unnoticed. He explains some of the Master's past: that as a child, the Master looked into the Untempered Schism, and was likely driven mad as a result. They come to discover that the Master, as Saxon, is planning to reveal Earth's first contact the next day with an alien race known as the "Toclafane". (In truth, the name refers to the Gallifreyan equivalent of the "bogeyman".)

As the appointed time of first contact nears, U.S. President Winters arrives in England and places the operation in the hands of UNIT, transferring the meeting aboard the flying aircraft carrier, the Valiant; the Master accepts this change, as it suits his purposes, and along with his wife Lucy and the rest of Martha's family, board the vessel. The Doctor, Martha, and Jack teleport aboard with Jack's vortex manipulator, discovering the Doctor's TARDIS has been "cannibalised" by the Master to create a Paradox Machine which is building up power to be activated at the appointed time of first contact.

As the three make their way to the bridge, the Doctor tells them to try to get their perception filter around the Master to reveal who he really is to humanity and stop his plan. As they enter the bridge unnoticed, the first four Toclafane, floating metal spheres, appear on the bridge and demand to see the Master; the Master delightedly reveals himself and orders the Toclafane to kill Winters. The Master then reveals that he is well aware of the Doctor's presence in the room by using his laser screwdriver upon the group, temporarily killing Jack while aging the Doctor by 100 years through the use of LazLabs genetic manipulation technology using biological data from the Doctor's severed hand that the Master had stolen. Jack gives Martha his vortex manipulator and tells Martha to get off the Valiant, as there is no way they can defeat the Master.

The Master brings Martha's family into the bridge as the Paradox Machine nears activation, and taunts the aged Doctor about the nature of the Toclafane and his victory. The Paradox Machine activates as the Master tells the people of Earth that it's the "end of the world". A massive rift opens above the Valiant, and six billion Toclafane descend from it. The Master orders the Toclafane to "decimate" the Earth's population. As Martha tends to the aged Doctor, he whispers into Martha's ear. Martha, unable to save the Doctor, Jack, or her family, promises she will return, and uses Jack's vortex manipulator to teleport off the Valiant to find safety on Earth; she then flees into the distance as the Toclafane wreak havoc on humanity. The Master himself gloats about the fall of the human race and forces the Doctor to look upon his "new dominion as Master of All."

Continuity

Gallifrey

The first televised black Time Lord appears during this Gallifrey flashback, although a black Time Lord appeared in the spin-off novel The Shadows of Avalon by Paul Cornell.

Whilst the boy Master wears a black-and-white outfit like those worn by the first Time Lords seen on screen, in The War Games in 1969,^[3] the adult Time Lords are depicted dressed in the ceremonial robes first seen in The Deadly Assassin in 1976. Created by then BBC staff designer James Acheson prior to his film career, the huge stiff collars of these outfits remained the distinctive look for officials of the Doctor's race. The collars used were the originals, on loan from the Doctor Who Exhibition in Blackpool.^[4]

The Seal of Rassilon—the equally well-established Gallifreyan symbol employed by Acheson (originally in the non-Time Lord-related Revenge of the Cybermen)—appears here for the first time since its prominent use in the television movie.

The Master

When talking to the world's press cameras toward the end of the episode, the Master begins his speech "Peoples of the Earth, please attend carefully." This paraphrases part of a speech he gave in episode four of Logopolis (1981), which began "Peoples of the Universe, please attend carefully."^[3]

The Master refers to his wife, Lucy Saxon, as his faithful "companion", a title regularly assumed by the travelling partners of the Doctor.

The Master is shown enjoying an episode of Teletubbies, continuing a fascination with children's television first seen in The Sea Devils, when he was shown watching Clangers. He wryly analyses both series' characters, remarking how amazing it would be if they were real.^[5]

References to other stories

• When confronting Lucy about her husband's fictitious life history, Vivien Rook refers to the fall of Harriet Jones, who first appeared as an MP in Aliens of London before being elected Prime Minister by the time of The Christmas Invasion. Although that episode hinted at her downfall due to the Doctor's intervention (due to her having a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons), this episode confirms it, mentioned as being at the same point that the Master appeared.
• In his first cabinet session, the Master refers to the reconstruction of the Cabinet Rooms and Downing Street, which were destroyed at the climax of "World War Three".
• Martha's television is branded Magpie Electricals—this company originally rented and sold televisions manufactured by other companies in the 1950s, as seen in "The Idiot's Lantern".
• The Master reveals that he was responsible for Tish getting the job working for Professor Lazarus—whose work he was funding—in "The Lazarus Experiment", hoping to trap the Doctor and Martha. He has since incorporated the genetic manipulation technology into his new laser screwdriver.
• The Doctor has previously been prematurely aged in The Leisure Hive.^[3].
• This is the first episode in which it is explicitly established that the TARDIS' anachronistic nature goes largely unnoticed in part due to its "perception filter". This was previously hinted by Torchwood episode "Everything Changes", where it was explained that this property of the TARDIS had been welded to a pavement slab. The second use of the term was in "Human Nature" where the Doctor noted that his TARDIS could place one on his fob watch.
• US President-Elect Winters states that UNIT protocols for alien first contact were established in 1968; this was the year UNIT was introduced to the series in The Invasion.
• The Doctor makes reference to having to end the Time War. This is echoed in The Satan Pit when the Beast calls the Doctor the "killer of his own kind", suggesting explicitly the Doctor's involvement with the destruction of all the Time Lords in the last great Time War. This is also alluded to in "Journey's End" to a lesser extent, and "The End of Time."
• The Master, as Saxon, offers Lucy Saxon a Jelly Baby whilst inside the Valiant. These were a favourite sweet of the Fourth Doctor and the Master offers them to his wife in a similar way.

Outside references

• Writing in the episode's BBC Fact File, Peter Ware observes that the Master's introduction of the Jones family as having come "all the way from prison" is similar to the style used in the TV show This Is Your Life.^[3]

Production and publicity

• This episode, along with "Utopia" and "Last of the Time Lords", are treated in several sources as a three-part story, the first such story in the revived series of Doctor Who. However, Russell T Davies has said that he regards "Utopia" as a separate story, but notes that the determination is arbitrary.^[6]
• This is the first instance in the revived series of a multi-episode story not starting a later episode with a montage of clips from the previous episode.
• The episode was advertised on BBC television with a spoof party political broadcast, featuring testimonials from British celebrities Sharon Osbourne, McFly and Ann Widdecombe showing their support for Mr Saxon, a version of which is seen in the episode itself.^[7] Also during the broadcast, drums can be heard. There is also a different trailer that showed still shots of the Doctor, Martha Jones and Captain Jack over the top of which Mr Saxon's speech, in which he says "... what this country really needs, right now, is a doctor", can be heard and at the end there is a small clip of him showing his trademark smile.^[8] The celebrity appearances in the episode itself differ from those in the trailer, most noticeably that of Ann Widdecombe, who appears alone in the trailer but alongside Mr Saxon in the episode.
• The BBC created two fictional websites in connection with these episodes, Vote Saxon and http://www.haroldsaxon.co.uk. The latter site replicates the video and web pages seen by the characters in The Sound of Drums.
• Some of the Car action sequences in this episode were filmed by Freema Agyeman herself rather than a stunt double, and took place at Harbour View Road, Penarth.^[9]

Cast notes

• Lachele Carl previously appeared as the American news anchor in "Aliens of London", "World War Three"' and "The Christmas Invasion". The spin-off website "Who is Doctor Who?" states her name as "Mal Loup". This is mangled French for "Bad Wolf". This newscaster's name has subsequently been specified in the end credits as "Trinity Wells."
• Zoe Thorne previously voiced the Gelth in "The Unquiet Dead".
• Olivia Hill played a TV Reporter in The Sarah Jane Adventures episode "Invasion of the Bane" (2007).
• William Hughes, who plays the young Master, played the even younger Casanova in the BBC serial written by Russell T Davies, in which David Tennant played the adult Casanova.
• David Tennant's makeup in which he is aged 100 years was inspired by the First Doctor, William Hartnell.

Music

• "Voodoo Child" by Rogue Traders is played diegetically within this episode. The song, from the album Here Come the Drums, has the phrases "the sound of drums" and "here come the drums" in its lyrics.
• The drumming motif used several times in the story bears similarities to the underbeat of the Doctor Who theme tune.^[10]

References

1. ^ "The Sound of Drums". Writer Russell T Davies, Director Colin Teague, Producer Phil Collinson. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC One, Cardiff. 2007-06-23.
2. ^ "Doctor Who UK airdate announced". News (Dreamwatch). February 27, 2007. http://www.dwscifi.com/articles/show/227. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d} "Doctor Who - Fact File - "The Sound of Drums"". http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/episodes/2007/facts/fact_312.shtml. Retrieved 2007-06-20. 
4. ^ Doctor Who Magazine Issue #384, page 15
5. ^ BBC Doctor Who Classic Episode Guide
6. ^ Davies, Russell T (4 March 2009 (cover date)). "Production Notes". Doctor Who Magazine (Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent: Panini Comics) (406): p 4. "And I certainly feel the Series Three climax was two stories, no matter what the DWM season poll says. I'm sorry! I just do! I could rattle off the reasons, but we're into the mystical land of canon here, where the baseline of the argument simply comes down to "because I think so!"" 
7. ^ ""Celebrity Trailer"". http://freemaagyeman.com/news/2007/06/19/vote-saxon-trailer/. Retrieved 2007-06-20. 
8. ^ "Doctor Who official website". http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/episodes/2007/312.shtml. 
9. ^ "Walesarts, Harbour View Road and Arcot Street, Penarth". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/arts/sites/doctor-who-wales/alllocations/penarth-harbour-view-road-arcot-street. Retrieved 2010-05-30. 
10. ^ Freema Agyeman, Trevor Laird, Gugu Mbatha-Raw. The Sound of Drums commentary BBC's Doctor Who microsite. Podcast accessed on 2007-06-25

External links

• The Sound of Drums on TARDIS Index File, an external wiki
• "The Sound of Drums" at the BBC Doctor Who homepage
• "Utopia" / "The Sound of Drums" / "Last of the Time Lords" at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• "The Sound Of Drums" / "Last Of The Time Lords" at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
• "A new species" - episode trailer
• "The Sound of Drums" at the Internet Movie Database

Reviews

• "The Sound of Drums" reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide