Series 2 (2006)
Episode title: Army of GhostsFeaturing: Tenth Doctor
Companions: Rose Tyler
First shown: 1st July 2006
Related articles: Daleks, The Cult of Skaro, Cybermen, Mickey Smith, Pete Tyler
Guide: The beginning of the episode starts with Rose Tyler, narrating her time with the Doctor, noting how she thought it would last forever, before the Army of Ghosts arrived, along with Torchwood, and the war, concluding that this is the story of how she died. In a playground, the TARDIS materialises where the Doctor and Rose intend to visit Jackie, though she causes Rose concern when she says that her granddad is coming any minute. Rose explains to the Doctor that her granddad has been dead for ten years, but as she does so, a blurred figure appears in the kitchen at ten past the hour. Rushing outside, the Doctor and Rose encounter more of the ghost like figures, with some even appearing in television shows. Jackie warns them that the ghost shift will not last for ever, and sure enough at twelve minutes past the hour, a blonde technician in a lab pulls a lever and the ghosts cease. Stepping out of her office, Yvonne Hartman congratulates her Torchwood staff on a ghost energy reading of five thousand gigawatts. The Doctor watches some of the television shows while Jackie explains that it started a couple of months prior and that at first, people were scared and panicked, but soon grew accustomed to the ghosts appearances, when the realised they were ghosts of departed loved ones. The Doctor however remarks that humans are merely seeing what they want to see and that the ghosts are using people beliefs and desires to press themselves into existence.
Back in the Torchwood labs, Hartman contacts one of her scientists, Dr. Rajesh Singh, asking if their sphere registered anything during their last ghost shift. Singh replies negatively, expressing frustration that their equipment is unable to detect anything from the sphere, no mass, no heat signature, nothing. As far as the equipment tells them, the sphere doesn't exist. Meanwhile, Adeola and Gareth have a rendezvous in an area of the building being renovated and is strictly off limits. But when Gareth goes silent, Adeola ventures forth to be confronted by a Cyberman. Back on the Powell Estate, the Doctor assembles a device to capture and determine the ghost's origins. The Doctor sets up the equipment in the playground while Rose monitors the readings on the TARDIS monitor, while Hartman cues for the next ghost shift and Adeola and Gareth return, wearing two ear pods instead of one. As the ghosts begin to appear, the Doctor traps one in his device and demands to know where it came from, wearing his blue and red lensed glasses as he does so. However, Torchwood pick up the interference and shut down the ghost shift early, while a CCTV camera locates the disturbance to the playground and locates the TARDIS. Meanwhile, the Doctor pilots the TARDIS to the Torchwood building, following the ghosts signal, with Rose and Jackie as well.
The TARDIS materialises in the Torchwood building to be surrounded by armed soldiers and Hartman. Stepping outside, the Doctor is welcomed by Hartman, who knows a great deal about him, including the fact that he usually travels with a companion. Reaching inside the TARDIS, the Doctor pulls Jackie out by mistake, but introduces her as Rose anyway, explaining the age difference away by saying that she stared into the heart of the Time Vortex and aged 57 years, while Rose waits inside the TARDIS watching the proceedings on the TARDIS scanner. Hartman welcomes the Doctor and shows him round, introducing Torchwood's motto of "if it's alien, it's ours" and demonstrating as such by having the TARDIS removed to the basement. Hartman also reveals that Torchwood was made following the Doctor's encounter with Queen Victoria in Tooth and Claw (Series 2 : Episode 2) to investigate and defend the British Empire against alien invasion, also explaining that the Doctor is now their prisoner, though he will be kept comfortable, as they hope to learn a lot from him. The Doctor is taken to have a look at the sphere, which the Doctor studies with his blue and red lensed glasses before identifying the sphere as a Void ship, a ship designed to travel between the nothingness in universes, a nothingness that the Time Lords called the Void, but the Eternals called it the Howling and others called it Hell. Singh asks how they get into it but the Doctor refuses to tell him, saying that they shouldn't even be trying but sending it back where it came from.
Hartman explains that the Void ship came through with the ghosts following in its wake, though Torchwood had registered the energy black spot some years before and built Torchwood tower, known as Canary Wharf to the public, to try and reach the energy and harness it for the British Empire. The Doctor realises that what Torchwood are doing is making the breach bigger and has a go at Hartman for allowing that to happen, explaining that the Void ship cracked the surface of this dimension with the ghosts bleeding through the fault lines, and if they continue to allow the ghosts through then the surface will shatter. Hartman however decides to continue with the ghost shift anyway, until the Doctor changes tact and sits down to watch it all happen. Disconcerted, Hartman orders the shift be cancelled deciding it would be more prudent to get more intelligence first. However, as soon as the Doctor, Jackie and Hartman are in Hartman's office, Adeola, Gareth and the newly converted Matt reactivate the countdown. Meanwhile, Rose leaves the TARDIS and dons a white lab coat to disguise herself and uses the psychic paper to gain entry to the room where Singh and the Void ship are. When Singh questions her, she tries to use the psychic paper to bluff her way through but Singh sees through it, as all Torchwood personnel received basic psychic training. He calls for security and tells his assistant Samuel to check the locks, but to Rose's surprise Samuel turns out to be Mickey Smith, who motions for her to keep quiet.
Hartman notices that the ghost shift is continuing despite her orders, where the Doctor realises that Adeola, Gareth and Matt have been converted to assist the Cybermen. As the power rises on the ghost shift, the Void ship begins to activate, shaking the whole room, while the Doctor disrupts the signal to the ear pods, killing the three workers in the process. The Doctor traces the signals to the renovation area, where he and Hartman rush to, not noticing Singh's attempts to contact them regarding the Void's sudden mass and heat signatures on the equipment. The doors to the Void room seal, locking Rose, Mickey and Singh inside, while the Doctor, Hartman and two soldiers are surrounded by the advance guard of the Cybermen in the renovation area and marched back to Hartman's office. Mickey tells Rose that on the parallel Earth, they had almost defeated the Cybermen, but they somehow escaped through the Void into this world, despite the Doctor telling them it was impossible. Luckily though, Mickey was also able to cross over. Back in Hartman's office, the Cyber-Leader orders the ghost shift be turned to 100%, causing the ghosts to flesh out into Cybermen, invading people's homes and killing them. Hartman calls it an invasion, but the Doctor says it's too late for that; it's a victory for the Cybermen. In the Void ship room, Mickey pulls out his rifle, prepared for some Cyber-Leader variant to emerge from the sphere, while the Doctor questions the Cyber-Leader about the Void ship, commenting that the Cybermen do not have the technology to build such things. To the Doctor's horror, the Cyber-Leader confirms that the Void ship is nothing to do with them, that it broke the walls between realities and they merely followed, but they do not know its origins. Back in the Void room, four Daleks emerge while Rose, Mickey and Singh look on in horror, as the Daleks give the order to exterminate all life forms. The episode ends on this cliff-hanger.
This episode is the first of a two part finale. Read the guide for the second episode by clicking here.