The Crimson Horror Doctor Who

If I have not returned in an hour, you must fetch the police.

Edmund!

Don't fret, Effie, my dear. All will be well.

But we must get to the bottom of this dark and queer business,

no matter what the cost.

Mrs Gillyflower!

We have come about your husband, my dear. A tragedy.

My husband?

Your...late husband.

There must be some mistake. My husband is quite well.

MAN SCREAMING

We are so very sorry for your loss.

Hell fire! That's put me right off me mash.

HE CHUCKLES

-Another one!

-Another?

He's not the first I've had in 'ere looking like that.

The Crimson Horror! That's what they're calling it!

I have no interest in the deplorable excesses of the penny-dreadfuls.

Hey, hey. Payment in advance, flower.

Taking a big risk, you see, I am.

They'd have my vitals for fiddle-strings if they knew

I'd let you come to have a look at one of their precious stiffs.

This "stiff" is my brother.

I've come up from London to bring him home.

Oh, aye?

Thank you for agreeing to this meeting,

I'm told you are the investigator to see if there are strange goings-on.

I read of your brother's death.

Another victim of the Crimson Horror, I believe?

So it is claimed.

He was a newspaper man. He and a young woman were working undercover.

Tell me, Madame, do you know what an optogram is?

It is a silly superstition, sir.

The belief that the eye can retain an image of the last thing it sees.

Good grief!

Oh, God!

LOUD CRASH

Well, I'll be blowed!

I think, Madame, that we'd better make plans to head North!

According to my research, Sweetville's proprietor

holds recruitment drives for her little community.

She is only interested in the fittest and the most beautiful.

You may rely on me, ma'am.

I was, in fact, speaking to Jenny.

Jenny?

If this weak and fleshy boy is to represent us,

I strongly recommend the issuing of scissor grenades,

limbo vapour and triple-blast brain splitters.

What for?

Just generally. Remember, we are going to the North.

Bradford, that Babylon for the Moderns,

with its crystal light and its glitter.

All aswarm with the wretched ruins of humanity.

Men and women crushed by the devil's juggernaut!

CROWD MURMUR IN AGREEMENT

And moral turpitude can destroy the most delicate of lives.

Believe me, I know. I know.

My own daughter.

Blinded in a drunken rage by my late husband!

AUDIENCE GASP

Her once-beautiful eyes, pale and white as mistletoe berries.

And what, my friends, is your story?

Will you be found wanting when the End of Days is come,

when judgement rains down upon us all?

Or will you be preserved against the coming apocalypse?

Do not despair! I offer a way out!

There is a different path! Sweetville!

CROWD GASP AND CLAMOUR

Join us! Join us in this shining city on the hill!

# Bring me my bow of burning gold

# Bring me my arrows of desire... #

You wish to join us, my dear?

If it's all the same with you, ma'am.

Oh, yes, dear. You'll do very nicely.

If our strategy is to succeed, Jenny will infiltrate

deep into the black heart of this place.

And how will she locate the Doctor?

To find him, she needs only to ignore all keep-out signs,

go through every locked door,

and run towards any form of danger that presents itself.

Business as usual, then.

Business as usual.

Did you think I'd forgotten you, dear monster? Hmm?

CRASH AND BANG

I have travelled from London expressly to see Madame Vastra.

If you'd be so kind as to announce me, my good man.

Whom should I say is calling?

It asked for permission to enter and then it fell over.

What are we to make of it?

I imagine Mr Thursday wants to know what progress we are making.

The question is,

how did the Doctor's image come to be preserved on a dead man's eye?

It is a scientific impossibility.

I wonder how Jenny is getting on.

If she hasn't made contact by nightfall,

I suggest a massive frontal assault on the factory, Madame.

Casualties can be kept to perhaps as little as 80%.

I think there may be subtler ways of proceeding, Strax.

Suit yourself.

I'm dead nervous, aren't you?

They have to be sure, you see. Only the best for Sweetville!

I hope me teeth don't let me down.

I'm Abigail.

Pleased to meet you.

-You're not local, are you?

-Nah. Up from London.

Different here, I bet.

Oh, yeah! Like a bleedin' horse-market.

Do you know anyone who's come to live here?

In Sweetville, I mean.

I... I had a pal who come here three month back.

She wrote to tell me how perfect it all were.

Funny, though. I've not heard a peep from her since.

Next, please! >

Hang on. We're moving.

What you doin'?

Do us a favour. Cause a distraction.

What?

Swoon. Have a funny turn. Fit of the vapours.

Are you crackers?

Go on. There's a guinea in it for you.

Done.

SHE SQUEALS AND GASPS

MACHINERY CLUNKS

Them new manufacturers can do 'orrible things to a person.

'Orrible.

I've pickled things in here that'd fair turn your hair

snowy as top of Buckden Pike.

You know what I'm looking for.

Oh, aye. All them bits found in't canal.

The Crimson Horror!

It hardly seems possible.

Eh?

I think...

I think I've seen these symptoms before.

Oh, aye?

A long time ago.

Oh, aye? How long?

About 65 million years!

I trust you had a pleasant day, Mama?

Tolerable.

Will Mr Sweet ever join us for dinner, Mama?

Mr Sweet is rather tired tonight, I fear.

Dear me. How clumsy I'm getting.

To keep the Devil at bay.

CRASH IN DISTANCE

CRASHING CONTINUES

SHE JIGGLES DOOR HANDLE

SHE SCREAMS

All right, mate. You just stay calm now!

LOUD THUMP

I could open this door. Would you like that?

SINGLE THUMP

Thought you might.

But you and me has got to come to an arrangement, savvy?

ANOTHER THUMP, RUSTLING CHAINS

Now, you stand well back. Do you hear me?

I don't mean no harm to ya'.

But you try anything funny and I'll leave you here to rot.

Is that understood?

REPEATED THUMPS

Right.

Doctor?

HE MOANS

What's happened to you?

HE MOANS

Can't you speak?

SHE GASPS

Right. We're getting out of here.

Come on!

LIFT CLUNKS

Come on!

Oh, my God.

You're all I have, monster. But all will be well.

Imperfect as we are, there be will room for us in the new Jerusalem!

No... NO! Where are you, monster? Where are you?

HE GRUNTS

What is it? You want to go there?

HE GRUNTS LOUDER

HE MOANS

THRUMMING

-Ah! Missed me?

-Doctor!

Jenny! Jenny, Jenny, Jenny!

Just when you think your favourite

lock-picking Victorian chambermaid will never turn up!

Jenny!

You've no idea how good that feels! Right! Mrs Gillyflower!

We've got to stop her! And then there's Clara. Poor Clara.

-Where's Clara?

-Clara?

-Doctor, wait!

-Can't. Clara. Got to find.

What happened to you? How long have you been like that?

Days. Weeks. Don't know. Long story. I'll keep it short.

METALIC THRUMMING

OK. Not London 1893.

Yorkshire 1893. Near enough.

You're making a habit of this. Getting us lost.

Sorry. It's much better than it used to be.

I once spent a hell of a long time trying to get

a gobby Australian to Heathrow Airport.

-What for?

-Search me. Anyway...

A WOMAN SCREAMS

Brave heart, Clara!

It's another one, don't you see? Another victim!

Why won't any one of you listen?

We'll listen.

Mrs Winifred Gillyflower. An astonishing woman.

A prize-winning chemist and mechanical engineer. So why...

Why has she decided to open up a match factory in her old home town?

And no-one who ever goes to live there ever seems to come out.

Same as the rest.

All dead from causes unknown and their flesh...glowing.

Like something manky in a coal cellar.

They keep turning up in't canal. The Crimson Horror!

Ooh. Good name. Hey, that's good, isn't it? The Crimson Horror!

I wonder what it is.

Do you know the old Romany superstition, Clara?

That the eye of a dead person retains an image of

the last thing it sees?

Nonsense, of course.

Unless the chemical composition of the body

has been massively corrupted.

Wow. This is nasty. An organic poison. A sort of venom.

And you think it's connected to Sweetville?

I do.

Well, then, we need a plan!

Doctor and Mrs Smith. Oh, yes. You'll do very nicely.

-IN YORKSHIRE ACCENT:

-Oh, grand. Smashing.

Eh, the missus and I couldn't be more chuffed, could we, love?

Sweetville will provide you with everything you need.

You won't have to worry about a thing...ever again.

-The name. Sweetville.

-Yes?

Why not name it after yourself? After all, it's your creation.

Gillyflowertown?

Gillyflowerland! You could have roller-coasters.

It is named in tribute to my partner.

Your late partner?

No. My...silent partner. Mr Sweet likes to keep himself to himself.

Shall we move on?

Who lives here?

Oh, names don't matter here.

All you need to know is that we only recruit the brightest and the best.

HE GASPS

Like pretty maids all in a row.

The process improves with every attempt!

Mr Sweet is such a clever old thing.

Oh, into the canal with the rejects, Ada.

Yes.

Ma...

Sometimes, the preservation process goes wrong. Only Mr Sweet knows why.

And only Mama is allowed to talk to Mr Sweet.

But if you're very good, you can stay here.

You'll be my secret.

My special monster.

HE GRUNTS AND MOANS

HE SCREAMS

HE SCREAMS

Poor Edmund must have come looking for us.

And then fallen into a vat of the pure venom.

Or was pushed. Didn't stand a chance.

What is that stuff, though?

Deadly poison.

And Mrs Gillyflower's dipping her Pilgrims in a dilute form

to protect them. Preserve them.

Process didn't work on me. Maybe because I'm not human.

I ended up on the reject pile.

Preserve them against what?

Well, according to her, the coming apocalypse!

HE WHISTLES

"When the End of Days is come and judgement rains down upon us all..."

-What?

-Nothing.

-No, what?

Something Mrs Gillyflower said. One of her sermons.

Madame will come looking for me. We'd best get on.

-Yes! Clara, got to find Clara.

-But, Doctor...

..Clara's dead.

Isn't she?

It's complicated.

Horse! You have failed in your mission.

We are lost, with no sign of Sweetville.

Do you have any final words, before your summary execution?

The usual story. Fourth one this week, and I'm not even hungry.

Sweetville, sir?

Do you know it?

Turn around when possible.

-Then, at the end of the road, turn right.

-What?

Bear left for a quarter of a mile

and you will have reached your destination.

Thank you. What is your name?

Thomas, sir. Thomas Thomas.

I think you will do well, Thomas Thomas.

Are we talking about the same person? About that Clara?

Doctor!

Couldn't see much from where I was,

but I think she survived the process.

She must be here somewhere.

But Clara died. The Ice Lady...

Doctor?

Well...it's...er...

It's complicated.

SHE SOBS

What is the meaning of this?

Oh, Mama, I have been foolish.

I have formed a...a sentimental attachment.

An attachment? To whom?

A young man. Unlike the others, he survived rejection.

He must be strong. Worthy of salvation.

Wrecker! Berserker! You have loosed a reject onto the outside world!

I have disappointed you.

My plans must be accelerated.

Nothing must interfere with the Great Work!

But please say there is still room for me in your new Eden, Mama!

Promise me that!

-I will set my Pilgrims onto him.

-No!

Kindly do not paw and slobber at my crinolines.

You know I cannot bear to look at sick people.

Promise you will not abandon me, Mama, promise me that!

Do you not yet understand that there can be no place

for people such as you?

That only perfection is good enough for myself and for Mr Sweet.

The bright day is done, child, and you are for the dark.

SHE SOBS

Can she be revived, like you were?

I hope so.

Doctor.

Oh. Great. Great. Attack of the supermodels.

Time for a plan.

Nah, Doctor. This one's on me.

GRUNTING AND GROANING

That is a plan!

OK. Time for a new plan.

STRAX LAUGHS MANIACALLY

-Quickly! Let's go!

-No!

No, ma'am! We're not escaping!

We've got to help the Doctor with Clara!

Long story.

What now, Madame? We could lay mimetic cluster mines.

-Strax.

-Or dig trenches and fill them with acid.

Strax! You're overexcited.

Have you been eating Miss Jenny's sherbet fancies again?

-No.

-Go outside and wait for me until I call for you.

-But, Madame...

-Go!

I'm going to go and play with my grenades.

OK, I think she's about done.

I know who you think she is, but she isn't.

She can't be.

I was right, then. You and Clara have unfinished business.

Hello, stranger.

Doctor?

Uh-huh.

Hi.

What's going on?

-IN YORKSHIRE ACCENT:

-Haven't you heard, love?

There's trouble at t'mill!

She's a lizard.

My people once ruled this world, as well you know.

But we did not rule it alone.

Just as humanity fights a daily battle against nature, so did we.

And our greatest plague,

the most virulent enemy was the repulsive red leech.

Ooh! The repulsive red leech!

Nah. On balance, I think I prefer the Crimson Horror.

What was it exactly?

A tiny parasite. It infected our drinking water.

And once in our systems, it secreted a fatal poison.

If it's been hanging around,

lurking in the shadows, maybe it's evolved.

Or maybe it's had help.

Doctor, I've been thinking, the chimney...

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Way past that now!

Yucky red parasite from the time of the dinosaurs

pitches up in Victorian Yorkshire. Didn't see that one coming!

Yeah, but the chimney...

But what's the connection to Mrs Gillyflower?

"Judgement will rain down on us all..."

An empty mill.

A chimney that doesn't blow smoke.

-Clever clogs.

-Missed me?

-Yeah, lots!

She's going to poison the air!

How?

MACHINERY GRINDS

With that, I should think.

And there's the poison.

All right, gang, I've got a plan.

METAL CLINKS

Shh!

OK.

SHE SOBS

Who's that? Who is there?

You. It's you! My monster.

-You've come back! But you're...

-Warm. And alive. Thanks to you, Ada.

You saved me from your mother's human rubbish tip.

Now, what's wrong?

She does not want me, monster! I am not to be chosen.

Perhaps it was my own sin, the blackness in my heart,

that my father saw in me.

Ada, no. That's nonsense.

Stupid, backwards nonsense, and you know it!

You know it.

CLARA: What is it?

Who is that?

I'm... I'm a friend, a friend of his.

Then you are fortunate, indeed. It isn't good to be alone.

Now, Ada, I need you tell me something - who is Mr Sweet?

Ada?

-Oh, dear monster...

-Please. Tell me.

I cannot! Even now, I cannot! I cannot betray Mama.

Well, come with us, then. There's something you need to know.

SHE CHUCKLES

You do seem to keep turning up like a bad penny, young man.

Force of habit.

Can I offer you something? Tea? Seed cake?

A glass of Amontillado?

No, thanks. We've had a skinful already, as you might say.

Ha! Very funny.

I'm the Doctor, you're nuts, and I'm going to stop you.

I'm afraid Mr Sweet and I cannot allow that.

Oh, yes. Would it be impolite to ask why you and Mr Sweet are petrifying

your workforce with diluted prehistoric leech venom?

So when do we get to meet him,

this silent partner of yours? Why's he so shy?

Mr Sweet is always with us.

You seem to have a very close relationship, you and your pal.

Oh, yes, Doctor. Exceedingly close.

Symbiotic, you might say.

Doctor... What is it?

A survivor!

He has grown fat on the filth humanity has pumped into the rivers.

That's where I found him.

Very enterprising.

His needs are simple. And in return, he gives me his nectar.

Mrs Gillyflower, you have no idea what you're dealing with!

In the wrong hands, that venom could wipe out all life on this planet!

Do you know what these are?

SHE LAUGHS The wrong hands!

Planning a little fireworks party, are we?

You've forced me to advance the Great Work somewhat, Doctor.

But my colossal scheme remains as it was.

My rocket will explode high in the atmosphere,

raining down Mr Sweet's beneficence onto all humanity.

And wiping us all out! You can't!

My new Adam and Eves will sleep for but a few months

before stepping out into a golden dawn.

Is it not beautiful, Doctor?

Tell us about Ada, Mrs Gillyflower.

What?

Your daughter. You do remember your daughter?

Tell us about your daughter.

How can you speak of such trivia when my hour is at hand?

-The child is of no consequence.

-Is that why you experimented on her?

Experimented?

The signs are all there. The pattern of scarring.

You used her as a guinea pig, didn't you?

God!

Sometimes, sacrifices must be made.

Sacrifices?

It was necessary!

I had to find out how much of the venom would produce an anti-toxin.

To immunise myself! Don't you see? It was necessary!

Mama?

Is it... Is it true?

Ada.

It is. It's true. True.

Ada, listen to me.

You hag! You perfidious hag! You virago! You harpy!

All these years, I have helped you, served you.

Looked out for you. Does it count for nothing? Nothing at all?

Stop, stop.

Hang on, I've got the sonic screwdriver!

Yeah? I've got a chair!

No!

Yeah. That worked. I'm afraid your rocket isn't going anywhere, Mrs G.

Please, come to me, Ada.

SHE SOBS

My child.

You have always been so very...

useful.

No, Mrs Gillyflower.

Please, Mama. No more. No more.

And now, if you'll please forgive us, we must be going.

It is long past Ada's bedtime!

No... No, Clara.

If we follow straight after her, she'll shoot Ada on the spot.

-She wouldn't!

-She would!

Chairs are useful!

GLASS SHATTERS

-Come, Ada. Don't dawdle.

-Please, Mama, stop.

Has the venom been loaded?

-Yes, ma'am.

-Then heaven awaits ya'!

-ADA:

-Stop!

Just let her go, Mrs Gillyflower. Let Ada go!

Secondary firing mechanism, Doctor!

Mr Sweet and I are too smart for you, after all.

Just let your daughter go, Mrs Gillyflower.

Shoot, if you wish, Mama. It is of no matter,

for you killed me a long time ago.

# I'll labour night and day

# To be a pilgrim! #

ROCKET ENGINE THUNDERS

Now, Mr Sweet, now the whole world will taste your lethal kiss!

I don't think so, Mrs Gillyflower.

HE SNAPS FINGERS

Very well, then.

If I can't take the world with me, you will have to do.

Die, you freaks! Die!

Die!

Put down your weapon, human female!

SHE GASPS

HE LAUGHS

SHOT FIRED

SHE SCREAMS

Ouch!

No... No!

Mr Sweet? Where are you going?

You can't leave me now, Mr Sweet.

What's it doing?

It knows she's dying. She's no longer any use to it.

Mr Sweet!

Ada?

Ada.

Are you there?

I'm here, Mama.

Forgive me, my child. Forgive me.

Never.

That's...my...girl.

EXPLOSION

What will you do with that thing?

Take it back to the Jurassic era, maybe. Out of harm's way.

On the other hand...

HE STUTTERS, THEN SIGHS

Right, London. We were heading for London, weren't we?

Was there any particular reason?

No. Thought you might...like it.

Yeah. Maybe had enough Victorian values for a bit.

You're the boss.

Am I?

No. No... Get in.

Now, Ada, I'd love to stay and clear up the mess, but...

I know, dear monster, you have things to do.

And what about you?

Oh, there are many things a bright young lady can do

to occupy her time.

It's time I stepped out of the darkness and into the light.

Good luck, Ada. You know, I think you'll be just...

..splendid.

Well, thanks a million, you three, as ever.

Have some Pontefract cakes on me. I love Pontefract cakes!

See you around, eh? I shouldn't wonder.

But, Doctor, that girl - Clara. You haven't explained.

No. I haven't.

Ah, look at the muck in here! Right!

Another one for the vault.

Ah! There you are.

I called to see whether there had been any progress.

METALLIC THRUMMING

The boss, yep, that's me!

I am the boss.

It's you, isn't it? It's from the '70s, but it's definitely you.

Of course it's not.

And that's you too, from 1983, I found it at school.

No, it's just someone who looks like me.

And that's someone that looks like your boyfriend?

Is he an alien?

Why would he be an alien?

The chin.

And the time travel?

That's not right.

-You were in Victorian London.

-No, I was in Victorian Yorkshire.

-How come you didn't tell us?

-Time travel, that's so cool!

-Can we have a go?

-Can you have a what?!

-We want a shot at the time machine!

-No, no, no! Listen...

OK, or we'll have to tell Dad that our nanny's a time traveller!

Hedgewick's World,

the biggest and best amusement park there will ever be!

Yeah, it's closed down, reports of people just vanishing.

No need to panic, my young friends.

We all know there are no more living Cybermen.

Attack formation, quickly!

Don't wander off!

SCREAMING

Take defensive positions!

They're here!

Hail to you, the Doctor! Saviour of the Cybermen!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd