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DOCTOR WHO
ROBOT

Written by
Terrance Dicks

Part Three

(Overlap from 'Professor Kettlewell?')

[INT. Kettlewell's house]

(When SARAH drives up, she sees Bessie from her car. She runs to the gate, then to the front door. She sees a hole in it. Then she runs for the back door.
Meanwhile, the ROBOT is about to step on the DOCTOR.)
SARAH: (running in) No, no! You mustn't harm him!
ROBOT: He is an enemy of humanity.
SARAH: (who has rushed to the DOCTOR's side) No, he isn't. He's a good man. A friend.
ROBOT: You were at the laboratory. You were concerned for me. You felt sorrow.
SARAH: That's right, and you refused to harm me even when you were ordered to. Those people are evil. They're lying to you. They've altered your programming to make you act all wrongly!
ROBOT: (swaying and with sounds of servos and beeping) I am confused. I do not understand. I feel pain.
BENTON [OC]: Miss Smith, get down!
SARAH: No! No, don't shoot!
(As SARAH bends to tend to the DOCTOR, BENTON and SOLDIERS by the unhappy door shoot. The ROBOT is no longer hesitant in its movements. It heads through the wrecked door, swats one of the men out of the way, and continued undeterred through the hail of bullets.)
BENTON: (returning to SARAH) Is he okay, miss?
SARAH: Yes, yes, I think so.
BENTON: We just couldn't stop it.
SARAH: Oh, well, what did you have to start shooting for? He wouldn't have harmed you.
BENTON: You could have fooled me. It was trying to kill the Doctor, wasn't it?
SARAH: Yes, but that was because... Well. It doesn't matter, and it wasn't your fault, I suppose. You did your best.
BENTON: Oh, thank you very much. The US cavalry never got treated like this.
SARAH: (in response to a thump) Listen.
BENTON: It's in there.
(He opens a two-doored squat metal cupboard. KETTLEWELL, tied up and wearing a gag, falls out onto the floor.)

[INT. UNIT laboratory]

(KETTLEWELL puts his spectacles on while SARAH deals with a bump on his head. His hair is crazier than ever.)
KETTLEWELL: The robot came to find me last night. It was in terrible distress. They'd just forced it to commit another crime.
SARAH: Yes, yes, I know.
KETTLEWELL: They altered his circuitry so as to overcome his prime directive. They succeeded, but at fearful cost.
SARAH: He became unbalanced.
KETTLEWELL: Yes. Then Miss Winters and Jellicoe came along while I was waiting for the Doctor. They programmed the robot to kill him. I protested, but, but, but, but-
SARAH: Shhh. Never mind. You're safe now.
KETTLEWELL: You know, when I think of that robot's potential. I invented the metal he's made of, you know. I called it living metal.
(BENTON brings in a tea tray.)
KETTLEWELL: It actually has the capacity to grow like a living organism.
SARAH: It's quite big enough for me now, thank you.
KETTLEWELL: That's how I came to make my other discovery, you know. It's the metallic equivalent of a virus. It breaks down metal into easily recyclable form. You can see what that means, can't you? It means that we shall be able to get rid of all the metallic waste that pollutes this planet, hmm.
BENTON: (offering him a mug of tea) Professor?
KETTLEWELL: Thank you. (seeing the SRS brochure on the bench) What's that doing there?
SARAH: Oh, I went to see them. Rather unpleasant.
KETTLEWELL: Scientific Reform Society. Oh yes, just before I left the Think Tank, they persuaded me to join it. I remember I went along to one of the meetings once. Oh, a very odd bunch. Didn't go there again.
SARAH: Well now, there's a meeting there tonight. Suppose you were to turn up, Professor. Would they let you in?
KETTLEWELL: Very probably. I think I've still got my membership card about me somewhere.
SARAH: And if I came along too, plus my camera and tape recorder, you could smuggle me in and we could get the goods on them for the Brigadier.
BENTON: Hey, now, hang on, you two.
SARAH: What do you say, Professor, shall we try it? Of course, it could be dangerous.
KETTLEWELL: If there's anything I can do to help to defeat those people-
BENTON: But the Brigadier will go spare. So will the Doctor.
SARAH: Well, one's away and the other's asleep. (She hands his tea back to him.)
BENTON: Well, I'll go and wake the Doctor and see what he says.
SARAH: Don't you dare! He had a nasty knock on the head, and he needs to rest.
BENTON: In that case, miss, it's just not on. I'm sorry.
SARAH: Oh! Mister Benton, are we members of UNIT?
BENTON: Well, no, of course not.
SARAH: Are we under arrest?
BENTON: No, miss.
SARAH: Well then, what we do and where we go is none of your business, is it? Come along, Professor.
BENTON: Wouldn't it be best if you-
SARAH: Now just you go and Blanco your rifle or something. This way, Professor. Come on.

[INT. Outside Scientific Reform Society meeting room]

(On the doors are SRS meeting posters, with the same angular 'SRS' and in the same green and yellow as the brochure. At a table, SHORT, in a dark green uniform with yellow badges, is checking people's cards and admitting them. KETTLEWELL hands over his card. SHORT looks at it and hands it back. KETTLEWELL starts walking past the table and into the meeting.)
SHORT: Professor Kettlewell. How nice to see you again so soon.
(KETTLEWELL looks at him, and SHORT nods to the GUARD at the door to admit him.)

[INT. UNIT laboratory]

BRIGADIER: What the blazes were you thinking of, Mister Benton? You should never have let them go.
BENTON: Well, maybe you could have stopped them, sir, but I couldn't. As the young lady pointed out, they're not really under our jurisdiction.
BRIGADIER: Bah.
BENTON: Excuse me, sir, but you did get permission to raid Think Tank?
BRIGADIER: No, Mister Benton, I did not.
DOCTOR: (entering) Then you must act without it. I know what they're up to now. Worked it all out while I was having my little nap. It's all tied up with the information stolen from that poor fellow Chambers. He must have been the guardian of some kind of ultimate threat.
BRIGADIER: How on Earth-
DOCTOR: I don't know exactly what it is, just the kind of thing it has to be. Well, am I right? (He sits and drinks from a mug of tea.)
BRIGADIER: A few months ago, the superpowers - Russia, America, and China - decided upon a plan to ensure peace. All three powers have hidden atomic missile sites. All three agreed to give details of those sites plus full operation instructions to another, neutral country. In the event of trouble, that country could publish everyone's secrets and so cool things down. Well, naturally enough, the only country that could be trusted with such a role was Great Britain.
DOCTOR: Well, naturally. I mean, the rest were all foreigners.
BRIGADIER: Well, exactly. The destructor codes for firing these missiles were kept in Chambers' house in a special dynastreem safe. The robot killed Chambers, blasted the safe open with a disintegrator gun, and took the codes.
BENTON: So what can they do with them now that they've got 'em?
BRIGADIER: They could set off every atomic missile in the world, Mister Benton.
DOCTOR: Yes, and start a nuclear holocaust that would turn this little planet of yours into a radioactive cinder suspended in space.
BENTON: You mean he could use the information to blackmail the world? 'Do things our way or we light the blue touch paper.'
DOCTOR: I'm afraid so.
BRIGADIER: We think they've been using this Scientific Reform Society as a front, Doctor, and I've just heard from Mister Benton here that Miss Smith and Professor Kettlewell have just gone off to try to get into one of their meetings.
DOCTOR: Kettlewell? You let Sarah go off somewhere with Kettlewell?

[INT. Scientific Reform Society premises]

(KETTLEWELL has unlocked the back door.)
KETTLEWELL: Miss Smith, are you there?
SARAH: (entering from the alley) How's it going, Professor?
KETTLEWELL: All right, I think. They were a bit suspicious to start with, but I found somewhere for you to hide.
SARAH: Great.

[INT. SRS meeting room]

(WINTERS stands at a lectern behind a cloth bearing an SRS symbol, where a smiling WINTERS is receiving applause.)
WINTERS: And, as you know, my friends, tonight is the culmination of many years of work and planning. A brilliant and audacious scheme is about to come to its climax! (applause) You have all waited long and patiently during the years of scorn and ridicule, the days when we were laughed at as cranks. Well, now a new and better future is almost within our grasp.
(We see SARAH taking pictures from a semi-hidden vantage point beside some chairs and boxes.)
WINTERS: A future in which we, the elite, will rule as is our right! We owe it all to one man, the man whose unrivalled scientific genius has put us in the commanding position we now hold, Professor Kettlewell!
(With hands in pockets, a less than enthusiastic-seeming KETTLEWELL stands on the stage, behind the lectern and to the side. The audience cheer.)
WINTERS: He brings with him the symbol of our movement - the creature whose intelligence and power make him a fitting emblem for our scientific new order!
(We hear clapping as the curtains on the stage reveal the ROBOT. There is a sharp intake of breath from the crowd.)

[INT. Outside the SRS meeting room]

(As the DOCTOR turns out his pockets on the table, we see that he has already produced a stuffed pigeon, goggles, and more.)
DOCTOR: Where is that pass? It must be somewhere.
(He pulls out and reads from a cloth scroll.)
DOCTOR: Freedom to the city of Skaro? No. Pilot's licence for the Mars-Venus rocket run. Galactic passport. (a lengthy item) Do you travel much? Honorary member of the Alpha Centauri Table Tennis Club.
(The GUARD, unamused, rises and is not charmed by his smile. The DOCTOR backs out as he continues to speak.)
DOCTOR: Very tricky opponents, those chaps - six arms and, of course, six bats. It really keeps you on your toes. I'll tell you what - I'll just pop outside and try something.
(As he ducks out through the door, the DOCTOR pulls his scarf out from under the feet of the GUARD, who falls backward and is out for the count.)
DOCTOR: Oh dear, I'm terribly sorry. You just like there and get some rest. I'll find help. And, above all, don't worry. Everything's going to be all right.

[INT. SRS meeting room]

WINTERS: With the aid of this robot, we shall seek out and destroy all those who try to harm us.
ROBOT: Seek out and destroy. (It pushes KETTLEWELL to the side, leaves the stage, and sends Sarah's piles of boxes flying. She is revealed.)
WINTERS: She's a spy! Deal with her!
DOCTOR: (at the microphone) Good evening, everyone. Now please, stay calm. Everyone keep your seat. Now then, what can I do to entertain you till my friend the Brigadier arrives? A little song? A little dance, perhaps? Not just a little dance? Anyone for cards? (He has a deck ready.)
(The crowd laugh during the Doctor's spiel.)
WINTERS: Don't just stand there, you idiots! Get him!
DOCTOR: Now for my next trick, I shall require the assistance of a member of the audience.
(As the GUARD runs onto the stage, the DOCTOR bends to pick up his cards from the floor. The GUARD's momentum has sent him to the back of the stage. The audience laugh at the entertainment provided.)
DOCTOR: (to the GUARD) I say, haven't we met somewhere before? Please, let me help you up.
(He takes the GUARD's hand, and the GUARD takes his hand. His other hand is secured by the OTHER GUARD.)
DOCTOR: Ow. Pity. Any other sporting member of the audience? Tell me one thing, Professor Kettlewell. Why?
KETTLEWELL: For years I have been trying to persuade people to stop spoiling this planet, Doctor. Now, with the help of my friends, I can make them.
DOCTOR: Aren't you forgetting that in science, as in morality, the end never justifies the means?
JELLICOE: What are we going to do with them?
WINTERS: Kill them, of course.
KETTLEWELL: Oh, no, no, no.
WINTERS: They're far too dangerous to us.
KETTLEWELL: Couldn't we lock them up?
WINTERS: And have them escape? It's too late to be squeamish, Professor.
DOCTOR: You see what I mean, Professor?
WINTERS: Take them away.
(There is a gunshot and an intake of breath.)
SARAH: Doctor!
BRIGADIER: Stay where you are! My men have this building surrounded.
WINTERS: Where's the truck?
JELLICOE: Still outside.
WINTERS: Quick. The back way.
BRIGADIER: Stop! Stay where you are.
(In the confusion, WINTERS pulls SARAH to the side of the room as a human shield. BENTON brandishes his rifle.)
The DOCTOR is lying down on the lectern cum desk.)
KETTLEWELL: Protect us! Protect us!
(The DOCTOR winks in Sarah's direction. WINTERS drags her out. The BRIGADIER and BENTON are held at bay by the ROBOT as SRS members make a hasty exit from their meeting. We see the situation outside the building now - UNIT soldiers have their weapons out and keep WINTERS in their sights as she manhandles SARAH down the steps. KETTLEWELL follows. They go to the side. The ROBOT emerges from the building, heading forward, and the UNIT men open fire. JELLICOE, behind the robot, manages not to get hit. as WINTERS and KETTLEWELL get into the cab of a horsebox with SARAH. The ROBOT enters the trailer of the vehicle, which WINTERS then crashes through the barricade. SOLDIERS fire after it, without noticeable effect. SRS members flee the building by the back entrance.)
BRIGADIER: Well, Doctor?
DOCTOR: It had to be Kettlewell. Only he could have attempted to reprogram the robot to overcome its prime directive.
BRIGADIER: Then all that business about being knocked on the head and pushed in the cupboard-
DOCTOR: Faked. Faked to gain your confidence. And they still have the destructor codes, and Sarah. And now they'll hide up somewhere and try their blackmail plan, I suppose.
BRIGADIER: But how can they? If they start a nuclear war, they'll go up with the rest of us.
DOCTOR: I rather imagine that has occurred to them. You'd better find them, Brigadier, and soon.
BRIGADIER: I agree, but how?
BENTON: (bringing a radio unit) Excuse me, sir. There's a call for you from Doctor Sullivan. Linked in from HQ.
BRIGADIER: Thank you. Sullivan, are you still at Think Tank? Over.

[INT. Think Tank]

HARRY: Yes, sir, but I may not have much time. Now listen, sir. I've managed to give them the slip and I think they've forgotten about me. They seem to be pulling out, sir. The whole place is being evacuated.

[INT. SRS meeting room]

BRIGADIER: Listen, Sullivan, this is urgent. Do you know where they're going? Have you any idea at all?
HARRY [OC]: Well, sir, I heard somebody mention the bunker, but it seemed to be a kind of joke.
(Sounds of a struggle or similar can be heard from SULLIVAN's end.)
BRIGADIER: Sullivan, are you still there?

[INT. Think Tank]

JELLICOE: (smiling and looking down at an unconscious SULLIVAN) We'll take him with us. He'll be a useful hostage.
(PHILIPS drags SULLIVAN off.)

[INT. SRS meeting room]

BRIGADIER: No good. Broken connection.
DOCTOR: Or broken head, if someone overheard him calling us.
BRIGADIER: He said something about them going to a bunker.

[EXT. Bunker]

(Land Rovers follow Bessie along a dirt track down an incline from a bunker-type structure.)
BRIGADIER: (in Bessie, looking through binoculars) Well, this is the place, an atomic shelter designed and built by the Think Tank people back in the Cold War days.
DOCTOR: So if their bluff is called, they'll stay down there safe and sound and emerge to rule the survivors, if any.
BENTON: (standing outside Bessie) You really think they're in there, sir?
BRIGADIER: We'll soon find out. Right, Benton.
BENTON: Fall out! (He gestures to the men.)

[INT. Bunker]

(A screen in the bunker shows the UNIT soldiers approaching. The SRS leaders watch from control banks.)
WINTERS: Activate the automatic defence system.
KETTLEWELL: Shouldn't we talk to them first?
WINTERS: We'll talk afterwards. First we must show them the strength of our position.
(JELLICOE flips some switches.)
WINTERS: Put her with the other one. (Someone drags a struggling SARAH off.)

[EXT. Bunker]

(The DOCTOR sees a gun barrel above the entrance to the bunker. He lowers his monocle.)
DOCTOR: Down, Brigadier! Everyone get down!
(Just as they fall to the ground, a spread of machine-gun fire passes along the ground just in front of them.)
BRIGADIER: Get back. (returning, with BENTON, to lie beside the DOCTOR next to the convoy) Of all the cheek. They've got troops there!
DOCTOR: I don't think so, Brigadier. Automated machine-gun nest, I fancy, activated by body heat when you get within range.
(An R/T unit produces a burst of static.)
DOCTOR: (to BENTON) Shh.
BENTON: That's not me, Doctor. Someone's trying to get through on our frequency.
DOCTOR: Good man.
(BENTON stands and heads for a Land Rover.)

[INT. Bunker]

BENTON [OC]: Greyhound Leader receiving you. Over.
WINTERS: Let me speak to the Brigadier.
BRIGADIER [OC]: Lethbridge-Stewart.
WINTERS: Brigadier, can you hear me?
BRIGADIER [OC]: Yes, Miss Winters, I hear you. Come out and give yourselves up, or we shall attack.
WINTERS: We hold two of your friends as hostages.

[EXT. Bunker]

BRIGADIER: That will not deter me. I repeat - give yourselves up or we shall attack.

[INT. Bunker]

WINTERS: You'll never reach those doors alive, Brigadier. And even if you did, you'd never get through them. By now, the governments of the world will have received our demands. Unless they are agreed to in full, the destructor codes will be used. We have associates standing by all over the world. You have thirty minutes in which to surrender.

[EXT. Bunker]

BRIGADIER: Mister Benton, take a party with grenades, find those machine-gun nests, and knock them out.
BENTON: Yes, sir.
BRIGADIER: I'll show that wretched woman.

[INT. Storage room in bunker]

ROBOT: (to SULLIVAN, who is tied up) Do not move. If you attempt to escape, I must destroy you.
(SARAH joins the party and is made to sit to receive her bonds.)
HARRY: Oh, I say. This isn't gallant.
SARAH: James Bond. Tut.

[EXT. Bunker]

(UNIT cause explosions at machine-gun nests.)
BENTON: That was the lot, sir.
BRIGADIER: Right, prepare to advance.
DOCTOR: Just a moment, Brigadier. (he steps forward with his sonic screwdriver out, then activates it, which detonates five mines laid near the bunker entrance) Come along, then.
BENTON: Okay, move.
(They all head for the bunker doors.)
BENTON: (examining it) Shall I get some explosive, sir?
BRIGADIER: Yes.
DOCTOR: Oh, no. Must you? I really think we've had enough bangs and flashes for a bit, don't you? Hold on. Turns into a miniature sonic lance, you see.
BRIGADIER: And what do you propose to do with that?
DOCTOR: Cut out the lock for you. It shouldn't take long.
(He moves the sonic screwdriver around the perimeter of the lock area. There is a small flame, and the metal melts.)

[INT. Bunker]

JELLICOE: (watching the screen) They're getting through! It is impossible!
WINTERS: Very well. We shall have to use the destructor codes, show them we're not bluffing.
KETTLEWELL: It'll take too long to set up the sequence. They'll be in here long before that. You said we'd have plenty of time!
WINTERS: Well then, we must gain time. We shall have to use your metal friend, Professor, and this time he'd better not let us down! Is the disintegrator gun ready?
JELLICOE: Yes.
WINTERS: Right. Then fit it and send him out.
(He leaves to do so.)
WINTERS: Come along, Professor. Start getting those destructor codes operational. Maybe they'll listen when the first few missiles are fired.
(He begins typing rapidly.)

[INT. Storeroom in the bunker]

(JELLICOE moves SARAH from her box seat and pulls the lid from a box in which styrofoam protects a weapon. He lifts it from the case.)
JELLICOE: Enemies of humanity are attacking us. You must take this gun and destroy them.
(The ROBOT places its claw in the grip of the weapon.)
SARAH: No! No, you mustn't!
(The ROBOT, trudging, and JELLICOE, walk out. The captives still cannot break free.)

[INT. Bunker entrance]

(The doors begin opening.)
DOCTOR: Back! Everybody back.
BRIGADIER: They may be going to surrender.
DOCTOR: I very much doubt it. Get your men back, Brigadier, if you don't want them killed.
BRIGADIER: All right, back.
BENTON: Fall back. Fall back to the woods.
(As they do so, the doors open. The ROBOT is within, holding the gun. It advances as the soldiers and vehicles scramble. One soldier fires from near the trees and ends up thrown to the ground and then disintegrated in a reddish glow.)
BRIGADIER: (at a Land Rover buzzing with soldiers) Well, I've brought along something that will deal with it.
DOCTOR: I very much doubt it, Brigadier.
(A tank rolls into view. It too gets disintegrated, before it can fire a shot.)
ROBOT: Go! Go now, or I will destroy you all!

The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl

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