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Battlefield
By BEN AARONOVITCH
Episode 1
Running time : 24:06
First shown : 6th September 1989
1. Garden Centre
(An oldish, grey-haired man walks past carrying two plants. He is with a woman about his age.)
DORIS: Alistair, Alistair?
BRIGADIER: Mmm?
DORIS: What about this one?(She indicates one of the plants.)
BRIGADIER: Oh fine, if you like it Doris.
DORIS: Oh, show some enthusiasm. It'd look great by one of our rosalier beds. What do you think?
BRIGADIER: Yes. I'll plant it when we get home.
DORIS: Oh, thank you.
BRIGADIER: The exercise will do me good. Now where's that salesman got to. Typical lack of efficiency.
DORIS: Back in your soldier days you just had to give an order and stand back.
BRIGADIER: Of course. Sergeant Benton. Tree planting party at the double!
DORIS: Sir!(A lady walks by.)
DORIS: You don't regret it, do you?
BRIGADIER: What, giving up teaching?
DORIS: No, leaving United Nations Intelligence Taskforce!
BRIGADIER: No. My blood and thunder days are long past.
2. Spaceship in lake
(Glowing brightly in the mist, a sword with a flashing light at the end rests untouched.)
3. Bird's eye view of lake side
(Two cars drive by and an army van. They stop by the side of a lake.)
SOLDIER: Come in Salamander, Over!
(There is nothing but buzzing coming out of the radio.)
SOLDIER: Come in Salamander 6 0 over!
VOICE: (Very quiet) Salamander 6 0 reaching you from section 1.
SOLDIER: Stand by 6 0. Brigadier, I've made contact with Lieutenant Richards. Lieutenant, the Brigadier is coming now.(BRIGADIER BAMBERA can be seen in the side mirror of the vehicle. She walks up and grabs the telephone.)
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: Salamander 6 0, please clarify your situation, over.
VOICE: (a lot of buzzing.) Over.
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: Salamander 6 0, you're breaking up.(More buzzing.)
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: Salamander, do you copy? Get that vehicle on the road as soon as possible.
(She walks round and gets into the car.)
SOLDIER: They're gone.
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: Must be the storm.
SOLDIER: I don't like this weather.(He starts the car.)
4. Spaceship in lake
(The sword continues to flash with light. A purple glow is shining on the object from the roof. Near the sword, a crystal ball shines and a faded picture of a ginger-haired lady in a crown appears.)
MORGAINE: At last he is revealed to us.
(The sphere changes to a picture of a storm.)
5. TARDIS Console room
(It is dark. The DOCTOR leans over the console fiddling with switches.)
ACE: Professor? Why is it dark in here?
DOCTOR: Be quiet, Ace. I'm working.(She puts her hands on her hips.)
ACE: Oh, is that why it's dark?
DOCTOR: (Sighs) Yes!(Suddenly, a burst of beeping sounds come from the console.)
ACE: What's that noise?
DOCTOR: A cry in the dark.
ACE: A distress signal.
DOCTOR: A cry for help. Perhaps a summoning.
ACE: Where is it coming from?
DOCTOR: Earth. Rippling out through the cosmos, forwards in time, backwards in time and sideways in time.
ACE: Sideways in time?
DOCTOR: Yes, sideways in time. Across the boundaries that divide one universe from another.
ACE: Weird. This cry, who's it for?
DOCTOR: For? I don't know.
ACE: Perhaps if we went there...(She bends down.)
ACE: Where's it coming from again?
DOCTOR: Earth. A few years in your future.
ACE: It's giving me the creeps. What does it mean?
DOCTOR: We'll know in a moment. Once we've deciphered it.(He runs around the console, pushing ACE out of the way. A strange sound can be heard from the communicator.)
ACE: Whatever it is, I don't think we want to go there.
DOCTOR: Too late. We've already arrived.
6. Spaceship in Lake
(The Sword continues to shine brightly.)
7. Road
(The jeep is moving down the road. BRIGADIER BAMBERA and a UNIT SOLDIER sit inside.)
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: Salamander 6 0. This is seabird. Are you receiving me, over.
(The SOLDIER notices the DOCTOR and ACE standing patiently by the side of the road.)
SOLDIER: Brigadier, hitchhikers.
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: Oh shame.(The jeep drives past.)
ACE: Don't stop then! I don't care!
(As the vehicle disappears down the road another car drives up.)
DOCTOR: I don't think they'll stop either.
ACE: Don't be such a pessimist, Professor.(The car pulls over. Inside sits a middle-aged man with a hat, PETER WARMSLY.)
WARMSLY: Where are you heading?
(The DOCTOR looks at a device in his hand.)
DOCTOR: North east.
WARMSLY: Right, climb aboard. Come to see the dig have you?
ACE: An archaeological dig?
WARMSLY: Yes, sorry. Haven't introduced myself.(WARMSLY shakes hands with the DOCTOR and ACE.)
WARMSLY: I'm Peter Warmsly. I'm the manager of the Carbury Trust Conservation Area.
ACE: I'm Ace and this is the Doctor.
WARMSLY: The digs a matter of fact are a hobby. A battlefield.
8. Space - above the Earth
(A figure flies towards Earth leaving a trail of blue light flowing behind him...)
9. Inside Peter Warmsly's car
PETER: I hate that sound, don't you. I lie there at night thinking...
DOCTOR: It might be the beginning of something terrible.
10. Side of a small mound
(The flying figure lands head first in the ground making a large explosion.)
11. Inside Peter Warmsly's car
ACE: What was that?
PETER: The military use the area as a firing range. Never understood why.
DOCTOR: Blowing the occasional chunk out of the earth keeps them amused.
ACE: It didn't sound like a shell.
12. Side of a small mound
(A figure in futuristic space amour rises up from the ground. Its head is hidden by a helmet.)
13. Nearby
(The army jeep drives up. BRIGADIER BAMBERA gets out and looks through some binoculars. There are several military trucks with soldiers running round.)
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: Oh, very good. Why not drive the missile into the lake!
(She gets back into the car and drives off. Afterwards, PETER WARMSLY's car drives up and the DOCTOR gets out. They see the Soldiers below them. PETER WARMSLY looks concerned and drives off in a hurry. The DOCTOR puts his finger in his mouth.)
ACE: Professor?
(The DOCTOR starts fiddling with a device. It bleeps.)
DOCTOR: Yes. The transmission is definitely coming from over there.
(ACE grabs his shoulder.)
ACE: Professor!
(The device in his hands bleeps continuously.)
ACE: A missile convoy.
DOCTOR: A nuclear missile convoy.
ACE: How do you know?
DOCTOR: It has a graveyard stench.
14. Space - above the Earth
(Two other figures zoom towards the earth.)
15. Camp
(PETER WARMSLY is talking to a soldier on guard.)
PETER: Warmsly's the name and I demand to speak to someone in authority.
16. Side of truck
(BRIGADIER BAMBERA and a SOLDIER look up as a whooshing sound comes from overhead.)
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: What was that?
ZBRIGNIEV: A jet?
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: No, not this far south. Raise division. Get them to check flight paths.
SOLDIER: I'm sorry sir but we cannot get a signal out.
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: Well see what you can do Zbrigniev. All this noise is making me nervous.(A soldier walks up, ZBRIGNIEV.)
SOLDIER: There's a Mr. Warmsly who wants to speak to an officer.
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: You speak to him Zbrigniev. I've got enough troubles.
17. Barrier
(The DOCTOR and ACE duck under the barrier. There is another explosion.)
ACE: Didn't sound like a shell. More like rockets.
DOCTOR: Yes.(He pulls her behind a truck as officers run past.)
DOCTOR: What we need is something to help us.
(He starts rummaging through his pockets, giving all the contents to ACE.)
DOCTOR: Ah yes!
(The DOCTOR takes off his hat.)
DOCTOR: Of course. Never thought I'd need these again.
(He gives her a pass.)
DOCTOR: This should remove the obstacles.
ACE: Who's Elizabeth Shaw? I don't even look like her.
DOCTOR: Oh, never mind. Just think like a physicist.(He picks up all his jumble and walks off.)
18. Hill top
(The armoured creature walks down the muddy hill. It stops and changes direction.)
19. UNIT Control Room
(The DOCTOR is staring at some dials.)
DOCTOR: Now, what seems to be the problem?
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: Excuse me.
DOCTOR: Well, you've had an explosion in your electronics, haven't you?
ACE: And a magnetic pulse effect.
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: Make yourself at home.
DOCTOR: Caused by?
ACE: A nuclear explosion usually.
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: I think I would have noticed a nuclear explosion.
DOCTOR: Well they are conspicuous.
ACE: If there was no nuke, where did the energy pulse come from?
DOCTOR: Exactly.
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: All system failures are a result of a minor technical difficulty. I don't know where you got these from but I intend to find out.(BRIGADIER BAMBERA holds up the passes.)
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: Show these to out.
DOCTOR: I'd just like to say a few things.
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: Go on then.
DOCTOR: Yeti, Autons, Daleks, Cybermen and Silurians.(The DOCTOR and ACE walk out the back of the van.)
ACE: That was five things.
DOCTOR: She didn't even notice. Amongst the wonders of the universe there's nothing so firmly clamped shut as the military mind.
20. UNIT Control Room
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: Well done, Zbrigniev. Two civilians waltz up with an antiquated pass card and you let them in. Why?
ZBRIGNIEV: Sir.
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: You know something. What is it?
ZBRIGNIEV: Off the record, Sir.
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: Off the record?
ZBRIGNIEV: When I served under Lethbridge-Stewart we had a scientific advisor called The Doctor.
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: The man outside.
ZBRIGNIEV: No, but...
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: But?
ZBRIGNIEV: He changed several times.
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: A disguise.
ZBRIGNIEV: No Sir. The word was he changed his whole appearance.
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: His whole appearance.
ZBRIGNIEV: And his personality.
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: How could he be the same man if his appearance and personality had changed?
ZBRIGNIEV: I don't know Sir.
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: What do you know Zbrigniev?
ZBRIGNIEV: Well, whenever this Doctor turns up..
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: Yes?
ZBRIGNIEV: All hell breaks loose.
21. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's garden
(The BRIGADIER is planting his flowers when the phone rings. His wife, DORIS picks it up.)
DORIS: Alistair! Telephone for you.
BRIGADIER: Who is it?
DORIS: (To caller.) Hello. Hello. Can you tell me who's speaking? OK. Fine. (To BRIGADIER.) Geneva.
BRIGADIER: Oh probably another peace conference. Tell them I've retired. Tell them I'd decided to fade away.
DORIS: (To caller.) I'm terribly sorry. I'm afraid he's unavailable. Yes I will. Thank you. Bye bye. (To BRIGADIER.) That was the secretary general.
BRIGADIER: Doris. I don't care if it was the king. I've retired.
DORIS: They said something about the Doctor being back. Alistair, who's the Doctor?(He gets up.)
22. Woods
(A metal-looking gloved hand reaches towards the TARDIS. It is the knight who landed on Earth. A car comes up the road and it hides behind the Police Box.)
23. Car
(BRIGADIER BAMBERA is driving. ACE is leant forward.)
DOCTOR: We could have walked to the hotel.
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: No problem. I thought you'd like to see Vorticons Lake.
DOCTOR: Vorticon. Interesting name.
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: Yeah, fascinating.
DOCTOR: What's your name, by the way?
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: Brigadier Winifred Bambera.
ACE: Winifred?
DOCTOR: There are many secrets in names. Vorticon. It's old British for high king.
ACE: Your convoy's stranded by the lake of the high king.(The car passes the large lake.)
24. Woods
(The gloved hand passes over a sign saying 'MOD Firing Range. KEEP OUT.' He stands up.)
25. Gore Crow Hotel (outside)
(The BRIGADIER's car drives up through the gate. They all get out. A young girl comes to meet them. She smiles as the DOCTOR takes his hat off to her, but ACE pushes him into the hotel.)
26. Hotel Bar
(An old woman is reading a book in the corner. She looks up as the DOCTOR and ACE walk in. The Owner, PAT ROWLINSON, speaks.)
PAT ROWLINSON: Can I help you?
DOCTOR: Yes. I'd like to book a room for me and my young friend here.
PAT ROWLINSON: Yes Sir. Long journey?
DOCTOR: Yes. Quite a distance as it happens.
PAT ROWLINSON: Then you'll be having a drink?
ACE: Yes please!
DOCTOR: Why not. What do you have?
PAT ROWLINSON: What we have, Sir, is possibly the finest beer in the area, even if I do say so myself. Perhaps in the country.
DOCTOR: Really?
SHOU YUING: He makes it himself in a converted barn at the end of the garden.
PAT ROWLINSON: It's in the CAMRA guide. We call it Arthur's ale.
SHOU YUING: Vodka and coke Pat.
DOCTOR: A glass of water, Ace?
ACE: Oh, vodka and coke...
DOCTOR: Ace...
ACE: Lemonade please.
SHOU YUING: (Whispering) Good choice.
ACE: Lemonade?
SHOU YUING: Anything but the beer.(The DOCTOR pushes past them.)
DOCTOR: Hello, I'm The Doctor, and this is....
SHOU YUING: Ace.
PAT ROWLINSON: Here we are Sir. Five pounds please.
ACE: Five pounds!
DOCTOR: Remember, we are in the future.(The DOCTOR tips a pile of coins out of his pocket.)
DOCTOR: Ah. There we are. A five pound piece.
(He picks up a bug-like creature.)
DOCTOR: Do you mind? It's a very valuable piece of coinage.
27. Forest
(Three KNIGHTS are walking through with small guns.)
28. Road
(The BRIGADIER's car comes past. They pass the TARDIS.)
ZBRIGNIEV: Alert. If The Doctor is involved, look for a Police Telephone Box.
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: Look out for what?(She breaks and reverses.)
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: Oh shame!
(The BRIGADIER takes out her gun and goes round the side of the TARDIS very slowly. There is a sound and she looks around. A Knight stands behind her holding a gun. Then three similar looking creatures fire at it. There is an explosion and BRIGADIER BAMBERA is knocked backwards. She gets up and shoots. Two Knights get out their swords and start to fight. The BRIGADIER continues to shoot but nothing happens.)
29. Hotel Bar
SHOU YUING: So you've met Peter.
DOCTOR: Yes.
SHOU YUING: He's got this thing about King Arthur. Digs things up by the lake.
DOCTOR: Well he is an archaeologist.
SHOU YUING: Can't see it myself with all that patient scraping about. I have the urge to bung half a kilo of TNT down the hole and blow it all up!
ACE: Now you're talking!
DOCTOR: The point of archaeology is to carefully recover the past - not disintegrate it.
SHOU YUING: Wouldn't make much difference. The only half decent thing he's found is that scabbard.(They all look round at an object hanging on the wall. The DOCTOR walks over to it.)
ACE: You could try something with more brisance.
SHOU YUING: More brisance? Then try nitrotoglareen. Like what?
DOCTOR: How remarkable!(He examines the strange object as ACE and SHOU YUING walk past.)
ACE: We'd better go outside.
SHOU YUING: Why?
ACE: He gets upset when I talk about explosives.
ELIZABETH: Interesting, isn't it?
DOCTOR: Yes.
ELIZABETH: I wish I could see what it looks like. I can feel its presence sometimes. Touch it.(The DOCTOR touches it.)
DOCTOR: Ahh. It's hot.
(He touches it again.)
DOCTOR: Now it's cold.
ELIZABETH: Every so often I get the strangest feeling about it.
DOCTOR: What kind of feeling.
ELIZABETH: Oh, like it's waiting for something. Stupid really.
DOCTOR: Waiting for something; or someone.
30. Road
(The two knights run off. The BRIGADIER walks from behind the TARDIS. She sees one of the car's tyres on fire.)
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: Oh shame.
31. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's Garden
(The BRIGADIER walks towards DORIS wearing his old UNIT uniform and holding a briefcase. He puts the briefcase on a table and opens it. )
BRIGADIER: I'm surprised it still fits.
DORIS: I should have thrown it out when I had the chance.(The BRIGADIER picks up his gun.)
DORIS: And that to. You should have said no.
BRIGADIER: I could have Doris, but it's my duty.
DORIS: This isn't duty. Does this....I....mean so little to you?
BRIGADIER: I will be coming back.
DORIS: You don't need to go. You don't need to carry on playing soldier any more.
BRIGADIER: I'm not playing.
32. Forest
(The Knights are coming back with another big gun. There are two of them.)
33. Crystal Ball
MORGAINE: There is the enemy. Kill him.
34. Forest
(The Knights start shooting at each other. One shoots a tree and it blows up and falls over.)
35. Drive to hotel
(The jeep pulls up. PETER WARMSLY gets up, slams the door and walks into the hotel.)
36. Hotel Bar
WARMSLY: Elizabeth. I need to use your phone. The one in my car isn't working. (To telephone.) Yes. Call external. Carburick.
DOCTOR: Mr Warmsly. Just the person.
PETER: There's a convoy just down there by the lake with a nuclear missile in. (To phone.) Yes....off.
DOCTOR: Could you tell me about the scabbard?(WARMSLY turns round.)
DOCTOR: The scabbard. Where did you find it?
WARMSLY: Here locally. Why?
DOCTOR: The scabbard's worth ten of the sword.
WARMSLY: Said Merlin. Yeah. Careful with it. It was found near by the lake.
DOCTOR: What period?
WARMSLY: Does it matter? 18th Century AD.
DOCTOR: No. No, it's been around longer than that.
WARMSLY: Waiting for what?
37. Crystal Ball
MORGAINE: Waiting for me!
38. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's Garden
(A helicopter flies down and lands on the BRIGADIER's garden. DORIS comes out.)
DORIS: Alistair. I've found this. Have you forgotten it?
BRIGADIER: Well thank you.
DORIS: You will be careful.
BRIGADIER: Of course I'll be careful. I'll sort all this out then come home.(They kiss.)
39. Hotel - back
ACE: (To SHOU YUING) So, we're back in the school corridor by now and Mrs Parkinson tells me to put what she thinks is school Plasticine back in the art rooms.
SHOU YUING: So what did you do?
40. Forest
(One of the Knights takes out a small bomb. He pulls the ring at the top.)
41. Hotel - back
ACE: I chucked it over my shoulder!
(She demonstrates.)
ACE: Just like that!
42. Forest
(The Knight throws the bomb.)
43. Hotel - back
ACE: It landed right in the middle of Class One's pottery pig competitions!
44. Forest
(The bomb bleeps.)
45. Hotel - back
ACE: And boom!
(She thumps the table.)
SHOU YUING: Boom!
46. Forest
(The bomb explodes. Through the air flies an enemy Knight from the blast.)
47. Hotel - back
SHOU YUING: It's hit the brewery.
(There is a large hole in the slate roof of the building.)
ACE: We'd better get the Doctor.
(At that moment the DOCTOR walks out.)
DOCTOR: Good idea. Did you see it?
ACE: Yeah. It looked like a bloke.
DOCTOR: A bloke, flying through the air.
SHOU YUING: And into a wall.
48. Outside brewery
(The group walk up to the wall.)
DOCTOR: You two, stay out here.
ACE: Be serious, Professor.
SHOU YUING: What's going on?
ACE: You'd better ask the Professor.
SHOU YUING: What's going on?(The DOCTOR opens the Brewery door. They all follow him inside.)
49. Inside Brewery
ACE: Doctor?
DOCTOR: Yes?
ACE: I can't see anything.
SHOU YUING: What was that?(The light comes on. There is a knight lying slumped by one of the walls.)
ACE: Is it an android?
(The DOCTOR touches the body with the end of his umbrella and then with his hand.)
DOCTOR: No. It's a human.
(The DOCTOR takes its helmet off. There is a young man behind it.)
ANCELYN: Merlin. Against all hope...
50. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's Garden
(The BRIGADIER runs towards the helicopter and gets in. DORIS watches as it takes off and flies away.)
51. Brewery
ACE: You got it wrong mate. This is the Doctor.
ANCELYN: He has many faces, but in my reckoning, he is Merlin.
DOCTOR: You recognise my face, then?
ANCELYN: No, it is not your aspect, but your manner that betrays you. Do you not ride the ship of time? Does it not deceive the senses by being larger within than out? Come, Merlin, cease these games and tell me truly, is this the time?
DOCTOR: What time?
ANCELYN: Thou dost not know? Truly?
ACE: Do you think he would be asking if he did, tin head.
ANCELYN: Why, the time of Excalibur's call. The time of restitution. The time when Arthur rises to lead the Britains to war.
DOCTOR: Vortican's lake. Of course. Can you walk?(The DOCTOR helps ANCELYN up. ACE picks up his sword.)
SHOU YUING: Can someone answer a simple question?
ACE: What's wrong, Doctor?
SHOU YUING: What on Earth's going on?
DOCTOR: If my hunch is right, the Earth could be at the centre of a war that doesn't even belong to this dimension.(BRIGADIER BAMBERA rushes in.)
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: Freeze. Everyone stand nice and easy.
DOCTOR: Listen, Winifred. We've got somewhere to go, so please get out of our way urgently.
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: Get back.(She points her gun at him.)
BRIGADIER BAMBERA: You are all under arrest. You and your freaky friends.
ACE: Who are you calling freaky?
DOCTOR: I can sort this out if I can just explain.(A blast from the wall knocks them back. One of the enemy Knights walk in.)
KNIGHT LEADER: (To other Knights.) Kill them. Kill them now.
The Doctor
SYLVESTER McCOYAce
SOPHIE ALDREDLethbridge-Stewart
NICHOLAS COURTNEYMorgaine
JEAN MARSHMordred
CHRISTOPHER BOWENBrigadier Winifred Bambera
ANGELA BRUCEAncelyn
MARCUS GILBERTShou Yuing
LING TAIDoris
ANGELA DOUGLASElizabeth Rowlinson
JUNE BLANDPat Rowlinson
NOEL COLLINSPeter Warmsly James
JAMES ELLISThe Destroyer
MAREK ANTONFlight Lieutenant Lavel
DOROTA RAESergeant Zbrigniev
ROBERT JEZEKMajor Husak
PAUL TOMANYYKnight Commander
STEFAN SCHWARTZ
Designer
MARTIN COLLINSIncidental Music
KEFF McCULLOCHStunt Arrange
ALF JOINTProducer
JOHN NATHAN-TURNERDirected by
MICHAEL KERRIGANTranscribed by
GEORGE WELLS