Doctor Who – Orphan 55

By: Ellie Dolan-Yates

The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker), Yaz (Mandip Gill) and Ryan (Tosin Cole) are mopping up some alien remains in the TARDIS when Graham (Bradley Walsh) announces that he’s got his sixth coupon from the Bandohzi Herald earning him a free holiday. After putting all his coupons together, The Doctor tells him they’ve got four seconds before they get teleported! Graham’s already got his Speedos on.

The fam are greeted by Hyph3n (Amy Booth-Steel), a human faced furry holiday guide with a tail. Whilst Yaz and Ryan are exploring and Graham is sitting around doing nothing for three hours, The Doctor is left to explore alone. She might not have much time to relax though as it seems there’s been a breach in the hotel.

An old couple, Vilma (Julia Foster) and Benni (Col Farrell), are sat by the pool admiring the view. Benni mentions some newlyweds he saw and Vilma reminds him they’ve been together forty-six years without needing to get married. Just as Benni pulls a ring box out of his pocket, Yaz inadvertently ruins the moment. Inside, Ryan contracts a hopper virus from the vending machine. The virus whizzes around his hand before entering his nervous system. The Doctor empties Ryan’s packet of crisps and pulls his ear making him sneeze the virus out into the packet. She tells him to suck his thumb until the hallucinations stop. As Ryan flaps around whilst sucking his thumb, The Doctor tells the room he’s fine.

All guests are told to gather at their nearest muster station. Graham thinks it’s something to do with The Doctor who is, in fact, just dumping Ryan on the floor whilst she investigates. As Ryan hides under a chair sucking his thumb, he sees Bella (Gia Ré) doing the same. He awkwardly tries to make conversation. He tells her he’s not trying to chat her up, which she says is a shame. Ryan’s efforts are interrupted when they see Vorm (Will Austin) run past them with a gun.

The Doctor catches Hyph3n on her way to the linen cupboard and asks why someone would be targeting them and what’s actually in the linen cupboard. The Doctor realizes that the linen cupboard is a deadlocked room full of armor. The Doctor tells Kane (Laura Fraser) that there are more hopper viruses around the hotel and this is why their ionic membrane has failed, not that she’s sure why a holiday spa would need defending by one.

Vorm has tracked down the creatures that have breached the spa. Proper slimy, snarly, good old-fashioned monsters called “Dregs.” Graham finds Nevi (James Buckley),the maintenance guy, and his son Sylas (Lewin Lloyd) and tells them that one of the teleports isn’t working. Sylas tries to help his dad, but Nevi tells him he’s a child and not a mechanic. The Doctor puts an announcement out telling all (remaining) guests to meet at the linen cupboard.

Yaz, Graham and their new friends meet there but Benni has noticed Vilma has left her hat behind. As he retrieves it he hears the creatures snarl. In the linen cupboard Vilma realizes Benni isn’t there. Yaz recognizes Ryan isn’t there either. Ryan and Bella are approached by one of the Dregs, but The Doctor completes the new ionic membrane just in time and the creatures are banished.

Kane tells The Doctor that the Dregs are locals who keep trying to attack them. Somebody must have hacked the system and used the hopper virus to bring the shields down. Kane shows the team a panel on the edge of the resort with a tear in it and Graham walks head first into the edge of The Truman Show-like dome surrounding the resort. The Doctor gives Kane a telling off for building the hotel somewhere she shouldn’t. Yaz tells The Doctor that Benni is outside the walls. Kane says he can’t be out there as there’s not enough oxygen, but Vilma explains that Benni has an oxygen tank.

Kane is arming the team with oxygen canisters and explains that green is good, orange is bad and red is dead. However, they refill themselves in an O2 rich environment which will be the truck. Graham asks Nevi if his breathing apparatus is on right and Nevi confirms, but Sylas says otherwise and fixes it. Nevi tells Graham that he built the truck himself and Graham tells Sylas he better have helped him.

The team head out in the truck across the desolate planet. The Doctor explains that an orphan planet gets its grading when all sentient life dies, except on Orphan-55 something has survived. Graham shows The Doctor that Benni has changed direction and Kane tells Vorm to abort the mission so the Dregs must have him. Vilma tells her that if they have Benni, they’re getting him back. She throws her necklace at Kane and tells her if it’s money she wants, that’s worth a fortune. Kane takes the necklace and tells Vorm to follow the tracker.

The Doctor says that the Dregs are a native species and questions how they could have survived. She realizes that they adapt to attack. The tank crashes and The Doctor comes to understand they’ve been caught in a trap. Kane tells her the mist is toxic and when it clears that they’ll get ten minutes of solar blistering before they die. Kane tells everyone that there’s a tunnel close by.

The crew head out into the mist and Vilma shouts for Benni causing the Dregs to close in on them. The Doctor orders everyone back to the truck. Kane says that she and Vorm will keep the Dregs busy whilst the others head for the tunnel. Benni calls for Vilma. He wants to ask her two questions: will she marry him and will someone please shoot him. The Dregs begin to tear off the roof of the truck and The Doctor makes a hole in the floor to escape. Hyph3n and Vorm don’t make it, but the rest head for the tunnels.

In the tunnel Kane tells the team they’re safe and there’s a teleport nearby that should get them back to base. Kane tells Vilma she shot Benni. Bella unexpectedly pulls a gun on Kane. Kane it seems is Bella’s mom. Bella wants to destroy everything she’s built as revenge for Kane never going to her birthday parties, not going to her dad’s funeral…and for giving her the name “Trixabelle.” Kane pulls her gun on Bella. The Doctor tells them this is no way to resolve a family dispute and suggests “good, old-fashioned passive aggressive discussion.” Before anything can be resolved, a Dreg enters the tunnel. Ryan grabs Bella and they are taken by the teleport and the rest of the team make a run for it.

Kane tells the team that there are stairs close by, but they go through a Dreg nest. The Doctor notices something on the wall. Graham asks her what she’s looking at, but she tells him to keep walking. Graham wipes the wall to reveal a plaque written in Russian. The Doctor tells them that they’re in a Siberian underground station and Yaz realizes that the orphan planet they are on is Earth. Further down the tunnel Vilma sacrifices her life whilst the others make a run for it.

Back at the hotel a small bomb that Bella had set off blows up the mainframe of the hotel. In the tunnels Yaz asks The Doctor questions, but The Doctor points to her closed mouth and her depleting oxygen levels. The Doctor approaches a snoring Dreg and her oxygen supply refills. She touches its head to get a glimpse into the past. As the Dreg gabs her, Kane shoots at it. The Doctor explains to Kane that Dregs breath carbon dioxide in and oxygen out, like a really angry tree. Kane tells her she’ll buy them some time and runs towards the Dregs screaming.

Once they reach the hotel the team use the vending machine to close off the entrance to the tunnel. Ryan asks how a vending machine made in China got there, Yaz tells him it never left and explains that the Dregs are mutated humans. Ryan asks how the Earth could’ve ended up like this and Yaz tells him it’s due to Global Warming. The Doctor explains that the food chain collapses and there’s mass migration and war. They can’t hold the entrance closed much longer, so The Doctor tells them to run.

The Doctor tells Nevi to lock the door to the laundry cupboard. Nevi says he’s trying but it won’t work. Sylas tells him it needs a passkey, but Nevi responds that he’s trying to concentrate. Sylas shouts that he never listens to him. Yaz draws The Doctor’s attention to the Dregs closing in on them. The Doctor tells Nevi that he needs to fix the teleport. He says he won’t be able to as the only fuel they’ve got left is syrillium 3 and they need syrillium 4. Sylas wishes him good luck and locks the linen cupboard on his way out. Thankfully, the Doctor has a plan. She sends Yaz and Ryan to the Steam Room to keep the Dregs at bay. She orders Graham to go with Nevi and Bella to go with her in order to find Sylas. Everyone is to regroup at the teleport.

In the Steam Room we see Yaz and Ryan use sun loungers as their last line of defense. The Doctor shouts at “Wheezy” to get his attention, whilst Bella tells Sylas to get to the teleport. Nevi panics that he can’t make the syrillium 4 and he needs Sylas to help him. As Sylas approaches Nevi tells Graham to move over for a real mechanic. The Doctor locks her and Bella in a cage. She tells Wheezy the only way they will live is if they let her and Bella leave. She tells Wheezy to be smarter than what made them. Wheezy steps away before getting in the cage so that The Doctor and Bella can leave. Ryan and Yaz trap some of the Dregs with one of Bella’s bombs. Outside, with the Dregs closing in on them, Nevi says there’s too many people to teleport. Bella kisses Ryan and heads towards the Dregs. She tries to shoot them, but her gun fails. Kane comes to her rescue and they fight the Dregs together. The fam teleport back to the TARDIS.

The Doctor leaves us with an important message: “Unless people face facts and change, catastrophe is coming.” However, if we all step up we can save the planet.