The Interstellar Song Contest

Written by Juno Dawson

"Welcome to the 803rd Interstellar Song Contest!"

The Doctor's quest to get Belinda back home to Earth leads to a space station hosting the famous song contest. But a harmless night of fun soon becomes a battle to survive.

Plot

Seeking another Vindicator reading, in order to return to London on May 24th, 2025, the Doctor and Belinda land the TARDIS in the Harmony Arena, in the year 2925 – just in time for Rylan Clark to step out of cryogenesis to host the 803rd Interstellar Song Contest! As the 100,000-strong crowd erupts in applause, the Doctor and Belinda decide to stick around for the show.

As they settle in to watch the competition, trouble is brewing – Mrs Flood, sitting in the crowd, copies the Doctor’s Vindicator reading on her own device, stating it is “the final link” she needs. Meanwhile, in the gallery, the production team’s security Drone Guards are hijacked by an interloping Hellion known as ‘Kid’. The staff are escorted away, leaving Kid and his accomplice, another Hellion named Wynn, who had infiltrated the production team, in control of Harmony Arena and the show’s broadcast.

Switching the broadcast to the dress rehearsal, Kid then opens the air shield of Harmony Arena, flushing the audience into space. While Belinda escapes, the Doctor and the TARDIS are sucked into the vacuum of space! Kid and Wynn prepare to move onto the final phase of their plan – unleashing a Delta Wave through the broadcast, killing the three trillion viewers of the contest across the galaxy.

Frozen in space and barely conscious, the Doctor has a vision of his granddaughter, Susan Foreman, telling him to go back and find her. Waking up from his stasis, the Doctor uses a nearby confetti cannon to propel himself back to the Harmony Arena, where he is resuscitated by paramedic Mike, who was attending with his husband Gary.

As the Doctor, Mike and Gary look for answers, Belinda runs into more survivors in the Arena; including contest favourite Cora Saint Bavier, who was representing the planet Trion. When the survivors discover that Hellions are behind the attack, Cora reveals herself as a Hellion in hiding. She explains that Kid and Wynn are on a mission of vengeance against the event’s sponsor – who razed their native planet of Hellia for its natural resource, the Hell Poppy, and blamed the atrocity on the native population. Hellions are hated across the galaxy for this manufactured lie, and Kid plans to exact revenge on anyone he deems complicit - including all the viewers of the Interstellar Song Contest.

Enraged and vengeful, the Doctor seeks out the Hellions and destroys their Delta Wave device. He uses a hard-light hologram to repeatedly electrocute Kid – ignoring Susan’s pleas in his mind to stop – until he is reunited with Belinda. With the Hellions defeated, the Doctor, Belinda and their surviving allies work to rescue and revive the ejected audience members. After Harmony Arena is restored, Rylan introduces Cora Saint Bavier to the stage – who sings a song of Hellia, opening the hearts of the crowd to the plight of the Hellions.  

As the Doctor and Belinda prepare to depart, they see a hologram of television presenter Graham Norton in the Arena’s museum wing – who informs them that Earth, for unknown reasons, “died” on May 24th, 2025. Setting off in the TARDIS to finally return to – and save – Belinda’s home, the pair look on in horror as the TARDIS doors explode open from the outside...

Meanwhile, one of the last concertgoers to be revived is none other than Mrs Flood, who – claiming her double brain stem has frozen – begins to regenerate! The resulting bi-generation reveals that all along, Mrs Flood has been the Doctor’s old nemesis, the Rani, in disguise. Taking the Vindicator readings, the two Ranis depart, ready to exact their final plan...  

Concept Art

Behind the Scenes

• This episode sees the return of the Rani, portrayed by both Anita Dobson and Archie Panjabi. This is the first appearance of the Rani since the Seventh Doctor’s debut adventure Time and the Rani in 1987.
• Carole Ann Ford reprises her role as the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan Foreman for the first time in the TV series since The Five Doctors in 1983. She also reprised the role in 1993's Dimensions in Time.
• The Interstellar Song Contest was written by Juno Dawson, whose previous work in the Whoniverse includes Thirteenth Doctor novel The Good Doctor and both seasons of the original audio drama Doctor Who: Redacted.
• Singer Christine Rotondo, who plays contestant Liz Lizardine, has previously appeared in Doctor Who as the voice of ‘Janis Goblin’, the singer of the Goblin band in The Church on Ruby Road.
• TV host and Eurovision commentator Graham Norton makes an appearance as a hologram of himself. This marks Norton’s first official appearance in Doctor Who, although idents for The Graham Norton Show have appeared onscreen during pivotal scenes in episodes aired on BBC One – a running joke amongst Doctor Who fans!
• Cora's aria at the end of the episode was composed by Murray Gold, with lyrics translated by Juno Dawson. They are as follows:
  
  From pastures gold to hills so blue
  Bless'd suns bring life anew
  Hellia, spectacular
  A star to ever guide us home
  
  From settlers first to babes a born
  Lo exalted thy twin horns
  Hellia, illustria
  Kin from kin, sky to heart
  
  Hellia! Hellia!
  Dignity be thy name
  Hellia! Hellia!
  Bastion of the brave
  
  Hellia! Hellia! Our home.