5.7. Amy's Choice

Series 5 - 2010

Writer: Simon Nye
Produced by: Tracie Simpson
Director: Catherine Morshead
Music: Murray Gold

Synopsis

Upper Leadworth, 5 years later. A pregnant Amy is at home baking. She shouts for Rory who runs in to the house and finds Amy eating cake mix - false alarm. Outside the TARDIS materialises in a flower bed, and the Doctor emerges. The three of them go into Upper Leadworth. There's nothing happening, and the find a bench to sit on and talk. They begin to tire and fall asleep.

And find themselves back in the TARDIS. Amy is not pregnant, and Rory does not have a pony tail. The Doctor thinks Upper Leadworth was a dream - only Amy and Rory had the same dream.

Back in Upper Leadworth all three wake. Was the TARDIS a dream, or is Upper Leadworth the dream?

In the TARDIS the Doctor is trying to work out if the TARDIS is malfunctioning, trying to work out what is the dream and what is real. When the TARDIS loses power they can hear birdsong - and are back in Upper Leadworth. They meet one person who greets Rory as Doctor - something Rory has always dreamed of.

The Doctor sees people watching from a care home, and go to investigate. As a Doctor Rory knows many of the residents, and whilst the Doctor is looking into the eyes of one of the residents they are back in the TARDIS.

The TARDIS has no power, and is cooling down rapidly. A stranger appears in similar clothes to the Doctor. The stranger calls himself the Dream Lord. The Dream Lord is able to disappear and reappear at will, and jumps around the console room. The Dream Lord says Amy needs to sort her men out - choose one. Her choice is Rory. The Dream Lord offers a challenge. There are two worlds - the TARDIS and Upper Leadworth. There is a danger in each world, but only one is real. If they die in the dream they wake up in reality. If they die in reality they die - that's why it is called reality.

Back in the care home all the residents have gone. The Doctor leaves and finds a group of children visiting some ruins, along with one of the care home residents.

Back in the TARDIS Amy and Rory are feeling cold. The Doctor works on the TARDIS whilst they go to look for blankets to keep warm and talk about their marriage and life in Upper Leadworth. The Doctor rigs up a wind up generator, and when Rory winds there is enough power to power to monitor - and they see a cold star close to the TARDIS. The Doctor estimates 40 minutes before the TARDIS crashes in to it.

Back in Upper Leadworth the children have disappeared. Rory believes this to be the real reality, whilst the Doctor is looking at piles of dust - where the children were. But the residents are okay. The Dream Lord appears, and whilst the Doctor is talking the care home residents appear. One grabs hold of Rory with one arm and flings him backwards.

Inside each of the old people is alien eye. They are Eknodines, driven from their planet and living inside the humans, allowing them to live for a long time. They are able to exhale a gas which kills. Amy and Rory manage to escape back to their house and find Mrs. Hamilll. Rory hits her with a fence pole. The pole smashes, but Mrs. Hamill gets back up and follows them. Across the fields other old people are coming. Amy and Rory lock themselves in to their house.

In Upper Leadworth the Doctor is running from the old people, but is becoming increasingly tired. The Doctor makes his way in to a butchers and locks himself in to the meat locker as he falls asleep.

All three awaken back in the TARDIS. The try to agree which is the real world and which is the dream world. The Doctors suggests trying to split up so there is a presence in both worlds - and the Dream Lord agrees.

Back in Upper Leadworth Rory awakens but Amy is still asleep. The old people are breaking in. Rory drags her up to the nursery. In the butcher's the Doctor wakes. Using the sonic screwdriver he overloads the lights, and in the distraction is able to escape. He jumps in to a camper van, and drives towards Amy's house - collecting other people along the way.

In the TARDIS only Amy is awake as ice starts to form in the TARDIS. Amy talks to the Dream Lord and asks what he wants. The Dream Lord starts to talk about Rory and the Doctor - and again suggests she chooses one of them - the Doctor and the TARDIS or Rory and Upper Leadworth.

The Doctor arrives at Amy's house and finds the old people trying to break in. Inside Amy wakes up, as the Doctor climbs in through the nursery window. One of the old people breathes gas on Rory's arm, and Amy and the Doctor can only watch as he starts to disintegrate into dust. Amy decides that this is the dream; if it isn't then she doesn't want a life without Rory. The Doctor hands Amy the keys to the camper van, and she drives it straight towards the house. If they die in the dream then they will wake up...

Inside the TARDIS everything is frozen, but the Doctor, Amy and Rory all wake up. The Dream Lord restores power to the TARDIS, and it moves away from the cold star, quickly warming up.

The Doctor says he is going to blow up the TARDIS; they are still in a dream world. The Dream Lord has no power over the real world, so how could a star burn cold?

In the real TARDIS the Doctor holds in his hand a few specks of pollen from the candle meadows of Karass don Salva. After falling in the time rotor and heating up they induced a dream state. The pollen feeds on everything dark in someone and turns it against them. The Dream Lord was really a dark version of the Doctor.

Amy tells Rory about how she crashed the camper van after Mrs Poggit killed him, and how she didn't really know that she wouldn't have died.

Regular Cast

  • Amy Pond: Karen Gillan
  • Rory Williams: Arthur Darvill

Guest Cast

  • Dream Lord: Toby Jones
  • Mr Nainby: NIck Hobbs
  • Mrs Hammill: Joan Linder
  • Mrs Poggit: Audrey Ardington
  • Bus Driver: Jeff Holt
Uncredited:
  • Pensioners C: Joan Kemp Gee, Nicky Bean, David Bristowe, Shirley Bristowe, Jim Blaisdon, David Tudor Greaves, Phil Hobbis, Sheila Moxom, Eddie Bousie
  • Young Mum: Melisa Swaby
  • Pensioners A: Elizabeth Ellis, Bert Hall, Gloria Hall, Carl Peries, Keith Rose, Jean Heelis, Richard Heelis, Margaret Swift, June Thomas, Harry Damsell
  • Pensioners B: Sandra Scott, Maggie Baiton, Diana Clay, Roy Rahaman, Nigel Slarke, Daphne Neville, Martin Neville, Angharad Baxter, Huw Rees, Den Edginton
  • Teacher: Channon Jacobs
  • School Children: Darcey Bass, Isobel Bass, Chanelle Leung, Ellie Cursio, Amber Morgan, John William Carter, Rhys Edmunds, Adam Frandkis-Williams, George Greminos, Iwan Davies, Annabel Williams, Chloe Seed
  • Postman: Andy Jones
  • Stunt Double for Rory: Gordon Seed
  • Stunt Double for Mrs Hammill: Belinda McGinley, Helen Steinway-Bailey
  • Pensioners D: Beryl Pym, Keith Read, Kush Nazarali, Michelle Meredith, Paul Cheetham
  • Stunt Double for the Doctor: Gordon Seed
  • Stunt Villagers: Belinda McGinley, Dani Biernat
  • Camper Van Driver: Alphaeus Daniel
  • Parents: Steve Roberts, Maria Honeker
  • Children: Daniel Gear, Katie Gear
  • Camper Van Passengers: Ling Cheung, Martyn Emsley, Jenette Clothier, Tom Watkins, Charlotte White, Anthony Yusufu, Anneliese Murray, Frances Valaydon Pillay, Ryan Simpson, Lucinda Robson, Natalie Dimeo, Maddi Knibbs, Said Mohamed
  • Stunt Double for Mrs Poggit: Helen Steinway-Bailey
  • Stunt Double for Amy: Belinda McGinley
  • Hand Double for the Doctor: Andy Jones
  • Crowd / Additional Dialogue Recording: Jenny Pink, Daryl Adcock, Neil Gray, Claire Hilder, Paul Sparrowham, Lindsay Hollingsworth, Nicholas Wilkes, Emma Feeney
  • Crowd - Children / Additional Dialogue Recording: Kuan Faye, Bertie Gilbert, Hugo Docking, Fern Deacon, Lauren Platt, Frances Encell

Original broadcast on the BBC

Channel Title Date Viewers Rating
BBC 1 7. Amy's Choice Saturday, May 15, 2010 6:25 PM - 7:10 PM 7.55M 84
BBC HD 7. Amy's Choice Saturday, May 15, 2010 6:25 PM - 7:10 PM

Click here to show repeat broadcasts on the BBC

Studios

  • Upper Boat Studios: Studio 1 & 2

Outside Locations

  • 10 Eglwysilan Road, Eglwysilan, Abertridwr, Caerphilly
  • AP Young Butchers, 10 Church Street, Llanwit Major
  • Keeper's Cottage, St Mary's Church, nr Cowbridge
  • Lanley Hall, Pontyclun, Llantrisant
  • Skenfrith Village, Skenfrith, Monmouthshire
  • Upper Boat Studios: Service Yard