Turn Left

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin Not gonna lie when i first watched this as a 10 year old boy i was absolutely terrified!

Ian Robinson@ChorleyRobbie Can I be the first to say “what has Billie done with her teeth?"

Matt Badham ‏@mahdaBttaM Love Turn Left. A script with some significant problems that is really made by the performances (mainly CT's).
Great scene this - actually the same street from Gridlock, redressed! 

I know those drinks are ice cream floats but they look like pints of guinness!

A mysterious fortune teller badgers Donna. Free for red hair! 

The Fortune Teller sees... a man.. and the number 6. Lay off, Mystic Meg. 

Donna was a secretary at HC Clements (as seen in the Runaway Bride) 

Donna flashes back to the day of the interview, with her mum bugging her to go to a different job... 

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin So the following we can all blame on Sylvia!

It's still Donna's decision though... in the correct time line Donna *did* Turn Left, regardless of what Sylvia said.

Something else is bugging her now... 

...and the Fortune Teller tells her to turn right and never meet the Doctor! 

I wasn't that keen on the drum-heavy revamp of the theme for series 4 at the time...

 
 
...but I like it now.  

Much prefer it to any version we've had since. 

It's Christmas 2006 and Donna's in the pub with her mates... 

...one of whom keeps staring at her back.

They all pile into the street when the Web Star attacks... 

Eh? If she hasn't met the Doctor then shouldn't she be in the spider's lair, being drained of huon particles? Ah, no, she never worked for HC Clements, so never met Lance! 

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin The Web star was taken down by orders of Mr Saxon but he never went to the year 100 trillion and influenced Yana did he?

Another Minsister of Defence would have given the order, I guess. Or there once was a *real* Mr. Saxon.

UNIT soldiers wheel out the drowned Doctor - he died before he could regenerate!!

Rose appears! Though, Donna's no idea who she is. Isn't Rose trapped in a parallel universe? Mind you, is *this* *that* universe? 

We cut to Donna in her rubbish new job; the business is failing because no one will go South of the river after the dead Doctor drained it. 

Donna gets the sack, while on TV there are reports of a hospital disappearing... and talking Rhinos! 

BEATRICE! 

In this universe, Martha & Sarah Jane both died on the moon during the events of (Sarah Jane) Smith & Jones. 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke How does the beetle actually work? Does it send Donna physically back? Or is it a dream? If the latter,the ep doesn't matter!

It must be physical but the whole episode as we see it basically happens in the few seconds where Donna is being pulled into this timeline. She has the beetle on her back the whole time this ep, as if it's anchoring her to this time-line. When it dies she snaps back.

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Good point. Those Tricksters are really powerful to change time by such a magnitude. More so than Time Lords and Daleks? 

Not the Tricksters themselves, I guess, as they seem dependent on using things like the Beetle, but they're obviously sensitive to time's weak/pivotal spots. Get Sapphire & Steel on their case, I reckon. 

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke *other medium atomic weights are available. The vagueness of this is the only bad point in the ep for me. The highpoint is Wilf, but he was the highpoint of the series! 

Rose reappears, and like Donna's mate at Christmas, she seems to be looking at Donna's back... 

Donna and her family decide to go away the next Christmas... 

Wilf's getting his wiggle on... 

...but the maid is another one that spots Donna has algo en su espalda!

...when the space Titanic crashes into Buck House.  

There's a mushroom cloud over London... 

France has closed its' borders, so people have to be evacuated oop north. Donna's family is sent to Leeds. 

Oop north, Donna & her family are billeted in an already overcrowded house with a rather large family. 

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin If you hate Rocco Colassanto you have no soul! 

Over in the US, the Adipose strike, without the need for a dry run in the UK. 

Donna's mum, as negative as ever, is giving up. 

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin Out of all the bad things that happens Sylvia just happens to notice that bumblebees are disappearing! 

Wilf, on the other hand, is enjoying a sing-song with Rocco & co. 

The Sontarans' ATMOS, devices attack, so UNIT respond in typical style, and try to shoot gas with bullets. 

One of the grunts clocks Donna's back... 

...and has to be talked out of shooting her by Rocco and Wilf. 

Rose reappears and tells Donna that the Torchwood gang were killed taking on the Sontarans... 

...with Captain Jack taken prisoner, and back to Sontar. 

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin Yates, Benton, Liz Shaw, Jo Grant and the brigadier can still defend our world. RTD seems to pretend they don't exist! 

Or they were wiped out in the nuclear explosion of the Titanic, or by ATMOS gas.

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke Ah, but Clara is there (somewhere) saving The Doct... Oh. Poo!

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin Hey that's a good point Clara shoulld've saved the Doctor in The Runaway Bride!

Her splinters never come into existence if the events of "Name..." don't happen.

Rose tells Donna she was supposed to be with the Doctor in Christmas 2006. 

The darkness is coming, from across the stars... 

In one of the most sinister turns, Rocco and his family are taken away as UKIP's policies are enacted... 

Cribbins is just monumental here. 

atruedrwhofan@atruedrwhofan that, for me, is the hardest scene ever in Who. Beautifully written. We all know what Wilf means and its not overdone. 

Yes; they don't have to say more than that one line. Their performances make you feel the weight behind those few words.

Paul Cooke@paulpcooke This is my favourite scene in all new Who. I'm tearing up, and I'm not even watching! Cribbins is an emotional powerhouse! 

Wilf's telescope has survived all this, and he notices the stars are going out... just like Rose said. 

Donna is ready to listen to Rose's plan. 

Rose is working with UNIT.

And here's the TARDIS... dead. 

"NO... WAY!!" 

Rose activates the circle of mirrors, revealing the time beetle. Donna begins to panic... 

Tate's "You told me I was special!" is so raw. By far the best actor of any of the RTD companions. 

James Cooray Smith@thejimsmith Catherine Tate is just extraordinary in TURN LEFT. It's just one of the best Doctor Who stories ever made.

Rose seems to know something of Donna's future here, though. She's dodging that question about whether Donna dies. 

Donna is sent back in time to the pivotal moment... 

...but arrives in the wrong place and has to run...

...when it finally comes  to it, the last resort is to divert traffic so that she *has* to turn left, which Donna does by stepping out in front of a lorry.

James Cooray Smith@thejimsmith The truck that kills Donna is driven by Clara. Who is also Long Distance Clara from Pigeon Street. 

This is going to be my favourite tweet for quite some time to come :-D

James Cooray Smith@thejimsmith It is important, then, to credit my wife with the idea behind it. For me to, I mean. You don't have to do anything. :)

You've got a special one there, sir! :-)

What was that Rose told her? I didn't catch those two words, there... ;-P 

Tim@parks8472 Meh, sure it wasn't anything important!

Donna turns left and the beetle dies, undoing the doctor-less timeline... 

From what the Fortune Teller says, it seems a lesser person - or one without a metacrisis rippling backwards across their time line anyway - would not have been able to pull that off. 

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakinWhen the doctor came in to ask if everything was ok i was just as happy as Donna to see him when i first watched the episode 

You really feel like he's been gone ages, don't you! 

Donna's memory fades, but she remembers the girl, and the two words... 

"What two words...?"

BAD WOLF.



Love "All the Strange, Strange Creatures"; Murray Gold's best work?  

It's the end of the universe!
 

Tim@parks8472 Love the look on Tennant's face during this scene; terrified, confused, elated all at the same time

atruedrwhofan@atruedrwhofan when the Cloister Bell rings, you know you are in trouble!

What an immense cliffhanger! They can't top that for shocks... can they...?

TTFN! K.
Coming Soon... The Stolen Earth