Doctor: Christopher Eccleston (Ninth Doctor)
Companion: Billie Piper (Rose Tyler)
Others
Camille Coduri – Jackie Tyler
Noel Clarke – Mickey Smith
Penelope Wilton – Harriet Jones
Annette Badland – Margaret Blaine
Corey Doabe – Spray Painter
Ceris Jones – Policeman
Jack Tarlton – Tom Hitchingson
Lachele Carl – Trinity Wells
Fiesta Mei Ling – Ru
Basil Chung – Bau
Matt Baker – Himself
Andrew Marr – Himself
Rupert Vansittart - General Asquith
David Verrey – Joseph Green
Navin Chowdhry – Indra Ganesh
Naoko Mori – Doctor Sato
Eric Potts – Oliver Charles
Jimmy Vee – Space Pig
Steve Speirs – Strickland
Elizabeth Fost, Paul Kasey, and Alan Ruscoe – Slitheen
Production
Directed by Keith Boak
Written by Russell T Davies
Script editor Elwen Rowlands
Produced by Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s) Russell T Davies
Julie Gardner
Mal Young
Incidental music composer Murray Gold
Production code 1.4
Series Series 1
Length 45 minutes
Originally broadcast 16 April 2005
Intending to return Rose to Earth twelve hours after her original departure, the Doctor miscalculates, arriving twelve months after they left. Rose's mother Jackie is furious with her, believing that Rose had been abducted and murdered. Rose's boyfriend Mickey is also upset, as he was suspected of murdering Rose. As Rose expresses her frustration to the Doctor of not being able to tell the truth of where she's been, they witness a spacecraft crash through Big Ben and fall into the River Thames. Central London is shut down while the population become excited at the possibility of first contact with an alien species. The Doctor suspects trickery, and uses the TARDIS to land inside the hospital where the alien pilot has been taken. The Doctor discovers that the alien craft was launched from Earth, and that the pilot is really a common pig that has been modified by alien technology.
The government is unable to locate the Prime Minister due to the confusion of the crash, and MP Joseph Green is named acting Prime Minister. Green is revealed to be a member of the Slitheen, a family of aliens that uses a device to compress their bodies into large human "suits" resulting in frequent releases of flatulence. Two other high members of the government, Margaret Blaine and Oliver Charles, are also revealed to be Slitheen. The Slitheen secretly celebrate luring the humans into their plan, but are unaware of their conversation being witnessed by Harriet Jones.
When the Doctor returns to Rose, Jackie discovers the truth about the Doctor and the TARDIS, and calls it in. They are surrounded by soldiers and escorted to 10 Downing Street. The Doctor is asked to join a panel of alien experts including UNIT, and Rose is escorted into the building by Harriet. Harriet tells Rose about the aliens, and together they discover the Prime Minister's corpse. Before they can reveal their discovery, they are caught by Blaine, who begins to unzip her human suit to attack them. As the Doctor attempts to convince the experts of the forgery of the events, Green sends an electrical shock through the assembled group. The episode ends on a cliffhanger, leading into the episode "World War Three".
Aliens of London