[audience applauds]
"I said, 'Is that the Albert Hall?'"
[audience cheers]
"I said, 'IS THAT THE ALBERT HALL?!'"
[audience roars]
"...Oh, brilliant!"
The one that literally has No Fourth Wall.
A mini-episode written by Russell T Davies and shown during the 2008 BBC Proms season to the audience of the Royal Albert Hall; it was produced in part to allow David Tennant to participate (via prerecorded segments) at the event, as his performance in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Hamlet prevented him from appearing live there (conversely, the next two Doctor Who proms didn't have special mini-episodes because Matt Smith was able to fit them in his schedule).
The Doctor once again encounters a Graske. This time, the Graske appears within the TARDIS shortly after the Doctor finishes writing his own symphony: "Ode to the Universe". The Graske warns the Doctor about a space portal, which shows up inside the TARDIS a few seconds after the warning. The space portal is an opening that allows the Doctor to interact with the Royal Albert Hall audience of the 2008 Proms. The Doctor takes this opportunity to conduct the orchestra for a performance of "Ode to the Universe", with his sonic screwdriver used as a conductor's baton.
Unfortunately, after the Doctor finishes conducting, he realizes that the Graske has entered the portal and is wreaking havoc in the Royal Albert Hall, using the Doctor's water pistol to squirt innocent people. Fortunately, the Doctor reverses the polarity of the neutron flow to pull the Graske out of the Royal Albert Hall, and into the other side of the universe.
Watch it on YouTube
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Tropes:
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: The Doctor's interaction with the audience is established as him using a space portal from the TARDIS to the Royal Albert Hall audience of the 2008 BBC Proms Season.
- Continuity Nod: The Doctor's squirt gun (stolen by the Graske) is the same yellow, Walther PPK-shaped model he used in "The Fires of Pompeii".
- Dreadful Musician: The Doctor's "Ode to the Universe" is dissonant in every sense of the word to our human ears, but to a Time Lord it sounds absolutely lovely.
- Felony Misdemeanor: Among the trouble that the Doctor claims the Graske will commit on Earth are "stealing sweets" and "making smells".
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The Doctor mentions having played a tuba during the very first Proms in 1895.
- Reverse Polarity: The Doctor himself says that he must "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow" to pull the Graske out of the Royal Albert Hall, and then he reverses the polarity once more to send the Graske into the other side of the universe.
- Special Edition Title: Since 2008 marked the 50th anniversary of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, the ending credits featured the original Delia Derbyshire arrangement of the theme song.
