Silence in the Library was the eighth episode of series 4 of Doctor Who.

It marked the first appearance of River Song, a mysterious person with an important role in the Doctor's personal future.

Donna's departure at the end of the series is hinted at in this episode. River reacts upon learning who Donna is, but refuses to answer why she doesn't know her in the future despite knowing the Doctor. It slightly touched upon River and the Doctor's future interactions, as River speaks of "the future you" suggesting she and the Doctor would know of each other well into his future adventures.

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Synopsis Edit

The Tenth Doctor takes Donna Noble to a planet-sized library in the 51st century. They find it empty of human life, with countless other living beings. An information kiosk warns them to "count the shadows". An archaeological expedition arrives, lead by the mysterious Professor River Song, who brings the cryptic last message sent from the library: "4022 saved, No survivors".

Plot Edit

A little girl is in a session with her psychologist, Doctor Moon. She says she has a library, a whole world, which she sees whenever she closes her eyes. It is a peaceful place, entirely empty of human life. Suddenly, the world she sees is interrupted by loud pounding on a locked door. As the door bursts open, two mysterious strangers rush in – the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble...

In the TARDIS, the Doctor and Donna arrive in the 51st century on a planet-sized book repository called simply "the Library". It is an entire world, holding every book ever written, and powered by the most powerful computer ever. Shortly after arriving, they realise however that the Library is completely empty. The Library's computers confirm that they are the only humanoid life at present, but it then claims there are over "a million million lifeforms" in the Library. Donna asks why they really came here, and the Doctor admits that he earlier received a message for help on his psychic paper. He doesn't know who it's from, but Donna observes that it was signed with a kiss. Nearby, a statue with a strangely realistic human face, called a Node, warns them to count the shadows... Donna is shocked to find that the faces are selected by the Nodes from those which have been "donated" by the deceased. Just then, the lights begin to go out around them. Wary of the warning regarding shadows, they race through the Library aisles until they reach a well-lit room. The doors are locked, but Donna kicks them open.

There they see a spherical security camera hovering in the air. In her living room, the little girl opens her eyes at the same moment the camera shuts itself down. The Doctor scans the camera with his sonic screwdriver. The girl screams, terrified by the sound of the sonic screwdriver inside her head. The camera sends the Doctor a message that begs him to stop the noise, which he does. The camera and the girl both warn that "others" are coming; the Library has "been breached". The door opens, and a team of explorers in spacesuits enter. The leader walks up to the Doctor and greets him, "Hello, sweetie." She tells the others they can take off their helmets, and the Doctor begs them all to leave immediately. Another member of the group complains that there shouldn't be anyone else there, he had paid for exclusive rights to the expedition. On hearing the word "expedition", the Doctor questions whether they're archaeologists and says that, as a time traveller, he points and laughs at archaeologists. The leader then introduces herself as Professor River Song, archaeologist. She explains that her team are there with Mr Strackman Lux, whose family built the Library, to learn why it has been sealed for the last hundred years.

The Doctor quickly organises the team to make sure the area is well lit. He says the shadows are occupied by the Vashta Nerada, microscopic, carnivorous creatures which use shadows to hunt and latch onto their prey. The team work to find a way out of the Library. River calls the Doctor over in private, where she merrily opens a diary with a cover that looks like the Doctor's TARDIS. It seems to be about his life. She tries to find out in which part of the Doctor's life she's in but realises he is so young he does not know her. From his perspective, this is the first time they have met. She, on the other hand, seems to know him well.

One of the team activates one of the computer systems, and causes a steadily repeated sound exactly like a ringing phone. At the same moment, the girl hears the phone in her house ringing, although her father doesn't. She hesitates to answer and the phone stops ringing. The Doctor hacks into the computer. The young girl then sees the Doctor and the team on her television, replacing the cartoon she was watching. A disturbance occurs and the Doctor loses the image of the girl. As he hacks into the computer, he sees River's diary and moves to pick it up. River stops him, saying it's against the rules - his rules.

The girl fiddles with the television's remote and books fly into the air from the shelves in the Library. Donna calms Mr Lux's assistant, Miss Evangelista. The word "CAL" appears at times on the Library screens and the Doctor asks Mr Lux about it. Mr Lux refuses to help, claiming that he is protecting his family's pride. The Doctor berates him and tells him that the team is in grave danger.

Miss Evangelista sees a secret door when the girl pushed a random button from the remote. She tries to tell the others, but they don't listen. She wanders off and is quickly killed by the Vashta Nerada. The team hear her scream and run into after her, only to find her skeleton. The communication device worn by the exploration team on their spacesuits allows for a glitch called "Data Ghosting"; a copy of a person's consciousness can be temporarily held in it for a short time after death, allowing them to communicate briefly with the living. Miss Evangelista speaks briefly to the "nice woman", Donna, just before her consciousness is lost. As the team listen on sadly, her last words, "ice cream", are repeated.

Back in the little girl's home, Dr Moon asks to speak to her alone before he leaves. He asks if she knows the difference between dreams and reality. She says that of course, she does. He tells her that her reality is an illusion; her nightmares are the true reality, and only she can save all the people trapped in the Library.

The Doctor proves the Vashta Nerada's existence by throwing a chicken leg from River Song's lunchbox into the "shadow". The chicken leg is eaten to the bone instantly. The Doctor explains that the Vashta Nerada exist on many planets, including Earth. Donna objects, pointing out that if they existed on Earth people would know, only for the Doctor to reveal that while they usually live on roadkill some people will go missing without a trace... not everyone comes back out of the dark. When he mentions Donna's name, River recognises it. Her reaction seems to be a mixture of shock and sadness. Donna asks where she is in this future when River knows the Doctor. River goes silent. The team's investigation is interrupted when the pilot, "Proper Dave" — in contrast with the other "Dave" — acquires an extra shadow. The Vashta Nerada have attached themselves to him. The Doctor orders everyone's helmet on, as it might slow down the Vashta Nerada a bit. He also finds that River possesses a more advanced version of his sonic screwdriver, which she claims was a gift from him.

As Donna does not have a spacesuit for protection, the Doctor teleports her back to the TARDIS. He cannot send the others, because the TARDIS wouldn't recognise them. Over Donna's objection, he stays behind to lead the rest of the team to safety. However something goes wrong during the transport and Donna's signal is lost. Meanwhile, the Doctor attempts to save proper Dave, but Dave is quickly eaten away. As proper Dave's data ghost echoes his last thoughts ("Hey, who turned out the lights?"), the Vashta Nerada take control of his suit and approach the rest of the group. River uses a sonic blaster to make a hole in the wall, and they race away from the possessed suit. They run down a dead-end hallway as the suit approaches. The Doctor tells River that he has five hours to get back to the TARDIS before Emergency Program One activates to take Donna home, but then realises that Donna never made it as the console hasn't signalled him about the security breach. As a nearby Node turns around, the Doctor is horrified to find it has Donna's face on it. It states that Donna has left the Library and has been "saved".

Cast Edit

Crew Edit





References Edit

Cultural references from the real world Edit

Locations Edit

River and the Doctor will share/have shared a picnic at Asgard.

Species Edit

Vashta Nerada are said to exist on a billion worlds, including Earth, but in small numbers and mainly feeding on road-kill.

Technology Edit

River Song has a squareness gun.

The Doctor receives a message from River on his psychic paper.

The Doctor uses a teleport to attempt to send Donna to the TARDIS, but mentions that he could only do this for Donna as the TARDIS wouldn't recognise the others.

The sonic screwdriver doesn't work on wood. Some very strong signals and certain types of hairdryers can interfere with it.

The Doctor recommends that a quarantine beacon be placed around the Library.

The Doctor suggests using a Code-Wall.

Story notes Edit

Ratings Edit

Official BARB - 6.27 million viewers[2]

Myths and rumours Edit

The mystery of River Song led to much online fan speculation over her identity. Possibilities cited ranged from River being an iteration of Bernice Summerfield (as the two share similar personalities and are both space archaeologists) to a disguised Time Lord like Romana. Additional ideas abound. In TV: A Good Man Goes to War, it was revealed she wasn't a previously seen character, but the human (with Time Lord DNA) daughter of Amy Pond and Rory Williams.

Evangelista's last words have occasionally been misinterpreted as "I scream." On the official BBC subtitling, her final words are, "I... Ice cream. Ice cream," which is in keeping with her (initially) childlike demeanour.

Filming locations Edit

Studio Edit

Upper Boat Studios, Trefforest

Location Edit

Hensol Castle, Hensol

Victoria Park, Cardiff

Palace Road, Cardiff

Crwys Medical Centre, Cardiff

St Mary's Of Angels, Canton

Dyffryn Gardens, Vale Of Glamorgan

Brangwyn Hall, Swansea

Alcoa Emp Swansea, Swansea

Swansea Library, Swansea

Production errors Edit

narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion. If you'd like to talk aboutproblems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradictstories — please go to

After River Song greets the Doctor with "Hello, sweetie", in the next shot of the Doctor, Donna and River, a boom mic is just barely visible in the top left corner above River's head.

After the shot in which Proper Dave is seen to have two shadows, there is a short shot from a different camera angle wherein the Doctor passes Dave his helmet. In this short shot, Dave is seen to have but one shadow. When the shot returns to the previous camera, Dave has two shadows, as before.

When the Doctor and others are talking to the little girl on her TV you can see them all standing around the console but when the shot pulls back and they all back away from the console you can see that half of them have changed positions. Mr Lux, Proper Dave, Anita and Miss Evangelista have all changed from their positions seen on the TV to when you cut to the group. Also Donna who is clearly close to the Doctor's right is not shown leaning to look into the console but jumps back like everyone else as if she had been looking into it.

When Miss Evangelista dies, you can see that she has lost one green bar, but in a later shot she loses the same bar again.

In the house, when CAL is telling her Dad that the phone is ringing while he's talking to Doctor Moon, a boom mic can be seen at the top centre of the shot where both Doctor Moon and Cal's Dad are talking.

Continuity Edit

Home video releases Edit