Fear Her was the eleventh episode of series 2 of Doctor Who.

The episode saw a return to the year 2012, not seen since Dalek in series one, this time focusing on the Olympic Games as a backdrop to the events of the story, which (a first in the show) directly explored the impact of child abuse through the character Chloe Webber. Tardisode 11 served as its prologue.

It also served as one of the few times that the Doctor has been rendered incapacitated in some way and has to leave resolving the conflict to his allies. This theme had previously been used in World War Three, The Long Game and The Christmas Invasion, and would be repeated in Turn Left (albeit in an alternate universe), The Crimson Horror, Flatline, and The Pyramid at the End of the World.

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Synopsis Edit

In London in 2012, the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler set off to see the Olympics, only to find terror in the most ordinary place.

Plot Edit

Two kids Dale Hicks and Tom are playing football in Tom's yard on Dame Kelly Holmes Close. Elderly Maeve Griffiths walks by and tells them to get inside quickly, prompting Tom's dad to exit the house and demand to know why she's disturbing the kids. Maeve tells the father that 'it" likes seeing them play. Watching from her first floor room across the street is a little girl. She begins drawing Dale with coloured pencils. As Maeve and the father keep arguing, Dale suddenly vanishes. Elsewhere, the girl has finished her drawing of Dale, which comes to life and screams in horror: she's trapped him inside her picture!

Some time later, the TARDIS materialises on the day of the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games. On the street, concern is divided between preparation for the Games, as the torchbearer will pass by on the final leg, and the continued disappearance of children. A Cars break down on the street and Rose lends a hand in pushing the vehicle until it restarts and the driver continues on his way. A council worker, Kel, states this has been happening all week.

The Doctor, in the meantime, has traced residual energy to the spot Dale vanished. Putting his had over the spot, he notes it 'tickles". Tom's father exits the house, hostilely demanding the Doctor explain himself, drawing a crowd and Rose. The Doctor yells for silence and pulls out the Psychic Paper, introducing himself and Rose as inspectors. After learning from Maeve about an unknown entity at work, the Doctor and Rose investigate.

In her room, the girl sees her picture of Dale scowling in anger at her. She tells him that she tried to cheer him up by giving him a friend - a ginger cat. However, he's still unhappy, just like all the other kids in her drawings. After making a mistake in her next drawing, the girl furiously scribbles over it...

Wandering down one of the neighbourhood streets, Rose hears a noise from one of the garages and decides to investigate. As she opens the door, a fuzzy Scribble creature flies out, hitting Rose square in the face. Rose swats at it helplessly. The Doctor arrives and deactivates it with the sonic screwdriver. He deduces from the residual energy and the carbon of the scribble that the problem is alien in origin. Rose tells him about the little girl she saw watching them, and they theorise that she might be connected to the disappearances.

The Doctor and Rose pass themselves as representatives of Child Services to Trish Webber, hoping to be of help to her daughter Chloe. Trish explains that Chloe is very much a secluded and quiet child, due to her horrible father, who became abusive when he was drunk. Rose heads upstairs to Chloe's room, but finds that she isn't in; seeing all the scowls from the pictures, Rose checks Chloe's closet. However, this is a poor choice as drawn on the wall is a demonic picture of Chloe's father. When the Doctor comes into the room with Trish and Chloe, Rose tells him of the pictures and he decides that he needs to look inside Chloe's subconscious to find answers.

The Doctor uses his telepathy to send Chloe to sleep, asking that she tell him who she is. Chloe answers in a raspy, whispery voice that she's an Isolus, an alien life-form with four billion siblings, who had befriended Chloe when its ship crashed on the road; it has psychic powers, hence the trapped children and the scribble creature. Rose wonders what the Isolus wants, to which the Doctor says is a surrogate family. The Doctor warns that the Isolus is desperate for love, and will use whoever it can to replace its family.

The Doctor returns to the TARDIS and locates the Isolus pod in the Close. However, a frantic Chloe draws the TARDIS and the Doctor, trapping them both in one of her sketches and forcing Rose to try to find the pod herself. She rationalises that the pod is located in the hottest spot on the street - the pothole that Kel has not long filled up with hot tar. She takes a pickaxe from Kel's council van, and, much to Kel's protestations, digs the pod out of the tar.

Meanwhile, Chloe has caused the entire crowd at the Olympic stadium to disappear and is now set on making everyone in the world disappear. Following a clue the Doctor left in the drawing of himself, Rose realises she needs to offer the pod heat and emotion, which she does by throwing the pod towards the Olympic torch which is being ran past the street.

As the missing children start to reappear, Rose realises that so will the demon-like drawing that Chloe has made of her father. Rose and Chloe's mother calm Chloe enough to destroy him. However, the Doctor does not reappear like everyone else, worrying Rose.

Rose, Trish and Chloe turn on the TV and discover that everyone has reappeared and the opening ceremony is continuing as planned. As the torch bearer approaches the Olympic Flame, he staggers and collapses, but the Doctor suddenly appears, completes the run and lights the Flame himself. The heat of the flame and the emotion of the crowd power the pod, allowing the Isolus to return home.

The Doctor returns to Dame Kelly Holmes Close and reunites with Rose, who remarks that however hard "they" try, nothing will ever split up the two of them. However, the Doctor does not seem so sure. He looks ominously up at the sky and tells Rose that "a storm's approaching".

Cast Edit

Crew Edit





References Edit

Individuals Edit

The Doctor Edit

People from the real world Edit

The Doctor tries to remember the name of the torch-lighter in 1948: "Mark? John? Mark? It's John Mark".

Shayne Ward's new album is advertised just next to where the Doctor parks the TARDIS.

Music Edit

Trish sings "Kookaburra" to Chloe.

Shayne Ward's new album is Shayne Ward: The Greatest Hits.

Games Edit

The Doctor claims to be reasonably adept at squash and jokingly mentions Snakes & Ladders when asked "what his game is".

Food Edit

The Doctor marvels over edible ball bearings.

ball bearings. When the Doctor is in the kitchen with Rose and Trish Webber, he eats orange marmalade.

Galactic Law Edit

The Doctor invokes the Shadow Proclamation.

Species Edit

The young Isolus begin their journey in the Deep Realms.

Humanoid catkind are mentioned, and the Doctor cites them as the reason he's no longer a "cat person".

Other Edit

Story notes Edit

The story featured the first instance of a 2D-animated segment, in the form of the drawings made by Chloe which takes the object or person drawn out from reality and makes them come alive on her paper drawings.

Fear Her replaced an unwritten script originally allocated to Stephen Fry.

replaced an unwritten script originally allocated to Stephen Fry. This is the first televised Doctor Who story to deal with actual child abuse, although there is a possible allusion to the subject in The Empty Child .

story to deal with actual child abuse, although there is a possible allusion to the subject in . This is the first episode, since The Doctor Dances to have no casualties at all for the entire run time.

to have no casualties at all for the entire run time. Working titles for this episode included Chloe Webber Destroys the Earth and You're a Bad Girl, Chloe Webber.

and In 2009, Doctor Who Magazine conducted a reader poll to rank the first 200 Doctor Who stories in order of preference. Fear Her ranked 192nd out of 200, earning it the dubious distinction of being the lowest-ranked story of the 2005-present revival. (DWM 413) In another DWM reader poll in 2014 where the first fifty years of Doctor Who stories were ranked, Fear Her was also the lowest-ranked story of the revival, this time ranking 240th out of 241. (DWM 474)

conducted a reader poll to rank the first 200 stories in order of preference. ranked 192nd out of 200, earning it the dubious distinction of being the lowest-ranked story of the 2005-present revival. (DWM 413) In another DWM reader poll in 2014 where the first fifty years of stories were ranked, was also the lowest-ranked story of the revival, this time ranking 240th out of 241. (DWM 474) The London 2012 logo seen at the start is the bid logo, not the final logo of the games, which wasn't unveiled until after the episode was produced.

The writer, Matthew Graham, noted on the DVD commentary that the scribble creature was never to be called a "scribble monster", as the Doctor would never call anything a monster.

The idea of a child bringing things to life through drawings was also featured in the 1991 Eerie Indiana episode "Who's Who".

episode "Who's Who". The mini-episode Good as Gold takes place during the Olympic opening ceremony. However, the circumstances are shown to be clearly different, with an athlete carrying the torch and the Weeping Angels involved.

takes place during the Olympic opening ceremony. However, the circumstances are shown to be clearly different, with an athlete carrying the torch and the Weeping Angels involved. This story idea of the Tenth Doctor's involvement in the 2012 Olympics sparked a petition from thousands of fans all over the world wishing David Tennant to carry the Olympic Torch. [1] However, it was not Tennant, but Matt Smith who would carry the 2012 Olympic torch in Wales on 26 May 2012. [2] Neither did the Tenth Doctor appear at the official opening ceremony, even though David Tennant himself claimed to be up for it, having heard about the petition.

However, it was not Tennant, but Matt Smith who would carry the 2012 Olympic torch in Wales on 26 May 2012. Neither did the Tenth Doctor appear at the official opening ceremony, even though David Tennant himself claimed to be up for it, having heard about the petition. In the real world, it was the rower Sir Steve Redgrave who finally delivered the torch to the Olympic Stadium in London, and a group of seven young athletes who lit the Olympic Flame. However, newsreader Huw Edwards did provide the commentary on the ceremony, and during one of the elaborate production numbers prior to this, the sound of the TARDIS materialising was also heard. Also, the torch in this episode is at least similar to the actual one.

Ratings Edit

Filming location Edit

Temorfa, Cardiff

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

When the Doctor and Rose walk down the lane, the road is perfect, with no blemishes. However, when the Doctor later picks up the Isolus pod, there is a clear paving spot.

In a shot before the cat disappears, the white flowers in the ground behind Rose are obviously fabric.

In the kitchen, the Doctor sticks one finger into a jar of marmalade and then into his mouth. Rose gives him a look and shakes her head and he freezes but is then seen to have two fingers in his mouth.

When the Doctor rubs out part of the pencil scribble creature, the rubber on his pencil clearly does not touch the ball of graphite. Also, in the next shot, the creature is whole again.

Continuity Edit

Home video releases Edit