The Stolen Earth

"The Stolen Earth" is the twelfth episode of the fourth series and the 750th overall episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC One on . The episode was written by show runner and head writer Russell T Davies and is the first of a two-part crossover story with spin-offs Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures; the concluding episode is "Journey's End", the finale of the fourth series, broadcast on 5 July. The finale's narrative brings closure to several prominent story arcs created during Davies' tenure as show runner. In the episode, contemporary Earth and 26 other planets are stolen by the Daleks, aided by their megalomaniacal creator Davros and a shattered but precognitive Dalek Caan. As the Doctor (David Tennant) and his companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) try to find Earth, his previous companions Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen), and Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) convene to contact him and mount a defence against the Daleks. In the episode's climax, the Doctor is gunned down by a Dalek and begins to regenerate. The episode marks the first appearance of Davros in 19 years since the 1988 serial Remembrance of the Daleks; he is portrayed by Julian Bleach. It is also the first Doctor Who appearance of Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles); Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd); Luke Smith (Thomas Knight); and Mr Smith (voiced by Alexander Armstrong), though Myles and Armstrong appeared in other episodes playing different roles. Adjoa Andoh and Penelope Wilton reprise supporting roles as Martha's mother Francine Jones and former Prime Minister Harriet Jones respectively. Paul O'Grady and Richard Dawkins make cameo appearances as themselves as television personalities who attempt to assuage public fear. The two-part finale's epic scale and underlying plot was first conceived in early 2007 as the last regular-series story for departing producers Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner, and Phil Collinson: the fourth series finale is the last story produced by Collinson; and Steven Moffat and Piers Wenger replaced Davies and Gardner as showrunner and executive producer respectively in 2010. Major concepts were already specified by July 2007 and the script was written in December 2007; Davies began on the 7th and finished on the 31st.