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Planet of the Dead was the first episode made following Tenth Doctor actor David Tennant’s sort-of sabbatical, playing Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company. With Catherine Tate’s Donna having departed the TARDIS at the end of the 2008 series, the 2009 Easter Special would have to be designed around a one-off companion type – initially envisaged as a female pilot in a space war. Several possible scenarios were considered by executive producer Russell T Davies and his chosen co-writer Gareth Roberts before the story coalesced around the image of a London bus transported to a far-off realm – not so far removed from the commuter train transported to a distant planet in Roberts’ earlier Doctor Who: The New Adventures novel The Highest Science (Virgin Publishing, 1993).

Director James Strong.
Gareth Roberts’ 1993 book The Highest Science.
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