Original subtitles

(DOCTOR WHO THEME)

I brought you your dinner and your copy of The Times.

(BELL RINGING)

(RINGING CONTINUES)

Tell your master that the Reverend Ernest Matthews has arrived.

Well, this house is Gabriel Chase, is it not?

Yes, sir. But excuse me, sir.

As I understood it, you would not be arriving until this evening.

My patience has already been sorely tried

by the interminable journey from Oxford.

(WHOOSHING)

ACE: Professor, 30-second penalty.

DOCTOR: Just get on with it.

It's all part of the initiative test.

You're still a lousy Parker.

- Hey, playtime. - Well?

It's a laboratory.

Oh, no, could be a nursery,

but the kids would have to be pretty advanced and creepy.

Be concise!

- It's well safe, Professor. - Oh, very succinct.

- It must be Earth. - You tell me.

This equipment's prehistoric.

I like the toys, though. (CHUCKLES)

Oh, those things are pretty sick.

I can't stand dead things. Must be Victorian.

It's a surprise.

(TICKING)

It's all right, my dears. Don't worry.

- Our day is done. - (KEYS JINGLING)

We shan't stay here a moment longer.

And heaven help anyone who's still here after dark.

(LOCK CLICKS)

This isn't a haunted house, is it, Professor?

I told you I've got this thing about haunted houses.

- Did you tell me that? - Yes!

How many have you been in?

One was enough.

Never again.

(CLOCK CHIMES)

I think you should go and greet our guests, my dear.

We used to go to museums on school trips.

It was always, "Don't touch, don't wander off,"

"don't give the school a bad name."

We still did it, though.

The front door's this way.

Hello. What's your name?

You got stuffed, and it wasn't even Christmas.

- Ace. - See you later.

What do you make of that?

Don't know. Whose initials are RFC?

Oh...! It's your initiative test.

So I'm asking the questions.

When was the Royal Flying Corp invented?

Ah, the name wasn't thought up until 1912.

(CHUCKLES) I'll get you a badge, if you like.

Ask me another.

Who is RFC?

- Professor, I'm only looking. - Looking's one thing.

- (CRACKLES) - ACE: It's radioactive.

Very slightly.

- Is it safe? - There is no safe level.

What about RFC?

Well, let's hope he abandoned it before he came to any harm...

Zulu assegai.

Quite lethal.

- Where did you find it? - Here. I wouldn't touch it, if I were you.

This is my friend, Ace, and I'm the Doctor.

I'm a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Really? So am I, several times over.

Is it your snuffbox?

Please, young lady, you're barely dressed.

Who's undressed?

Excuse my young friend. She comes from a less civilised clime.

What do you want me to do, wrap up in a curtain?

(SIGHS) Be quiet, noble savage.

I'm sure in central Africa you've seen far grislier sights than Ace's ankle.

- He can't see my ankles. - Well, your boots, then.

You're a big game hunter, I take it?

I am, but I've seen nothing that equals the atrocities that are rumoured about this house.

Is this the surprise, Professor?

Because I'm not impressed.

I must say I'm very grateful to find an ally, Doctor.

- You are? - You have given me the proof I needed.

- The snuffbox. - ACE: Don't touch it!

This is my first substantial evidence I've found.

I came here to find Redvers Fenn-Cooper,

one of the finest explorers in the empire.

RFC.

I just knew he was in this house.

I'm commanded to find him

and save him from the clutches of that blackguard,

Josiah Samuel Smith.

Are you aware that I have been ringing for attention

since before six o'clock?

I demand to see your master immediately.

This insolence has gone far enough.

If I leave now, madam, Mr Smith will regret the consequences.

The condemnation of the Royal Society can be ruinous.

So be it.

Reverend Matthews, you must forgive us for keeping you waiting.

I am Mr Smith's ward.

You are Gwendoline, are you not?

Yes, sir.

My guardian was most concerned that you'd been kept waiting.

But be assured he'll join us shortly.

Josiah Smith invited Redvers here.

Redvers is his sternest opponent and...

One of the finest explorers in the empire.

He hasn't been seen since.

Perhaps he got lost on the way.

Henry Stanley found Dr Livingstone.

I shall find Redvers Fenn-Cooper.

- (CRACKLING) - Damn tsetse flies.

How long did you say you've been living in this house?

Can we go now, Professor?

The whole place gives me the creeps.

- I thought it might. - Well, he's a head case.

The house is a morgue.

Everything dead.

Very good, sir, I understand.

I shall be with you shortly.

Poor silent brute.

(GRAVELLY VOICE) Not silent now.

Redvers had some stories.

The pygmies from Oluti forest

lead him blindfold for three whole days through uncharted jungle.

They took him to a swamp full of giant lizards like giant dinosaurs.

Do you know, young Conan Doyle just laughed at him.

Ha! Well, there's doctors for you.

That wouldn't be a Chinese fowling piece, would it by any chance?

We're two weeks out of Zanzibar. I must find Redvers!

- Tell me what else you found. - Nothing.

Describe it. It's all right. I'm a doctor.

Yes, there was light.

- A bright light? - Burning bright in the heart of the interior.

It burnt through my eyes into my mind.

It had blazing, radiant wings!

Doctor!

When Redvers was in the Congo,

he faced a herd of stampeding buffalo head on.

He raised his gun and with one single bullet...

Ah, there you are, old chap.

Redvers, I found you.

What have they done to you? You look like a ghost.

ACE: Is it really him?

His mind's snapped.

He's seen something too big to handle. Or snuff out. A light.

I think you'd better go get some help.

That'll blow our cover.

All right, all right.

Mr Fenn-Cooper. Where have you been?

How do you do? I'm the Doctor and this is my friend...

We've been worried about you.

REDVERS: Poor old Redvers. Poor old chap.

- (KEYS JINGLING) - Come along.

- (GROANS) - DOCTOR: We don't want him hurt.

Oh, no! Not the Interior! Please!

I don't want to go back to the Interior!

You don't have to twist his arm like that!

A most unfortunate mishap, sir.

I trust you and the young lady are not hurt?

The gentleman has fits of distracting behaviour

and must for his own safety be confined.

She didn't have to hurt him.

Yeah, my friend Ace and I...

My master Mr Smith asks if you'd join our other guest in the drawing room.

Professor, is this an asylum with the patients in charge?

Given a chance it could be Bedlam.

- Thank you... - Nimrod, sir.

Nimrod. Thank you, Nimrod.

We would be delighted.

But Uncle Josiah is a good man and a great naturalist, too.

But Uncle Josiah is a good man and a great naturalist, too.

You'll see when you meet him.

Ah, so you finally condescend to meet me, sir.

I am grateful for your hospitality.

How do you do? How nice of you to come.

- Good grief! - Oh, this is my friend Ace.

I see that all the stories about you are true.

You have no shred of decency,

even parading your shameless wantons in front of your guests.

- Does he mean me, Professor? - I have it.

This is some experiment related to your mumbo-jumbo theories.

Perhaps she'll evolve into a young lady.

Who are you calling young lady, bog-brain?

DOCTOR: No such luck. Quiet, Eliza.

Be a good girl. I'm making some small talk.

(CLEARS THROAT) If I might explain, sir...

Ah, Nimrod, yes.

There's still some tea in the pot if you'd to go and get a couple of cups.

Thank you very much.

The fang of a cave bear!

A totem of great power.

Yes. Thank you, Nimrod.

Sir, I think Mr Matthews is confused.

Never mind, I'll have him completely bewildered

- by the time I'm finished. - I'll help.

We've had some trouble with our carriage

- and Ace can't go to dinner dressed like this. - Who says?

So, I wondered if you have any appropriate apparel that she may borrow?

Gladly, Professor.

Come, Alice, you can borrow a dress of mine.

It's Ace, actually. Thanks, anyway.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

- Now, sir... - Yes, let me guess.

My theories appal you, my heresies outrage you,

I never answer letters, and you don't like my tie.

You are a worse scoundrel than Darwin.

Light!

Ah, Josiah Samuel Smith, I take it.

Dust to dust. I'm the Doctor and this is...

Reverend Ernest Matthews, Dean of Mortarhouse College, Oxford.

Your servant, sirs. Welcome to Gabriel Chase.

Josiah Smith.

Now perhaps you'll account for your theories.

Fascinating moths.

I recently made a study of these moths.

Even in a single species, there can be a wide variation

of colouring from countryside to town.

I'm certain they're adapting to survive the smoke

with which industry's tainting the land.

Darwinian claptrap.

(SHIVERING)

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

(REDVERS SCREAMING)

Come on, something's happened.

- Wait. I can't wear this. - Of course you can.

(SCREAMING)

Mrs Pritchard, what's happening?

The door is jammed.

- Here, let me have a try. - (REDVERS SCREAMING)

Okay, stand back.

That's no way for a Victorian... gentleman to behave.

I'm no gentleman.

Well then, this is a metamorphosis.

- It was Ace's idea. - (SCREAMING CONTINUES)

Nimrod, the door.

(GROANS)

Stay back.

(GROANS)

Cover your eyes!

I'm sorry, Doctor.

- Redvers, what did you see? - Poor Redvers.

He was so frightened his hair turned completely white.

He went quite mad, you know.

- You must leave, Doctor! - But he may need my help!

ACE: What's happening, Professor?

- This way, please! - Ow!

- I wanted to see him. - Out of the question.

- He will be well taken care of. - I bet.

What was that light? He was so scared of it.

Doctor, I can personally assure you.

Mr Fenn-Cooper is being made comfortable and will come to no harm.

Only the madman may see the path clearly through the tangled forest.

You have the wisdom of the greatest elders of my tribe, Doctor.

Nimrod, you have duties to perform.

Sir.

- He's a Neanderthal, isn't he? - Yes.

The finest example I've seen this side of the Stone Age.

(GRAVELLY VOICE) Did that hurt? Good.

I still haven't worked out where this place is.

And I am still waiting for an explanation of your blasphemous theories.

What theories?

Darwin's theories. They turned 19th-century science on its head.

Oh, is there a free lecture thrown in with dinner?

Sermons are his specialty.

- Do we take notes? - Mr Smith disputes man's rightful dominion

over the forces of nature.

I hope you have a taste for calves' brains, Doctor.

Instead, he maintains that mankind itself should adapt

to serve nature or become extinct.

- Well, sir... - (BELL RINGS)

Oh!

Pray excuse me, sir.

Infernal telephonic machines.

Let's ring out for a takeaway.

Anyone fancy a curry?

I know a nice little restaurant in the Khyber Pass.

(BELL CONTINUES RINGING)

Nimrod! What's going on? I told you not to ring me now!

Nimrod? Are you there?

(GRAVELLY VOICE) I escaped.

It's learned to speak!

Having trouble with your connections?

- Perhaps I can help. - ACE: Doctor!

On the other hand, I have an emergency of my own.

Excuse me. Time to emerge.

Mrs Pritchard, a problem has arisen.

Ask Ernest Matthews to join me in here.

Very good, sir.

Then no one is to disturb us.

ACE: Doctor!

Doctor, where are you? I want to talk to you!

Ace! What's the matter?

Face-ache Matthews in there says this house is Gabriel Chase.

So?

It was all falling down last time I saw it in 1985.

You tricked me! This is Perivale!

Ace!

Ace.

It's true, isn't it?

This is the house I told you about.

When you were 13, you climbed over the wall for a dare.

That's your surprise, isn't it? Bringing me back here.

Remind me what it was that you sensed

when you entered this deserted house.

An aura of intense evil?

Don't you have things you hate?

I can't stand burnt toast.

I loathe bus stations, terrible places,

full of lost luggage and lost souls.

I told you I never wanted to come back here again.

Then there's unrequited love, and tyranny, and cruelty.

Too right.

We all have our own universe of terrors to face.

I face mine on my own terms.

But don't you want to know what happened here?

No!

You've learned something you didn't recognise when you were 13.

Like what?

The nature of the horror that you sensed here.

It's alien.

Ernest, pray sit down.

I'm afraid that something unforeseen awaits my attention.

I shall have to ask you to indulge me a little further.

Having come so far, sir, I have no intention of leaving

until I've gained full satisfaction.

Then we're in accord.

Mrs Pritchard, see to it that the Dean's time passes as quickly as possible.

Very good, sir.

(CHUCKLES)

♪ That's the way to the zoo

♪ That's the way to the zoo

♪ The monkey house is nearly full

♪ But there's room enough for you

♪ Take a bus to Regent's Park

♪ Make haste before it shuts

♪ Next Monday, I will come and bring you such a lot of nuts... ♪

Come back to dinner, Ace.

When I lived in Perivale, me and my best mate, we dossed around together.

We'd out-dare each other on things,

skiving off, stupid things.

Then they burnt out Manesha's flat.

White kids firebombed it.

I didn't care anymore.

I think you cared a lot, Ace.

That's when I came over the walls of the house...

This house.

I was so mad, and I needed to get away.

It was empty, all overgrown and falling down.

No one came here.

But when I got inside, it was even worse.

I didn't know then. It was horrible!

- Tell me what you saw. - Doctor...

- Tell me, Ace! - ACE: Excuse me!

I must speak with you.

- I need your help, Doctor. - Yes.

It can't be easy being so far away from home,

struggling to adapt to an alien environment.

My roots are in this house. I'm as human as you are.

Yes.

I'm afflicted with an enemy...

A vile and base creature pitted against me.

It's waiting for me now.

I believe that you can assist me in defeating it.

I'm not interested in money.

- How much? - £5,000 to rid me of the evil brute.

(WHISTLES) Now, that's what I call Victorian value.

But I'm still not interested in money.

(GRAVELLY VOICE) There's a new scent in the dark. Listen.

Warming, pulsing, racing blood.

Ratkin.

- Ratkin. - (SCREECHING)

Ratkin.