The Lodger (Doctor Who)
Encyclopedia
"The Lodger" is the eleventh episode of the fifth series
of the British
science fiction
television series Doctor Who
, first broadcast on BBC One
on 12 June 2010. It was written by Gareth Roberts
, who based the story on his 2006 Doctor Who Magazine
comic strip "The Lodger".
The episode features alien time traveller the Doctor
(Matt Smith) stranded on Earth and separated from his companion
Amy Pond
(Karen Gillan
), when an unknown force prevents his time travelling
spaceship
, the TARDIS
, from landing. To investigate, he moves into the flat of Craig Owens (guest actor James Corden
) and attempts to fit in with ordinary humans while unknowingly playing matchmaker for Craig and his good friend Sophie (Daisy Haggard
).
Showrunner Steven Moffat
was a fan of Roberts' original comic strip and enthused him to adapt it into an episode for the series. While some elements of the comic strip remain, Roberts wrote most of it from scratch. "The Lodger" replaced a slot held by an episode
that was pushed back due to budgetary constraints and was consequently one of the last to be filmed. The episode was watched by a final 6.44 million viewers, the least-watched episode of the fifth series of Doctor Who. However, it achieved the joint highest Appreciation Index
of the series at time of broadcast and received positive to mixed reviews from critics. Praise was given to the acting of Smith and Corden, but reviewers expressed disappointment over the resolution.
in modern-day Colchester
, the Doctor
is blown off his feet by a blast of air, and the TARDIS, Amy
still inside, dematerialises into the time vortex and refuses to rematerialise. With Amy's help, the Doctor tracks the disturbance to the second floor of a house. The Doctor opts to take a room for rent offered by the downstairs tenant, Craig Owens, in order to determine what is present on the second floor without alerting whatever it is to his Time Lord nature. Neither Craig nor the Doctor are aware that people are being lured off the street to the second floor flat and never leaving again, but the Doctor is conscious of localised time loops and disturbances aboard the TARDIS that coincide with noises from the second floor.
Over two days, the Doctor attempts to adapt to human life. He learns about Craig, an office worker with little aspiration to move onward. Craig is stuck in a platonic relationship with his co-worker, Sophie. The Doctor becomes overly involved in Craig's life, becoming the star player in Craig's local football club, filling in for him at the call centre when Craig falls ill, and encouraging Sophie to follow her dream of traveling overseas to help animals. Craig, who has not yet professed his love for Sophie, becomes upset; he accosts the Doctor and demands that he leave, which forces the Doctor to reveal his history and his reason for being in the flat.
Sophie arrives while they argue and is lured upstairs; the Doctor and Craig follow, learning from Amy that Craig's building has never had a second floor. Inside, they find an alien ship housing a primitive time engine. The ship crashed some time ago and has used a perception filter to disguise itself as part of Craig's house. The ship's emergency holographic program has been drawing in passersby, all who have a desire to escape, to find a replacement pilot for itself, but they were killed in the attempt. The machine identifies the Doctor as a possible pilot and tries to draw him to the controls, but the Doctor warns that if he should touch the controls, the ship could explode and take the solar system with it. The Doctor convinces Craig to touch the controls since he does not want to leave due to his love for Sophie, which will counteract the ship's protocols. Craig does so, and he and Sophie admit their love and share a kiss that breaks the ship's hold on the Doctor and themselves. The three escape in time to see the ship's perception filter wear off and implode, leaving Craig's undamaged one-story flat behind.
Craig and Sophie thank the Doctor, Craig giving him a spare set of keys in case he ever needs it. Aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor directs Amy to write the note that led him to Craig's house, using a red pen in his jacket; she rummages around and finds the engagement ring from her husband-to-be, Rory
, whom she had forgotten after he was consumed by the crack in space and time and erased from existence.
exhibit at the Parisian Musée d'Orsay
, which the Doctor, Amy and later Van Gogh himself visited in the previous episode
. At the end of the episode, the Doctor instructs Amy to leave him a note with Craig's address, which his younger self had at the start of the episode. Amy is shown leaving the note in the series finale, "The Big Bang
", when the Doctor's timeline rewinds and he revisits points in his past. The spaceship control room reappeared in "The Impossible Astronaut
"/"Day of the Moon
", where it was connected to the Order of the Silence
. Corden returned to play Craig in the episode "Closing Time
" of the next series
, Gareth Roberts' sequel to this story.
issue 368 in 2006. The comic features the Tenth Doctor
, who spends several days staying in Mickey Smith
's flat, waiting for Rose Tyler
and the TARDIS to catch him up in a few days, and by chance saving the Earth by hiding it from the passing space fleet of a violent alien race. The story was based on ideas that Roberts had since a child to imagine the Doctor experiencing everyday human life and his enjoyment of stories set on Earth rather than in space. Roberts' original comic strip appealed to new executive producer Steven Moffat
, who enthused to Roberts that he had "got to do" "The Lodger" as an episode. Roberts had previously had the idea to make the television version, but he had never mentioned it. Roberts considered "The Lodger" less an adaption than was previously done by Paul Cornell
for "Human Nature
"/"The Family of Blood
", taken from cornell's novel, and instead wrote most of the episode from scratch.
Elements of the comic story, such as a mix-up between the sonic screwdriver and a toothbrush, and the Doctor's aptitude at football, carry over into the episode. However, Roberts said that the episode was "a completely different situation" from the comic strip, as the Doctor did not know Craig as he did Mickey, and there was the added enemy of the upstairs apartment. When Roberts began writing for the episode, he knew the series' over-arching plot but was not aware who was to be cast as the Eleventh Doctor. Roberts based the Doctor's lines on those written in Moffat's completed scripts and furthur characterization was added by Matt Smith's reading of the lines.
The episode also contains several cultural references. When the Doctor is having a shower, he is heard singing "La donna è mobile
", which his third incarnation
sang in Inferno
. When the Doctor introduces himself to the time ship's Avatar, he claims to be "Captain Troy Handsome of International Rescue," which is a reference to both Captain Troy Tempest from Stingray
and International Rescue from Thunderbirds
, both series created by Gerry
and Sylvia Anderson
. Steven Cooper of Slant Magazine
also thought it was a reference to the Emergency Medical Hologram the Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager
.
"The Lodger" made up the seventh and final production block of the series along with "Amy's Choice
". The read-through
for both episodes took place on 17 February 2010 in the Upper Boat Studios
. The story replaced another one, "The Doctor's Wife
", when the latter was pushed back to the next series due to budgetary constraints. Location filming took place in Cardiff
in early March 2010. The house in which Craig has his flat is in Westville Road, and the location for the football match was Victoria Park
; the play area there had previously been used as a location in "Forest of the Dead
". Matt Smith performed his own athletics in the football match shots; he has had previous experience as a youth footballer, having played for the youth teams of Northampton Town
, Nottingham Forest
and Leicester City
before a back injury turned him towards acting. As such, little choreography was needed for the sequence.
on 12 June 2010. In the United States, it was broadcast on sister station
BBC America
on 10 July 2010. In the UK, overnight figures for the episode were 4.6 million, facing competition from the build-up to England's match in the 2010 FIFA World Cup
. When final consolidated ratings were calculated, it showed that the episode was watched by an average of 6.44 million viewers, with 5.98 million on BBC One and a further 0.46 million on a simulcast
on BBC HD
. It was the sixth highest-rated programme of the week on BBC One
, and the twenty-first highest-rated of the week across all channels. Although it was the second most watched programme of the day, it was the least watched fifth series episode of Doctor Who. Despite this, it received an Appreciation Index
of 87, considered "excellent" and the joint highest of the series at time of broadcast.
A Region 2 DVD and Blu-ray containing the episode together with "Vincent and the Doctor
", "The Pandorica Opens
" and "The Big Bang
" was released on 6 September 2010. It was then re-released as part of the complete series five DVD on 8 November 2011.
, called the episode "a delight", "thoroughly enjoyable" and "often amusing". In particular he praised Corden and Haggard for avoiding the usual "cliche
s of romcom
", and Smith's portrayal of The Doctor as almost-but-not-quite human. However, he expressed some disappointment that the origin of the lurking time machine was not explained. Dan Martin of The Guardian
called it "one of the strongest episodes of the year". He praised the acting of Smith and Corden, but wondered why the Doctor did not use his usual alias of "John Smith" when posing as a human.
Radio Times
reviewer Patrick Mulkern praised Corden and Smith, but said it did not "quite tick [his] boxes". He was not engaged by the upstairs villan, wished for more "laugh-out-loud moments than good-humoured banter" and disliked that the Doctor seemed "diminished" when thrown into the everyday atmostphere. In a review for IGN
, Matt Wales rated it 7 out of 10 and referred to it as "one of the fluffier episodes" in terms of plot, but he said it was an "enjoyable little duck-out-of-water adventure". He called Smith "an absolute joy to watch" and said that Corden and Haggard "[acquitted] themselves admirably". However, he criticised the "more traditional Who elements", such as the alien threat that the directing left "devoid of almost all tension", Amy's occasional appearances that did not seem to gel with the rest of the story, and the short resolution, where "the whole thing collapsed into an incomprehensible muddle".
SFX magazine Russell Lewin gave "The Lodger" three and a half out of five stars, saying it was "brimming with witty dialogue" and was a "pleasant diversion" before the finale. He ranked it "mid-table" among the other episodes of the series. Keith Phipps of The A.V. Club
graded it an A-, saying it was a "funny outing" that allowed Smith to show comic depth as the Doctor, as well as praising the guest stars. Though he referred to the alien up the stairs as a "pretty standard-issue", he liked it for being a metaphor of "the trap of complacency and the ways staying in a rut can lead to safety, stagnancy, and ignorance of the peril encroaching just outside one's four walls".
Doctor Who (series 5)
The fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 3 April 2010 with "The Eleventh Hour" and ended with "The Big Bang" on 26 June 2010. The series was led by head writer and executive producer Steven Moffat, who took over after the departure of Russell T Davies. The...
of the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, first broadcast on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
on 12 June 2010. It was written by Gareth Roberts
Gareth Roberts (writer)
Gareth John Pritchard Roberts is a British television screenwriter and novelist, best known for his work related to the science-fiction television series Doctor Who...
, who based the story on his 2006 Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
comic strip "The Lodger".
The episode features alien time traveller the Doctor
Eleventh Doctor
The Eleventh Doctor is the eleventh incarnation of the protagonist of the BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. Matt Smith plays this incarnation, replacing David Tennant's Tenth Doctor in the 2010 episode "The End of Time, Part Two"...
(Matt Smith) stranded on Earth and separated from his companion
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...
Amy Pond
Amy Pond
Amelia Jessica 'Amy' Pond is a fictional character portrayed by Karen Gillan in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
(Karen Gillan
Karen Gillan
Karen Sheila Gillan is a Scottish actress and former model who is best known for her current portrayal of Amy Pond in the British science fiction series Doctor Who.-Early life:...
), when an unknown force prevents his time travelling
Time travel in fiction
Time travel is a common theme in science fiction and is depicted in a variety of media. It simply means either going forward in time or backward, to experience the future, or the past.-Literature:...
spaceship
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
, the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
, from landing. To investigate, he moves into the flat of Craig Owens (guest actor James Corden
James Corden
James Kimberley Corden is an English actor, television writer, producer and presenter. He is co-creator and star of BBC comedy shows Gavin & Stacey and Horne & Corden, and acted in the 2009 film Lesbian Vampire Killers....
) and attempts to fit in with ordinary humans while unknowingly playing matchmaker for Craig and his good friend Sophie (Daisy Haggard
Daisy Haggard
-Family:The daughter of film director Piers Haggard and his wife Anna Slovsky, she was raised and educated in Dulwich, South London at the James Allen's Girls' School.-Career:...
).
Showrunner Steven Moffat
Steven Moffat
Steven Moffat is a Scottish television writer and producer.Moffat's first television work was the teen drama series Press Gang. His first sitcom, Joking Apart, was inspired by the breakdown of his first marriage; conversely, his later sitcom Coupling was based upon the development of his...
was a fan of Roberts' original comic strip and enthused him to adapt it into an episode for the series. While some elements of the comic strip remain, Roberts wrote most of it from scratch. "The Lodger" replaced a slot held by an episode
The Doctor's Wife
The Doctor's Wife, known in Japanese as , is a noted novel by Sawako Ariyoshi written in 1966.The partly historical novel is based on the life of noted male physician Hanaoka Seishū. Though much is based on fact, many events were added for dramatic purposes. The novel follows the protagonist, here...
that was pushed back due to budgetary constraints and was consequently one of the last to be filmed. The episode was watched by a final 6.44 million viewers, the least-watched episode of the fifth series of Doctor Who. However, it achieved the joint highest Appreciation Index
Appreciation Index
The Audience Appreciation Index is a score out of 100 which is used as an indicator of the public's appreciation for a television or radio programme, or broadcast service, in the United Kingdom. Until 2002, the AI of a programme was calculated by BARB, the organisation that compiles television...
of the series at time of broadcast and received positive to mixed reviews from critics. Praise was given to the acting of Smith and Corden, but reviewers expressed disappointment over the resolution.
Plot
After stepping out of the TARDISTARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
in modern-day Colchester
Colchester
Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...
, the Doctor
Eleventh Doctor
The Eleventh Doctor is the eleventh incarnation of the protagonist of the BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. Matt Smith plays this incarnation, replacing David Tennant's Tenth Doctor in the 2010 episode "The End of Time, Part Two"...
is blown off his feet by a blast of air, and the TARDIS, Amy
Amy Pond
Amelia Jessica 'Amy' Pond is a fictional character portrayed by Karen Gillan in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
still inside, dematerialises into the time vortex and refuses to rematerialise. With Amy's help, the Doctor tracks the disturbance to the second floor of a house. The Doctor opts to take a room for rent offered by the downstairs tenant, Craig Owens, in order to determine what is present on the second floor without alerting whatever it is to his Time Lord nature. Neither Craig nor the Doctor are aware that people are being lured off the street to the second floor flat and never leaving again, but the Doctor is conscious of localised time loops and disturbances aboard the TARDIS that coincide with noises from the second floor.
Over two days, the Doctor attempts to adapt to human life. He learns about Craig, an office worker with little aspiration to move onward. Craig is stuck in a platonic relationship with his co-worker, Sophie. The Doctor becomes overly involved in Craig's life, becoming the star player in Craig's local football club, filling in for him at the call centre when Craig falls ill, and encouraging Sophie to follow her dream of traveling overseas to help animals. Craig, who has not yet professed his love for Sophie, becomes upset; he accosts the Doctor and demands that he leave, which forces the Doctor to reveal his history and his reason for being in the flat.
Sophie arrives while they argue and is lured upstairs; the Doctor and Craig follow, learning from Amy that Craig's building has never had a second floor. Inside, they find an alien ship housing a primitive time engine. The ship crashed some time ago and has used a perception filter to disguise itself as part of Craig's house. The ship's emergency holographic program has been drawing in passersby, all who have a desire to escape, to find a replacement pilot for itself, but they were killed in the attempt. The machine identifies the Doctor as a possible pilot and tries to draw him to the controls, but the Doctor warns that if he should touch the controls, the ship could explode and take the solar system with it. The Doctor convinces Craig to touch the controls since he does not want to leave due to his love for Sophie, which will counteract the ship's protocols. Craig does so, and he and Sophie admit their love and share a kiss that breaks the ship's hold on the Doctor and themselves. The three escape in time to see the ship's perception filter wear off and implode, leaving Craig's undamaged one-story flat behind.
Craig and Sophie thank the Doctor, Craig giving him a spare set of keys in case he ever needs it. Aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor directs Amy to write the note that led him to Craig's house, using a red pen in his jacket; she rummages around and finds the engagement ring from her husband-to-be, Rory
Rory Williams
Rory Williams is a fictional character portrayed by Arthur Darvill in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Having been introduced at the start of the 5th series, Rory joins the Eleventh Doctor as a companion in the middle of Series 5...
, whom she had forgotten after he was consumed by the crack in space and time and erased from existence.
Continuity
On Craig's fridge is a postcard advertising the Van GoghVincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...
exhibit at the Parisian Musée d'Orsay
Musée d'Orsay
The Musée d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, an impressive Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, including paintings, sculptures, furniture,...
, which the Doctor, Amy and later Van Gogh himself visited in the previous episode
Vincent and the Doctor
"Vincent and the Doctor" is the 10th episode in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on 5 June 2010...
. At the end of the episode, the Doctor instructs Amy to leave him a note with Craig's address, which his younger self had at the start of the episode. Amy is shown leaving the note in the series finale, "The Big Bang
The Big Bang (Doctor Who)
"The Big Bang" is the 13th and final episode in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is the second part of a two-part season finale started with "The Pandorica Opens", at the end of which The Doctor is trapped, the TARDIS destroyed, and Amy Pond has been shot...
", when the Doctor's timeline rewinds and he revisits points in his past. The spaceship control room reappeared in "The Impossible Astronaut
The Impossible Astronaut
"The Impossible Astronaut" is the first episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by show runner Steven Moffat, and directed by Toby Haynes, the episode was first broadcast on 23 April 2011 in the United Kingdom, as well as the United States...
"/"Day of the Moon
Day of the Moon
"Day of the Moon" is the second episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by show runner Steven Moffat, and directed by Toby Haynes, the episode was first broadcast on 30 April 2011 on BBC One in the United Kingdom and on BBC America in the...
", where it was connected to the Order of the Silence
Silence (Doctor Who)
The Silence is a fictional religious order or movement in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who.Executive producer Steven Moffat created the Silence, intending them to be "scarier" than past villains in Doctor Who...
. Corden returned to play Craig in the episode "Closing Time
Closing Time (Doctor Who)
"Closing Time" is the twelfth episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One, BBC America and Space on 24 September 2011.-Plot summary:...
" of the next series
Doctor Who (series 6)
The sixth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who was shown in two parts. The first seven episodes were broadcast from April to June 2011 and the final six episodes from August to October. Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill continued their roles as The Doctor, Amy...
, Gareth Roberts' sequel to this story.
Production
"The Lodger" is based on a short comic strip of the same name, written by Roberts for Doctor Who MagazineDoctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
issue 368 in 2006. The comic features the Tenth Doctor
Tenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by David Tennant, who appears in three series, as well as eight specials...
, who spends several days staying in Mickey Smith
Mickey Smith
Mickey Smith is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, played by Noel Clarke.Mickey is introduced as the boyfriend of the Ninth and Tenth Doctor's companion Rose Tyler, and a recurring character on the programme...
's flat, waiting for Rose Tyler
Rose Tyler
Rose Marion Tyler is a fictional character portrayed by Billie Piper in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was created by series producer Russell T Davies...
and the TARDIS to catch him up in a few days, and by chance saving the Earth by hiding it from the passing space fleet of a violent alien race. The story was based on ideas that Roberts had since a child to imagine the Doctor experiencing everyday human life and his enjoyment of stories set on Earth rather than in space. Roberts' original comic strip appealed to new executive producer Steven Moffat
Steven Moffat
Steven Moffat is a Scottish television writer and producer.Moffat's first television work was the teen drama series Press Gang. His first sitcom, Joking Apart, was inspired by the breakdown of his first marriage; conversely, his later sitcom Coupling was based upon the development of his...
, who enthused to Roberts that he had "got to do" "The Lodger" as an episode. Roberts had previously had the idea to make the television version, but he had never mentioned it. Roberts considered "The Lodger" less an adaption than was previously done by Paul Cornell
Paul Cornell
Paul Cornell is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as Doctor Who fiction, and as the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield....
for "Human Nature
Human Nature (Doctor Who)
Human Nature is an original novel written by Paul Cornell, from a plot by Cornell and Kate Orman, and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The novel was also serialised in e-book form on the BBC Doctor Who website, but was removed from the site in 2010...
"/"The Family of Blood
The Family of Blood
"The Family of Blood" is the ninth episode of Series 3 of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Preceded by "Human Nature", it is the second episode of a two-part story written by Paul Cornell adapted from his 1995 Doctor Who novel Human Nature...
", taken from cornell's novel, and instead wrote most of the episode from scratch.
Elements of the comic story, such as a mix-up between the sonic screwdriver and a toothbrush, and the Doctor's aptitude at football, carry over into the episode. However, Roberts said that the episode was "a completely different situation" from the comic strip, as the Doctor did not know Craig as he did Mickey, and there was the added enemy of the upstairs apartment. When Roberts began writing for the episode, he knew the series' over-arching plot but was not aware who was to be cast as the Eleventh Doctor. Roberts based the Doctor's lines on those written in Moffat's completed scripts and furthur characterization was added by Matt Smith's reading of the lines.
The episode also contains several cultural references. When the Doctor is having a shower, he is heard singing "La donna è mobile
La donna è mobile
"La donna è mobile" is the cynical Duke of Mantua's canzone from Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto . The inherent irony is that it is the callous playboy Duke himself who is mobile...
", which his third incarnation
Third Doctor
The Third Doctor is the third incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee....
sang in Inferno
Inferno (Doctor Who)
Don Houghton came to Terrence Dicks with an idea for the story based on the real life Project Mohole. A smaller budget for the serial drove the idea of a parallel world, where the studio could use the same actors in multiple roles...
. When the Doctor introduces himself to the time ship's Avatar, he claims to be "Captain Troy Handsome of International Rescue," which is a reference to both Captain Troy Tempest from Stingray
Stingray (TV series)
Stingray is a children's marionette television show, created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and produced by AP Films for ATV and ITC Entertainment from 1964–65. Its 39 half-hour episodes were originally screened on ITV in the UK and in syndication in the USA. The scriptwriters included Gerry and...
and International Rescue from Thunderbirds
Thunderbirds (TV series)
Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s science fiction television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation"...
, both series created by Gerry
Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
and Sylvia Anderson
Sylvia Anderson
Sylvia Anderson , born 25 March 1937, is a British voice artist and film producer, most notable for collaborations with Gerry Anderson, to whom she was married from 1962 to 1975....
. Steven Cooper of Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
also thought it was a reference to the Emergency Medical Hologram the Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. Set in the 24th century from the year 2371 through 2378, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while...
.
"The Lodger" made up the seventh and final production block of the series along with "Amy's Choice
Amy's Choice (Doctor Who)
"Amy's Choice" is the seventh episode in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast on BBC One on 15 May 2010...
". The read-through
Read-through
The read-through, table-read, or table work is a stage of film and theatre production when an organized reading around a table of the screenplay or script by the actors with speaking parts is conducted....
for both episodes took place on 17 February 2010 in the Upper Boat Studios
Upper Boat Studios
Upper Boat Studios is a television studio complex operated by BBC Wales and based in Upper Boat, a village on the outskirts of Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf in Wales. The studios were officially opened on 27 July 2006 by Welsh Enterprise Minister Andrew Davies, for the purpose of producing Doctor...
. The story replaced another one, "The Doctor's Wife
The Doctor's Wife
The Doctor's Wife, known in Japanese as , is a noted novel by Sawako Ariyoshi written in 1966.The partly historical novel is based on the life of noted male physician Hanaoka Seishū. Though much is based on fact, many events were added for dramatic purposes. The novel follows the protagonist, here...
", when the latter was pushed back to the next series due to budgetary constraints. Location filming took place in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
in early March 2010. The house in which Craig has his flat is in Westville Road, and the location for the football match was Victoria Park
Victoria Park, Cardiff
Victoria Park is a public park in the Canton district of Cardiff in south Wales at Cowbridge Road East.As its name suggests, it is a traditional Victorian era park named after Queen Victoria and has retained much of its original charm...
; the play area there had previously been used as a location in "Forest of the Dead
Forest of the Dead
"Forest of the Dead" is the ninth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast by BBC One on 7 June 2008...
". Matt Smith performed his own athletics in the football match shots; he has had previous experience as a youth footballer, having played for the youth teams of Northampton Town
Northampton Town F.C.
Northampton Town Football Club are an English professional football club based in Northampton, Northamptonshire. They currently play in Football League Two, the lowest league division, after being relegated from League One on the last day of the 2008–09 season...
, Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest F.C.
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English Association Football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, that plays in the Football League Championship...
and Leicester City
Leicester City F.C.
Leicester City Football Club , also known as The Foxes, is an English professional football club based at the King Power Stadium in Leicester...
before a back injury turned him towards acting. As such, little choreography was needed for the sequence.
Broadcast and reception
"The Lodger" was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC OneBBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
on 12 June 2010. In the United States, it was broadcast on sister station
Sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio and/or television stations operated by the same ownership....
BBC America
BBC America
BBC America is an American television network, owned and operated by BBC Worldwide, and available on both cable and satellite.-History:The channel launched on March 29, 1998, broadcasting comedy, drama and lifestyle programs from BBC Television and other British television broadcasters like ITV and...
on 10 July 2010. In the UK, overnight figures for the episode were 4.6 million, facing competition from the build-up to England's match in the 2010 FIFA World Cup
2010 FIFA World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010...
. When final consolidated ratings were calculated, it showed that the episode was watched by an average of 6.44 million viewers, with 5.98 million on BBC One and a further 0.46 million on a simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
on BBC HD
BBC HD
BBC HD is a high-definition television network provided by the BBC. The service was initially run as a trial from 15 May 2006 until becoming a full service on 1 December 2007...
. It was the sixth highest-rated programme of the week on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
, and the twenty-first highest-rated of the week across all channels. Although it was the second most watched programme of the day, it was the least watched fifth series episode of Doctor Who. Despite this, it received an Appreciation Index
Appreciation Index
The Audience Appreciation Index is a score out of 100 which is used as an indicator of the public's appreciation for a television or radio programme, or broadcast service, in the United Kingdom. Until 2002, the AI of a programme was calculated by BARB, the organisation that compiles television...
of 87, considered "excellent" and the joint highest of the series at time of broadcast.
A Region 2 DVD and Blu-ray containing the episode together with "Vincent and the Doctor
Vincent and the Doctor
"Vincent and the Doctor" is the 10th episode in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on 5 June 2010...
", "The Pandorica Opens
The Pandorica Opens
"The Pandorica Opens" is the twelfth episode, and first in a two-part story, in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, broadcast on 19 June 2010. The Doctor's friends send him a warning; he deals with a message on a cliff, a mysterious box and a love story that...
" and "The Big Bang
The Big Bang (Doctor Who)
"The Big Bang" is the 13th and final episode in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is the second part of a two-part season finale started with "The Pandorica Opens", at the end of which The Doctor is trapped, the TARDIS destroyed, and Amy Pond has been shot...
" was released on 6 September 2010. It was then re-released as part of the complete series five DVD on 8 November 2011.
Critical reception
"The Lodger" was met with mixed to positive reviews from critics. Gavin Fuller, writing for The Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, called the episode "a delight", "thoroughly enjoyable" and "often amusing". In particular he praised Corden and Haggard for avoiding the usual "cliche
Cliché
A cliché or cliche is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel. In phraseology, the term has taken on a more technical meaning,...
s of romcom
Romantic Comedy
Romantic Comedy can refer to* Romantic Comedy , a 1979 play written by Bernard Slade* Romantic Comedy , a 1983 film adapted from the play and starring Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen...
", and Smith's portrayal of The Doctor as almost-but-not-quite human. However, he expressed some disappointment that the origin of the lurking time machine was not explained. Dan Martin of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
called it "one of the strongest episodes of the year". He praised the acting of Smith and Corden, but wondered why the Doctor did not use his usual alias of "John Smith" when posing as a human.
Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
reviewer Patrick Mulkern praised Corden and Smith, but said it did not "quite tick [his] boxes". He was not engaged by the upstairs villan, wished for more "laugh-out-loud moments than good-humoured banter" and disliked that the Doctor seemed "diminished" when thrown into the everyday atmostphere. In a review for IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
, Matt Wales rated it 7 out of 10 and referred to it as "one of the fluffier episodes" in terms of plot, but he said it was an "enjoyable little duck-out-of-water adventure". He called Smith "an absolute joy to watch" and said that Corden and Haggard "[acquitted] themselves admirably". However, he criticised the "more traditional Who elements", such as the alien threat that the directing left "devoid of almost all tension", Amy's occasional appearances that did not seem to gel with the rest of the story, and the short resolution, where "the whole thing collapsed into an incomprehensible muddle".
SFX magazine Russell Lewin gave "The Lodger" three and a half out of five stars, saying it was "brimming with witty dialogue" and was a "pleasant diversion" before the finale. He ranked it "mid-table" among the other episodes of the series. Keith Phipps of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
graded it an A-, saying it was a "funny outing" that allowed Smith to show comic depth as the Doctor, as well as praising the guest stars. Though he referred to the alien up the stairs as a "pretty standard-issue", he liked it for being a metaphor of "the trap of complacency and the ways staying in a rut can lead to safety, stagnancy, and ignorance of the peril encroaching just outside one's four walls".