Rosa (episode)

Rosa was the third episode of Season 51 of Doctor Who. It was written by Malorie Blackman, directed by Sallie Aprahamian and featured Adjoa Andoh as the Fifteenth Doctor, Shelley King as Sally Brennen and Daniel Adegboyega as Pete Fletcher.

Synopsis
Following Krakso to 1955 Alabama, the Doctor, Sally and Pete meet seamstress Rosa Parks. The three of them, all struggling to survive even 24 hours in Montgomery, must work together to correct the flow of time and keep events in order before things go horribly wrong.

Plot
1943: Montogomery, Alabama.

Rosa Parks is boarding a bus on her way home from work. She pays the fee and begins heading to the already crowded back of the bus, where "coloured" people are forced to sit while white people sit at the front. However, the driver stops her, telling Rosa to get off and get on through the back door. Rosa tells the driver she believes that she shouldn't have to use the front door to pay for her ride, and then get off the bus only to enter through the back door; in short its a waste of time for African-Americans. The driver ignorantly shouts for her to get off, making Rosa lose her grip on her purse. She sits down in the White's Only section, but only to pick up her purse. She tells the bus driver that he better not hit her. He yells for her to get off the bus. She complies and gets off to use the back door; however, the driver leaves without her.

Twelve Years Later: 1955

The Tardis lands in an alleyway, after the Doctor, tells Sally and Pete that she's tracked Krasko's artron signature here. Sally asks what's significant about 1955 Alabama, and the Doctor says that what happens here... changes everything.

Exiting the TARDIS, they wander around, the Doctor scanning the surroundings with an Artron scanner. While walking, a woman drops her glove. Pete notices pick it up and goes to return it to her. Upon touching her arm, the woman's husband, Mr Steele, strikes Pete in the face, warning Pete not to touch his wife again. The Doctor and Sally race to help. Mr Steele insults Pete, the Doctor recalling the racial discrimination present in America against coloured people. Sally defends Pete, who remarks he was only returning the glove. Steele begins to escalate the situation when a woman interjects, calming the man by promising to have his new suit tailored for him soon. With that, Mr Steele departs with his wife. The group thank her, who proceeds to chide them, baffled the group do not recall what happened to Emmett Till. She introduces herself as Rosa Parks, much to their hidden amazement, and then it clicks as Sally realises what Krasko is planning to do. Rosa leaves, the Doctor quickly scanning her, finding artron energy is flooding around her. Meanwhile, Krasko finds the Doctor's TARDIS. Unable to get in, he blasts it with an energy weapon only to find it further shielded. Disgruntled, he leaves it be.

Elsewhere, the Doctor and the gang convene at Slim's Bar. There, Pete and Sally discuss learning about Rosa Parks at school, awed by the fact she refused to give up her seat on a bus on 1 December 1955, resulting in her arrest and the subsequent Montgomery Bus Boycott, an event that led to the end of racial segregation on public transport in America. Reading a newspaper, the Doctor corrects them that Rosa has yet to commit her act of; the date in question is tomorrow. Concerned, the group wonder what to do. However, the trio notes how silent the diner has become. Looking around, the other customers are staring at them. A waitress walks over, stating to the Doctor and Pete that they don't serve "negroes" or "Mexicans" (referring to Sally). Realising the diner also enforces racial segregation, the group leaves, disgusted. Pete complains that he has travelled in time to the one place he is hated most in time.

Following the artron signature, the trio finds some of Krasko's technology in a warehouse, meaning that Krasko is somewhere nearby. On cue, Krasko comes in and starts firing at them with his weapon. The group flee outside as materials in the room disappear.

They find Krasko on top of a fuel tank. The Doctor meets up with him and finds that his "weapon" is a temporal displacement device, a device that sends things forwards or back in time. The man says that she has a TARDIS, a valuable time machine that's worth a lot of money. The Doctor then asks if he plans to steal it, just like he stole the vortex manipulation, and Krasko, says if all goes well, then he sees no reason not to. The Doctor boldly says that killing Rosa Parks now, won't stop humanity from reaching out to the stars, it's a terrible plan, but Krasko defends himself and says the littlest actions have the biggest consequences. He then asks the Doctor to leave him be or they will be killed. They part. When Sally asks if they are leaving, the Doctor says "Not in a million years."

The Doctor says that the sitting happens the next day, so they better get some rest. They find a hotel, which the trio are about to enter, but a police officer, Mason, approaches them and tells them that if they even think about stepping one step further, he will arrest them on the spot, as it's a whites-only motel, and not for "negros". The Doctor frowns at him, and says, through gritted teeth, that they'll go. Pete is upset as they continue on and says that this time is barbaric. They arrive back at the TARDIS, and the Doctor says that they'll just stay in here, but in the meantime, they need to work out everything they know about this incident, and they have the TARDIS databank to help them.

The Doctor sets up a TARDIS casefile and they begin finding information, which is added to the large TARDIS scanner. They find out that the driver of the bus was James Blake, who demanded that Rosa should give her seat up. They also find out what time the sitting happens, and where the bus is at that time. Feeling they have enough information, to ensure history stays on course, Sally plans to visit Rosa, at work. Travelling on the bus, the Doctor and Pete enter through the coloureds' door. Sally, strangely, is allowed to go through the whites' door, much to Pete's dismay. This makes her question her place in society. Soon, later at night, Rosa comes onto the bus. They do a discussion with her, saying that they are doing market research for bus companies and doing a raffle for it. Rosa says she gets this bus every day, most times. Soon, the bus arrives at Rosa's stop. Pete decides to follow her and Sally decides to find a bus timetable. The Doctor, meanwhile, is ready to find Krasko.

However, Rosa knows that Pete is behind her. Pete says that he wants to help. When he is accused of being part of the police or FBI, Pete counters that if he was, he'd be better at sneaking up and not have a British accent. He also points out that judging by how everyone acts, there aren't any coloureds working for either. So Rosa asks him one question; "You any good at servin' coffee?"

Meanwhile, the Doctor meets Krasko at the bus work shed. The Doctor tricks him into zapping his equipment back to his home time, the 28th century. The Doctor says she identifies his tattoo, saying he was a prisoner at some point. Krasko admits he was in there for massacring 2000 "aliens". It's then revealed that he has a neural restrictor in his brain, explaining why he couldn't just kill her. To test it, the Doctor destroys his vortex manipulator. No matter how hard he tries, he can't strangle her. The Doctor is puzzled on how Krasko can go about changing history. She gives him one warning to go somewhere else and catch a break. He refuses. Both walk off, the Doctor taking the temporal displacement weapon with her.

At Rosa's home, Pete meets Rosa's Youth Council, consisting of Mr Parks, Fred Gray and, to his amazement, Martin Luther King. In a surprise, Pete says that he strongly admires him, confusing him a bit. When asked if he attended Dexter Avenue, Pete says no, just that he's heard about him and that his mother is a big fan of his. Rosa reminds him to make the coffee he said he'd make, which he's eager to do.

The Doctor finds James Blake. Blak is horrified at her for trying to have a conversation with him and is further surprised and horrified to hear that England doesn't invoke segregation on buses. James then says that he's not going to work tomorrow. He's going fishing at Mill Creek, much to The Doctor's confusion. The rota was changed by "a man from the depot".

Outside Rosa's house, Pete says that it's been good to meet them and he didn't know what he wanted. He tells Rosa that it's worth the fight and Pete thanks her as he leaves, despite Rosa saying she didn't do anything.

Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor scans the temporal displacement device while giving Pete and Sally information of Blake taking tomorrow off work, which didn't happen, in their timeline. Another bus driver named Elias Griffin Junior is doing it instead. The Doctor then realises that Krasko is not planning on killing. He's planning to prevent Rosa Parks being arrested so that it doesn't happen. So they have to make sure that James Blake is the one who drives that bus. So they have to get Elias Griffin Jr out of the way and get James Blake back on duty.

Going to Elias Griffin Jr's house, the Doctor and Sally congratulate him on "winning" a Raffle of the Century and the prize is an all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas, and a chance to meet Frank Sinatra himself. But he has to leave now, and that's the company has already assigned someone to cover him. A taxi will be coming in 30 minutes, so he and his wife better get packing. Excited, he starts. Leaving, the Doctor says she knew her friendship with Frank Sinatra would pay off. They now decide to stick to Rosa, so the Doctor rips her jacket for Rosa to repair.

At Mill Creek, Pete finds Blake. James is horrified at seeing Pete, but he stops paying attention to that when Pete says that a group of black passengers were planning a sit-in across all the bus routes tonight. Furious, Blake packs up his things and goes back to work.

At Rosa's sewing job, the Doctor hands Rosa her jacket and Rosa confirms she'll fix it right before she closes. Sally stays behind to keep Rosa company.

Unfortunately, Blake is dismayed that he finds his bus wrecked. Krasko, in disguise, tells him he can go home and his shift is cancelled. Pete, nearby, realise that Krasko is one step ahead of them. The Doctor comes to them. She tells Pete to check every bus stop along Blake's route and tell the passengers that the bus is coming. Pete stays and decides to get a replacement bus. They pick up James and get him to drive and do his job.

Rosa discusses with Sally that she originally wanted to be a teacher, but lost her mother and grandmother. So she educated herself. Sally says it's worth the fight and she got to be a teacher, to Rosa's surprise. Then her attention is given to the time; 5:39. Sally tries to convince her to take the bus, just as Rosa finished fixing the Doctor's jacket.

The Doctor and Pete panic, seeing there aren't that many white passengers on the bus than there should be. Pete attempts to go and convince people to wait but is having a difficult time convincing people to wait due to his skin colour. He then runs into Krasko, who is blocking the road with a car. Krasko taunts Pete, saying that the bus is three passengers short, and therefore "[his] kind", and all the rest that follow, won't get above themselves. Having enough of Krasko, Pete pulls out his temporal displacement weapon and sends Krasko as far back through time as he can, stranding him in the distant past. He then moves the car out of the way.

Sally and Rosa arrive on the bus, giving the Doctor her coat back. Pete then boards on the front and tells the group what happened to Krasko, before being told by James (ignoring his conversation) to use the coloureds door, which he does. The bus moves on. Pete asks if that's that. The Doctor counts the white passengers. At the next bus stop, the Empire Theatre, people start boarding. James asks the coloured people to give up their seats. Two black women and a black man move to the back.

However, Rosa, possibly recognising Blake from 1943, just sits back down. Blake gets up and moves a Whites sign up to the row in front, viciously asking if she's going to stand up. Rosa says she doesn't think that she has to. He yells the same question, and she replies with a quiet "no". Blake tells her if she doesn't, she'll be arrested. After a pause, she says he might as well do that.

Baffled at first, Blake gets serious and goes over to a telephone kiosk to call the police. Eventually, the police come and take Rosa Parks away. She looks at the Doctor, Pete and Sally one last time, looking at her devastated, before giving a little nod to them as she leaves to go to prison. She won't forget them.

Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor explains to her companions that on December 5, the boycotts begin. Across Montgomery, people refuse to use the buses as a response to Rosa's arrest. On December 21, 1956, segregation on buses in Montgomery was banned. However, life was still hard on Rosa, as she and her husband both lost their jobs in response to what happened on the bus, but despite this, they never gave up their fight. In June 1999, Rosa received the Congressional Medal from Bill Clinton, the highest award given to any civilian, recognising Rosa Parks as a living icon for freedom. The TARDIS crew attend the ceremony and Pete was sad it took her whole life, but the Doctor adds that she changed the world. During the ceremony, Rosa looks up and spots the Doctor, Pete and Sally and a single tear slides down her cheek.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Adjoa Andoh
 * Sally Brennen - Shelley King
 * Pete Fletcher - Daniel Adegboyega
 * Krasko - Joshua Bowman
 * Rosa Parks - Vinette Robinson
 * James Blake - Trevor White
 * Mr Steele - Richard Lothian
 * Waitress - Jessica Claire Preddy
 * Police Officer Mason - Kevin Kilner
 * Raymond Parks - David Rubin
 * Martin Luther King - Ray Sesay
 * Fred Gray - Aki Omoshaybi
 * Elias Griffin Jr - David Dukas
 * Arthur - Morgan Deare

Crew

 * Created by Sydney Newman, Donald Wilson and C.E. Webber


 * Executive Producers - Ronald D. Moore, Jane Espenson and Gaynor Holmes
 * Co-Executive Producers - Matthew B. Roberts, Kevin Murphy, Jacqueline Rayner and Sarah Dollard


 * Writer - Malorie Blackman
 * Producer - Brian Minchin
 * Director - Sallie Aprahamian


 * Director of Photography - Tim Palmer
 * Production Designer - Richard Hudolin
 * Visual Effects - DNEG
 * Make-Up - Suzanne Jansen
 * Casting Director - Andy Pryor
 * Music - Bear McCreary
 * Costume Designer - John Lindlar
 * Edited by - Helen Murphy


 * Historical Advisor - Tony Pollard
 * Scientific Advisor - André Bormanis


 * Original Theme Music - Ron Grainer
 * Title Music - Bear McCreary
 * Title Sequence - Peter Anderson Studios

Memorable Quotes
To be added.

Production History

 * To be added

Development

 * To be added.

Production

 * To be added

Post-Production

 * To be added

Story Notes

 * To be added.

Continuity

 * To be added.

Home Video Releases
To be added.