1x07: The Stolen Scion

When Tony and Jackie Tyler mysteriously vanish from inside the Tyler mansion, the Doctor, Rose, and Pete must work together to discover where they were taken—and how.

Plot Summary

Jackie is trying to get Tony to take his bath, but he's more interested in playing a game of hide and seek. He somehow gets into Pete's locked study, forcing Jackie to call Pete's assistant to unlock the door. When she gets into the room, Tony is nowhere to be found.

Jackie frantically calls Rose for help, and she and the Doctor land the TARDIS directly in Pete's study. But when they emerge from the TARDIS, Jackie, too, has vanished.

Pete soon arrives home to find his wife and son missing. He tells Rose and the Doctor that Jackie has a panic button (which she was apparently unable to hit before being taken), and as long as it's not completely destroyed, he can activate it remotely. When he does this, it indicates that Jackie is still somewhere in the Tyler estate.

Turns out this is because the panic button is incorporated into Jackie's new smartphone (which she is never without), which somehow did not get transmatted with Jackie.

The Doctor realises that they can't find the transmat signal because it's intermittent. It's keyed off of Jackie's phone, and only a specific set of circumstances - Jackie, calling Pete's office, from her mobile phone - will set it off. Furthermore, the phone must be near the actual transmat itself - which is in Pete's office, its components divided among Torchwood prototypes that Pete brings home to test.

The Doctor runs out to the garden, grabs a swan, and returns to Pete's office. There he rigs up a makeshift tracking device and sends the swan (who he has named Frederick) through the transmat in order to find Jackie and Tony's location, which turns out to be a loading dock in Hanging Sword Alley in London.

Pete leaves by car; Rose and the Doctor take the TARDIS. When they arrive, they learn that Pete has been there for three hours or more. The TARDIS has missed again - much to the Doctor's consternation, since all readings indicate they never left the timeline and should have materialised within seconds of their departure.

Jackie and Tony are safe and unharmed. Jackie tells Rose and the Doctor that the kidnappers didn't really seem to do much of anything but wait around, occasionally talking by phone to someone, until the swan appeared—at which point they packed up and vanished.

Pete tells the Doctor that Torchwood have been unable to find any evidence. Both he and the Doctor are unnerved by this, and by the fact that the kidnapping seemed to be without purpose. Pete takes Jackie and Tony home, leaving the Doctor to deal with Frederick.

The Doctor takes a cursory look around, finds nothing, then brushes off Rose's concerns rather than share his worry with her.

Jackie calls Rose's phone. Rose puts Jackie on speakerphone where she proceeds to yell at the Doctor for the condition of her carpets (Frederick was a bit incontinent). The Doctor hangs up on her.

Geographic/Historical Location Details

Earth

The episode takes place entirely on Earth in the present day, at the Tyler estate.

Species Involved

Humans

No new information.

Characters

Constance White

Pete Tyler's executive assistant at Torchwood.

Other minor characters

Frederick the swan.

Other Useful Canon

TARDIS rooms

The TARDIS has by this point added a laundry room and a second bathroom, but not a library.

Tyler Estate

Has a fountain somewhere on the grounds, with resident swans.

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