MONDO EXTRAS

Mickey pulls up some bizarre animated website purporting to explain what pilot fish are; there's a cartoon shark that charges the screen, explaining to your aunt Martha that this is what the internet is like. Type in "pilot fish," get a cartoon shark. "They're tiny, but the point is, the little fish swim alongside the big fish." Rose asks how long until the shark appears, and Mickey says not long, and the TV goes crazy, and Jackie sees some "funny sort of rocks" on the TV, but they're not rocks, Rose knows. It's something bad. The shark. "Coming live from the depths of space on Christmas morning," says the TV, and an enormous, terrifying, boneheaded alien growls at the screen. Jackie, Mickey, and Rose gasp and jump backwards; it is cute.

All over the world, the news is going crazy about the faces of aliens. "On the 25th of December, the human race has been shown absolute proof that alien life exists!" they crow. Three cars drive through the gates of the Tower of London and draw up outside UNIT; this scene is very excitingly shot, and you feel like things are about to go crazy. The driver opens a car door for Llewellyn, and he is escorted inside UNIT by a Major Blake. Inside, UNIT is going crazy. It's the "United Nations Intelligence Taskforce," a big deal for the Doctor -- the Third Doctor mostly stayed in exile on Earth and worked for UNIT, eventually dying here -- but we can't call it that anymore because the UN doesn't like to be involved in fictional alien encounters, because the UN is very serious stuff.

The Major takes Llewellyn to meet with Harriet Jones, and she flashes her ID at him, like in the old days: "Harriet Jones, Prime Minister." He smiles and says he knows quite well who she is. "I suppose I've ruined your Christmas," he says, and she shakes her head. "Never off duty." She explains that they've put out a cover story already, indicating her assistant Alex, who explains that they've told people it's a hoax, "some sort of mask or prosthetics." Llewellyn nods, and nobody mentions that it's not actually working at all. "Students hijacking the signal, that sort of thing." Harriet explains that Alex is her "right-hand man," which is a thing she's not quite used to having; they agree that it a very good thing, to have and to be a right-hand man. It's sweet. Llewellyn begs Harriet to tell him that it really was a hoax, and she smiles grimly: "That would be nice. Then we could all go home." She offers him coffee and continues: "No, the transmission was genuine. And this seems to be a new species of alien. At least, not one we've encountered before." He cocks his head at her and says she's talking about aliens like they exist. She smirks adorably and almost winks: "There's an act of Parliament banning my autobiography."