Doctor Who - The Television Stories

Doctor Who - The Stories

QuickNav to a Season:

QuickNav to a Story:

The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances

The Previous Story
(Father's Day)

The Next Story
(Boom Town)

Season
Details

Synopsis

General
Information

The
Episodes

Audience
Appreciation

Archives

Notes

First and Last

Story Images

Quote of
the Story

Release
Information

In Print

Photo
Gallery

Synopsis

The Empty Child

London, 1941, at the height of the Blitz. The army guards a mysterious cylinder and homeless children, living on bombsites, are terrorised by an unearthly child.

Rose meets the dashing Jack Harkness and wonders if she has found a hero even better than The Doctor?

The Child’s plague spreads throughout Wartime London with its zombie army on the march. The Doctor and Rose form an alliance with Captain Jack, but find themselves trapped in an abandoned hospital. The answer lies at the bombsite, but time is running out…

Source: BBC DVD

General Information

Season:	Twenty Seven (New Series 1)
Production Code:	1-9/10
Story Number:	164 (New Series: 8)
Episode Numbers:	705 - 706 (New Series: 9 - 10)
Number of Episodes:	2
Percentage of Episodes Held:	100%
Working Titles:	"World War II" and "Captain Jax"
Production Dates:	December 2004 - February 2005
Broadcast Started:	21 May 2005
Broadcast Finished:	28 May 2005
Colour Status:	Colour
Studio:	BBC Wales (Unit Q2, Newport)
Location:	Cardiff Royal Infirmary, Womanby Street (Cardiff), Headlands School (Penarth), RAF St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan Railway (Vale of Glamorgan) and Newport.

Writer:

Steven Moffat

Director:

James Hawes

Producer:

Phil Collinson

Executive Producers:

Julie Gardner, Mal Young and Russell T Davies

Associate Producer:

Helen Vallis

Script Editor:

Helen Raynor

Editor:

Liana Del Giudice

Production Manager:

Tracie Simpson

Production Designer:

Edward Thomas

Director of Photography:

Ernie Vincze BSC

Casting Director:

Andy Pryor CDG

Costume Designer:

Lucinda Wright

Make-Up Designer:

Davy Jones

Cameraman:

Martin Stephens (Operator)

Visual Effects:

The Mill

Special Effects:

Any Effects

Prosthetics:

Millennium Effects

Stunt Co-ordinator:

Lee Sheward

Stunt Performer:

Kim McGarrity

Incidental Music:

Murray Gold

Special Sounds (SFX Editor):

Paul Jefferies

Sound Recordist:

Ian Richardson

Title Music:

Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Murray Gold

Number of Doctors:

The Doctor:

Christopher Eccleston (The Ninth Doctor)

Number of Companions: 2The Companions: Billie Piper (Rose Tyler) and John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness) (Joins) Guest Cast: Richard Wilson (Dr Constantine) Additional Cast: Kate Harvey (Nightclub Singer), Albert Valentine (The Child), Florence Hoath (Nancy), Cheryl Ferguson (Mrs Lloyd), Damian Samuels (Mr Lloyd), Robert Hands (Algy), Joseph Tremain (Jim), Jordan Murphy (Ernie), Brandon Miller (Alf), Noal Johnson (Voice of The Empty Child), Dian Ferry (Computer Voice), Luke Perry (Timothy Lloyd), Martin Hodgson (Jenkins) and Vilma Hollingberry (Mrs. Harcourt)Setting: London (1941) Villain:Empty Child

The Episodes

No.	Episodes	Broadcast (UK)	Duration	Viewers (Millions)	In Archive
705	The Empty Child	21 May 2005	42'39"	7.1	Yes
706	The Doctor Dances	28 May 2005	42'04"	6.9	Yes

Total Duration

1 Hour 25 Minutes

Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions)

7.0

Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2005)	91.08% (Position = 1 out of 10)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009)	89.86% (Position = 5 out of 200)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)	89.48% (Position = 7 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023)	Position = 1 out of 10

Archives

Both episodes exist and are held in the BBC's Film and Videotape Library.

Notes

This story marks the first appearance of former Time Agent and conman Captain Jack Harkness as played by John Barrowman. The character's real name is never reavelled - 'Jack Harkness' is an alias he adopted from a doomed World War II pilot. Captain Jack Harkness has featured in eight subsequent Doctor Who stories, and has starred as the leading role in the spin-off series Torchwood. In the 1977 Tom Baker story "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" war criminal Magnus Greel referred to being pursued by Time Agents. Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood introduced to another Time Agent, Captain John Hart.

Albion Hospital also features in the story "Aliens of London/World War Three". Scenes at the hospital were filmed at the Cardiff Royal Infirmary.

The Doctor jokingly repeats this classic catchphrase from this story in the Season Thirty (New Series 4) story "The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky", when he puts on a gas mask

There are conflicting stories regarding the sound of Dr Constantine's skull cracking when he morphs into a Gas Mask Zombie. It's claimed that the sound was removed before broadcast for being too horrific (if it was added at all). It was added especially for the version on the DVD box set.

The German bomb that Captain Jack Harkness rides has the words ‘Schlechter Wolf’ written on it. This broadly translates as ‘Bad Wolf’.

Interestingly in keeping with other Steven Moffat's other stories, nobody completely dies in this story. Moffat's characters usually get resurrected or go on to 'live' in virtual worlds.

Two Glenn Miller tracks, "In the Mood" and "Moonlight Serenade", feature in this story.

The Nanogenes in the story were originally called ‘Nanites’, until it was felt that this sounded to similar to technology referred to in shows such as Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Before the title sequence in episode two there is a brief recap of the main events that took place in the first episode.

Before the end credits at the end of episode one there is a trailer for the second episode of this story. The previous two parter ("Aliens of London/World War Three") had the trailer for the second episode before the end credits. The ending of episode two includes a trailer for the next story "Boom Town".

Following on immediately after both episodes, on BBC3, were the ninth and tenth chapters of Doctor Who Confidential "Special Effects" looked into the sound of the aliens and alien worlds. While "Weird Science" looked into the making of the aliens in the revived show.

This story won the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. And the scene where the Child encounters The Doctor, Rose Tyler, and Captain Jack Harkness in the hospital was voted television's ‘Golden Moment of 2005’ by viewers of the BBC's 2005 TV Moments show.

This story was also voted, by readers of the Doctor Who Magazine as the best television story broadcast in 2005.

First and Last

The Firsts:

The introduction of semi-regular companion Captain Jack Harkness played by John Barrowman.

The first Doctor Who story to be written by Steven Moffat.

The first Doctor Who story to be directed by James Hawes.

Story Images

Show Text

Above St Paul's

The Children

Zombie Attack

Captain Jack Harkness

Jack and Rose Dance

Doctor Constantine

Nancy

The Empty Child

Rose Tyler

Captain Jack Harkness

The Doctor and Rose

The Doctor and Jamie

Quote of the Story

'Harmless? Your species, as we know it, is gonna be extinct any second now and you tell me harmless? Is this some new kinda harmless, hasn’t got to me yet? Did I miss a memo? Harmless?'

The Doctor

Release Information

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Code Number	Cover Art	Remarks
DVD	The Long Game - Father's Day - The Empty Child - The Doctor Dances	August 2005	BBCDVD 1757	Photo-montage
DVD	The Complete First Series	November 2005	BBCDVD 1770	Photo-montage	TARDIS Boxed Set containing all 10 stories
CD	Original Television Soundtrack - Series 1 and 2	2007		Photo-montage	Music by Murray Gold
DVD	Series 1 - 4 Box Set	October 2009	BBCDVD 3058		Boxed set containing all 43 stories on 23 Discs
Blu-Ray	The Complete Series 1-7 Box Set (Limited Edition)	December 2013	BBCBD 0242	Photo-montage	Limited Edition Blu-Ray boxed set containing all Series 1-7 stories at full 1080p high definition
DVD	The Complete First Series (2014 Re-release)	August 2014	BBCDVD 3965	Photo-montage	Boxed set containing all 10 stories
Blu-Ray	The Complete First Series Box Set	August 2015	BBCBD 0261	Photo-montage	Blu-Ray boxed set containing 10 stories
LP	Original Television Soundtrack - Series 1 and 2	2016		Photo-montage	Music by Murray Gold
DVD	The Complete First Series Box Set (Limited Edition Steelbook)	March 2017		Photo-montage	Limited Edition DVD Steelbook boxed set containing 10 stories (Amazon Exclusive)
Blu-Ray	The Complete First Series Box Set (Limited Edition Steelbook)	March 2017	BBCBD 0343	Photo-montage	Limited Edition Blu-Ray Steelbook boxed set containing 10 stories (Amazon Exclusive)
Blu-Ray	Series 1 - 4 & Specials Blu-Ray Collection	November 2023	BBCBD 0582	Photo-montage	Boxed set containing all Ninth and Tenth Doctor stories upscaled to high definition

In Print

No Book Release

Doctor Who Magazine - Preview	Issue 356 (Released: May 2005)
Doctor Who Magazine - After Image	Issue 359 (Released: August 2005)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team	Issue 438 (Released: September 2011)
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction	Issue 480 (Released: December 2014)
Doctor Who DVD Files	Volume 5 (Released: March 2009)

Photo Gallery

The Doctor and Companions

The Ninth Doctor

Rose Tyler

Captain Jack Harkness

On Release

DVD Cover

VIDEO

Complete Series DVD Box Set

VIDEO

Original Television Soundtrack Silva Screen CD Cover

AUDIO

Series 1-4 DVD Box Set

VIDEO

Complete Series 1-7 Ltd Edition Blu-Ray Box Set

VIDEO

Complete Series DVD Box Set<BR>(2014 Re-release)

Complete Series DVD Box Set
(2014 Re-release)

VIDEO

Complete Series Blu-Ray Box Set

VIDEO

Original Television Soundtrack Vinyl Cover

AUDIO

Complete Series DVD Limited Edition Steelbook Box Set

VIDEO

Complete Series Blu-Ray Limited Edition Steelbook Box Set

VIDEO

Series 1 - 4 & Specials Blu-Ray Collection Cover

VIDEO

Magazines

Doctor Who Magazine - Preview: Issue 356

Doctor Who Magazine - After Image: Issue 359

Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 438

Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 480

Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 5

Who's Who

Who Me

Episodes of the
Ninth Doctor

Season 27 (New Series 1)

References

Doctor Who is the copyright of the British Broadcasting Corporation. No infringements intended. This site is not endorsed by the BBC or any representatives thereof.