The Empty Child

"Are you my mummy?"

Writer: Steven Moffat 

Format: TV

Broadcast: 21st May 2005

Series: 1.09

Featuring: Ninth Doctor, Rose, Captain Jack

Synopsis 

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 the Doctor...

Verdict 

The Empty Child is a magnificent episode of Doctor Who to kick off this incredible and highly commended two-part story. It really is a sublime start to Steven Moffat's contribution to Doctor Who and it's definitely a sign of things to come once he became the showrunner for Series 5 and onwards. It just has such a good feel and its eeriness is the perfect mix of fright and excitement. The setting of 1941 during the London Blitz is just wonderful and I love the irony of Rose wearing a Union Jack t-shirt. Probably not the best choice when you end up hanging from a barrage balloon over London during the height of the bombing. I thought it started off very well with a mini-chase through the time vortex but yet again during Series 1, we have an Earth story. I'm not sure why every story was set on our homeworld, and that actually made The Monsters Inside a breath of fresh air, but at this point in history it's marvellous. The Ninth Doctor was superb in this story with a stellar performance from Christopher Eccleston. It's just a real shame he wasn't committed to the role and didn't do at least a second series. The Doctor's reaction to the TARDIS phone running, after venting his frustrations about companions wondering off to a cat, was wonderful. As he said, how can a phone that's not a phone be ringing? Nancy was very good and I love the mystery behind her character. She obviously knows more than she's letting on and the Doctor will get that out of her that's for sure. If there's information to be found then he's the man to find it. The scene where he just pops up at the dinner table full of children is brilliant. The story behind Nancy losing her brother Jamie in an air raid was a sad one but it's nice to see she's helping out other children as a consequence. The Doctor knowing that she's lost someone was excellent. This was a fantastic introduction for Captain Jack Harkness, a character who would go on to have his own incredibly successful spinoff series and then return to the series alongside the Tenth Doctor. He and Rose immediately hit things off and the chemistry between them is immense. They're clearly attracted to each other and I loved the humour surrounding the communication on the psychic paper. I was quite intrigued that Rose, despite her relationship with Mickey, said that she was very available. The story behind Jack being a conman was unexpected though I liked how Rose played him into thinking she was a Time Agent. Jack was now a freelancer but once meeting the Doctor he knew they weren't really agents. The Chula Warship of Jack's was pretty remarkable I must say and I loved how he and Rose were simply having champagne on top of it in front of Big Ben. Not a bad first date of sorts. The 'bait' that the TARDIS followed being an ambulance was intriguing and it'll set things up wonderfully in the next episode. Jamie constantly asking for his mummy is actually quite saddening but there's definitely something more there in that when he touches you, you become like him with the gas mask being fused to the skin. All the patients at the hospital having exactly the same injuries seemed impossible but it was right there in front of the Doctor, Rose and Jack. The cliffhanger though was superb with the trio being cornered with the gas mask wearing army of the not quite dead. Just one touch and they'd be like them. Nancy was also in danger with Jamie closing in. Overall, a sublime episode and I look forward to the concluding part which is where the overall rating will appear.