Editing The Empty Child (TV story)

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{{title dab away}}{{You may|Empty Child|Jamie (The Empty Child)|n1=the condition|n2=the "patient zero" of the condition}}
{{Infobox Story
|name=The Empty Child
|image= The-empty-child.jpg 
|series=[[Doctor Who television stories|''Doctor Who'' television stories]]
|season number= [[Series 1 (Doctor Who)|Series 1]] 
|story number= 164a
|doctor=Ninth Doctor 
|companions= [[Rose Tyler|Rose]]
|enemy= [[Empty Child]]
|setting= [[London]], [[1941]] 
|writer= [[Steven Moffat]] 
|director= [[James Hawes]] 
|producer= [[Phil Collinson]]
|confidential=Special Effects (CON episode)|Special Effects 
|broadcast date= [[21 May (releases)|21 May]] [[2005 (releases)|2005]] 
|network=[[BBC One]]
|format= 1x45 minute episode
|production code= 1.9 
|next= The Doctor Dances (TV story) 
|prev=Father's Day (TV story) 
|made prev=The Long Game (TV story)
|made next=The Doctor Dances (TV story)
|script=The Shooting Scripts
|clip = Please let me in Mummy - Doctor Who - The Empty Child - Series 1 - BBC
|clip2 = They're not dead! - Doctor Who - The Empty Child - Series 1 - BBC
|bts = Best chair in the business - Dr Who Confidential - BBC sci-fi
|featuring = [[Jack Harkness|Jack]]}}
'''''The Empty Child''''' was the ninth episode of [[Series 1 (Doctor Who)|first series]] of the revived series of ''[[Doctor Who]]''. 

It was the first part of a two-part story, and [[writer]] [[Steven Moffat]]'s first episode of ''Doctor Who''. Furthermore, it introduced [[Jack Harkness|Captain Jack Harkness]] into the [[Whoniverse|''Doctor Who'' universe]].

== Synopsis ==
Chasing a metallic object through the [[Time Vortex]], the [[Ninth Doctor]] and his [[companion]], [[Rose Tyler]], arrive in [[London]] during [[the Blitz]]. While Rose meets "Captain [[Jack Harkness]]", the dashing [[Time Agent]] responsible for bringing the object, the Doctor finds a group of [[homeless]] children terrorised by [[Jamie (The Empty Child)|Jamie]], an "empty" child wearing a gas mask.

== Plot ==
[[The Doctor's TARDIS]] chases a [[Chula ambulance|metal cylinder]] displaying [[mauve alert]], which prompts [[Rose Tyler|Rose]] to ask why they are chasing it. The [[Ninth Doctor]] explains that mauve is the universally recognised colour for danger, and that "red's camp" — only [[human]]s considered red a colour for danger. The Doctor hacks into the flight program of the cylinder and keeps the TARDIS locked on it. However, the cylinder begins jumping [[time track]]s. Coming out of the [[Time Vortex|vortex]], they find the cylinder is thirty seconds from the centre of [[London]].

The TARDIS [[materialise]]s in a narrow alley between some brick buildings at night. The Doctor and Rose step out in search of the object; the Doctor notes they have arrived a couple of weeks to a month after the cylinder's impact — it was jumping time tracks, which made it hard to keep up. He hears music coming from behind a locked door and uses the [[sonic screwdriver]] to open it. He steps inside, but Rose hears a child calling for his mother. She looks up and sees a [[Empty Child|young boy]] wearing a [[gas mask]] on the roof.

The door the Doctor enters leads to a makeshift cabaret. After the [[nightclub singer (The Empty Child)|singer]] ends her set, the Doctor steps up to the microphone and asks if any object had fallen from the sky in the last few days. Everyone laughs, and the Doctor finally spots posters showing that it's [[1941]] — the middle of the Blitz.

In the meantime, Rose has reached the roof of the building where the young boy is standing on a cargo container. A rope dangles in front of her. She uses it to climb up, not realising that it is attached to a [[barrage balloon]] above. It rises, taking Rose clean off the roof and hanging on for dear life. Rose sees bits of the city of London in flames, spotlights sweeping through the sky, the sound of anti-aircraft fire and bombers flying right at her.

[[File:The_Empty_Child_076.JPG|thumb|left|The Doctor finds that the dummy [[TARDIS telephone|police box telephone]] is ringing.]]
The Doctor returns to the TARDIS and sees no sign of Rose. Petting a stray [[cat]], the Doctor rather sarcastically remarks that one day, he'll get a [[companion]] that actually does what he says. He pulls up short when the [[TARDIS telephone|exterior telephone of the TARDIS]] rings; it's not a real [[phone]]. He prepares to examine it with the sonic screwdriver when a [[Nancy (The Empty Child)|young woman]] appears and tells him not to answer it. The Doctor asks her how the telephone can be ringing, but when he turns back she has disappeared. He picks up the earpiece, but all that comes through is a child's voice asking, "Mummy? Are you my mummy?" several times before it falls dead again. Hearing clattering down the alley, the Doctor looks over a wall into a residential garden and sees [[Lloyd (The Empty Child)|a woman]] ushering family into an air-raid shelter. He also spots the young woman he saw moments before entering the house. Once inside, she begins to raid the cupboards for tinned food.

Rose is still hanging by a rope over a blazing London. From a balcony below, a man dressed in RAF uniform peers through binoculars up at her. A [[British Army]] officer addresses him as "Jack" and asks if he is going to the shelter, but Jack is distracted by the sight of Rose's bottom in his sights. Jack mutters, "Excellent bottom", and grins at the officer, before saying (with an [[American]] accent), that he has to meet a girl, "but you've got an excellent bottom too."

Rose loses her grip on the rope and falls, screaming, until she finds her descent halted by a beam. Jack's voice tells her to deactivate her [[mobile phone]] and to keep her limbs inside the light field as she slides rapidly down the beam into Jack's ship and his arms. Rose stares at the handsome Jack and gets out a couple of "hellos" before she faints.

Back at the house, the young woman has been joined by other children. They start to eat the dinner left on the table. The Doctor appears suddenly and deduces that all of them are homeless, but notes that, as it is 1941, they should have been evacuated to the country long ago. The children say that they were, but they returned to London for various reasons. Nancy, the young woman who told him not to answer the phone earlier, finds them food this way, waiting for families to hide in shelters before stealing their food.  The Doctor thinks it a great idea, but isn't sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical.

The Doctor asks the children if they have seen the cylinder, drawing them a picture, but before any can answer, there is knocking on the window, accompanied by a child's voice asking for its mother. Outside is a child in a gas mask. He wanders over to the front door, repeating his query. Nancy hurriedly bolts the door before he can get in. Nancy tells the Doctor that he is "not exactly" a child, and then orders the other children to leave by the back way. The child sticks his arm through the mail slot; he has a strange scar on his hand.

[[File:The_Empty_Child_Nancy_and_the_Doctor.JPG|thumb|right|Nancy and the Doctor watch the gas-masked child beyond the door.]]
Nancy tells the Doctor not to let the child touch him or he will become just like him — empty. The telephone on the mantelpiece rings. When the Doctor picks it up to hear the same plaintive request for its mother, Nancy grabs the receiver and hangs up. The child has the ability to make telephone calls.

The Doctor asks the child through the door why the other children are frightened of him, but he keeps asking to be let in, saying he is scared of the bombs. The Doctor agrees to open the door, but when he does, the street is empty.

Rose wakes up in Jack's ship, which she says is very "Spock", a reference he does not understand. He introduces himself as Captain Jack Harkness, an American volunteer with No. [[133 Squadron]] RAF. He hands her an identification card which Rose identifies as [[psychic paper]] — it shows her whatever he wants her to see, which is apparently that he is single and works out. To Rose's embarrassment, Jack reads the paper as showing that Rose has a boyfriend but considers herself "very" available. Jack uses his ship's [[nanogene]]s to treat Rose's hands for rope burns. He also tells her to stop acting, he can spot a "[[Time Agent]]" a mile away and had been expecting one to turn up. Jack invites her for a drink on the "balcony"; opening the hatch, they step out onto the invisible hull of the ship, floating next to [[Big Ben]].

Nancy makes her way across an abandoned rail yard to a locomotive, where she unloads the tins she took from the house. The Doctor surprises her again, having followed her. He has made the connection between the fallen cylinder and the empty child. Nancy tells him about a bomb falling near the [[Limehouse Green station]] "that was not a bomb". It is now guarded by soldiers and barbed wire. Nancy says if he wants to find out what is going on, he needs to talk to [[Constantine (The Empty Child)|"the doctor"]].

[[File:The_Empty_Child_Jack_and_Rose_screenshot.JPG|thumb|left|Rose and Jack dance to the "Moonlight Serenade" in front of Big Ben.]]
On top of his ship, Jack and Rose continue to flirt. He tells her that he has something the Time Agency might want to buy and asks her if she is empowered to negotiate. Rose plays along, saying that she should talk to her "companion" first. He tells her that what fell on London was a fully equipped [[Chula]] warship — the last of its kind — and offers to get it for her if the Agency names the right price. However, the deadline for a decision is in two hours — because that is when a [[Germany|German]] bomb will fall and destroy it. He proceeds to look for her "companion" by scanning for [[alien]] technology. Rose gives an approving smile — the Doctor had earlier refused to do just that.

The Doctor uses his own binoculars to monitor the crash site from afar with Nancy. She encourages him to go speak to the doctor at nearby [[Albion Hospital]]. The Doctor remarks that Nancy is looking after the children to make up for something and she admits that it is because her brother Jamie died during an air raid.

In the wards, the Doctor finds the beds apparently filled with corpses wearing gas masks. An elderly man in a doctor's coat appears. He tells the Doctor that there are hundreds of them. Dr [[Constantine (The Empty Child)|Constantine]] invites the Doctor to examine the masked people, warning him not to touch their flesh. The Doctor finds that, impossibly, all of them have identical injuries to the skull and chest cavity. The gas masks are also seemingly fused to their flesh, although there are no burns or scarring. They also have lightning-shaped scars on the backs of their hands. Constantine has the same scar, but the Doctor does not notice.

Constantine explains that when the "bomb" dropped, it claimed one victim. Those in contact with it soon suffered the exact same injuries, the symptoms spreading like a plague. The Doctor asks what killed them. Constantine says they are not dead. When he raps his cane against an empty pail the "corpses" come to life.

The Doctor takes a startled step back, but Constantine tells him they are harmless: they just sit there. They have no life signs, but they do not die. All Constantine can do is make them comfortable. He suspects the Army has a plan to blow up the [[hospital]] and blame it on a German bomb, as isolated cases are now breaking out all over London. He directs the Doctor to [[Room 802]], where the first victim, Nancy's brother, was housed. 
[[File:The_Empty_Child_290.JPG|thumb|right|Constantine's transformation.]]

Constantine says that Nancy knows more than she is saying but before he can say anything else, he grabs his neck and starts to choke out the words, "Are you my mummy?" Before the Doctor's eyes, Constantine's features shift and change into a gas mask, as he slumps in his chair.

Rose and Jack enter the hospital. Jack introduces himself to the Doctor, calling him "Mr. Spock", to the Doctor's puzzlement. Rose privately tells the Doctor that she had to tell Jack they were Time Agents and give him a false name. She tells the Doctor about the [[Chula warship]]. The Doctor demands to know from Jack what kind of warship it is, but Jack insists that it has nothing to do with the plague. Jack confesses that the cylinder was just an ambulance — an empty shell which he was trying to pass off as valuable. Jack realises now that Rose and the Doctor are not really Time Agents. The Doctor explains that human [[DNA]] is being rewritten by an idiot — but for what purpose?

Back at the house, Nancy has returned to raid the kitchens, but the child gets inside. She does her best to hide, but the child eventually finds her in the dining room and asks her, "Are you my mummy?" Nancy backs away, calling the child "Jamie" and pleading, "But you're dead!"

In the hospital the gas-mask virus carriers suddenly get up and start advancing on the trio of time travellers, all calling for "Mummy"...

== Cast ==
* [[Ninth Doctor|Doctor Who]] - [[Christopher Eccleston]]
* [[Rose Tyler]] - [[Billie Piper]]
* [[Nightclub singer (The Empty Child)|Nightclub Singer]] - [[Kate Harvey]]
* [[Jamie (The Empty Child)|The Child]] - [[Albert Valentine]]
* [[Nancy (The Empty Child)|Nancy]] - [[Florence Hoath]]
* [[Arthur Lloyd|Mr Lloyd]] - [[Damian Samuels]]
* [[Lloyd (The Empty Child)|Mrs Lloyd]] - [[Cheryl Fergison]]
* [[Jack Harkness]] - [[John Barrowman]]
* [[Algy]] - [[Robert Hands]]
* [[Jim (The Empty Child)|Jim]] - [[Joseph Tremain]]
* [[Ernie]] - [[Jordan Murphy]]
* [[Alf (The Empty Child)|Alf]] - [[Brandon Miller]]
* Dr [[Constantine (The Empty Child)|Constantine]] - [[Richard Wilson (actor)|Richard Wilson]]
* Voice of the Empty Child <!--Exact capitalisation in credits--> - [[Noah Johnson]]
* Voice of the Computer - [[Dian Perry]]

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== References ==
=== The Doctor ===
* One of the kids thinks the Doctor is a "[[Policeman|copper]]".
* The Doctor pretends to be [[Aliases of the Doctor|Doctor John Smith]] from the [[Ministry of Asteroids]]. 
* The Doctor remarks that he has been "the only child left out in the cold".

=== The TARDIS ===
* The [[TARDIS telephone|telephone in the TARDIS door]] is not real and is not connected to anything, but yet still rings.

=== Individuals ===
* Rose wears a [[Union Flag|Union Jack]] T-shirt.
* The Doctor says the kids should have been evacuated before [[1941|now]]. 
* Jack mistakes Rose for a [[Time Agency|Time Agent]].
* The Doctor states that if he was [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]], he would be scared of [[Britain]].
* The Doctor's jacket matches the style worn by [[U-boat]] captains.

=== Species ===
* [[Human]]s are the only species to use [[Red alert|red]] as their danger signal. Everyone else uses [[Mauve alert|mauve]].

=== Technology ===
* [[Mobile phone]]s interfere with the instruments on Jack's ship.
* [[Nanogene]]s are used to heal the rope burns on Rose's hands that she suffered while hanging from a [[barrage balloon]] during the Blitz.

=== Vehicles ===
* The bomb the Doctor and Rose follow is actually a [[Chula ambulance]]. 
* Jack flies a [[Chula warship]].
* [[Barrage balloon]]s are being used in the [[London Blitz]].

=== From the real world ===
==== Fictional characters ====
* Rose refers to Jack and the Doctor as "[[Spock]]".

==== Mammals ====
* The Doctor says about [[milk]], "Of all the species, in all the universe, it has to come from [[cow]]s."
* The Doctor talks to a [[cat]] about his companions "wandering off". 
* The Doctor describe the [[United Kingdom|UK]] standing up and fighting against [[Germany]] as "a [[mouse]] in front of a [[lion]]".

==== Foods and beverages ====
* Jack and Rose drink [[champagne]].

==== Music ====
* ''[[Moonlight Serenade]]'' is heard — a famous [[1939]] orchestral piece by Glen Miller which was originally only a B-side. His ''[[In The Mood]]'' is also heard.
* Jamie makes "[[Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens]]" play on the [[radio]]. The Doctor then references the song name to Jamie, soon correcting himself — ''this'' [[chicken]] — when he realises the song's stopped playing.

== Story notes ==
* This story introduces [[John Barrowman]] as [[Jack Harkness]]. Although slated to become a companion, Barrowman's name is not added to the opening credits. The notion of adding a third name to reflect an "expanded roster" would not be introduced until Barrowman's return to the series [[Series 3 (Doctor Who)|two years later]] in ''[[Utopia (TV story)|Utopia]]''.
* The only words the Empty Child says not in relation to his mummy are "[[balloon]]" and a mention of his fear of "[[bombs]]".
* The Empty Child shows an ability to make [[telephone]]s ring even when they are not really connected to anything, such as the fake [[police box phone]]. [[Steven Moffat]] would later reuse this device in his series {{wi|Jekyll (TV series)|Jekyll}}, in which Mr. Hyde develops the ability to make his alter ego, Tom Jackman, believe that phones are ringing even if they are turned off or disconnected, and can then communicate with Jackman through these phones.

=== Ratings ===
* 7.1 million viewers

=== Filming locations ===
* [[Barry Island]]
* [[Cardiff Royal Infirmary]], [[Cardiff]].

=== Production errors ===
{{discontinuity}}
* When the Doctor opens the TARDIS' telephone compartment, it's blue but both the inside of the TARDIS doors and the phone compartment are white.

== Continuity ==
* Jack is a Time Agent. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Talons of Weng-Chiang]]'', ''[[Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (TV story)|Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang]]'', ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[Eater of Wasps]]'', ''[[Trading Futures]]'', ''[[Human Nature (novel)|Human Nature]]'')
* Jack will later return to an earlier point in World War II and meet the real [[Jack Harkness (Captain Jack Harkness)|Jack Harkness]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Captain Jack Harkness (TV story)|Captain Jack Harkness]]'')
* The [[Chula ambulance]] jumps [[time track]]s. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Space Museum (TV story)|The Space Museum]]'')
* According to [[Gwen Cooper]]'s [[police]] colleague, [[Yvonne (Everything Changes)|Yvonne]], a detailed search of [[United Kingdom|UK]] records revealed that Captain Jack Harkness failed to report for duty on [[21 January]] [[1941]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Everything Changes]]'')
* The [[Tenth Doctor]] says "Are you my mummy?" when given a gas mask to wear ([[TV]]: ''[[The Poison Sky (TV story)|The poison Sky]]''), as does the [[Twelfth Doctor]] when he sees the mummy-like [[Foretold]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Mummy on the Orient Express (TV story)|Mummy on the Orient Express]]'')

== Home video releases ==
[[File:Bbcdvd-s1-v3.jpg|thumb|Series 1 Volume 3 DVD Cover]]
* This story was released on a vanilla DVD with ''[[The Long Game]]'', ''[[Father's Day (TV story)|Father's Day]]'' and ''[[The Doctor Dances]]''.
* It was also released as part of the series 1 DVD box set.
* This story was also released with Issue 5 of the [[Doctor Who DVD Files]].

== External links ==
* {{bbcdw|episodes/2005/emptychild.shtml|The Empty Child}}
* {{dwrefguide|who_tv08.htm|The Empty Child}}
* {{whoniverse|9I.php|The Empty Child}}
* {{briefhistory|serials/2005ij.html|The Empty Child}}
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[[Category:Doctor Who (2005) television stories]]
[[Category:Ninth Doctor television stories]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1941]]
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[[Category:Bad Wolf arc]]
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[[Category:Pseudo-historical stories]]
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