Episode #167 : The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances

"Are you my mummy?"

Episode 167:   The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances.
Companions:   9th Doctor and Rose Tyler.
Air Date:         21st to 28th May 2005.

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, an "empty" child wearing a gas mask.

I love Doctor Who when it attempts horror, and with the production values of the new series the BBC can do some absolutely fantastic ones. This particular adventure is the first horror themed story of the new series and it is a gem of the first series. What makes it work is the strange psychological reaction we have towards something disturbing that involves children. The repeated cry of "are you my mummy?" certainly sends a chill down the spine.

This adventure introduces Captain Jack Harkness, a former time agent now working as a con man throughout time. He starts off as a criminal type with a heart of gold and grows to be a braver man and future companion. As we know he will eventually go on to lead the remains of the Torchwood institute but for now he is a great new companion, probably my favourite of all the new series companions.

As well as being a scary story, we also get a lot of humour in this one which at last actually begins to feel right. New Who certainly likes to be more amusing than it's classic predecessor. At the time of transmission I found this somewhat odd but have grown to see it as a necessary addition for modern family audiences. But this is the first adventure where it fits perfectly.

The Empty Child episode does not contain a Bad Wolf reference. Instead, it appears in the second part, written in German on the side of a bomb dropped during the air raid.