DOCTOR WHO - The Empty Child

By: Jason Davis
Review Date: Saturday, May 13, 2006

At once harkening back to the tropes of the classic series and raising the bar for the modern incarnation, "The Empty Child" excels at everything that makes good DOCTOR WHO. From the TARDIS' arrival in 1941 London to the onslaught of the gas masked patients in Albion Hospital, the episode features all the cinematic disciplines working in concert to create a truly memorable experience that effectively sets up the second half of the story while presenting a coherent and entertaining whole.

Writer Steven Moffat, best known as the creator of the UK hit COUPLING, often employed intricately plotted parallel stories in his own series and brings that talent, along with his magnificent sense of humor, to DOCTOR WHO. In the tradition of the original series, the Doctor and his companion are quickly parted to embark on their own separate experiences before being reunited at the show's climax. Whereas the original series used this device to pad out the story with two locales eating up screen time to fill the timeslot, Moffat essentially creates two Doctor/companion pairings. While the Doctor teams up with Nancy to investigate the mysterious child, Rose finds a surrogate Doctor in Captain Jack Harkness, a 51st Century conman who fits her TREK inspired ideas of a space adventurer. Both teams proceed elegantly through their split story allowing the writer to hide exposition in the creepy Doctor/Nancy sequences alongside more information in the Rose/Jack moments. Still, Moffat's greatest accomplishment has to be the sheer horror exuded by a gas-masked child calling out for a missing mother. Touching upon the sense of loss every child feels when separated from a parent and combining it with an unnaturalness that raises the hairs on the back of the neck, the writer has created what will doubtlessly remain one of the most iconic images in DOCTOR WHO.


Director James Hawes, making his DOCTOR WHO debut, manages an astonishing energy even in scenes that should be drowning in plot points while his crew create a realistic and atmospheric Blitz-ridden London. The film noir lighting adds a tremendous element of menace while the production design, as usual for BBC period pieces, is spot on. The special effects, particularly the air raid and Dr. Constantine's transformation, make one wonder whether they're watching the same series that once presented green bubble wrap as an alien parasite and Murray Gold's music has never been better.

On the acting front, Christopher Eccleston delivers absolute magic with his astonishment at the ringing of the TARDIS phone while his delivery of the "damp, little island" speech echoes the majesty of a similar monologue delivered by Tom Baker's Doctor in "The Ark in Space." Rose's flirtation with Jack Harkness takes advantage of Moffat's COUPLING experience to craft a witty repartee complete with a use of the now ubiquitous psychic paper. As Harkness, John Barrowman gets little to do besides smile and offer exposition, but the actor's charisma imbues every scene he's in and calls to mind the roguish characters oft employed by the original show's best writer, Robert Holmes. Florence Hoath's Nancy is another in a long line of guest characters who beg to be abducted by the Doctor to become a series regular. Contrasting her innocence with the certainty that she knows more than she's telling, Nancy takes on a depth seldom afforded to supporting characters in the series and her tragic ties to the titular empty child guarantee the audience's affection. With this wealth of talent in front of the camera, it's quite an accomplishment for Richard Wilson to steal the episode as Dr. Constantine whose sole scene builds the subtle menace of the first 35 minutes to a magnificent crescendo climaxing in... the credits.