Trivia / Doctor Who S27 E9 "The Empty Child"

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• Completely Different Title:
  • The French title is "Drôle de Mort" (A Weird Dead)
  • The Hungarian title is "Bomba meglepetés" (Bomb Surprise).
• First Appearance: Of Captain Jack Harkness.
• Never Work with Children or Animals: Nancy's group had more relevance in early drafts, but as most of this episode takes place during night and shot during the evening, filming restrictions for children at night necessitated that a majority of their child actors would not be available and thus got demoted to minor roles in the final product. Scenes like the kids eating dinner were meant to only showcase them, but were rewritten to feature the Doctor to lighten their time in the story.
• Older Than They Think: This isn't the first time the TARDIS phone has been a plot point. For example, it was part of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, a story originally written for Doctor Who.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Early drafts included the character of Jamie's father, who would silently and anonymously appear to aid Nancy and the war orphans. The climactic discovery of his true identity would be accompanied by the revelation that he is German, providing an alternative motivation to Nancy's shame.
  • Steven Moffat's original outline envisioned Jax (masquerading under the alias "Jack Harkness") as an interstellar alien soldier who befriends the Doctor but intimidates Rose. He was to be tracking an escaped child-creature, the story's antagonist.
• Working Title: "World War II" and "The Empty Boy".

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