Trivia / Doctor Who S36 E9 "Empress of Mars"

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• Actor Allusion: When Bill describes herself and the Doctor as a form of police, Col. Godsacre laughs dismissively at the notion of a woman serving in the police. His actor, Anthony Calf, was previously a recurring character on New Tricks, which featured a female chief inspector in charge of the Met's cold-case squad.
• Deleted Scene: The Doctor and Bill help Friday with the washing up and the Doctor attempts unsuccessfully to get him to admit to an ulterior motive in bringing the soldiers to Mars. Friday speaks of being the last of his kind in a way that echoes things the Doctor has said about being the last of the Time Lords. Bill asks the Doctor if he's sure he's not just suspicious of Friday because he's a big green alien monster, and the Doctor gives her a short speech about alien races having individuals just the same way humans do.
• The Original Darrin: Alpha Centauri's original voice actress, Ysanne Churchman, had retired from acting just before the Big Finish Doctor Who audio range got underway, leading to Jane Goddard taking over the role for its Big Finish appearances. Instead of just having Goddard voice the character here however, the production team brought back Churchman to reprise the role after an absence of over four decades, and at the age of 92 years old.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Originally, Winston Churchill was going to be part of this story simply because Ian McNeice wanted to play him onscreen again (as he had in Series 5 and 6), but neither Steven Moffat or Mark Gatiss could figure out how to work Churchill into an 1881 setting.
  • This script replaced Gatiss's original plan for a sequel to "Sleep No More" that would have been set in The Present Day after Gatiss learned that Moffat, Peter Capaldi, et al. were all leaving the show, whereupon he decided to take a long-dormant and much more elaborate premise out of mothballs.
  • Gatiss wrote this script before Nardole was established as a secondary companion for Series 10, so originally he wasn't in it at all. This is why he's quickly sidelined in a way that also furthers the Missy-in-the-Vault Story Arc.
• You Look Familiar: Anthony Calf's first TV appearance was in "The Visitation"... where he got killed in the first episode.

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