The Cutprice Guignol

So, I was writing about my favourite episode of The Simpsons recently, and it got me to thinking about some of my other best-of episodes for the shows closest to my heart. And, within precisely one split-second, something obvious sprang to mind: The Empty Child/Doctor Dances two-parter in season one of the new Doctor Who reboot.

I’m sure I’ve written about this show quite enough already, but I haven’t actually shared why this episode is so special to me. I first saw it when it was originally broadcast back in 2005, and I was nine years old; my exposure to horror had been very limited at that point, because of my overactive imagination and general tendency to send myself into a tailspin of terror over Bear in the Big Blue House. Even though there had been episodes of this season I had found scary, they had always resolved within the episode, there had always been a way to “beat” the monster, a sense of safety lying in bed that night.

But this? No, this two-parter scared the shit out of me, and then left me a whole week on a horrifying gas mask zombie cliffhanger with no idea how I might defeat that bastard kid when he, inevitably, emerged from the dark spot in the hallway on my way to the bathroom in the middle of the night. That spooked-out anticipation – fear, but that curiosity and drive to see where it went – really did open up my mind to horror stories in a way nothing else had by that point. Horror has been such a huge part of my life, honestly, and I really think this was the start of it.

The start of something else, too – my burgeoning bisexuality. Well, no, I’d been attracted to men and women all my life by that point, but these episodes introduced Jack Harkness, an openly bisexual man who doesn’t either die or get outed as a dangerous sexual deviant by the end of the story (Nip/Tuck, I am looking at you). He was a genuinely important character for me, treated with seriousness by the show by not the kind of preachy acceptance that so much LGBTQ representation did at the time. I remember watching these episodes, and Jack in them, and some part of my brain going “ah, that’s it”.

(also, and this is a lot less serious and a lot more stupid, I think this episode is the reason I hate so much of Steven Moffat’s later tenure on the show; this and Blink are such spectacularly good episodes, rich with meaning while focusing on tight, focused storytelling, that when I saw him churning Pyramid at the End of the Sodding World or whatever, it’s harder to forgive, you know?)

But beyond that, I also love what the episode represents for the show, too. It’s a really excellent one-off monster of the week story, genuinely spooky, making great and inventive use of the setting, with strong guest characters who feel well fleshed-out and are given satisfying arcs that close out with the episode. The now-iconic ending – “everybody lives. Just this once, everybody lives” – is such a brilliant moment for this version of the Doctor, a moment of victory in the recent history of defeats, and a great demonstration of the warmth that Christopher Eccleston brings to the role. It was also the first time I remember being aware of the new version of the show becoming a huge talking point in the UK; I have distant memories of bootleg “Are You My Mummy” t-shirts being sold out of the back of a car somewhere, and it felt like everyone was talking about the episode.

The Empty Child/Doctor Dances has such a warm place in my heart, but I’d also really love to hear about your favourite episodes of Doctor Who. Are there any that have had an impact on you that you’ve never forgotten? Let me know in the comments!

To both herself and the circles she moves in, she’s a success story. 

(header image via Bradley’s Basement)