Who’s Your Mummy?
The Eyes Have It
Steven Moffatt has written a story in each of the two series of the Doctor Who so far (this two parter, The Empty Child/ The Doctor Dances, and The Girl In The Fireplace in series two) and while Paul Cornell got a Hugo nomination for Father’s Day, Stephen went on to win the gong for this double bill. However, it is not just anonymous award’s committee that say this is good, in any survey of stroies you care to read you can guarantee that these stories will always do well. Take for example the current SFX Special who have conducted just such a poll: TGITF scores 4.71 out of 5, TEC scores 4.70 and TDD scores 4.66… they occupy positions 1, 2 and 3 respectively. This is why Blink is so highly anticipated in a couple of month’s time.
Back to the issue in hand, and everying on screen looked quite magnificent. The episode was set over one night in 1941 during the height of the blitz and the atmosphere was pitch perfect from the smoky nightclub and the bomb shelters to the creepy hospital and terraced houses. The set designers managed to recreate an evocative and sombre scene throughout. Memorable moment after memorable moment were played out before us, such as Rose’s trip suspended under a barrage balloon, wearing a union flag T-shirt during a German bombing raid. It may have been a little contrived in its set up but the execution was faultless. The chilling “Are you my mummy?” became something of a catchphrase thanks to the eponymous child’s questioning in scene after scene of unmitigating (for 7pm) scariness. The science-y aspect to it was also simplicity itself with revelation about the nature of the nanogenes being cleverly and slowly revealed.
Three great guest stars also delighted throughout the pair of episodes. Richard Willson was a little underused (“What was the cause of death?” “There wasn’t one”) but he will go down in Doctor Who history for the scene where his face contorts into a gasmark-wearing zombie, and his resurrection at the end was a beautifully understated scene with some cracking dialougue. However, it may have been Florence Hoath playing the role of Nancy that stole the show as she came to terms with the apparent death of her son by helping out the street children that roamed London before meeting up with the Doctor to face all of her demons. The third star of the story was, of course, John Barrowman who was introduced as Captain Jack, a character so successfull that he went on to get his own spin-off show as well as a forthcoming return to Doctor Who.
Anyone who has watched Steven Moffatt’s series Coupling will know that he has a keen sense of humour and a good grasp on sexual politics. He was a perfect choice of writer to introduce Jack, the flirtatious, omni-sexual, inter-galactic conman, in to the TARDIS crew. The euphamistic “dancing” metaphor recurred throughout the story with an intriguing, unrequited love triangle developing between them: Rose dancing with both of them before the tale was told. I could talk for hours about the brilliance of the story but it’s much easier to go and dig out your DVDs and enjoy the tale once more.
Tags: Captain-Jack, Coupling, Doctor Who, Eccleston, Florence-Hoath, John-Barrowman, Richard-Willson, Rose-Tyler, SFX, Steven-Moffatt, The-Blitz, The-Doctor-Dances, The-Empty-Child
