Doctor Who: 13 Cool Details Steven Moffat Just Revealed About The Girl In The Fireplace

13. It Was Originally The First Episode Of The Series

As it stands, The Girl in the Fireplace is the fourth episode of Series 2, following on from New Earth, Tooth and Claw, and School Reunion.

But in the planning stages for the series, the order of the episodes changed around a lot, and at one point, The Girl in the Fireplace was actually episode one.

During the watch-along, Davies explained that he was trying to lure Moffat back with that prestigious premiere slot, but after he read the script for The Girl in the Fireplace, he realised that, while it was a great episode... it just wasn't a great first episode.

As a result, it was shifted to later in the series, but even then, Davies still wasn't happy with its position. He worried that having two royal/historical episodes so close together (the other being Tooth and Claw, which involves Queen Victoria) would end up being a problem. Clearly though, he was wrong on that front.

Interestingly, another of Davies' tweets revealed that The Runaway Bride was originally intended to air midway through Series 2, rather than being its own standalone Christmas special.