10 Disturbing Backstories Behind Doctor Who Characters
1. The Empty Child
One of the most harrowing stories to come from the new era of Doctor Who came in the episode "The Empty Child." The episode introduced Captain Jack Harkness as well, so it stands as one of the best, but with him came a young boy whose lingering question, "Are you my mummy?" These four words alone manage to strike fear in every Doctor Who fan.
The child was shown wearing a gas mask, and he would ask the question before touching another person. Doing so would transform their face into a gas mask, just like the child's. It was terrifying, and the child was constantly chasing a young woman around.
The plague was inexplicable, but the Doctor managed to figure it out. The Empty Child was a young boy killed during the London Blitz. When he died, he was wearing the gas mask, which became important when the nanogenes from Jack's ship attempted to rescue him.
Because they didn't know how to recreate the child, they restored him with the mask as a part of his face. He spread the nanogenes to others, creating the plague. When he was finally reunited with the young woman, who turned out to be his Mother, the nanogenes understood the Mother's DNA, and restored the child and everyone else.
Doctor Who Quiz: Which Villains Do You Know?
