Doctor Who: 13 Cool Details Steven Moffat Just Revealed About The Girl In The Fireplace
Those clockwork droids were almost a LOT hairier.
While the second series of modern Doctor Who is probably David Tennant's weakest run in the TARDIS (Love & Monsters says hi), it's not without its high points.
Tooth and Claw is a fun creature-feature romp, School Reunion's inclusion of Sarah Jane and K9 is a fan-pleasing treat, and two-part finale Army of Ghosts and Doomsday is an explosive blockbuster ride, one that will forever be remembered due to the heartbreaking departure of Rose (and the surprising introduction of Donna!).
But the best the series has to offer is Steven Moffat's The Girl in the Fireplace. Part fairytale, part time-travel story and part romance, the episode has it all: a menacing villain, a twisty-turny narrative that keeps you on your toes, a soulful score by the great Murray Gold, and, of course, the Doctor being an arrogant show-off.
What's not to like?
To celebrate its fourteenth birthday, Doctor Who fans around the world recently gathered for a virtual watch-party of the episode, which was also attended by former showrunner Russell T Davies, star Sophia Myles, and Moffat himself, all of whom shared a load of cool and interesting behind-the-scenes details on Twitter.
From alternate scenes to production problems - and even a sneaky connection to The Waters of Mars - here are the very best things that they revealed.
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.