One of the most chilling episodes of Doctor Who ever.

The “uncannyness” of the Empty Child is genius - a way to have a scary monster with no CGI and no gore.

This cemented Moffat as my favourite writer for the show!

Just finished up empty child with my nephew he wanted to watch it due to the ending of reality war and cause he’s studied ww2 in school atm it’s kind of a perfect two parter and he seemed to love it so on to part 2

Say what you will, but Moffat sure can write a banger. This is an iconic story for so many reasons. The titular “Empty Child” was nightmare fuel for many a child following their first viewing—me included. And of course, we are introduced to the notoriously flirtatious Captain Jack Harkness. The Doctor and Rose are split up, Rose being rescued by Jack and subsequently fancying him as she tries to figure out what he’s doing in the Blitz while the Doctor starts to solve the mystery behind the iconic gas-masked child with sparing information from the stubbornly independent Nancy. The story is so well written, balancing the tension of the horror aspects with the strong personalities of all the characters.

Steven "The Moff" Moffat comes in heavy from the top rope and delivers lasting childhood nightmares

There’s just so many great ideas, characters and moments all throughout. The nightmare inducing Empty Child with his iconic catchphrase, the introduction of Captain Jack Harkness, the clever revelation of what’s causing the gas mask plague and why, the emotional ending and Eccleston’s outstanding performance. I just never get tired of revisiting this story.

Out of all of Steven Moffat’s written works, this has aged considerably better than most of his episodes. Mostly due to the fact that while it’s bursting with imagination and different ideas, he never gets over ambitious or ahead of himself. The story is kept tightly written and never veers off in a pointless direction. The characters also have a lot more dimension compared to a lot of Moffat’s later side characters whose names I can’t remember even if you held a gun to my head! Especially when this story introduces the one and only Captain Jack Harkness who absolutely steals the show. It’s a real shame Jack’s time onboard the TARDIS was as short-lived as it was, he’s easily the most fun part of the Ninth Doctor era.