The Empty Child in "real life"

This is the latest in a series of Doctor Who in “Real Life” posts. The idea is that I discuss how episodes work from a real world perspective. To celebrate it’s ten year anniversary, today I am looking at the two-part story The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances.

Surprisingly, a few photographs exist from Albion Hospital during the blitz of 1941.

Unfortunately there is little written evidence about what was referred to as “Empty Child Syndrome” other than this unclear sheet of medical paperwork:

More recently, UNIT published a press release about Sclechter Wolf bombs:

They’ll be another “in real life” post next week!


^{(Once again, the material from this post comes via here.)}

The Doctor and the Dalek

I realise I am a bit late on this one but having recently purchased a new tablet I finally downloaded the excellent game “The Doctor and the Dalek”.

Ostensibly this is a computer programming game aimed at children- programming is a big part of the latest National Curriculum. However, the programming aspect is only a part of the gameplay and like the show the game is child-friendly but equally enjoyable for adults.

In a plot written by Phil Ford, the Twelfth Doctor (actually voiced by Peter Capaldi in the game) finds himself teamed up with a dalek which has malfunctioned and is now “good”. You control the dalek, sending it through the tombs of the cybermen, the clone chambers of the sontarans and the belly of the dalek-infested Time Lord ship the Starbane to collect the pieces of an ancient artefact.

The story is fairly simple but there’s a great twist at the end which I didn’t really expect. Most of the game features fairly standard 2D platforming as you travel through the various levels, hovering and exterminating enemies which get in your way. Most players will be familiar with this type of gameplay- it’s like a Doctor Who version of Mario.

During each level there is a programming section. In these sections you select instructions for the dalek so it can either collect an object or exterminate all the enemies. It starts off fairly simple with a tutorial but gradually increases in difficulty throughout the levels. The best thing about it is that their is always an obvious solution but the challenge is in putting in the fewest number of instructions to complete the level. The programming challenges are also available outside of the main gameplay by clicking “TARDIS Training” on the home screen.

My only complaint about the game really is the length- there aren’t that many levels and if you know what you are doing it won’t take very long to complete. Still, considering this is something for nothing it is really rather good and I recommend it to all Doctor Who fans. I really hope the BBC do more of this sort of thing in the not too distant future!

You can play on your computer or on a tablet by downloading an app from the Apple, Amazon or Google Play stores.