Father's Day (Doctor Who)

"Father's Day" is the eighth episode of the first series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, first broadcast on 14 May 2005 on BBC One.

In this episode, alien time traveller the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) agrees to take his companion Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) back to the day her father Pete (Shaun Dingwall) died in 1987.

When Rose intervenes and pulls her father out of the path of a car, time is wounded and dangerous Reapers attack, threatening to erase history.

Lead writer and executive producer Russell T Davies conceived "Father's Day" as an emotionally driven time travel story to explore Rose's character.

The monster element of the story was expanded based on suggestions from Cornell and BBC Head of Drama Jane Tranter, and the Reapers went through many designs.

[1] This episode's mention of the Series wide arc of "Bad Wolf" comes in the form of graffiti faintly scribbled on a poster on a wall in a panning shot.

Rose decides to go with Pete to his friend's wedding, while the Doctor returns to the TARDIS only to find that it is now an empty shell.

Realising that he must die to restore the timeline, Pete runs in front of the car that was originally meant to kill him; it had continued to appear and disappear on the road just outside the church.

Pete is hit by the car and fatally injured, repairing the timeline, and the Reapers' victims including the Doctor reappear.

[2] Rose believes Pete to be "a bit of a Del Boy", referring to the character from 1980s comedy Only Fools and Horses.

[4] According to producer Phil Collinson, showrunner Russell T Davies came up with the concept for "Father's Day" at an early stage in the planning of the series, as it was a "perfect time travel story".

[5] Additionally, the previous seven episodes had established why Rose was a good companion, and so "Father's Day" shows that she does make mistakes, but in a relatable way.

[8] Originally Pete was to take a swig of wine before sacrificing himself, but this was removed because a correlation between alcohol and bravery was not thought to be a positive message.

[8] For the 1980s style, members of the cast and crew brought in photographs of themselves from the 80s; for example, peach dresses and "big hair" were incorporated, but these elements were not meant to be distracting.

Originally, they were supposed to be "men in cowls" based on the Grim Reaper; the final design retains some of this image with its "scythe-like tail".

[8] SFX praised the way the concept of time was explored as well as the accurate representation of the '80s, and stated that Dingwall gave "one of the series' best performances" as Pete Tyler.

Blumburg did note, however, that there were "enormous logical gaps" involving "glowing TARDIS keys and under-explained paradoxes".

[16] In 2013, Radio Times reviewer Mark Braxton described it as "a time-travel tale with immense heart" and highlighted the shift of identification from the Doctor to Rose and the acting of Piper and Dingwall.

[3] "Father's Day" was nominated for the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form, alongside other first series episodes "Dalek" and "The Empty Child" / "The Doctor Dances".