Trivia / Doctor Who S27 E2 "The End of the World"

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• Budget-Busting Element: Showrunner Russell T Davies' inexperience with managing a sci-fi show resulted in most of the budget for series 1 being spent on this episode, which featured heavy use of expensive CGI and elaborate practical alien effects and costumes. The reduced budget for the rest of the season is why many of the other episodes of series 1 have a contemporary UK setting.
• Deleted Scene: A number of deleted scenes from the episode are printed in The Shooting Scripts, including a different death for Raffalo, conversations cut for time, and another scene where Rose contacts her mom Jackie as the sun rays break through the gallery.
• Reality Subtext:
  • Rose Tyler rants at the "bitchy trampoline" Cassandra that "she'd rather die" than have any of the cosmetic modifications Cassandra suggests. The very powerful subtext at work here is that Billie Piper had anorexia years earlier.
  • In 2019, Christopher Eccleston revealed that around this time he was also anorexic, as well as bulimic. He later described himself as a "lifelong body-hater".
• Shoot the Money: The episode introduces the Face of Boe, which is clearly an extremely expensive prop. It takes practically no part in the story other than looking exotic. Fans with some grasp of the economics of television production knew they'd be seeing more of it. And so it proved, as it returned in the following two series, complete with actual importance to the story.
• Trolling Creator: The line stating religion is not allowed on Platform One is one of those controversial moments where Russell T Davies, the showrunner at the time, inserted his own beliefs (or lack thereof) into the narratives, fully intending to provoke controversy.
• Troubled Production: Russell T Davies had never managed a Science Fiction series before, and didn't really know how to properly budget it. This led him to blow the majority of the first series' budget on this episode. While the rest of Series 1 did struggle a little because of it — the settings and sets are noticeably limited — the show was already a guaranteed success from the revival's initial episode and remains fondly remembered today despite this.

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