Trivia / Doctor Who S30 E12 "The Stolen Earth"

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• Author's Saving Throw: To the Doctor's controversial decision in "The Christmas Invasion" to overthrow Harriet Jones, Prime Minister ^note Yes, we know who she is, since the Doctor himself stated she was supposed to lead Britain into a new Golden Age, and the ensuing power vacuum subsequently helped lead to the rise of Harold Saxon and Brian Green. He did this in opposition to a decision where many fans agreed with Harriet, or at least understood her perspective.^note blowing up the retreating Sycorax, a species shown in the episode to be both incredibly bloodthirsty and very untrustworthy. This episode, in essence, proves Harriet right by playing out the horrors of the exact scenario she used to justify her actions... one day, Earth will be under attack and the Doctor won't be around to defend it, so humanity needs to be able to protect itself. The episode itself even lampshades it, with Harriet stating that she stands by her decision because she knew this day would come.
• Dawson Casting: The role of Gen. Sanchez was written for a man in his forties, but played by a man in his sixties: Michael Brandon. Downplayed, however, since there's nothing in the script itself that suggests his age.
• Deleted Role:
  • Margaret Blaine, the Slitheen who was reverted back to an egg in "Boom Town" was due to make a cameo in a scene with the Shadow Proclamation, and Annette Badland even recorded a line of dialogue but the scene was cut.
  • Philip McGough recorded alien voices for a scene that was never filmed.
• The Other Darrin: Julian Bleach becomes the fourth actor to play Davros. Michael Wisher died in 1995, David Gooderson wasn't contacted, and Terry Molloy turned down the offer to reprise the role thanks to him not being fond of Russell T Davies' prior writing work.
• Pop-Culture Urban Legends: Contrary to how the fandom's Memetic Mutation would describe it, the Dalek that shoots the Doctor does indeed yell "EXTERMINATE!" before doing so.
• Promoted Fanboy: Paul O'Grady was given a cameo after Davies heard that he was a fan of the show.
• Reality Subtext: Sarah Jane tells Jack that she's been "keeping away from you lot — too many guns", a clear reference to the fact that The Sarah Jane Adventures was a CBBC show while Torchwood was very much geared towards adults.
• Recycled Set: The staircase which Donna is sitting on at the Shadow Proclamation is the same staircase on which Owen Harper fights death in "Dead Man Walking".
• Throw It In!: The whole business with the paintball gun was suggested by Bernard Cribbins, who plays Wilfred Mott, in a phone call with Russell T Davies. Cribbins also ad-libbed the line about swapping his weapon with Rose's BFG.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Alonso Frame was supposed to appear when the Doctor and Donna travel to the Shadow Proclamation to deal with his bosses. He would travel with them to the Dalek Crucible, only to be exterminated. His role was given to Harriet Jones as Russell Tovey wasn't available for filming. Davies noted in the DVD Commentary if Penelope Wilton was also not available, his backup plans to fill in that role were Elton Pope from "Love & Monsters" or Joan Redfern's great-great-granddaughter^note This character idea saw use in a different context for "The End of Time".
  • Speaking of the Shadow Proclamation: the original plan was for it to be filled with aliens from past episodes, such as the aforementioned cameo from Margaret Blaine. This version was scrapped as it would have taken up too much of the budget.
  • There was originally a scene where a Dalek saucer landed at Westminster and one in which the Daleks exterminated the Prime Minister, Aubrey Fairchild, before the Dalek invasion force emerged from the saucer. Fairchild's name would later be used for a murder victim in "The Next Doctor".
  • Davies admits that he contemplated having a companion from the classic series, such as Polly Wright or Tegan Jovanka, take on Harriet Jones' role of coordinating the subspace network.
  • There was a plan in one draft to have the book and DVD shop run by Sally Sparrow and Larry Nightingale to be crushed by a Dalek ship, but this scene wasn't filmed.
  • There was originally a flashback showing Davros' childhood and later life, including the explosion which scarred him. This segment never made it past scripting though.
  • Davies considered destroying New York, but decided against it.

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