Trivia / Torchwood: Children of Earth

• Playing Against Type: At the time this was made, Peter Capaldi was best known for playing Anti-Hero Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It — a man with no scruples or shame over the corrupt government he works for. He plays John Frobisher, a Butt-Monkey Anti-Villain who is so ashamed of his government's acts he commits suicide after murdering his family to spare his family from being turned over to the 456. The two characters are polar opposites.
• What Could Have Been: Martha Jones and Mickey Smith were supposed to appear (Martha in all the episodes and Mickey in the last two), but Freema Agyeman was busy, as was Noel Clarke for a film shoot. They hoped Martha could still make a cameo in the first episode, but even that was eventually scrapped. The two are explained away as being on their honeymoon (though we don't know it's them married until Doctor Who's The End of Time - we are led to assume it was Tom Milligan up to the reveal that Martha actually married Mickey) and unable to help the team. As a result, Lois Habiba was created as a Suspiciously Similar Substitute for Martha, spying on the government officials for Torchwood using the Eye-5s.

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