Pete Alan Tyler, the fatherof Rose and husband of Jackie, died on November 7 1987, the day of Stuart Hoskins and Sarah Clark’s wedding. Rose was just a baby at the time, Jackie told the young Rose that nobody was there for Pete when he died and that the hit-and-run driver was never found…
Now grown up, Rose asks the Ninth Doctor to take her to see him alive, but on a whim, ends up changing his fate, not realising the consequences of such a paradox. After all, The Doctor has saved so many lives…what could the real consequences be over a man alive in the world who wasn’t alive before?
NOTES
The Doctor references Rose at first declining to join him, until he told her the TARDIS was a time machine. (Rose)
A poster advertising a rave on a wall near where Pete was supposed to die in the beginning has the words “BAD WOLF” defacing it. (See Story arcs in Doctor Who.)
Although never named in the programme, the creatures were called the Reapers in publicity material. They bear a strong resemblance to the Chronovores (first featured in The Time Monster) as portrayed in Paul Cornell’s Doctor Who New Adventures novel No Future, the Vortisaurs in the Eighth Doctor’s first series of audio adventures for Big Finish Productions, and the Hunters in the New Adventures novel The Pit by Neil Penswick.
Although also not named on screen, the driverof the car that kills Pete is named Matt in the shooting script.
As a Reaper is about to consume Sarah Clarke, she screams shrilly and it turns away to attack the vicar instead. Logistically, the reasons for the Reaper’s actions are not readily apparent. In the shooting script for the episode, it is the vicar who leaps into the way of the Reaper and allows Sarah and Stuart to get inside the church, but this is not what is seen on screen.
Rose says that Pete will never start “World War Three”. The Doctor tells the infant Rose that she is not going to bring about “the end of the world”.
These were both titles of episodes earlier in the season.
The young Mickey runs to Rose and hugs her around her waist, in the same way that the adult Mickey hugged her legs in “Rose” when he did not want her to leave.
A possible continuity error is that the baby Rose has blue eyes, the younger Rose has green eyes, but the adult Rose has brown eyes. However, it is not uncommon for a baby’s eyes to change colour from blue (to green) to brown as the eyes develop melanin over time.
