Sally Sparrow Almost Had a Grizzly End in 'Doctor Who'

Even though it scared the living daylights out of us all, the Doctor Who story "Blink" still remains a fan favourite episode for many fans. Purely because of its dark plot and the seriously terrifying statue creatures central to the episode — The Weeping Angels.

It's now been over ten years since the spine-tingling episode first aired on BBC One, and to mark the anniversary, the writer of the episode, Steven Moffat, has relived the days of venturing round Scooby-Doo's house by revealing a very dark secret regarding the episode, and it's not good news for one character.

The episode, perfect for a Halloween viewing, almost ended completely different, and it's not good news for Sally Sparrow (Carey Mulligan), the main character of the episode. Speaking to doctorwho.tv, the current showrunner of the hit BBC show spoke about how he writes female characters for the long-running science fiction show. He described:

"Despite the deafening applause right now for Bill Potts and Missy, I do seem to be under a fair amount of attack for my female characters. And while there's no probably no smoke without fire, can I put my head on the block and say I think I wrote Sally rather well?"

Following on from that quote, Moffat continued on his interview and went to explaining how well he thought he wrote the character, Sally Sparrow. Explaining his thoughts, Moffat said:

"The line, 'Sad is happy for deep people' may be a bit (as in very) smart-arse, but it sums her up perfectly. The slightly detached, melancholy girl, in love with the past — forgive me, but I do think I nailed that."

By reflecting on the much-loved character, Moffat went onto revealing a secret that would've meant Sally Sparrow would've met a grizzly end in Doctor Who.

The final version of "Blink" saw Sally and her what is now best friend, Larry (Finlay Robertson) trick the wicked Weeping Angels into looking at each other. As soon as the Weeping Angels look directly at each other, they suddenly freeze where they are and return to be normal statues again.

The episode as aired saw Sally and Larry (Finlay Robertson), with the help of the Doctor, trick the Weeping Angels into looking at each other – freezing the monsters like statues. By tricking the angels, Sally and Larry both avoided being either killed or being sent back in time.

However, Moffat has now had second thoughts on the episode and has announced that he had a more grim ending all prepared to make fans jaws drop with shock — Sally becoming a prime target to the Weeping Angels, ending very nasty. Moffat expressed:

"All these years later, I wonder why I didn't end it like that? Just after she meets the Doctor, she pops back into the shop — and big fright, there's an Angel there! A moment later Larry follows her in, and she's gone. And for the first time he notices something about a painting on the wall — it's Sally, in the distant past. And she's smiling and waving."

On the other hand, Moffat went against the idea and kept it at a fairy tale ending, which of course pleased Doctor Who fans. Finishing his interview, Moffat explained why he kept the episode with a happy ending by saying:

"But no, maybe not. Maybe it was better she learned to live in the moment — to take Larry's hand and move on. Maybe, in fact, it's time I stopped rewriting this script (you never do, you know) and let it be."

What do you think of Moffat's alternative ending to the classic episode "Blink?"