The Girl in the Fireplace ( TV story ) The Girl in the Fireplace is the fourth episode of series 2 of " Doctor Who " . It was Mickey Smith ' s first adventure in the TARDIS , after joining in " School Reunion " . It was first broadcast on 6 May 2006 and was written by Steven Moffat . Sophia Myles guest - starred as the historical figure Madame de Pompadour . It continues from the events of its prequel , " Tardisode 4 " . The episode takes place in multiple time periods as the Tenth Doctor , Rose Tyler and Mickey Smith find time windows leading to 18th century France and Clockwork Droid s use them to stalk Madame de Pompadour through her life . " Doctor Who " writer Russell T Davies described the episode as a love story for the Doctor . " The Girl in the Fireplace " was well - received by most critics despite the time constraints imposed on the plot . The episode was nominated for a Nebula Award and won the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation , Short Form . While working with David Tennant on " Casanova " , Russell T Davies researched Madame de Pompadour and decided to use her in " Doctor Who " . Another influence on this story was the Turk , an 18th century robot . In reality it was a hoax , but Davies hoped to give it a sinister past . Due to its experimental nature , " The Girl in the Fireplace " was shifted in the running order from second to fourth episode in the series . This episode is the only one of the season to have no mention of . This is explained by Steven Moffat as the theme of the season would not fit with the episode . The Clockwork Droids would appear again , eight years laters , in the Twelfth Doctor story " Deep Breath " . Much like the ones in this story , the droids became confused as to what their purpose was and began harvesting human organs ( although the reasons why would differ for the future batch ) . Synopsis . For their first trip with Mickey , the Tenth Doctor and Rose end up on a space ship in the future that contains several portals to pre - Revolutionary France . When he steps through one of these portals , shaped like a fireplace , the Doctor discovers the even greater mystery of actual , romantic love . Plot . 18th century Versailles , a starry night : Panic is in the palace as people run from an unseen enemy . Madame de Pompadour — or Reinette — stands at a fireplace with her lover , the King of France . She tells him about a mysterious man who has watched over her for the entirety of her life ; she tells the King to go to his wife , as she is less important as his lover . Reinette calls into the fireplace again , yelling that this was the night he promised to show up . She yells the man ' s name : Doctor ! Three thousand years later , in the 39th century , the Doctor ' s TARDIS arrives on an abandoned space ship . The Doctor and Rose depart , along with Micky , who is happy to have gotten a spaceship on his first go in time travel . Examining some equipment , the Doctor notes that the ship was damaged ( likely in a meteor storm ) and is in the middle of repairs . He gets a reading from the engines , that shows that the ship is generating enormous power , even though it is stationary . " Enough to punch a hole in the universe , " the Doctor comments . The ship , however , is oddly empty ; Rose sarcastically suggests that they all stepped out for a smoke . The Doctor tells her that the smoking pods are empty , so that ' s not it . Even stranger is that it smells like somebody is cooking . Shortly afterwards , the Doctor , Rose and Mickey find an 18th century fireplace . Although the other side of the fireplace should be the outer hull of the ship , there is another room with a little girl . She informs the Doctor that she is in her bedroom in Paris , the year is 1727 and her name is Reinette . When Mickey comments that the Doctor said they were supposed to be in the 51st century , the Doctor explains that the excess of power can " punch a hole in the universe " and they just found it . Mickey wonders what it is , to which the Doctor calls it a spatio - temporal hyperlink between them in the 51st century and Reinette in 1727 ; the Doctor then admits that he didn ' t want to say " magic door " because the phenomenon has no real name . Mickey is shocked as the nearby window shows nothing but the emptiness of space . The Doctor decides to explore further . He flips a switch on the mantle to rotate the fireplace into Reinette ' s bedroom , which is peaceful save for a rather loud clock . A startled Reinette informs him that though it has been mere seconds for him , for her it has been months since they last spoke . While inspecting the fireplace , the Doctor notices her mantle clock is broken and goes " Okay , that ' s scary " . Reinette is puzzled that he is scared of a broken clock , but the Doctor points out that if the only clock in the room is broken , what ' s ticking ? This draws Reinette ' s attention to the loud ticking noise , which is too big to be a clock according to the Doctor . He traces the noise to Reinette ' s bed and has a look underneath . He is attacked by a ticking creature in period dress . The Doctor notes that the creature has been scanning Reinette ' s brain and asks it why , but the creature only answers questions asked by Reinette . When the Doctor reinforces his demands with the sonic screwdriver , the creature advances in him and threatens him with a bladed appendage . The Doctor tells Reinette to worry as it ' s a nightmare ; even monsters have nightmares . When asked what about , the Doctor yells with a smirk : me ! He activates the spinning fireplace to pull the creature back into the ship , where he freezes it with a fire extinguisher . Removing the mask it ' s wearing , the Doctor finds it is a clockwork android , with some beautiful interior assembly . It teleport s away before the Doctor has a chance to disassemble it . He warns Rose and Mickey not to go looking for it , and returns to Reinette ' s bedroom . They go looking for it anyway . Back in Reinette ' s bedroom , the Doctor finds the girl is now a young lady . She flirts with the Doctor and they kiss , before she leaves to join her mother . The Doctor learns that Reinette ' s surname is Poisson and realises that she is destined to be titled Madame De Pompadour , mistress to King Louis XV and the uncrowned queen of France . The fact that he has just " snogged Madame de Pompadour " gives him great happiness as he returns to the future , watched by an extremely bemused servant . While complaining about Rose and Mickey wandering off , the Doctor remarks that there could be anything on the ship ; round the next corner , he finds a horse , of all things . It has wandered in through one of the windows in history , this one leading to a garden where an older Reinette and her friend are discussing the news that the king ' s current mistress is in ill health . Reinette sense the Doctor ' s presence , but he hides himself . The conversation continues with the possibility of Reinette gaining the position for herself . Meanwhile , Mickey and Rose find a camera with a human eye in it and a human heart wired into machinery before rejoining the Doctor and the horse at another window to history . The Doctor explains that the windows to Reinette ' s life are all over the ship . As they watch her flirt with the king through a mirror , he says that Reinette plans to become the king ' s mistress . " Bet the Queen liked her " Rose quips ; to her surprise , the Doctor says Reinette and the Queen were good friends . Seeing Rose ' s shock , the Doctor tells her that France is like a different planet . The Doctor spots a clockwork droid in the corner , crosses through the window and freezes it again with the extinguisher ; this doesn ' t work for long though . He asks Reinette to order the droid to answer his questions , noting the droids will only do what she says . It identifies as Repair Droid 7 and the ship encountered an ion storm which caused 82 % systems failure . Lacking the necessary mechanical parts , they cannibalised the crew and used their organic parts to replace damaged mechanisms . This was why Rose and Mickey saw a heart and an eye earlier , but the Doctor remarks that the droid was merely doing what it was supposed to ; no - one thought to inform them that " the crew weren ' t on the menu " . The droid says that they require a part of Reinette for the ship as " they are the same " , but " she is not ready yet . " Horrified , Reinette orders the droid to leave . Apparently taking this request literally , it teleports away . Rose and Mickey pursue it , taking the horse with them . The Doctor uses his telepathy to look into Reinette ' s mind , hoping to find something linking her to the droids ; he tells her to keep anything private from his view by imagining a door , resulting in quite a few . Reinette notes that she sees a lonely childhood , had by the Doctor ; this shocks him , as she ' s only called him Fireplace Man until now . When he asks Reinette how she managed that , she says , " A door once opened may be stepped through in either direction . " She invites the Doctor to " dance " with her , with him reminding her that she needs to " dance " with the king that night . Amused , Reinette tells him that she ' ll make the king jealous first . Meanwhile , back on the ship , Mickey is taunting Rose about the many women the Doctor knows , including the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra ; Rose has just gotten over the fact she ' s not the first companion that the Doctor has taken on , after meeting Sarah Jane . Rose sees a Clockwork Droid coming up behind Mickey and tries to warn him , but he is seized by the droid , which injects him with something that knocks him out . Rose tries to aim her gun at the droid , but another appears behind her , grabs hold of her and pulls her down . She struggles but it will not let her up . It injects her and she falls unconscious . Rose awakens to find herself strapped to an operating table . Mickey , on a table next to Rose , has received the same treatment . He is freaking out , noting that the insane robots are going to chop them up . The droids loom over them , threatening to dissect them for parts needed for the ship , and Rose and Mickey struggle and try to reason with them , but to no avail . Rose tries to intimidate them by revealing they are travelling with the famous Time Lord known as the Doctor , who can make even the Daleks feel fear . As she continues , she hears the Doctor ' s voice approaching , singing . The Doctor walks into the room , apparently drunk ; " Oh look who the cat dragged in , the oncoming storm " Rose snaps . The Doctor notes she sounds like her mother , before going about how he accidentally invented the Banana daiquiri a few centuries early . He goes on to explain that the droids are monitoring Reinette ' s " milometer " ; apparently when she ' s thirty - seven and thus " complete " , the droids will steal her brain to replace the broken command circuit of the ship . He then pours his glass of wine down a droid ' s head , revealing it ' s anti - oil : " if it moves , it doesn ' t . " He stops the other droids with a lever on a nearby console . He deactivates the tables and the three of them escape . When the Doctor tries to close the gateways he finds that he can ' t — one of the droids is still in France . This droid sends a message to the droids on the ship ; it found the right time in Reinette ' s life . The droids spring back to life , with the frozen one spurting the anti - oil out of it ' s systems . They teleport away , deadlocking the system to prevent the Doctor from stopping them . The Doctor sends Rose to warn Reinette that the droids will return to her some time after her thirty - seventh birthday . Mickey comes to inform Rose that the Doctor has found the correct time window . Reinette rushes into the space ship and hears her own screams from the future as the Doctor fixes an audio link to the window . Reinette decides to take the " slower path " and returns to France . Rose and Mickey return to the Doctor , who has discovered that the droids have sealed off the time window to prevent him following them . Mickey suggest just breaking through , but they would require a truck to smash through the combined hyperplex and plate - glass layers and in any case , if the mirror is broken it will destroy the time windows . Unfortunately , this is the only option and the Doctor uses the horse to break through the seal , breaking the connection between France and the ship . The Doctor explains to the droids that they are no longer needed . Seeing he is correct , they cease functioning , collapse to the floor and shatter . Meanwhile , back in the ship , Rose and Mickey realise that if the Doctor is trapped in France , they are trapped as well since they cannot operate the TARDIS . Mickey starts to panic , but Rose remains silent . On the other hand , the Doctor seems quite reconciled to taking the " slow path " with Reinette . As they sip wine and stargaze through a palace window , he muses about how he might earn money since he ' s " not going anywhere . " It is Reinette who suggests that there might yet be a way back for him . She brings him to a room with a bed covered with flower petals and shows him the fireplace from when they first met . She had the same fireplace moved to Versailles . Because she moved the fireplace , the window was offline when the link broke so there is still a connection . Using his sonic screwdriver , the Doctor reactivates the link . He rides the rotating mantle back onto the ship as Reinette looks on sadly ; a part of her had hoped he would be unable to do so . Once on the other side , the Doctor turns back to look through the fireplace at Reinette . He tells her to pack a bag and pick a star - if she wants to join him , he will take her wherever she wants to go . " Give me two minutes , " he tells her before hurrying to find Rose and Mickey . After quickly greeting his very relieved companions and rushing them into the TARDIS , the Doctor turns back to get Reinette . However , when he rides the mantle around again , she is nowhere to be found . Searching for her , he instead finds the now much - older king . While it had been two minutes for the Doctor , it had been years for Reinette . The king tells the Doctor that he ' s " just missed her ; she ' ll be in Paris by six . " The words seem innocuous enough , but the king ' s tone hints that she has not just gone on a simple trip . In a low voice , he states that she had always hoped to see the Doctor again , and he hands the Doctor a letter she had written to him . The king then draws the Doctor ' s attention to the window and they both watch a hearse take Reinette away " for the last time " ; tragically , she has died . As understanding dawns upon the Doctor that she is truly gone , he is obviously deeply affected . Despite the king ' s query about the contents of the letter , the Doctor silently slips it into his pocket to read when he is alone . He leaves without another word . Once back in the TARDIS , the Doctor tries to act nonchalant . When Rose questions him about why Reinette was singled out , he shrugs it off as the ship ' s damaged computer getting " confused " and moves to the TARDIS console , calmly shutting down the rest of the time windows . Despite his business - as - usual demeanour , Rose senses that he is in pain . When she asks him if he is alright , he looks her in the eye and claims he is " always alright . " He manages a small smile before looking away again , but he is fooling no one . By this point , even Mickey can see that all is not well . In order to allow the Doctor some time alone , Mickey suggests that Rose show him around the TARDIS and leads her away . Once he is sure they are gone , the Doctor pulls the letter from his pocket and slowly unfolds it . In the letter , Reinette tells of her love for the Doctor and how she fears that she may never see him again as her body weakens . Still , she continues to hold out hope . He visibly struggles to control his emotions as he reads her pleas for him to hurry back to her . She finishes , " Godspeed , my lonely angel . " Swallowing hard , he puts the letter back into his pocket ; no tears fall , but there is anguish in his eyes . He then turns to the console , which shows the fireplace still active , and deactivates it , severing the last link . As the light in the fire dies , the TARDIS dematerialises , revealing that it stood in front of a picture of Reinette . As the TARDIS leaves the scene , the name of the ship ( and the reason the droids targeted Reinette ) can finally be seen on the outside : SS " Madame De Pompadour " . The ship drifts through space , lifeless , as the episode ends .