Tintin was a comics character known to Ianto Jones and Owen Harper. The character was an enthusiastic young explorer and adventurer with a shock of unruly hair and a dog for a companion. (TV: A Day in the Death)
Toshiko Sato's mother suggested Tin-Tin as a bedtime story for young Toshiko as she was growing up in Osaka. Toshiko instead requested a fairy story. (PROSE: Trace Memory)
Ianto compared his Torchwood colleague Owen Harper to Tintin and engaged in a talk about the character to the annoyance of the rest of the team. Owen said he never liked Tintin but Ianto was a bit of a fan. When Harper was sent on an infiltration mission, Jack Harkness gave Owen a t-shirt to insulate his hand from electrical burns when he disabled a security system; he later discovered that the t-shirt had Tintin on it. Owen remarked that since Tintin never had a girlfriend, he was actually "shagging the dog". (TV: A Day in the Death)
Ianto later joked that Paul Talbot looked like Tintin, a comment which aggravated Owen. (PROSE: Monster)
The Sixth Doctor had Tintin books in the TARDIS library. (AUDIO: Time-Burst)
Behind the scenes[]
Cast and crew connections[]
TINTIN writers Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish talk TINTIN & DOCTOR WHO 50th anniversary
Steven Moffat discusses Tintin and Doctor Who.
- Andrew Cartmel, Doctor Who's script editor for seasons 24, 25 and 26. described his aspiration for his period of Doctor Who as to make it a cross between Tintin, the Quatermass serials and the Marx Brothers.
- Steven Moffat wrote the script for The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, first of a trilogy of films based on the adventures of Tintin, which was released in 2011 and directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by Peter Jackson, featured the voices of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Toby Jones, Daniel Mays, and Tony Curran. Several media outlets, and Moffat himself, (THWR 100) reported that Moffat had turned down an opportunity for further work with Spielberg on the project to serve as executive producer and head writer of Doctor Who.
- Thomas Sangster was to appear as Tintin in The Secret of the Unicorn, but left filming after a major delay.
Other matters[]
The Moon Rocket from the Adventures of Tintin in COMIC: Comic Relief Comic.
- The name of Tintin's dog, about whom Owen makes his unsavory insinuations in A Day in the Death, is Milou in the comics — although the official English translations rename him "Snowy".
- Although there has never been an official crossover between Doctor Who and any incarnation of the Adventures of Tintin, the iconic Moon Rocket used in the diptych Destination Moon/Explorers on the Moon made a cameo in the background of one panel for the multi-Doctor comic story Comic Relief Comic, from 1991.