The reason we concentrate on just her and the Doctor for much of the running time was simply to establish their relationship.
Writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce had previously contributed the story In the Forest of the Night in Series 8 - a fantastical premise which would surely have seen Chris Bidmead's head explode on DWM's "Bidmead-O-Meter", which rated stories with utterly daft science.
For his next submission, he decided to provide something based much more on real science.
Preparing for an anthology of science fiction short stories, Cottrell-Boyce had approached a scientist working at the Jodrell Bank radio telescope, to discuss how humans might in future colonise other planets. He was advised that this would likely be done by sending robots on ahead to prepare the way.
Noting the preponderance of dystopian futures laid out in the genre, the writer wanted to present a utopian society, in which the lives of the human colonists were regulated by robots and artificial intelligence, working to their benefit. This then led to thoughts about what rights these robots / AI would have were they to become self-aware.
Steven Moffat was pleased with this as a backdrop to a story, which does not surprise as "AI gone wrong" had already been used by him on more than one occasion. It had taken over from the "mad computer" style of story, variations of which ran throughout the classic series.
Cottrell-Boyce had noted the increasing use of emojis which were being employed more widely. He saw these as a new language, which had begun to grow beyond social media.
Peter Capaldi and Moffat both explained on Doctor Who Extra that they neither used nor fully understood emojis, but Jenna Coleman had used them all the time, rendering some of her texts to them near unintelligible.
The Emojibots were originally envisioned as simple boxes with arms, with a screen on the upper surface on which they would communicate by displaying emoji icons. They were not intended to have any human-like form.
As well as the Emojibots, Smile features nanobots named Vardies. This derived from the scientist Dr Andrew Vardy, who researched swarm robotics at the University of Newfoundland in Canada. He had attended a conference in 2013, one of whose aims was to link scientists with authors. Vardy and Cottrell-Boyce collaborated on a story the following year.
Insect-like in the final programme, they were originally intended to be hedgehog-like in appearance.
The writer named the colony world Erewhon - an anagram and near palindrome of "nowhere". There are two possible inspirations for this.
The first is the 1872 novel Erewhon: or, Over the Range, by Samuel Butler. This told of a utopian country and acted as a satire on Victorian society. One aspect of this was that the sick were branded as law-breakers, as they could not uphold the general happiness expected of the inhabitants.
Then there is News From Nowhere (Or an Epoch of Rest), written by William Morris in 1890 which told of another utopian society.
As the working title for Smile was "News From Nowhere", we can assume the latter - though Morris may have himself been inspired by Butler's work.
In the finished story, it is only the colony ship which is named Erewhon, and the planet has the designation Gliese 581D. Gliese 581 is a red dwarf star around which a "Super Earth" exoplanet was discovered in 2007 - Gliese 581c. It is 20.4 light years from Earth in the constellation of Libra, makes a complete orbit in 13 days, and has one hemisphere permanently facing its star. In terms of surface conditions, it is thought to resemble those on Venus.
An Earth colony in which the populace are forced to be happy is not a new idea for the show. The concept featured in The Macra Terror, and in The Happiness Patrol.
At one point the Doctor quotes David Bowie: "I'm happy, hope you're happy too", from his 1980 hit Ashes to Ashes.
The Doctor states that the Scots seek independence on every planet colonised. A referendum was underway at the time of writing. Scotland going it alone after abandoning Earth had also been mentioned in The Beast Below.
Steadfast is said to be a MedTech One grade. 'MedTech' was the designation given to Vira in The Ark in Space - suggesting that these colonists may have left Earth not long before the solar flares which led to the setting up of space station Nerva as a sanctuary.
Ralf Little had featured in the movie 24 Hour Party People - which was also written by Cottrell-Boyce.
The colony ship is said to have a Fleishman Cold Fusion Engine. This was named after Martin Fleishman, a chemist who had claimed to have discovered cold fusion.
Noting how the seats in the TARDIS are so far from the console, Bill asks the Doctor if he has stretchy arms like Captain Fantastic of Marvel's Fantastic Four. She also asks if they have to wear seatbelts whilst in flight. The TARDIS had been seen to have safety belts, which attached to the console itself, in Timelash.
Next time: The Doctor and Bill return to Earth and meet with a frosty reception...
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