Inspirations: Smith and Jones

'Smith' and 'Jones' are the two most common surnames in the UK (with Brown and Taylor in 3rd and 4th place, according to the 2020 census).

The reason for Smith's ubiquity is that many occupations are a form of smith (e.g. blacksmith, goldsmith, silversmith) and people often used to be named for the job they did.

The Doctor was given the alias "John Smith" by his companion Jamie McCrimmon whilst they were visiting The Wheel in Space. Needing to give Dr Gemma Corwyn a name for his friend, he took the name off of a piece of medical equipment. He has retained it himself ever since - most notably when he joined UNIT, and when he assumed human form at a boys' public school in 1913 England.

Jones gets its frequency thanks to it deriving from "son of John" - John being the most common first name in the UK. It is particularly common in Wales, though the first recorded use of it as a surname comes from England - a Matilda Jones, recorded in 1273. The prevalence in Wales comes from the days of the English domination of the country, when traditional Welsh surnames were discarded in favour of the "son of..." form, and there being so many Johns.

There are so many Joneses in Wales that they have often been differentiated by their occupation, such as Jones the Milk (as seen in The Green Death) or Jones the Steam (the train driver in Ivor the Engine).

Both names were used often as an alias (such as by the Doctor), to the point that some people did not trust it to be a person's real name. Many is the drama or comedy in which a couple give their name as 'Smith' on the hotel register, and the landlord rightly - or wrongly - assumes they are unmarried and carrying on an affair.

The 1971 US TV Western series Alias Smith and Jones features a pair of bank robbers - Kid Curry and Hannibal Heyes - using the two most common names to try to conceal their true identity as they are on the run from the law.

Comic actors Mel Smith and Griff Rhys-Jones called their BBC sketch show Alas Smith and Jones, as a play on the title of the Western series.

Smith and Jones is designed to launch the third series of the revival, and to introduce the new companion - Martha Jones. She began life as a schoolgirl character, even younger than Rose, and then a Victorian maid, but RTD then decided to make her a more mature companion, to contrast with the emotional and impulsive Rose.

As with New Earth, the first story of the previous series, it needed to be fast-paced and relatively light-hearted.

According to RTD, he did not name Dr Stoker after the Irish author Bram. As he was the author of the most famous Vampire story in history - Dracula - everyone assumed a connection, but RTD insisted that this was pure coincidence. He had already used the name in his ITV series Children's Ward.

Anne Reid had featured in the series once before - in The Curse of Fenric - which is also a Vampire tale which doesn't call its monsters "Vampires".

Posters urging people to "Vote Saxon" can be seen in the alleyway where the TARDIS has parked - alluding to this series' story arc. Martha's colleague Morgenstern also mentions Mr Saxon when talking to reporters.

Martha tells the Doctor about her cousin Adeola's disappearance during the Battle of Canary Wharf (Doomsday), to explain the fact that both are being played by the same actress.

The Doctor notes with satisfaction the hospital shop - something which the one on New Earth had lacked. The hospital is the Royal Hope - first mentioned in Aliens in London and which featured again in The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances. However, it is a new building on a new site. The old RHH was located near Limehouse, whilst this new building is roughly where the real St Thomas' Hospital is, across the Thames from the Palace of Westminster.

Martha mentions the skincare product Zovirax in relation to the Slabs. This reference has dated badly as it refers to a TV advert for the cream, in which a young woman was so self-conscious about her spots that she wore a motorcycle helmet with darkened visor.

Historically, the Doctor mentions encounters with Suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst (1858 - 1928), and with US politician / scientist Benjamin Franklin (specifically his 1752 experiments to determine the nature of lightning).

The "genetic transfer" between the Doctor and Martha was simply RTD getting the kiss between Doctor and companion out of the way early, and once again showing that such behaviour was in no way romantic. The Eighth Doctor had kissed Grace out of sheer exuberance at regaining his memories, the Ninth had kissed Rose to remove the Vortex from her, and it had been the Cassandra-possessed Rose who had kissed the Tenth Doctor.