Inspirations: Human Nature / Family of Blood

Three series in, and the programme finally looks for inspiration from the Virgin New Adventure (VNA) novels. Dalek had taken its inspiration from a Big Finish audio - Jubilee - and another audio - Spare Parts - had also been the source of a small element of Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel.

The VNA books had kept the flame alive during the first five and a half years in which the series had been off the air, and proven so successful that the BBC took the licence back to produce their own books on the back of the 1996 TV Movie.

At one point, fans had envisaged the VNAs as the template for a revived series. However, they tended to be overly reliant on continuity and were clearly pitched at an older demographic than "family friendly".

Russell T Davies had looked to some of the VNA writers when bringing the series back in 2005. He had contributed to the range himself. 

Mark Gatiss and Paul Cornell would write for Series 1. Gareth Roberts would join the team later. Steven Moffat had been invited to submit a story for the VNA range, but walked away when he heard that they were not considering past Doctor stories.

One of Paul Cornell's novels was Human Nature, published in May 1995. Fellow writer Kate Orman had helped with the story.

This was a Seventh Doctor story, as were all the VNAs. Ace had moved on and he was now accompanied by proto-River Song Bernice Summerfield (known as Benny, previously created by Cornell). She is grieving a loss from the previous book, and the Doctor decides to make himself human in order to understand her emotions. This is a major difference from the TV adaptation, as here the Doctor becomes human by choice, and not as a result of the alien threat. The aliens - the Aubertides - take advantage of the situation rather than cause it.

The setting of a boys' public school just before World War I is the same, and the book includes a psychic teenager named Tim (though his surname is Dean), and another boy named Hutchinson. 'John Smith' also falls in love with a woman named Joan Redfern - though she is a teacher rather than school matron.

There is a distinct lack of Scarecrows in the novel, however. These were added to the TV story to provide a monster. Rather than take over the bodies of local people, the Aubertides - of which there are six - are shapeshifters. Their short lifespan is present in the book.

Rather than use a pocket watch, it is in a cricket ball that the Doctor hides his Time Lord identity in the book. The whole business of the Chameleon Arch was there to set up the big reveal of the villain for the series finale.

The fob watch had been hidden in plain sight since 2005. It had been part of the TARDIS console, seen in a few close-ups.

Daughter of Mine's red balloon was a book reference. There, it had been a sentient weapon which attacked people.

Whilst the first episode of the TV adaptation uses the title of the book, the second half takes the title Family of Blood. There is no real reason for this, as 'blood' has no significance to the plot whatsoever.

The Doctor's dream diary - his Journal of Impossible Things - has images of a number of aliens (including a Dalek, Cyberman, Auton, Slitheen, Moxx of Balhoon) as well as an image of Rose Tyler. There are some pictures of earlier Doctors as well, including the Eighth - the first time that this incarnation has been acknowledged in the revived series. In Queer As Folk, RTD had the main character - based loosely on himself - pointedly state that this incarnation didn't count.

The Family are likened to the mayfly due to their brief lifespan. This insect, of the class of Ephemeroptera, is related to the most ancient forms of insect such as the dragonfly. They hatch any time between Spring and Autumn - not just in the month of March. Aristotle and Pliny the Elder noted their short lifespan. The reason for this is that most are born unable to eat. They are born merely to reproduce and continue the species. One particular type of mayfly has a female which lives only 5 minutes on average.

The Public School setting is a favourite one in English drama - particularly in the period immediately pre-World War I. It allows writers to examine the class-ridden British society of the time - the twilight of Empire - and to comment on the horrors of war and loss of innocence, as many of the pupils are destined to die on the fields of France and Belgium in huge numbers. Notable dramas include To Serve Them All My Days (1972, by RF Delderfield - dramatised by the BBC in 1980 with Matthew Waterhouse in the cast) and Goodbye Mr Chips (first filmed on the eve of the next war, starring Robert Donat).

Father of Mine is said to have been imprisoned in chains made from dwarf star alloy. This substance was first mentioned in Warriors' Gate, when it was the material which Rorvik's privateer was made from.

John Smith tells Joan that his parents were called Sydney and Verity - from Sydney Newman and Verity Lambert, two of the pioneers of Doctor Who.

His skill with a cricket ball derives from his Fourth and, especially, his Fifth incarnations. The First Doctor didn't even recognise the game when he saw it in the episode Volcano. Presumably it was his exile on Earth that led to him developing an interest in watching and playing the sport.

Joan thinks that Gallifrey might be a place in Ireland. This is a continuation of an old joke by writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin, who used it in both The Hand of Fear and The Invisible Enemy.

At one point it had been intended that Martha would have originated from this time period, before being made another contemporary companion.