Human Nature (TV story)

This two-part story is an adaptation of Paul Cornell's New Adventure novel of the same name, which originally featured the Seventh Doctor becoming human and falling in love.

Synopsis
A history teacher in England in 1913 known as John Smith keeps having dreams of adventures in time and space with a mysterious blue box. But when lights in the sky herald the arrival of something strange and terrible, Smith's maid, Martha, has to convince him that he must become this man known to her as 'The Doctor'

Plot
The story is told partly in flashback to scenes in the TARDIS. It opens with The Doctor and Martha entering the TARDIS as some sort of energy weapon discharges. The Doctor asks, "Martha, it's important, did they see your face?" She assures him there is no way they could have seen her. The Doctor explains that they are being pursued by aliens who have stolen a time agent vortex manipulator, meaning they could follow them anywhere in space and time. The Doctor considers their plight, then decides what he must do. He shows Martha a pocket watch and tells her to take it, because his life will depend upon it. He explains that he must transform into a human, because their pursuers can sniff out unique life forms. But since they are dying, all he needs to do is become human for a few months and wait for them to die. His Time Lord configuration is stored in a pocket watch and Martha is charged with guarding it.

As a human, John Smith, the Doctor becomes a schoolteacher in a private school in England before the Great War. The story picks up two months into his human life. Smith is unaware of his previous life as a Time Lord, and his character is quiet, a little timid and introspective. He still has dreams of being an 'adventurer' and sometimes sketches them in a notebook. Martha (who is still completely aware of exactly what is happening and remembers everything) is working at the school as a maid, and knows that they can leave in a month's time once their pursuers are dead.

A group of students are in their dorm room. One of them, Tim Latimer, is bullied by the rest into doing their chores and homework, such as translating passages of Catullus. But he demonstrates an ability to know things he shouldn't, correctly guessing the contents of a classmate's private letter. He tries to explain he's always had this ability. One of the boys, Jeremy Baines, announces that he knows where there is a secret cache of beer and that he's going to dig it up for the boys to enjoy.

Baines finds an entrance to the invisible ship and enters. There, he meets its occupants, gaseous creatures who call themselves the Family. One of them takes over Baines' body.

The Doctor is cajoled by the school nurse, Joan Redfern, to attend a dance. Martha is distraught, noticing that she never appears in the Doctor's notebooks, and now realising that the Doctor has fallen in love with a human other than her. The Doctor left recorded instructions telling her what to do in any eventuality. One of these was "Don't let me abandon you". But she realises that he did not foresee that he would fall in love.

Meanwhile, Tim Latimer is summoned to John Smith's office to retrieve a book. While Smith looks for it, Latimer is drawn to the pocket watch that contains The Doctor's Time Lord memories and abilities. The boy opens it, briefly seeing the Doctor's world, but closes it quickly as he hears Smith approaching. Latimer slips the watch into his pocket and leaves with it.

Every time Latimer opens the watch a diffuse trace is detected by the pursuers. They capture Jenny, Martha's fellow maid, and their "mother" possesses her. Judy then returns to the school and engages Martha in conversation. Martha quickly realises Jenny has been taken over. She runs to Smith, who is with Redfern preparing to go to the village dance that evening, finds that the watch is gone, and tries in vain to restore him to his Time Lord configuration without it.

The pursuers crash the dance and reveal that John Smith is the Doctor in human form. Smith still refuses to believe it. The Family demands that Smith change back, because they need a Time Lord to continue with their existence. They take Martha and Joan hostage, asking Smith to choose which they should kill, his friend or his lover.

Cast

 * The Doctor/John Smith - David Tennant
 * Martha Jones - Freema Agyeman
 * Joan Redfern - Jessica Hynes
 * Jenny - Rebekah Staton
 * Tim Latimer - Thomas Sangster
 * Jeremy Baines - Harry Lloyd
 * Hutchinson - Tom Palmer
 * Clark - Gerald Horan
 * Lucy Cartwright - Lauren Wilson
 * Rocastle - Pip Torrens
 * Phillips - Matthew White
 * Doorman - Derek Smith
 * Mr Chambers - Peter Bourke

Crew
to be added

Story Notes

 * When the Doctor is speaking to Joan he names his parents as Sydney and Verity. This is clearly a reference to Sydney Newman, the original creator of Doctor Who, and Verity Lambert, the first producer.
 * This is the first occurrence of an (explicitly) racist comment within the new series directed at a companion.

Ratings

 * 7.1 million (overnight)
 * 7.74 million (final ratings)
 * 0.87 million (BBC3 repeat ratings)

Myths
to be added

Location Filming
to be added

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors
to be added

Continuity

 * This story has been adapted from Human Nature the Virgin New Adventures novel.
 * The visual flashes come from: Dalek, Rise of the Cybermen, The Impossible Planet, The Christmas Invasion, Tooth and Claw, Army of Ghosts, The Runaway Bride and The Lazarus Experiment.
 * Perception filters were first mentioned by Captain Jack Harkness in Torchwood - Everything Changes.

DVD and Other Releases
This episode has been released on DVD alongside The Family of Blood and Blink.