Only Human (novel)

Only Human was the fifth novel in the BBC New Series Adventures series. It was written by Gareth Roberts and featured the Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler and Jack Harkness.

2005 BBC Books edition
Somebody's interfering with time. The Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack arrive on modern-day Earth to find the culprit — and discover a Neanderthal Man, twenty-eight thousand years after his race became extinct. Only a trip back to the primeval dawn of humanity can solve the mystery.

Who are the mysterious humans from the distant future now living in that distant past? What hideous monsters are trying to escape from behind the Grey Door? Is Rose going to end up married to a caveman?

Caught between three very different types of human being — past, present and future — the Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack must learn the truth behind the Osterberg experiment before the monstrous Hy-Bractors escape to change humanity's history forever...

2013 BBC Books edition
Reports of a time disturbance lead the Ninth Doctor to modern-day London, where he discovers a Neanderthal Man, twenty-eight thousand years after his race became extinct. A trip back to the dawn of humanity only deepens the mystery: who are these strange humans from the far future now living in the distant past? The Doctor must learn the truth about the Osterberg experiment before history is changed forever.

Plot
to be added

Characters

 * Ninth Doctor
 * Rose Tyler
 * Captain Jack Harkness
 * Das
 * Chantal Osterberg
 * Weronika
 * Jacob
 * Lene
 * Tom
 * T. P. Quilley
 * Tina
 * Reddy
 * X01
 * Hy-Bractors
 * Jackie Tyler
 * Stephanie
 * Ka
 * Sakka
 * Sakka's mate
 * Sakka's daughter
 * Neanderthal midwife
 * Gual
 * Nan
 * Tillun
 * Anna Marie O'Grady
 * The Priest

Worldbuilding

 * Dean refers to Das as  Captain Caveman .
 * The Doctor doesn't want Das to watch Farscape.
 * Rip engines are a dangerous and primitive form of time travel.
 * The Doctor says he was married to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.
 * The Doctor discovers poppa packs.
 * The Doctor tells Jack to buy Das clothes from the Gap in Croydon.
 * The Doctor intends to take Rose and Jack to Kegron Pluva.

TARDIS

 * The TARDIS translation circuit has a swear filter.
 * The TARDIS key works on a kind of meson projection system.

Science & Technology

 * The intriguing monotony in the occurrence of inter-caval conduction block during typical atrial flutter suggests an anatomic or electrophysiological predisposition for conduction abnormalities of the Doctor's heart.
 * Chantal removed Rose's head from her body, which can be undone by reverse-locking the kinetic seal.

Story notes

 * Later reprints of this book removed the image of Billie Piper from the cover.
 * This story was also released as an ebook available from the Amazon Kindle store.
 * This book was reprinted in 2013 with an entirely new cover to celebrate the Doctor Who 50th anniversary.

Continuity

 * The Doctor mentions that he has previously met Neanderthals. (TV: Ghost Light; PROSE: Timewyrm: Genesys)
 * Rose reflects on her encounter with Gwyneth in Cardiff on 24 December 1869. (TV: The Unquiet Dead)
 * Rose recalls meeting Jack during the Blitz on 20 January 1941. (TV: The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances)
 * The Doctor uses the fast return switch. (TV: The Edge of Destruction)
 * The Doctor refers to the destruction of Gallifrey in the Last Great Time War. (TV: The End of the World)

Editions published outside Britain

 * Published in Finland by Luolamies Lontoossa in 2006 as a hardback edition, it was one of two books published in the 2000's.
 * Published in China by New Star Press in 2017 as a hardback edition.

Audiobook

 * This novel was released as an audiobook on 1 January 2013 complete and unabridged by BBC Audio and read by Anthony Head.