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Human Nature/The Family of Blood
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David Tennant
Human Nature/The Family of Blood
Tenth Doctor Logo


Synopsis


John Smith
John Smith
 England 1913, and a schoolteacher called John Smith has strange dreams of adventures in time and space.

 1913, and war comes to England, a year in advance, as the terrifying Family hunt for The Doctor.

Source: BBC DVD


General Information

Season: Twenty Nine (New Series 3)
Production Code: 3-8/3-9
Story Number: 185 (New Series: 29)
Episode Numbers:732 - 733 (New Series: 36 - 37)
Number of Episodes: 2
Percentage of Episodes Held:100%
Production Dates: November 2006 - February 2007
Broadcast Started: 26 May 2007
Broadcast Finished: 02 June 2007
Colour Status: Colour
Studio: BBC Wales (Upper Boat, Pontypridd)
Location: Llandaff Cathedral, Treberfydd House (Brecon), Tredegar House (Newport), Neal's Soils (Cardiff) and St Fagans National History Museum (Cardiff)
Writer:Paul Cornell
Director:Charles Palmer
Producer:Susie Liggat
Executive Producers:Julie Gardner, Phil Collinson and Russell T Davies
Script Editor:Lindsey Alford
Editor:Matthew Tabern
Production Executive:Julie Scott
Production Manager:Tracie Simpson
Production Designer:Edward Thomas
Director of Photography:Rory Taylor
Casting Director:Andy Pryor CDG
Costume Designer:Louise Page
Make-Up Designer:Barbara Southcott
Cameramen:Steven Hall (2nd Camera Unit) and Tom Hartley (Assistant)
Visual Effects:The Mill
Special Effects:Any Effects
Prosthetics:Millennium FX
Incidental Music:Murray Gold
Special Sounds (SFX Editor):Paul Jefferies
Sound Recordist:Julian Howarth
Sound Supervisor:Paul McFadden
Sound Editor:Doug Sinclair
Music Performed By:The BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Title Music:Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Murray Gold
Number of Doctors: 1
The Doctor: David Tennant (The Tenth Doctor)
Number of Companions: 1The Companion: Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones) Additional Cast: David Tennant (John Smith), Jessica Hynes (Joan Redfern), Rebekah Staton (Jenny), Thomas Sangster (Tim Latimer), Harry Lloyd (Baines), Tom Palmer (Hutchinson), Gerald Horan (Clark), Lauren Wilson (Lucy Cartwright), Pip Torrens (Rocastle), Matthew White (Phillips), Derek Smith (Doorman), Peter Bourke (Mr Chambers), Sophie Turner (Vicar)Setting: England (1913) Villain: The Family of Blood

The Episodes

No. Episodes Broadcast
(UK)
Duration Viewers
(Millions)
In Archive
732Human Nature26 May 200745'00"7.7Yes
733The Family of Blood02 June 200742'55"7.2Yes

Total Duration 1 Hour 28 Minutes


Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions) 7.4
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2007)92.11%  (Position = 2 out of 10)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009)89.82% Lower (Position = 6 out of 200)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)87.90% Lower (Position = 9 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023) Position = 2 out of 36


Archives


 Both episodes exist and are held in the BBC's Film and Videotape Library.



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Notes


This story is based on Paul Cornell's highly acclaimed novel, "Human Nature", originally published in May 1995. It was voted "Best Doctor Who Book Ever" by readers of Doctor Who Magazine.

This is the first story which Susie Liggat is credited as producer. She is one of only two women to have produced the show, not counting Executive Producer Julie Gardner.

At over a hundred years old, Timothy Latimer is the oldest human character ever to appear in Doctor Who.

John Smith claims his parents were 'Sidney' and 'Verity'. Doctor Who was created by Sidney Newman and the show's first producer was Verity Lambert.

The Doctor has long yearned for 'normal' human life like the one that John Smith could have had. He confessed as much to a young married couple in "Father's Day".

Artist Kellyanne Walker created John Smith's 'A Journal of Impossible Things' seen in this story. It was based on text provided by Paul Cornell. Kellyanne's brief was to reflect the fact that Smith wasn't an excellent artist - and that these were images and thoughts from his dreams that he had rushed down on paper before he forgot them. In addition to depicting various monsters which had appeared in Doctor Who since the shows return in 2005, sketches could also be seen of the nine previous Doctors. This was the first visual reference in the revived programme to any of the actors who had played The Doctor before Christopher Eccleston.

A page of John Smith's sketchbook shows drawings of previous Doctors. Clearly visible are the First Doctor, the Seventh Doctor and the Eighth Doctor; the hairlines of the Sixth Doctor and the Fifth Doctor are also just visible.

Look out for the scene of The Doctor with a cricket ball. He has used a cricket ball with great effect before in "Four to Doomsday". And he's always been a superb shot; golf balls ("The Sea Devils"), darts ("The Android Invasion"), arrows ("The Face of Evil"), A Satsuma ("The Christmas Invasion") - whatever the missiles, they invariably find their target. As his Fifth Doctor modestly noted in "The Visitation", "I never miss".

World War I, triggered by the assassination of Arch Duke of Austria Franz Ferdinand, took place between 1914 and 1918. Over nine million people died in the conflict. Among them were boys who had lied about their age in order to enter into battle for 'King and Country'.

In 2007, when this story was first broadcast, there were fewer than five veterans from the First World War still alive and living in the United Kingdom. On the 25th July 2009 Harry Patch, the last surviving British soldier to fight in the First World War, died on at the age of 111.

Dwarf Star Alloy first appeared in the story "Warriors' Gate". It is extremely dense and very, very heavy.

Humans often make the mistake of thinking that Gallifrey is in Ireland. The first character to do so was the intern in "The Hand of Fear". In fact, Gallifrey is (or was) in the Constellation of Kasterberous, binary co-ordinates ten zero eleven zero zero by zero two from galactic zero centre.

Scarecrows have been used in Doctor Who before - The Master disguised himself as a sinister scarecrow in "The Mark of The Rani". And in a TV Comic strip in 1969, scarecrows were animated by the Time Lords to capture the Second Doctor and force him to regenerate.

One thing that 'Baines' never did was Blink. In the original book, "Human Nature", there was a character called Moffat, named after Paul Cornell's friend and fellow writer, Steven Moffat. "Blink" by Steven Moffat just happens to be the next story in this season of the show.

Before the title sequence in episode two there is a brief recap of the main events that took place in the first episode.

Like the previous double episode story in Season Twenty Nine (New Series 3), the first episode of this story includes a title card reading "To be continued...". This is then followed, during the credits, with a trailer for episode two. The ending of the second episode of this story includes a trailer for the next story - This being "Blink".

Following on immediately after each episode of this story, on BBC3, were the eighth and ninth chapters of the third series of Doctor Who Confidential. These being "Alter Ego" and "Bad Blood". Both were presented by Anthony Head.



First and Last

The Firsts:

 The first story to have been based on a previously published Doctor Who novel. This being Paul Cornell's highly acclaimed novel, "Human Nature".

 Phil Collinson's first involvement in the show as Executive Producer.

 Susie Liggat's first involvement in the show as Producer.

 Lindsey Alford's first involvement in the show as Script Editor.


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The Plot

WARNING: May Contain SpoilersHide Text
John Smith
John Smith

To escape from The Family of Blood The Doctor has to take drastic action and to become human and so becomes John Smith, a teacher at the Farringham School For Boys in 1913. Only his companion Martha Jones, who has taken employment as a maid at the school, knows who John Smith really is. But so The Doctor's disguise is not compromised she has to watch out for him - even though John Smith is not aware of why.

Martha has been left a list of instructions of what to do if things go wrong but two crucial items from The Doctor’s list are missing. What to do if The Family of Blood track The Doctor down and what to do if The Doctor falls in love.

After experiencing weird dreams of an alien existence John Smiths seeks solace in Joan Redfern – the schools nurse – and reveals to her a book he is writing. Unbeknown to him this book contains details of his recent travels in the TARDIS. But John Smith only thinks that they are the product of his imagination and weird dreams.

John Smith with Joan Redfern
John Smith with Joan Redfern

Martha, fearing that The Doctors plans to thwart The Family of Blood are falling apart, attempts to return The Doctor back to himself – but unbeknown to them both one of the schoolboys has stolen The Doctor’s watch – which holds all the Time Lord elements of The Doctor and without it The Doctor as she knows is no more and can not be brought back. Worse if the watch is used then it will reveal to The Family of Blood where The Doctor is and so put him and Martha in great danger. If only John Smith's true identity can be kept a secret for a period of 3 months then The Family of Blood will cease to exist.

When The Family of Blood arrive they takeover some unsuspecting members of the nearby village and one of the schoolboys. With an army of animated scarecrows they form an army to track The Doctor down – but they didn’t reckon on Martha’s determination to protect The Doctor.

Martha Jones
Martha Jones

They soon though deduce that John Smith is in fact The Doctor – even though he does not know that himself. Life for The Doctor has just got very complicated and leading a normal life in 1913 has just become increasingly difficult…

With the prospect of war looming and John Smith realising that he is the key to preventing more deaths will The Family of Blood be stopped? And who will The Doctor stay with – Martha, his friend, or Joan, his lover? Martha's loyalty to The Doctor is put to the test…

As The Family of Blood start to assault the school and then the village, and with the recovery of the watch, that had earlier been stolen by one of the schoolboys, it is up to Martha and Joan to persuade John Smith to open it so that he can become The Doctor once more.

The Doctor in Love
The Doctor in Love

This he eventually does. The Doctor then goes to The Family of Blood’s spaceship where he fools them into believing he is still John Smith. But, as The Family are about to discover this was just a ruse to enable The Doctor to cause their spaceship to go into overload. Enraged at being tricked The Family of Blood try to stop the destruction of their spaceship. They fail but The Doctor is able to use the distraction to escape before it explodes.

With The Doctor back to his old self he offers Joan the chance to travel aboard the TARDIS. But only The Doctor and Martha depart in the TARDIS as Joan turns his offer down stating that she loved John Smith and not The Doctor.

 
Scarecrow Attack
Scarecrow Attack
The Family of Blood
The Family of Blood
The Doctor is Freed
The Doctor is Freed
The Watch
The Watch
 
Baines and Daughter Of Mine
Baines and Daughter Of Mine
Joan Redfern
Joan Redfern
John Smith and Joan Redfern Dancing
John Smith and Joan Redfern Dancing
A Scarecrow
A Scarecrow




Quote of the Story


 'It’s Monday November the tenth 1913. And you’re completely human, sir. As human as they come!'

Martha Jones



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Release Information

FormatTitleRelease Date (UK)Code NumberCover ArtRemarks
Video
DVD
Human Nature - The Family of Blood - BlinkJuly 2007BBCDVD 2383Photo-montage
Video
DVD
The Complete Third Series (Standard Version)November 2007BBCDVD 2579Photo-montageBoxed set containing all 11 stories
Video
DVD
The Complete Third Series (Amazon Version)November 2007BBCDVD 2579Photo-montageBoxed set containing all 11 stories
Video
DVD
The Complete Third Series (Woolworths Version)November 2007BBCDVD 2579Photo-montageBoxed set containing all 11 stories
Audio
CD
Original Television Soundtrack - Series 3November 2007SILCD1250Photo-montageMusic by Murray Gold
Video
DVD
Series 1 - 4 Box SetOctober 2009BBCDVD 3058Boxed set containing all 43 stories on 23 Discs
Video
Blu-Ray
The Complete Series 1-7 Box Set (Limited Edition)December 2013BBCBD 0242Photo-montageLimited Edition Blu-Ray boxed set containing all Series 1-7 stories at full 1080p high definition
Video
DVD
The Complete Third Series (2014 Re-release)August 2014BBCDVD 3967Photo-montageBoxed set containing all 11 stories
Video
DVD
The Complete David Tennant Years Box SetNovember 2014BBCDVD 4000Photo-montageBoxed set containing all 37 stories on 26 Discs
Video
Blu-Ray
The Complete Third Series Box SetAugust 2015BBCBD 0263Photo-montageBlu-Ray boxed set containing 11 stories
Video
Blu-Ray
The Complete Third Series Box Set (Limited Edition Steelbook)May 2018BBCBD 0436Photo-montageLimited Edition Blu-Ray Steelbook boxed set containing 11 stories
Video
Blu-Ray
Series 1 - 4 & Specials Blu-Ray CollectionNovember 2023BBCBD 0582Photo-montageBoxed set containing all Ninth and Tenth Doctor stories upscaled to high definition


In Print

No Book Release
Doctor Who Magazine - PreviewIssue 382 (Released: May 2007)
Doctor Who Magazine - ArticleIssue 383 (Released: June 2007)
Doctor Who Magazine - After ImageIssue 385 (Released: August 2007)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time TeamIssue 463 (Released: September 2013)
Doctor Who DVD FilesVolume 18 (Released: September 2009)
Doctor Who DVD FilesVolume 19 (Released: September 2009)

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Photo Gallery


The Doctor and Companion

 
David Tennant
The Tenth Doctor

   

 
Freema Agyeman
Martha Jones
 
   




On Release

DVD Cover
DVD Cover

BBC
VIDEO
DVD Box Set<BR>(Standard Version)
DVD Box Set
(Standard Version)

BBC
VIDEO
DVD Box Set<BR>(Amazon Version)
DVD Box Set
(Amazon Version)

BBC
VIDEO
DVD Box Set<BR>(Woolworths Version)
DVD Box Set
(Woolworths Version)

BBC
VIDEO
   
Original Television Soundtrack Cover
Original Television Soundtrack Cover

BBC
AUDIO
Series 1-4 DVD Box Set
Series 1-4 DVD Box Set

BBC
VIDEO
Complete Series 1-7 Ltd Edition Blu-Ray Box Set
Complete Series 1-7 Ltd Edition Blu-Ray Box Set

BBC
VIDEO
Complete Series DVD Box Set<BR>(2014 Re-release)
Complete Series DVD Box Set
(2014 Re-release)

BBC
VIDEO
   
Complete David Tennant Years DVD Box Set
Complete David Tennant Years DVD Box Set

BBC
VIDEO
Complete Series Blu-Ray Box Set
Complete Series Blu-Ray Box Set

BBC
VIDEO
Complete Series Blu-Ray Limited Edition Steelbook Box Set
Complete Series Blu-Ray Limited Edition Steelbook Box Set

BBC
VIDEO
Series 1 - 4 & Specials Blu-Ray Collection Cover
Series 1 - 4 & Specials Blu-Ray Collection Cover

BBC
VIDEO
   



Magazines

Doctor Who Magazine - Preview: Issue 382
Doctor Who Magazine - Preview: Issue 382

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - Article: Issue 383
Doctor Who Magazine - Article: Issue 383

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - After Image: Issue 385
Doctor Who Magazine - After Image: Issue 385

Marvel Comics
   
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 463
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 463

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 18
Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 18

GE Fabbri
Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 19
Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 19

GE Fabbri
   

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