 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.
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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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(Position = 2 out of 10)
(Position = 6 out of 200)
