David Campbell
David Campbell (or David Cameron) was a freedom fighter on Earth during the Daleks' 22nd century invasion and occupation of Earth and husband of Susan Foreman.
Biography
Early life
David Campbell, (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth, etc.) or David Cameron, (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Crusaders, A Brief History of Time Lords, Susan's Diary [+]Loading...{"page":"15","1":"Susan's Diary (short story)"}) was born in 2144 or 2145. (PROSE: Legacy of the Daleks) He had a Scottish accent. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth; AUDIO: After the Daleks)
David came from the countryside, a part of the country that his family had long been associated with and which led to his love for watching things grow. The Campbells lived a long way from London. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth) David was once a Boy Scout and, even into adulthood, always maintained a habit of carrying a small electric torch in his back pocket. (PROSE: Legacy of the Daleks)
Dalek occupation
Following the Daleks' invasion in 2157, (PROSE: Lucifer Rising) David joined the London freedom fighters led by Dortmun. During the ten years of occupation, he witnessed Robomen committing suicide and often had to evade Daleks. He utilised his skills with technology, later proving himself capable of dismantling bombs, and optimistically believed that the occupation would one day end and that humanity would have a fresh start.
In 2167, David met Barbara Wright and Susan Foreman, taking a liking to the latter. He partook in the attack at Heliport Chelsea, throwing bombs with Susan and entering the flying saucer in search of the First Doctor and Ian Chesterton, and later destroyed a Dalek firebomb using acid from one of Dortmun's bombs. He headed north with Susan and the Doctor to find other rebels, being joined by Carl Tyler on the way and suggesting that Susan stay with him after the Daleks' defeat to rebuild the Earth. In Bedfordshire, he and Susan fractured the outer cable ring, immobilising the Daleks.
Outside the TARDIS, David told Ian that he wanted to help produce food for the survivors of the occupation and asked Susan to marry him. Susan confessed her love but was torn between him and the Doctor, the choice to stay being forced on her when the Doctor double-locked the doors, telling her that her future was with David, and dematerialised without her. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth)
Aftermath
David helped in the restoration of the planet, initially by planting crops to feed the survivors. Along with Jenny Chaplin, he went searching for Robomen to find a way of recovering them. He was tasked with hunting strange creatures that were found underground which were neither Slythers nor Varga plants. He encouraged Susan to run for leader of the United Kingdom to help rebuild it. Marcus Bray wanted his capture as part of his plans against Susan. (AUDIO: After the Daleks)
David planned to join a group that worked the land, wanting to be a part of making things grow and to provide for the newly-liberated world. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth)
David and Susan married, with Susan taking his surname. (PROSE: The Five Doctors, AUDIO: An Earthly Child, etc.) Whilst one account claimed that Susan never told David that she was a Time Lord, (AUDIO: Here There Be Monsters) other accounts agreed that she did. (PROSE: Legacy of the Daleks; AUDIO: An Earthly Child)
Differing fates
Dying young
According to one account, David and Susan had one biological child, Alex Campbell, who was born ten years after they met. They agreed not to tell Alex of his mother's extra-terrestrial origins, believing that it would make his life more difficult. David died several years after Alex's birth, before the Doctor, now in his eighth incarnation, returned to meet Susan and Alex. (AUDIO: An Earthly Child)
One account attributed David's early death to a strain of a virus for which Susan held the Daleks responsible. (PROSE: Fellow Traveller)
A long life
According to other accounts, David became a prominent figure in the Reconstruction Government, meaning that he saw very little of his wife for a few years, (PROSE: The Five Doctors) as well as a liaison to Lord London. He and Susan spent at least thirty years together and tried to have biological children without success, instead adopting three orphans whom they named Ian, Barbara and David Junior.
At the age of fifty-four, David worried about how his ageing hurt Susan and considered divorcing her for her own sake, although he was not sure that he could ever do such a thing. All three of their children had moved out as soon as they could for similar reasons, their mother looking younger than all of them. The couple argued about the impact of Susan's agelessness on their lives, often causing David to leave and eat and drink too much before returning home and returning home to Susan playing up to one of his sexual fantasies.
Eventually, the Doctor, now in his eighth body, returned and was reunited with both David and Susan. Soon afterwards, the Master attempted to shoot the Doctor with a pistol and David threw himself into the line of fire, taking four bullets to the chest and sacrificing his life. The Master did not realise that he had murdered one of the Doctor's in-laws, not having recognised Susan. (PROSE: Legacy of the Daleks)
Legacy
In response to the rise of anti-alien xenophobia on Earth in the 2180s, Susan declared that David would have been shocked and the Daleks would be laughing. (AUDIO: An Earthly Child)
After the First Doctor discovered that Susan had been writing in a 500 Year Diary after she left to live with David, he struggled to recall if his surname was "Cameron" or "Campbell". (PROSE: Susan's Diary [+]Loading...{"page":"15","1":"Susan's Diary (short story)"})
Personality
David loved watching things grow and was excited to return to the countryside to do so following the Dalek's defeat. He felt a strong loyalty to his planet, refusing Susan's offer of joining her in the TARDIS as he knew that running away would not solve anything. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth) He later wondered if he had indeed made the right choice. (AUDIO: After the Daleks) Although Susan held David's opinion concerning the situation on Earth higher than her grandfather's, David deferred to him as the senior member of the party. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth)
Ian thought that David was "a nice chap" and Barbara suspected that, knowing David and his fondness for the country, he would have Susan milking cows. (TV: The Rescue)
Appearance
The Dalek occupation made David a grim-looking young man. However, he had a friendly and infectious smile that completely transformed his face. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth) According to one account, he lived to the age of fifty-four, by which point his hair was thinning and grey and he was visibly stouter. (PROSE: Legacy of the Daleks)
Behind the scenes
- David was originally to be called David Sondheim before being changed to David Archer and, finally, David Campbell.[1]
- David was referred to in Doctor Who and the Crusaders as David Cameron, making him a coincidental namesake of David Cameron, a real-world British politician who later became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The real-world David Cameron was born eight months after Doctor Who and the Crusaders was published.
- As related in The Doctor Who Role Playing Game: The Master, it was in 2185 AD (72,893 TL) that the Tremas Master kidnapped freedom fighter David Campbell and substituted a "Kamelion-type robot" in his place in an attempt to warp the history of Earth. In response, the Celestial Intervention Agency arranged to have two incarnations of the Doctor drawn out of the time stream to meet the threat. The two Doctors were able to combine their mental force to overcome the Master's psionic control of the robot, after which the Master escaped into Earth's 20th century.
- In Fellow Traveller, David is said to have died young due to a virus. It is uncertain whether or not this account, which does not mention Alex, is intended as an explanation for his death as mentioned in An Earthly Child or as a third account of his fate.
