Human Nature (novel)
Publisher's Summary
'Who’s going to save us this time?'
April, 1914. The inhabitants of the little Norfolk town of Farringham are enjoying an early summer, unaware that war is on the way. Amongst them is Dr John Smith, a short, middle-aged history teacher from Aberdeen. He’s having a hard time with his new post as house master at Hulton Academy for Boys, a school dedicated to producing military officers.
Bernice Summerfield is enjoying her holiday in the town, getting over the terrible events that befell her in France. But then she meets a future Doctor, and things start to get dangerous very quickly. With the Doctor she knows gone, and only a suffragette and an elderly rake for company, can Benny fight off a vicious alien attack? And will Dr Smith be able to save the day?
Characters
Main Characters
- Is now 32 years old.
- Drinks six pints on the planet Crex
- She isn't convinced she'll ever have children.
- Benny's still struggling with the loss of Guy de Carnac though she doubts she loved him.
- Pretends to be Smith's niece.
- Joan gives Wolsey to the Doctor so he'll never be alone on his travels.
Dr John Smith (the personality The Doctor creates)
- Smith is a history teacher.
- Proposes to Joan.
- Hates pears.
- Is 48, from Aberdeen.
- His (faked) credentials claim he is from the Flavian Academy of Aberdeen.
- Has some cricketing skills.
- Writes children's stories such as: "The Old Man and the Police Box" about a world called Gallifrey and a strange inventor who teaches about police boxes.
- Science teacher.
- Her husband Arthur died in the war.
- Doesn't like teaching at the school.
Alexander Shuttleworth (Benny's landlord)
- Attends Benny's Wedding.
Other Characters
August
Greeneye
- Wants to shag Benny.
- Pretends to be the Tenth Doctor. (Just not the Tenth Doctor David Tennant version)
Laylock
Serif
Aphasia
Hoff
In the beer tent
- Jac, Sarah, Lucy
The boys at Hulton Academy
- Gets infected with the Doctor's Time Lord DNA and gains two hearts and a respiratory bypass system.
- He is hung by his classmates, the bypass system saves him.
- He eventually dies in 1995 with many children and grandchildren.
Hutchinson (senior captain)
Alton (a Time Lord)
Phipps
Anand (Tim's friend)
Captain Merryweather
Abbot, Andrew, Clive, Ian, Hadliegh-Scott
People of Farringham
- Jill and Jenny (two housewives)
- Mrs Windrush (housewife)
- Mr Hodges (greengrocer)
- Constance Harding (suffraget)
- Mr Sangster (runs the art shop)
- Alec (works at the Museum)
- Sergent Abeland (police officer)
- Constable Bickerston (police officer)
- Nathan Bottomley (black smith)
- Horace (telephone box operator)
- Richard Hadleman
School teachers
- George Rocastle, MBE (headmaster)
- Mrs Denman (biology)
- Mr Challpner
- Mr Moffat (bursar)
- Miss Robertson
Soldiers outside the time barrier
- Major Wrightson, Stanley, Torrence
References
- Death collects Smith as a life owed by the Doctor.
- The Aubertides are from the planet Aubris, they're shapeshifters and reproduce asexually via buds on their backs.
- The Aubertides state that Earth is in the Stellarian Galaxy.
Notes
- A television adaptation of this story appeared in the 2007 series of Doctor Who. (see also Human Nature (TV story))
Continuity
- Death takes Smith as the life the Doctor promised her in Timewyrm: Revelation.
- In the Doctor Who: The TV Movie the Doctor kisses Grace twice, in Human Nature he kisses Joan 6 times.
- Benny is still thinking of Guy de Carnac's death in Sanctuary.
- Wolsey departs the TARDIS with Benny in The Dying Days.
External Links
- The Doctor Who Reference Guide detailed synopsis of Human Nature
- The Whoniverse Discontinuity Guide - Human Nature
- Prelude to Human Nature as published in DWM#226
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