Talamh Nuadh is very loosely Scots Gaelic for New Earth. Strictly it means earth as in soil, not the planet, but it’s near enough. It doesn’t, of course, mean the planet New Earth which the Tenth Doctor knows about. It was a perfect name for a Scottish millionaire with strange ambitions to call his plan to take people to a new planet.

Jasmin and Alec were initially created just for this one story. The idea for them came from an Asian female member of the forum who very much wanted The Doctor to meet an attractive young Asian girl and ask her to join him in the TARDIS. The sort of wishful thinking we ALL want. But at least in fiction those dreams come true, so Jasmin was created. Another girl with a name that is a flower. Rose, Blodwyn and now Jasmin. And Alec was created as her boyfriend. The issue of the mixed race relationship is expressed with Wyn’s awkward and embarrassed comment about that fact. It will come into later stories, but for now it was introduced as the reason why two young people want to get away from Earth and start a new life.

This story went online, incidentally, in September 2006, but it was written several weeks before then. And I actually BEAT Russell T. Davies in introducing a TARDIS companion who was non-white and a trainee doctor before Freema Agyeman was announced as the medical student who would be travelling with The Doctor in the 2007 series.

I have been wanting to get in a comment about time rings and their resemblance to portkeys for a while. This story gave me the opportunity to get in a JK Rowling joke.

Meanwhile, the Dagron, flesh eaters gathering food, are revealed as being behind the whole plot. Bannerman is shown up as a naïve fool who has to bear the burden of the deaths he caused. His fate is slightly better than that of Van Statten, the millionaire who thought he could control a Dalek. Bannerman shows more remorse for his deeds than Van Statten. And that his the difference between them.

Can the TARDIS hold 3,000 people? We have always been told that it is infinite in size, but only rarely have we seen more than just the main console room. The glimpses we have seen suggest that anything is possible. But I had to introduce a little jeopardy, so 3,000 people in a TARDIS makes for a bumpy landing.