When we last saw Susan, apart from the Five Doctors special in which characters were plucked out of their normal timelines, she was standing with David, the man she had fallen in love with, in London, in the year 2164, looking up into the sky and crying as the TARDIS left her behind to make a new life for herself. There her story ends as far as the TV series was concerned. But the Doctor’s last words to her are known to all fans.
One day I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs, and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine. Goodbye, Susan.
But he never DID go back. He went forward and never once returned to see how she was. This story has two purposes. Firstly, to fulfil that promise, belatedly, secondly, to show Rose the whole and complete truth about him. He is a grandfather. And, to his own surprise, a great-grandfather. It stands to reason, surely, that David and Susan would have a family. They have left it late. No reason is given for that, but they have twin sons and a baby girl and they have got on perfectly well without him.
Susan in this story has a similar reaction to his coming back into her life as Sarah Jane in School Reunion. She is shocked. She is angry at him, even going so far as to slap him, but ultimately she loves him and finds a way to forgive him.
Chrístõdăvõrĕęnďiămǿndhǽrtmăllõupdrăcœfirĕdelǘnmiancǔimhne de Lœngbǽrrow
Yes, that’s his real name. It is now. How did I think it up? Well, first I did some deep research into whether The Doctor ever had a real name. The only thing I could find was the surname Lungburrow from the book of the same name. But I had two objections to that. First of all, the book implies that Time Lords are not members of real families as we know it, but are cloned in huge groups called ‘families’ and assigned to ‘Houses’. I don’t know any real fan who accepts that as canon. And in any case, Lungburrow sounds like a Hobbit name, a name for a small, modest creature who lives in a hole in the side of a hill. Time Lords are aristocrats, arrogant, proud, princes of the universe. De Lœngbǽrrow is a nod to that alleged House, but gives it a bit of class. As for the name, well, believe me or believe me not, Chrístõ has nothing to do with Christopher Eccleston. It is Italian for Christ. I wanted to play on the idea that many people have started to seriously speculate on that The Doctor is a godlike figure and possibly even a direct Messianic analogy. Davoreen is an Irish surname equivalent to Davies, a not to Russell T. Davies who recreated The Doctor in his own image. Diamond Heart reflects another facet of his character. Diamonds are brilliant, fascinating, but can be strangely cold at times. Mal Loup is an obvious nod to series 2005. It is French for Bad Wolf. Dracoe Fire – Dragon Fire is another character facet, the opposite of the diamond coolness is the flash of fire and anger that is seen when he is pushed just too far. De Lun mean of the moon, reflecting his alienness. Mian is Irish for either desire or ambition, and Cuimhne is Irish for remembrance, appropriate to the last Time Lord, charged with remembering the legacy of his people.
I thought the name up piece by piece while walking my dog and thinking about whether I actually could dare to do what had not been done before in over forty years – NAME The Doctor. I decided I DID dare. And there is a growing number of people all over the world who are quite happy to accept that as The Doctor’s real name. So it stays, no matter what may happen on the TV series.
As for that kiss…. Well, I wanted a kiss in there. I wanted them to declare their love for each other. But I didn’t want the Lois and Clarke scenario that Rose talked about to happen this early in what I had by now decided was something that could go a long way. They had to take the relationship back a peg. I actually intended to wipe her memory of the whole series of events after they left Jackie in 1912, but then, as The Doctor reasoned, she deserved to have Paris, and he wanted her to know Susan. What they didn’t need yet was that full on kiss and the declaration of love that was just a little too soon.
