This interlude story is told partially through Chris’s telepathic eavesdropping on The Doctor’s dreams and partly in ‘live’ flashback. It serves to tell in a little more detail the story that has been at the back of all the stories from Tea With Jackie, the murder of The Doctor’s son and daughter-in-law, the catalyst that caused his bitterness and disillusionment with Gallifrey.

The idea is to bring details of the story outlined in that first story into sharper and closer focus until the whole backstory is told. The device of The Doctor dreaming of the past, and Chris listening in gave a different way of telling the story. It also serves to illustrate Chris and Davie as two separate personalities, Chris being the sensitive one who picks up on his grandfather’s feelings while Davie sleeps, oblivious to it. They DO need to be seen as two characters as they grow.

The title, of course, is unashamedly taken from Marcel Proust's 1913 novel.

http://www.tempsperdu.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Search_of_Lost_Time