Finally, the Sanctuary is open. Chris’s dream is realised. This story has actually been hanging around for quite some time. More than a year, in fact. I wrote it not long after I wrote the original story in which Chris first outlined his idea, and then shelved it until the time was right. Obviously a few things have changed since then. The characters developed. But in fact I only made one significant change from the original version. Dale, the journalist, decides to stay and make a go of it. Originally, I had intended for The Doctor to wipe his memory and leave him at the nearest hospital. But it seemed too much of a cop out, and a little too much of a Torchwood way of doing things. It’s becoming a bit tiresome even in Torchwood, really. Retconning people all over the place isn’t the answer. Rather, The Doctor gives him the chance to make his own choice – and he chooses to stay. He may feature in a future story.

Chris’s creation of his new symbol was something I thought long and hard about. If he is creating what amounts to his own new religion – or philosophy at least – then the crucifix he had worn for so long is not appropriate. But it has always been a precious thing to him. His decision to melt it down into a new symbol is more than just an act of desecration. It is an act of creation in itself. The symbol is based on the Australian aborigine symbol for Earth, surrounded by the hexagon which is representative of Gallifrey – a symbol design, getting away from the complexity of the Seal of Rassilon and other complicated Gallifreyan designs, and encapsulating the best of both planets.

The Sanctuary is meant to be a very peaceful, beautiful place. I think I succeeded in putting that idea across. I didn’t go fully into all the different disciplines that were eventually going to be taught in the Sanctuary, but I did have logos for classes such as philosophy, ethics and telepathy. In this opening story only martial arts and meditation are actually featured, plus Davie’s temporal mechanics class.

The master/disciple fight between The Doctor and Davie is another step in Davie’s path to becoming ‘The Doctor’. By rights, he probably should have taken over the job by now, completely, but there is quite a bit of resistance among the readers to The Doctor giving things up altogether.