The whole Theta Sigma idea began from a conversation with my partner, Simon, about the future of Doctor Who. We were discussing how few lives The Doctor has left and what happens after that. Simon jokingly said “I suppose they could do “Young Doctor Who!” like Young Indiana Jones. I answered, “Well, it’s not a BAD idea. According to the mythology he DID spend some time on field trips as a young graduate. Why NOT!

Theta Sigma was the obvious title for the stories which would be about a young Time Lord in his Gap Decade from university, with time on his hands before his official graduation and his first TARDIS. It had been mentioned many times on the series as his school nickname. Notably in the Sylvester McCoy episode Happiness Patrol and the Tom Baker episode The Armageddon Factor. The idea came together easily.

Of course, he wasn't CALLED The Doctor then. But that wasn’t a problem since in the Unfinished Business series of stories I had already given The Doctor his ‘real’ name - Chrístõdavõreendiamõndhærtmallõupdracœfiredelunmiancuimhne de Lœngbærrow. I began to put together the idea of young Chrístõ’s adventures, and at the same time seeding the Unfinished Business stories with some cross-over adventures. In Hiccups in Time and Space, we run into Chrístõ first on a ship full of space vampires (the same species as I had already introduced in Vampyres of Tara and then in Rome, where The Doctor had to borrow a part for his TARDIS from his younger self. Thus, the idea of a young Time Lord adventure series was planted in the minds of the readers and by the time I launched the series on January 1st, 2006 it was eagerly awaited.

An opening story was the hard part. I had to introduce a character we all know, but in a version of him that is a blank canvas, who hasn’t battled Daleks, Cybermen et al, not become disillusioned, and isn’t certain that he is the most powerful being in the universe and a genius to boot. In another Unfinished Business story, Western Front, The Doctor had mentioned about learning medicine in London in the 1860s and having been in love with Elizabeth Garrett. This formed the basis of the first Theta Sigma story.

Elizabeth Garrett, later Elizabeth Garrett Anderson IS a real historical person. The first woman in Britain to qualify as a doctor. I have found that not many people have heard of her, and I find that odd as I remember learning about her in junior school comprehension – those books full of articles about famous people where you have to answer questions in complete sentences with punctuation after reading. Clearly most adults blank out those memories. But anyway, on researching her more fully, I found that she studied at the Society of Apothecaries for three years because that was the only medical school which would take a woman. The rest just slotted into place.

Chrístõ trains alongside her, because he has fallen in love with her. He wants to kiss her, but that is not easy for a shy young man, even one of 190 years of age, in Victorian England where girls are not easy to kiss. Much of the story is taken up by his efforts in that respect and his emotional issues. We also see some of his extra-terrestrial skills – time-folding, more than once, and also his ability to read the emotions of a city.

This scene up on the roof in the night, incidentally, is drawn from a scene in Douglas Adam’s penultimate Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy story, So Long and Thanks for All The Fish, when Arthur Dent does something quite similar. It is a beautifully serious moment in a book series that is otherwise ludicrously comedic, and I wanted to find a way of putting it into a more serious setting. Thus Chrístõ scans the people of Victorian London and on one fateful night, finds a murder about to happen.

The scenes in which he makes mistakes in his medical studies, highlight his frustration as an advanced intellect in the Victorian era. Blood grouping was a long way off yet. Anyone who has read Bram Stoker’s Dracula, written nearly two decades later, would realize that Victorians did not know about blood groups. The descriptions of Lucy’s blood transfusions are perfect except for that one respect. Likewise, penicillin was still a very long way off.

Because Elizabeth IS a real character, of course, his relationship with her HAD to fail. The stabbing gave an opportunity for him to come clean with her, kiss her the once he had longed for, then run for it.

Chrístõ’s TARDIS, of course, DOES have a working chameleon circuit. It also disguises itself inside, playing the role of a dingy lodging room inside and out. When Chrístõ leaves, an empty space is left in the house. This doesn’t usually happen in Doctor Who, and doesn’t happen again in Theta Sigma, but this once I wanted something dramatic to be left behind after he had gone.

His relationship with his father at this stage is fractious. He clearly loves him, but there is a rift between them over his stepmother. This is something that I very quickly get him over, and his relationship with his father DOES improve. But it begins with difficulties to overcome.

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

http://www.pearsecom.co.uk/doctorwho/19hiccups.htm