The Sum of His Memories is a well used title by now. I used it not long ago for a Torchwood story in which The Doctor turned up at the Hub having lost his memory. But the phrase, which was first spoken by the Fifth Doctor in the anniversary story, The Five Doctors. He was speaking of the fact that his previous lives were being taken out of time and lost.

This story opens with something of an occasion, with Chrístõ making his graduation. I first mentioned that he needed to graduate in the first story, and I always intended to have a story in which he gives his graduation speech, but it never quite fitted in until now. I wanted him to graduate earlier than expected because there are a couple of storylines that would tie nicely into that, and also because I was getting impatient to fit it in. His speech needed to be thought through a bit. I wrote it separately and than fitted it into the storyline. It is a rebellious speech in a way, but tempered somewhat by the events that took place in the past year of his personal history. Chrístõ is not only suma cum laude, but a war hero. As his father tells him, they need a morale booster. But Chrístõ needs to make his point, too.

The story, of course, changes dramatically when he is shot. Then it becomes a very different thing. Chrístõ’s memory is regressed back to before he was born and it is up to his father and Julia to bring him back. It allows for a close look at some of the more traumatic events in his life. Most of them have been referred to before, but I thought it was possible to give them a new twist. The one that got the most response was the Toclafane story, when Chrístõ as a small child, wet the bed, and Chrístõ in his unconscious state, did the same. I’m not in any way implying that either Chrístõ or The Doctor was incontinent, of course. But I wanted a realistic response from him to a traumatic memory. Mostly people took it well, but it surprised them.