'The Family of Blood' (Story Code 3.9) by Paul Cornell

“We need the Doctor.” – Martha Jones

“Who am I then? I’m just a story...” – John Smith

Holding Martha and Joan at gunpoint, the Family of Blood demand that Smith turn back into a Time Lord. As the helpless schoolteacher protests his inability to comply, Tim Latimer briefly opens the Doctor’s fob watch, distracting the Family long enough to allow Martha to seize the gun from her captor. While Martha holds the Family at bay in a stand off, Smith, Joan and the other dance attendees flee for their lives. Narrowly escaping the deadly grasp of a scarecrow, Martha joins Smith and Joan outside, and together they race for the safety of the nearby Farringham School For Boys. Using her host body’s memories, the Mother alien inhabiting Jenny sends ‘Clark’ and some scarecrows to investigate the location that Martha recently visited; ‘Jenny’, ‘Baines’ and the rest of the scarecrows then set off in pursuit of their quarry. Arriving at the school, Smith frantically sounds the alarm and orders his pupils to defend themselves; as the schoolboys take up arms and set up the machine gun, the headmaster, Mr Rocastle, appears and demands an explanation; on hearing Smith’s account of the situation, he immediately accepts the severity of the oncoming danger. Meanwhile, ‘Lucy’ sneaks into the school and begins her search for the fob watch. When ‘Baines’, ‘Jenny’ and the scarecrows arrive outside the school, Rocastle and another teacher, Phillips, go to confront them; however, ‘Baines’ just sneers at them, demanding that Smith be handed over immediately before ruthlessly gunning down Phillips. After Rocastle runs back inside and instructs his boys to barricade the building, ‘Baines’ calls for his soldiers – and so dozens of scarecrows shamble out of the darkness to join their master… While desperately searching Smith’s quarters for the watch, Martha tells Joan of the Doctor’s real identity, and also of her own; now beginning to believe Martha’s claims, Joan rejoins her lover and questions him about his past, but Smith can only give her statistical facts; terrified of losing his identity, Smith kisses Joan and leaves to join the fight. ‘Clark’ informs the rest of his Family that he has discovered the Time Lord’s TARDIS. Tim tells his dorm-mate, Hutchinson, that they will both survive the battle, only to go to war; to Hutchinson’s disgust the young boy turns tail and hides. Cowering in a corner, Tim turns to the watch for help; when the timepiece warns him of the presence of ‘Lucy’, Tim opens the device, sending the alien running in fear with a blast of the Doctor’s essence. The Family of Blood unleash their soldiers: as the scarecrows begin to smash down the main doors to the school, the pupils and teachers take up arms, and when their attackers finally break in, they unleash a hail of bullets that mow down the frightful creatures. The violence of the battle gets to Smith, but the headmaster points out that their assailants are merely creatures filled with straw. When ‘Lucy’ appears, Rocastle is taken in by her innocent appearance; his mistake costs him his life, and the alien inhabiting the child callously shoots him down. When ‘Lucy’ is joined by ‘Baines’ and the scarecrows, Smith orders his pupils to lay down their arms and retreat. As the Family begins searching for the watch, Tim opens the device from his hiding place, drawing the hunters to him and giving the others the chance to escape. Smith, Martha and Joan hide in the grounds, only to see that ‘Clark’ and his scarecrows have brought the TARDIS to the school; when Smith insists that he does not recognise the object, Joan realises that she has no choice but to help him remember – only the Doctor can save them now. Leaving some scarecrows to guard the time / space vessel, the Family return to their ship, using its systems to bombard the village with meteorites drawn down from space. Joan leads Smith and Martha to the Cartwrights’ house, now vacant after ‘Lucy’ killed her parents. Smith resolves to give himself up to the Family before anyone else dies, but he is stopped by the arrival of Tim; it seems the watch told him to come to him. Martha explains the reason the Doctor hid as a human: the Family have a limited lifespan, and unless they can consume the energy of a Time Lord, they will die in three months. Smith is all for giving the aliens the fob watch; however, Joan has read his journal, and she points out that if the hunters took his energy, they would live forever, breeding and conquering in a war across the stars. While Martha and Tim tactfully wait outside, Joan attempts to convince a tearful Smith that he must open the watch, even though it means that they will lose each other. Clasping the watch in their hands, they both experience a foretaste of the life they would have had together: their marriage, the family they would raise, their life together, and Smith’s death as an old man… A short while later, a terrified Smith enters the Family’s ship and begs them to stop the bombardment in exchange for his watch. In his fear, Smith stumbles and touches various controls, but the alien’s are too concerned by the watch. Taking the device from Smith, ‘Baines’ triumphantly opens the timepiece – only to find it empty. Too late, the Family of Blood realise that they have been tricked: Smith has sacrificed himself and become the Doctor once more – and he has deliberately caused an energy feedback in their ship’s systems. As the Doctor runs outside the Family hastily follow him, only just managing to clear their vessel as it explodes. Now restored to his formidable self, the Doctor exercises his own brand of mercy, whilst allowing the Family fulfil their desire to live forever: he wraps their Father, ‘Clark’, in unbreakable chains forged from a dwarf star; casts their Mother, ‘Jenny’, into the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy; traps their daughter, ‘Jenny’, inside every mirror in existence; and their son, ‘Baines’, is suspended in time and imprisoned inside a scarecrow in a field. Some time later, as the police, the army, and the boys’ parents deal with the aftermath of the battle at the school, the Doctor visits Joan at her house. The nurse is sad at losing the man she loved, but knows that he was braver than the Doctor, because he gave up his life to save everyone; she then turns down the Doctor’s offer to travel with him – the man she loved is dead. As the Doctor leaves, Joan clutches Smith’s journal to herself and breaks down in tears. Joining Martha outside the TARDIS, the Doctor thanks her for looking after him and then gives her a big hug. When Tim arrives to bid them goodbye, the Doctor warns the boy that war is coming, and, after giving him the fob watch for good luck, he leaves with his friend in his TARDIS.

In June 1914, the Great War begins. During the conflict, two brave soldiers, Latimer and Hutchison, are saved from a falling shell by a warning from Latimer’s fob watch.

Years later, at a memorial service for those lost in battle during the First World War, a wheelchair-bound Tim Latimer clutches his lucky fob watch to his medal-covered chest. To his delight, he glimpses two people from his past standing nearby: the Doctor and Martha are also attending the ceremony…


David Tennant (The Doctor / Doctor John Smith), Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones), Jessica Stevenson (Joan Redfern), Rebekah Staten (Jenny), Thomas Sangster (Tim Latimer), Harry Lloyd (Jeremy Baines), Tom Palmer (Hutchinson), Gerard Horan (Clark), Lauren Wilson (Lucy Cartwright), Pip Torrens (Rocastle [Headmaster]), Matthew White (Phillips), Sophie Turner (Vicar)

Directed by Charles Palmer
Produced by Susie Liggat
Executive Producers Russell T. Davies, Phil Collinson and Julie Gardner
A BBC Wales production

TX:
2nd June 2007 @ 7.10 pm

Notes:
*Featuring the Tenth Doctor and Martha

*Part 2 of a 2-part story

*The schoolboys sing the hymn 'To be a Pilgrim', composed by Paul Bunyan