Human Nature

Doctor Who book
Human Nature
Series	Virgin New Adventures
Release number	38
Featuring	Seventh Doctor Bernice Summerfield
Writer	Paul Cornell
Publisher	Virgin Books
ISBN	ISBN 0-426-20443-3
Number of pages	255
Release date	May 1995
Preceded by	Sanctuary
Followed by	Original Sin

Human Nature is an original novel written by Paul Cornell, from a plot by Cornell and Kate Orman, and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The novel was also serialised in e-book form on the BBC Doctor Who website. A prelude to the novel, also penned by Cornell, appeared in Doctor Who Magazine #226, and is also available on the BBC website.

Television adaptation

Cornell adapted his own work for a two-part story in the 2007 TV series of Doctor Who. The first episode is titled "Human Nature" and the second, "The Family of Blood".^[1] The names of many of the human characters in the novel are reused for characters in the television story, which is also set in a boys' school shortly before World War I.^[2] The Family of Blood have some resemblance to the descriptions of the antagonists in the novel, though they have different names and are possessed humans rather than shapeshifters.^[3]

Prelude

DWM published preludes to several New Adventures. The prelude to Human Nature appeared in issue 226. According to Cornell, he wrote his novel's plots with these preludes in mind^[4].

Plot

Bernice Summerfield is grieving since the death of Guy de Carnac (as seen in the previous novel, Sanctuary). The Doctor takes her to a market on a planet called Crex in the Augon system. He quickly sets off, telling her he'll be back in an hour, and Benny finds a pub where she orders a beer and finds a group of female human drinking partners. After Benny's had several drinks with them, the Doctor arrives and places a patch on her cheek — a pad that disperses the alcohol in her system. He tells her that they need to leave immediately, and leads her back to the TARDIS. He hands her a scroll, tells her he'll see her in three months, and collapses.

Meanwhile, the genesmith Laylock meets with his associates. They plan to follow the Doctor. In a long, dark room, a teenager named Tim awakens from a dream, having had a premonition that everyone will die.

Unable to understand Benny's grief on a human level, the Doctor has purchased a device which alters his biodata, transforming him into a human named Dr John Smith. Smith lives as a history teacher at a public school in 1914 England, and falls in love with a fellow teacher named Joan. However, when alien Aubertides, hoping to acquire Time Lord abilities, attack the school, Smith sacrifices himself and becomes the Doctor once more; as the Time Lord, he is unable to love Joan in the way the human John Smith did.

Reception

In a poll conducted by Doctor Who Magazine to mark the 35th anniversary of Doctor Who (#265, June 1998), Human Nature was voted the readership's favourite novel of the New Adventures series.

Like all Doctor Who spin-off media, its relationship to the ongoing story of the television series is open to interpretation.

References

See also

• Time Lord - History within the show
• The Doctor and romance

External links

• Human Nature Prelude
• Human Nature e-book on the BBC Doctor Who website
• Human Nature at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• The Cloister Library - Human Nature
• Human Nature at The TARDIS Library

Reviews

• Human Nature reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
• Human Nature reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide