For a formal dinner with The Lord High President, Premier Cardinal and Chancellor of Gallifrey, Marion wanted “her Irish linen cloths and napkins, the Waterford crystal glasses and the Royal Doulton china” on the table. Well, wouldn’t you?

The choice of Earth made tableware is part of the running theme in this story. Early on, Marion tries to explain why she never entertained any heads of state at her home in Liverpool. The life she had there was very different to life on Gallifrey in so many very different ways.

When she takes her bath she reflects on the first time she had smelled pallis flowers in a bath oil – on that second date with Kristoph in Harrogate. That, and the fact that she feels confident enough to wear a halter neck dinner dress without a shawl over her arms are signs of how much she has grown as a person since Kristoph came into her life.

The idea that the Lord High President of Gallifrey wants to retire to build model boats was a caprice. The mention of the Great Ocean and its uninhabited islands was an idea I planned to build on, with a trip to that ocean. I never actually got around to it. The prison island occupied by Destri in a much later story is obviously one of the islands, but I never actually mentioned the Great Ocean by name. Gallifreyan geography is odd, though, isn’t it! Two huge continents, one mostly desert, the other huge plains, and an ocean covering the other half of the globe! Well, why not?

Of course, the main point of this story is to drop the huge hint about future storylines. The President is retiring. He discussed the possibility at Lord de Lœngbærrow’s house. Who do you think he’s considering as his successor? Obviously a major plot arc is being seeded.

Premier Cardinal, of course, is not one of the titles bestowed on Time Lords according to the TV canon. It was actually invented by my late friend Prue Thomason of Brisbane for her own Doctor Who stories. It seemed such a perfect title for a senior Time Lord that I borrowed it from her, along with another of her inventions, the SS Isle of Capri with its fabulous custom suites.

http://www.irishlinen.co.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_linen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterford_Crystal
http://www.royal-doulton.com/