The
opening scene of South Atlantic, up to them discovering the frozen sea
was written a long time before the rest of the story. I had an idea about
setting a story on the Canberra on the return journey from the Falklands
war. But first I wanted to be sure what I wrote would not offend anyone
who was really there. I tested the waters first with my partner, Simon,
who WAS one of the soldiers on board the commandeered liner that famously
became a troop carrier and hospital ship.
I decided that one thing that could NOT happen was any soldier or sailor being killed or seriously injured. And if possible, they should not know anything has happened. So the frozen time story came into play from the start. I also wanted Harry Sullivan in the story.
Harry is a bit of a sad story for Doctor Who fiction writers. Because the actor who played him is dead there is a feeling that we should not have him alive in the stories. Now, originally, when I wrote the first Unfinished Business stories I did have him in Supper With Sarah Jane, married to Sarah Jane, as a lot of fans always hoped he would be. And he featured in the Vampyres of Tara story in a very necessary role as medical officer. He also appeared in the Christmas reunion story ‘Christmas Presence’. In that story, however, I acknowledged the death of Michael Craze when The Doctor addresses Polly and says that he is sorry to hear that Ben has passed away. So to be consistent I had to have Harry’s death at some point. I didn’t actually write a death of Harry story, but it is mentioned in passing by Rose and other characters in both New Lords of Time and the Ten stories when Ten meets the Sarah Jane of this alternate universe who HAD married Harry, as opposed to the one in the TV universe who never married.
(confused
now?)
Anyway, this is a retro trip to when Harry WAS alive, and as a naval medical officer, called upon to do his duty in war. Through Harry I was able to express a lot of the feelings of the returning soldiers about their experiences of the Falklands. Particularly their feelings of not being appreciated for their effort, which was a real issue at the time. Harry speaks for all those who saw combat in that war which few people at home fully understood.
The love triangle between The Doctor, Sarah and Harry has been something fans have believed in since the 1970s, and School Reunion confirmed it for most of us. Harry lost out because Sarah still wanted The Doctor. This is his chance to set the record straight by urging Harry to be her returning hero and grab the chance.
Meanwhile the alien menace is almost sidelined. The Jec-Tet are a fierce, nasty lot who have not, in fact, succeeded in killing a single Human being in my stories. They FIRST appeared in my Torchwood story, Baptism of Fire when they failed to take over the Hub, and here, again, they don’t manage to harm any humans, while the revived paratroopers and SAS soldiers who were aboard the Canberra don’t take it lying down and inflict some Jec-Tet casualties.
I hadn’t featured Jack and the 22nd Space Corp for a while. Writing the Torchwood stories with him in charge there in ‘real’ Cardiff I had sidelined the version of Jack who found love and job satisfaction with the 22nd. But having them as the cavalry coming to save the day seemed opportune, if just a little Deus ex Machina!
But let the abiding image be Sarah Jane waiting at Southampton for Harry, and their reunion. Let’s imagine that they had the chance to be happy for a few precious years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falklands_War
http://www.kasterborous.com/articles.asp?id=856
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