I occasionally watch other television programmes than Doctor Who, Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures. Or more often, these programmes are on the TV in the same room as me, and I sometimes take in a few details. I’ve learnt a bit about cars from the fact that Top Gear is on just about every day or the week somewhere. You can also surf the Freeview and find some incarnation of Star Trek most evenings.

There was an episode of Enterprise, the Star Trek prequel, in which one of the trekkers, Commander Tucker, gets pregnant. There was also a pretty awful film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a pregnant man. This before he became the governor of the state that banned gay marriage! Both of these treated the idea of a pregnant man as a comedic idea. But it occurred to me that nobody had taken the idea of a pregnant man seriously.

Quite often with story ideas I wonder who they should happen to. Should it be a Torchwood story, a Tenth Doctor, Theta Sigma, or one of several possibilities in the ensemble cast I have in New Lords of Time. But this time there was no question. It was going to be Davie who was going to find out what it was like to bear fruit, with Spenser has his helpmate.

Somebody commented that the planet of Mizzone was like New Jersey. I can’t comment on that. I’ve never been to New Jersey. I was thinking of a cross between Howth and Dalkey in County Dublin. Howth for the marina and Dalkey for the sultry nights on the beach. With a bit of New Jersey summer climate, maybe.

The way Davie got pregnant was a bit nastier than in the aforementioned comedy versions of the theme, although I toned down the ‘rape’ compared to the Human definition of the word.

Davie’s view of the sanctity of life is one which I broadly agree with. I think most rape victims probably feel differently, but I think it is a realistic decision.

In general, his emotional response to being pregnant is about right, really. He started off excited and hopeful, getting tired and scared as the birth got closer.

His decision to have the child adopted is the only one that makes sense in his circumstances. I did briefly consider him taking the child home, but all the reasons Davie outlines when he makes his decision immediately occurred to me. Besides, there are quite enough children at Mount Lœng House at this stage. It was far more poignant this way.

I realised, as I came to the final scenes, that Davie really would have to forget. I could see no way he could go back to Brenda with the memory of those five months, not just having a baby, but also his relationship with Spenser. This relationship, of course, has been building for a long time. This story is the climax of it. From here on, there will be a certain backing off for Spenser, and at some time in the future I may well find a new relationship for Spenser. But for the time being, he remains as Davie’s right hand man.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unexpected_(Enterprise)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110216/