The Family of Blood

"The Family of Blood" is the ninth episode of the third series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on BBC One on 2 June 2007. It is the second episode of a two-part story written by Paul Cornell adapted from his Doctor Who novel Human Nature (1995), co-plotted with Kate Orman. The first part, "Human Nature", aired one week prior, on 26 May. In the episode, aliens called the Family of Blood attack a public school and its surrounding village in 1913 to seek a fob watch which contains the essence of the long-lived alien time traveller the Doctor (David Tennant). In a Doctor Who Magazine interview, Executive Producer Russell T Davies characterised the "Human Nature"/"Family of Blood" two-parter as perhaps being too dark for the programme's audience. In 2008, both "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood" were nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. Plot At an English village dance in 1913, the Family of Blood hold Martha and Joan Redfern captive. While John Smith struggles to understand what is happening, Timothy Latimer briefly opens the fob watch containing the Tenth Doctor's Time Lord essence. This momentarily distracts the Family, enabling Martha to grab a gun and escape with the others back to the school. John sounds the alarm and helps to organise the school's defences while Martha and Joan search for the watch.