5 Times Doctor Who was Inspired by Literary Concepts

The Doctor visits some famous literary figures in their time, from Agatha Christie to Charles Dickens. What doesn't get enough credit however, is how the writers merge literary history and classics into the storytelling of Doctor Who. Naturally, the show has a lot of fun evolving these concepts into science fiction! (This list focusses on Series 2-6 specifically).

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The Library of Alexandria

The Library of Alexandria is said to have been the largest collection of written information in the ancient world - the archive of all knowledge on Earth.

In the two-part story (episodes 'The Silent Library' and 'Forest of the Dead'), Doctor Who takes large inspiration from the Library of Alexandria and not just in terms of grand library visuals. The Doctor and Donna adventure on a 51st Century planet-sized library of which houses the knowledge of an entire universe. They learn from River Song and her band of Archaeologists that the library was shut off 100 years ago and is almost a lost wonder of the past, like Alexandria.

The library planet can also store human minds after death. This develops the concept of Alexandria to reflect how we might archive in the 51st Century. As ever with Doctor Who, the sci-fi context transforms ideas already familiar to us in speculative ways.

The show often operates on two levels. The science fiction adventure of the episode is explored but it tends to tie-in with the overarching character work of the Doctor or other main characters. In this special, the Doctor meets River Song. It is a pivotal moment. River Song already knows everything about the Doctor because she has met him in the future but he is meeting River for the first time. She has her own diary of their future relationship, containing all her memories of the Doctor's life to come. River and her book are like the Doctor's own personal Alexandria - River is definitely compared to the library planet in the episode because of this vast knowledge at the very least.

The library planet and its parrallels with the ancient Library of Alexandria is a perfect example of how Doctor Who sometimes uses a literary starting point and beautifully blends it into the storytelling by engaging it with futuristic ideas. All whilst allowing it to be a foundation but not the topic of the episode.

Vampires

Doctor Who toils with a monstrous literary creation in 'The Vampires of Venice'. Harbouring the literary Gothic aesthetic, the episode delves into both the beauty and risk of desire, much like the works of Dracula by Bram Stoker and general vampiric folklore.

The criteria of what makes up a vampire is given an alien reimagining. A fish-like race called the 'Sisters' take human form but with sharp fangs and a fear of the light. Their lack of reflection is caused by a 'perception filter' that conceals their alien identities on Earth. Doctor Who playfully gets meta here for the viewer. The episode implies the human myths, legends and literature around vampires are derived from an alien species such as the these visiting Earth in the past. Their objectives are to rejuvenate their population by transforming human women into Sisters and sinking 1580 Venice to form a habitat (they are water-dwelling aliens obviously!)

The vampiric theme parrallels Amy's situation in this episode. Amy introduces her fiancé, Rory, to her time-travelling best friend, the Doctor. Rory represents Amy's normal life; the Doctor represents Amy's younger self and her restless desire for adventure. The trip to Venice is supposed to be a romantic getaway for her and Rory but turns into a dangerous adventure that draws Amy in. Rory becomes concerned that Amy's dreams of exploring the universe in the Tardis, when encouraged by the Doctor, may cost her her life.

Famously, vampires begin human. They lose their former selves by chasing their immortal desires. The alien vampires too, do this in the episode and perish. The show by no means demonises Amy for pursuing her childhood dreams of travelling with the Doctor, but rather highlights the Doctor's responsibility of care when turning humans into time-travellers. The vampiric comparison, rooted in the horror genre, is merely a warning of how dark things could become for Amy if she loses herself entirely to time-travel.

Shakespeare Joke

Whilst the episode 'The Shakespeare Code' is everything-Shakespeare, complete with a trio of witches, the Globe Theatre and the man himself, it is one particular line that really portrays the brilliance of Doctor Who's time-travelling meta-ness!

The Doctor interrupts Shakespeare and Martha, 'Come on! we can all have a good flirt later.' - to which Shakespeare suggestively replies 'Is that a promise, Doctor?'. The Doctor says 'Oh 57 academics just punched the air...'.

It has been (and still very much is) widely speculated and disputed amongst Shakespeare academics whether the subject of some Shakespearean love poetry is a man.

Quickly and sharply referencing a topic of literary and historical study to William Shakespeare as a joke in one effortless line is very fun writing. Doctor Who once again demonstrates a different method of engaging with literary history. A quick gag is just as fun as a full episode based around one idea and takes full advantage of the liberties that come with a time travel show.

Pandora's Box

We've already discussed entire episodes inspired by one literary topic but the Pandorica is very significant to the overarching plot of Doctor Who Series 5. Starting from the first episode, the phrase: 'The Pandorica will open, silence will fall' reoccurs from many of the antagonists the Doctor encounters across the span of the series. As the name is extremely similar to Pandora from the Greek myth, it is clear the writers urge the viewer to think of Pandora's box every time the Pandorica line re-emerges. Additionally, foreboding that 'silence will fall' if the Pandorica opens, mirrors the myth that Pandora's box is said to have released all evil into the world.

The reveal is that the Doctor's enemies from every galaxy acquired a box called the Pandorica as a prison for him. The twist being that the Doctor is the 'evil' of the universe, according to his large history of enemies, and must be imprisoned in the box for eternity (like evil is in Pandora's box). The show uses the literary concept of Pandora's box as a commentary on the Doctor's character and how his enemies perceive his power.

Pandora's box may 'contain all evil' but the myth also speaks of 'hope' remaining inside. When the Doctor is freed from the Pandorica he puts Amy Pond's dead body in there because the Pandorica can heal her. Amy is therefore the 'hope that remains inside the box'. She remains there for centuries (she is put in the Pandorica in 102 AD). She is released in the 21st Century when her child self touches the box and she is fully brought back to life.

Incorporating Amy's younger self at this point in the series' narrative is a nice touch because it is revealed that the Doctor's enemies stole from Amy's childhood memories to create the Pandorica and lure them both towards it. Pandora's box, Amy says, was her favourite story as a child.

Both the evil and hope associated with Pandora's box are utilised as a story-telling device in a clever and twisty sci-fi way. Narratively, it allows a direct exploration of the Doctor's complicated 'evil' reputation and identity, as well as reconciling Amy with her ever-so-lonely 'hopeful' younger self which is something she grapples with throughout the series.

Goblin Market

By far the most chilling use of literature in Doctor Who is in the episode 'Midnight'. An unknown entity infiltrates a space bus, trapping the Doctor and other passengers inside. The entity, through a woman called Sky, mimics other's words until it speaks in perfect sync with them. Eventually the entity is able to speak before the Doctor does and steals his voice. Truly eery stuff!

One of the passengers recites some lines from Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market because the mysterious nature of the entity reminds her of the poem:

'We must not look at goblin men,

We must not buy their fruits:

Who knows upon what soil they fed

Their hungry thirsty roots?'

'Who knows upon what soil they fed' - no one knows where the entity comes from, but they know it is feeding through mimicking and absorbing their voices: 'their hungry thirsty roots'. One must wonder, are the lines simply used as an atmospheric omen, or can we can draw any clues from the poem as to what the entity may be? The poem doesn't give us much more about the entity, nothing obvious anyway, but it does highlight some parallels with the Doctor's experience in this episode.

The poem tells the tale of two sisters - Laura is curious about the mysterious goblin men, Lizzie does not trust them and wants to protect her sister from them. The Doctor is in a uniquely torn position in this particular story and therefore shares traits with both sisters.

As he is without a companion this episode, the Doctor struggles to gain the trust of the paranoid human passengers. They do not listen to him when he tells them to stop talking so that the entity cannot steal their voices. Lizzie cannot convince her sister to stay away from the goblin men either.

The Doctor is also dealing with a completely unknown threat which is rare for him. He can't help but try to investigate. This inevitably causes him to engage too much with the entity and it succeeds in stealing his voice and feeding off of him. Laura too, is seduced by the goblin men.