Doctor Who Season 10: 6 Big Questions We're Asking After 'The Pilot'
3. Is The Doctor's Granddaughter Susan Returning?
For a man always so reticent to talk about his past, the desk photographs of the Doctor's wife, River Song, and his granddaughter Susan are uncharacteristic. Perhaps it is all part of the human disguise, after all that’s what humans do with desks, isn’t it? Then again the usually unsentimental Doctor would have surely framed any old Tom, Dick or Harry. The fact that the episode contains other easter eggs also related to Doctor Who origins is also telling.
Calling the episode The Pilot, whilst a literal reference to the ‘villain’ of the piece, is also a deliberate nod to another meaning of the word – to denote the test episode for a new series: specifically here the ‘pilot’ version of An Unearthly Child. Interestingly, the photo of Carol Anne Ford is actually a publicity shot for that unaired pilot.
It’s also no coincidence that Bill’s love interest is called Heather. Following in the tradition of Doctor Who name checks (e.g. Verity and Sydney in The Family of Blood, or Clara having been named after Elizabeth Clara Sladen) the couple are a clever, if slightly odd tribute to first Doctor, William Hartnell and his wife Heather.
Peter Capaldi has made no secret of his wish to see Carole Anne Ford reprise her role as Susan Foreman, and as we know from the Cybermen with Capaldi, and the Zygons with Tennant, the writers are not averse to honouring their lead actor’s fanboy wishes.