1 June 1947: birth of Jonathan Pryce, who played the Master in The Curse of Fatal Death (1999).
1 June 1991: death of Milton Subotsky, who produced and wrote Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) and Daleks – Invasion Earth 2150 AD (1966), the two cinema films starring Peter Cushing as Doctor Who.
1 June 2005: death of Geoffey Toone, who played Temmosus in Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) and Hepesh in The Curse of Peladon (1972).
ii) broadcast anniversaries
1 June 1968: broadcast of sixth episode of The Wheel In Space, ending Season 4 of Old Who. The Doctor manages to destroy the Cybermen with the X-ray laser; and Zoe stows away on the Tardis.
1 June 1974: broadcast of fifth part of Planet of the Spiders. The Doctor confronts the Great One, and escapes to Earth with Sarah; but she is under the spiders’ control.
iii) date specified in canon
1 June 1977: Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee, as celebrated in Mawdryn Undead (1983).
Without the reference to Benny’s loss, how would the reader understand why the Doctor decides to become human?
I liked the book better than the show. I think had they skipped the one silly “He had to fall in love with a human” line..” I would have thought the television adaptation perfect, even with the Doctor so insenstive or clueless to his Companion, that he has Martha masquerade as his parent’s servant, rather than his or their ward, but I did understand Cornell wanted Martha to shine as a companion, as one who could and did stand on her own in the face of a hostile envioronment, working with little or no information about the enemy she face, and no help from the Doctor whatsoever. He also stated that he wanted to add realism, and we could talk and debate all year about how merely stating that in those times people were prejudice unintentionally disregard the story of any character of color who lived in those times, but I will not. My favorite Seven novel is Lungbarrow, but I enjoyed Human Nature as well. I would have loved to have heard Ten tell Martha– as Seven tells Bernice in the book- that they would face the Family together as always Smith and Jones, but I also, after a year of sulking, realized that Davies wanted to create an emotional rift between the Doctor and Martha that couldn’t be healed. Enjoy the show.