Chris Chibnall took a bit of a different approach when writing the Doctor Who episode “The Power of Three.” He drew upon his own life for this Earth-based episode.

According to the BBC, Chris Chibnall’s inspiration was debris. Yes, you read that right, washed up on the beach debris. Several years ago there was a container ship ran aground off the coast of Devon, England and its contents started washing up on the shore. People local to the area started collecting whatever they could find, and they took those items home with them instead of turning them into the authorities. So, by having cubes just suddenly drop out of the sky, Chibnall wanted to explore humanity’s seeming need to see something, grab it, and take without first thinking “Might this be dangerous?” or “Should I really grab something that isn’t mine?”

As for other inspiration, the original character of Brian Williams (Mark Williams) was much closer to home. To create the role of Rory Williams’ (Arthur Darvill) father, Chibnall threw a lot of himself into the character.

For me, being a dad, I did take a bit of an element of that into creating Brian; he is everything I worry I am going to become! But ultimately he is lovely with a big heart. You kind of know that Rory’s dad has got to be a good man. He starts off a bit fearful [in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship] but ends up being surprisingly well-equipped at dealing with the adventure. And I was really keen to introduce the audience to some of Rory’s family, as we only had a few episodes left with him… That is the joy of Doctor Who, bringing characters who are happy in their lives and plonking them in crazy situations!

No matter the inspiration, fans seem to have latched onto Brian Williams, many lamenting that his time with the Doctor will be limited to only two episodes.

The final bit of inspiration was wanting to hit uncharted Doctor Who territory and explore the companions and Doctor on Earth for an extended period of time. The concept had been somewhat tackled before with Donna Noble in the episode “Turn Left”; however, that was an alternative timeline, and it didn’t focus on the Doctor so much as it did the companion. Chibnall wanted to tackle both concepts: the companions’ long-term lives on Earth and the Doctor staying with them. Additionally, he didn’t want anything along the lines of a rebooted universe or resetting time to take place. He wanted this interaction to be real.

In this newly released clip from the BBC, Amy (Karen Gillan) narrates what the Doctor has done to create contrasting lives.

Which life would you choose, Doctor life or Earth life?