The first part of the last fourth of Dark Eyes, A Life In the Day sees The Doctor and Liv Chenka back in London, 1921, where they run into Kitty Donaldson, Molly's old employer who originally died before Kotriss' death and the paradox it caused changed time. Kitty thinks The Doctor is a doctor, and asks him to examine her brother Martin. Martin is actually in fine health apart from being a shut-in, and only having one leg after his time in the Great War. The Doctor discovers something strange though, unusual time energy in the Donaldson's home. He tasks Liv to take Martin out around town while he investigates.
Martin and Liv, despite having been somewhat pushed together, have a fine time together, enjoying dinner and a movie, despite Liv finding the 20th century still a bit strange. Meanwhile The Doctor and Kitty run afoul of androids, who are after the TARDIS. The pair survive a number of narrow escapes, helped by several fortunate coincidences. But what is behind the coincidences, and who is behind the androids, and what caused the strange time energies that caught the Doctor's interest in the first place?
When the smoke clears, The Doctor and Liv will have found answers but also lost something incredibly important...
A Life In The Day contains examples of:
- Call-Back: The Doctor mentions how he was once mistaken for someone's husband, as depicted in "Other Lives".
- The Doctor mentions having met Kitty before, and also brings up his house in Baker Street (both seen earlier in this anthology). He further explains he can't go to his house, as an earlier version of himself is using it (the Fourth Doctor, in "The Auntie Matter")
- Call-Forward: In the British Museum, the tour guide briefly mentions a statue of the Red Lady, an important figure in the Doom Coalition series, which directly follows Dark Eyes.
- Foreshadowing: There are plenty of little clues to this not being Martin's first time through this day, from him knowing all the gags in the movie, to knowing the waiter's name at the restaurant (who doesn't recognize Martin), and several others.
- "Groundhog Day" Loop: Martin is in one of these, which actually ends up being a boon to his life, and ties into the story's title.
- Hero of Another Story: The Doctor and Martin have apparently spent some time trying to resolve the time loop, going through various iterations of the loop that include the Doctor being warned about the temporal grenade from the beginning, but eventually Martin accepted being trapped in the time loop as the only way he can have a life with Liv and save London.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Martin gives his life to save The Doctor and Liv, which leads to him being caught in a time loop.
- Shout-Out: Martin and Liv watch a Buster Keaton movie, The Goat.
- Sherlock Scan: The Doctor affirms various clues regarding how he worked out that Martin was caught in a time loop, such as how he left various hints to his activities over the course of the day.
