The Earth was the planet from which the human race originated, before they expanded to the stars.
Astronomical data
Location
The Earth was located in the solar system, and one of the planets, like its neighbouring planet Mars, that orbited the Sun. (WC: Star Cops The High Frontier) The Sun provided it with heat, energy and daylight. However, it also made some parts of the world arid and almost uninhabitable. (WC: Star Cops The High Frontier, AUDIO: The Stuff of Life, Death in the Desert)
Moons
The Earth had one moon, which was referred to simply as the Moon. By 2027, the Earth had a built a Moonbase on the surface of the Moon, in which scientists would conduct experiments. (TV: Intelligent Listening for Beginners) However, it was in many countries' interests to provide law upon the Moon, and so the International Space Police Force was founded with Nathan Spring as its Commander. (TV: An Instinct for Murder) Other human businessmen and scientists founded their own, separate Outposts upon the surface of the Moon but relied on Moonbase for deliveries and transport to Earth and other planets, such as Outpost Nine, owned by Michael Chandri. (TV: Intelligent Listening for Beginners, et al)
Atmosphere and gravity
Due to it being a celestial body, the Earth had gravity. (TV: An Instinct for Murder, et al) Whilst the Moon also had gravity, it was less strong, and led to humans suffering from muscular-skeletal issues, which required them to take regular shore leave Earthside and also take injections. (AUDIO: Old Flame, New Fire)
Earth also had an atmosphere. Clouds were a property of the atmosphere, which in turned created rain. (WC: Star Cops The High Frontier) Rain was not common everywhere, however. Dr Joseph Ntembi recalled his childhood in Nairobi where the lack of rain created a scarcety of food. Due to this, as an adult, he led the work of the African Cloud Seeding Initiative, which was a planned artificial rain system in Africa. (AUDIO: The Stuff of Life) Meanwhile, Dr Sani Habib was working to genetically alter the cathe iboga plant to survive in arid conditions, such as the deserts of Chad, in Central Africa, and on the surface of Mars. He debated that it could be used as a food stuff, making it easier to survive in such harsh conditions. (AUDIO: Death in the Desert)
Geography
Earth had landmasses and seas. (WC: Star Cops The High Frontier) Upon the landmasses, there existed mountains, such as the Karakoram, which were high peaks often traversed as a sport activity by humans. (AUDIO: Dead Air) Earth also had a gravitation pull, like many planets. The lack of gravity on Spring's first ISPF posting led to him feeling unwell, and pushing for the Moonbase office. (TV: Conversations with the Dead) All employees on the Moon had to return to Earth every few weeks to avoid muscle dystrophy. (AUDIO: Old Flame, New Fire)
Earth had large deserts, which contained little to no water or planet life, making it very difficult for humans to survive there. Within the past few years, Lake Chad, in Central Africa, had reduced to five hundred square miles, which was less than five percent its original size. Scientists such as Dr Sani Habib were working on mutating certain plant life, such as cathe iboga, enabling it to grow in such conditions and provide a food source to those living nearby. (AUDIO: Death in the Desert) Dr Joseph Ntembi, who was born in Nairobi, recalled living in such an environment, and as an adult, worked as the Head of the African Cloud Seeding Initiative, which would have become a way of artificially controlling the rain in Africa. (AUDIO: The Stuff of Life)
Due to years of industry, the human race had polluted the planet, causing radical gangs such as Mother Earth to rise. Mother Earth was dead against expanding into space and polluted other worlds through the colonies. They viewed the human race like a disease infecting space. (AUDIO: Lockdown, et al) In fact, the pollution on planet Earth had led to global warming, which saw the rising of the tides and swallowing of lower lying cities, such as Venice. (AUDIO: The Stuff of Life)
Politics
The Earth was split into nation states, such as the United Kingdom, (TV: An Instinct for Murder) the United States of America, (TV: Trivial Games and Paranoid Pursuits) and Chad, to name just a few, all with their own individual political beliefs, ideologies and religions. (AUDIO: Death in the Desert) These countries extended their nations into space with their own space stations, such as the American station the Ronald Reagan. (TV: Trivial Games and Paranoid Pursuits)
Different countries led to different currencies, such as the Pound in the United Kingdom, (AUDIO: Old Flame, New Fire) and the Euro Credit throughout Europe. (AUDIO: Hostile Takeover) Different territories, and differing politics made it very important for some governments who was elected to certain seats of power. For Gerard, head of the British police force, it was vital that a British person be in charge of the International Space Police Force, which is why he forced Nathan Spring to take the role. (TV: An Instinct for Murder) Similarly, the Western nations were highly suspicious of Alexander Krivenko, a Russian man placed in the role of Moonbase Coordinator. This was a take that Spring did not share, making certain to judge the man, not the nation he was from. (TV: Trivial Games and Paranoid Pursuits)
The Human Empire
The human race had started by making space stations, such as the Coral Sea, (TV: An Instinct for Murder) and the Hattie Jacques. (AUDIO: Dead Air) After that, was the expansion to the Moon. The human race had previously landed on the Moon in the nineteen sixties, (AUDIO: Tranquility and Other Illusions) but it wasn't until the creation of the Moonbase that the humans could live on the Moon for long periods of time. (TV: Conversations with the Dead, et al) But other scientists foresaw the policing of the Moon, and headed further afield. The businessmen and their teams settled on Mars, knowing it to be lawless territory where they could bend the laws of ethics without reprimand. (AUDIO: The New World, et al) It wasn't long before Mars, too, had its own ISPF office. (AUDIO: The Highest Ground)
Behind the scenes
- The version of Earth we are provided with now, is meant to be roughly 2027, with series creator Chris Boucher having envisiged "forty years into the future" when he had created it in 1987. However, some aspects of the planet, such as the technology and the political systems, such as Boucher having assumed that Russia would remain the Soviet Union in the future, is due to this. The Big Finish team of writers have approached the series with this 1980s lense, rather than try to make it fit with our current 2020s realistic view of the universe.