- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- October 1981
- (Book Number: 68)
Doctor Who and An Unearthly Child
UK / Hardback / WH Allen / October 1981Docteur Who: Entre en Scène
France / Paperback / Editions Garancière / March 1987 / 1 (Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com)
Docteur Who: Entre en Scène was one of eight Doctor Who novelisations to be released in France by Editions Garancière.
Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child
UK / Paperback / Target Books / February 1990 / No.68Doctor Who und das Kind von den Sternen
Germany / Paperback / Goldmann Verlag / 1990 (Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com)
Doctor Who und das Kind von den Sternen was one of eight translations of Doctor Who novelisations to be released in Germany in the late-1980s and early-1990s by Goldmann Verlag, and was the only one not to feature the Daleks. Rather bizarrely, this edition used the cover art from Doctor Who and the Keys of Marinus.
FIRST PUBLICATION OF THE VERY FIRST DOCTOR WHO STORY
A strange girl who knows far more than she should about the past — and the future...
Two worried teachers whose curiosity leads them to a deserted junk yard, an extraordinary police box and a mysterious traveller known only as the Doctor...
A fantastic journey through Space and Time ending in a terrifying adventure at the dawn of history...
DOCTOR WHO AND AN UNEARTHLY CHILD
THE BEGINNING OF A LEGEND
100,000 BC
Script Writer: Anthony Coburn
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC / Black and White
23/11/63 An Unearthly Child
30/11/63 The Cave of Skulls
07/12/63 The Forest of Fear
14/12/63 The Firemaker
All episodes exist as 16mm telerecordings and have been released on Region 2 DVD in the UK, and on Region 1 DVD in the United States.
First Doctor / Ian Chesterton / Barbara Wright / Susan Foreman
- Doctor Who and An Unearthly Child was released to tie in with the Five Faces of Doctor Who repeat season on BBC2 in 1981. It included the first complete UK broadcast of 100,000 BC since 1963, as well as screenings of The Krotons, Carnival of Monsters, The Three Doctors and Logopolis.
- The scripts to 100,000 BC were released by Titan Books in 1988 under the title The Tribe of Gum. This was the only story produced for the television series to be written by Anthony Coburn, although he did write a complete six-part story which ultimately wasn't produced, eventually being replaced by Terry Nation's The Daleks. The complete scripts to The Masters of Luxor were eventually published by Titan Books in 1992 as part of their range of Doctor Who script books.
- 100,000 BC was the very first story of the television series, and the opening episode, An Unearthly Child, is now rightly recognized as an important piece of television in its own right. Although the series would never explore what had happened to the Doctor and Susan prior to this adventure, several of the original novels and novellas did deal with the subject.
Marc Platt's Lungbarrow, in 1997, saw the Seventh Doctor returning to Gallifrey and gave a possible explanation for the First Doctor and Susan fleeing the Time Lords in a TARDIS.
Kim Newman's Time and Relative, published as the first novella in the Telos Publishing series, was set on Earth in the months before the Doctor kidnapped Ian and Barbara, and while Susan was a pupil at Coal Hill School.
Tara Samm's Frayed, again published by Telos, was set in the gap between the TARDIS leaving Gallifrey and landing in 1960s London.
Also of note are several television stories which returned to the scene of the opening episode, with Remembrance of the Daleks seeing the Seventh Doctor and Ace encountering several warring Dalek factions in Coal Hill shortly after the First Doctor had hurriedly departed, and saw scenes set at both the famous junkyard in Totter's Lane and also Coal Hill School. 1985's Attack of the Cybermen also saw the TARDIS returning to the junkyard, although for no good reason. Lawrence Miles' two-part novel Interference also featured the junkyard, again for no sensible reason, but put a rather different spin on things, with particular emphasis on I.M. Foreman, who owned the junkyard.
- UK
- Hardback
- Frederick Muller Ltd
- November 1964
Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks
UK / Paperback / Armada Paperbacks / October 1965
The edition from Armada Paperbacks was the very first Doctor Who novelisation to be made available in paperback. The company are best known to tie-in collectors for producing original novels based on many of Gerry Anderson's 1960s Supermarionation series, such as Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Stingray and Thunderbirds.
USA / Paperback / Avon Books / July 1966
The Avon Books edition was released to tie in with the US release of the movie Dr. Who and the Daleks, the big-screen version of The Daleks, which starred Peter Cushing, Roy Castle, Jennie Linden and Roberta Tovey.
USA / Hardback / Soccer Books / 1966Details of this edition are sketchy at best, although it is listed in the Library of Congress catalogue records. If anyone can provide further details, or even a cover scan, please get in contact via the email address at the top of the page.
Dr. Who en de Daleks
Holland / Hardback / U.-M 'West-Friesand' / 1967Dr. Who en de Daleks was the only foreign language Doctor Who book to be released during the 1960s. A completely new translation of the novelisation was released in paperback in Holland during 1974 under the title Doctor Who en de Daleks.
Doctor Who and the Daleks
UK / Paperback / Target Books / May 1973 / (No.16)
UK / Hardback / Allan Wingate Ltd / May 1973
Doctor Who and the Daleks was one of the first three releases by Allan Wingate and Target. The 1960s novelisations of Doctor Who and the Zarbi and Doctor Who and the Crusaders were also re-issued at the same time. Over the next twenty years they would go on to novelise all but five of the television stories.
UK / Hardback / White Lion / June 1975Rather bizarrely, the cover of the White Lion edition shows Tom Baker, who was playing the Fourth Doctor on television at the time. The internal illustrations still show the First Doctor as played by William Hartnell.
Doctor Who en de Daleks
Holland / Paperback / Gooise Uitgeverij / 1974Doctor Who en de Daleks was one of eight translations of Doctor Who novelisations to be released in Holland in the 1970s by Gooise Uitgeverij. The novelisation had previously been released in hardback in Holland during the 1960s under the title Dr. Who en de Daleks, although this was a completely new translation.
Doktor Kim: Ve Dalekler
Turkey / Paperback / Remzi Kitabevi / 1975Doktor Kim: Ve Dalekler was one of seven translations of Doctor Who novelisations to be released by Remzi Kitabevi in Turkey during the mid-1970s.
(Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks)
Japan / Paperback / Hayakawa Bunko / March 1980 / 1The Japanese translation of Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks was one of five translations of Doctor Who novelisations to be released in the country during 1980 by Hayakawa Bunko.
Doutor Who e os Daleks
Portugal / Paperback / Editorial Presença / 1983 / 7Doutor Who e os Daleks was one of ten translations of Doctor Who novelisations to be released by Editorial Presença in Portugal.
Docteur Who: Les Daleks
France / Paperback / Editions Garancière / May 1987 / 3Docteur Who: Les Daleks was one of eight Doctor Who novelisations to be released in France by Editions Garancière.
Doctor Who und die Invasion der Daleks
Germany / Paperback / Goldmann Verlag / 1989Doctor Who und die Invasion der Daleks was one of eight translations of Doctor Who novelisations to be released in Germany in the late-1980s and early-1990s by Goldmann Verlag, with all but one being Dalek stories. Rather bizarrely, the cover art is taken from the Fourth Doctor novelisation Doctor Who and the Destiny of the Daleks. To maintain the balance, the Goldmann Verlag edition of that book has the original Target cover art to Doctor Who and the Daleks!
Doctor Who: The Daleks
UK / Paperback / Target Books / January 1992 / No.16The original Arnold Schwartzman illustrations were not included in this particular edition from Target.
The story from the beginning! Here is the exciting adventure of Dr. Who, Susan, Barbara and Ian, from the moment they meet one foggy autumn night on a lonely common beside a Police Box (Ah, but what a curious Police Box!) to the time they encounter the weird Daleks.
It is a thrilling story, and we know this book will be one of the most popular in the Armada series.
Can you wait any longer? Start reading!
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books (1974)
This is DOCTOR WHO's first exciting adventure — with the DALEKS! Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright travel with the mysterious DOCTOR WHO and his grand-daughter, Susan to the planet of Skaro in the space-time machine, Tardis. There they strive to save the peace-loving Thals from the evil intentions of the hideous DALEKS. Can they succeed? And what is more important, will they ever again see their native Earth?
The Daleks
Script Writer: Terry Nation
7 × 25 Minutes / BBC / Black and White
21/12/63 The Dead Planet
28/12/63 The Survivors
04/01/64 The Escape
11/01/64 The Ambush
18/01/64 The Expedition
25/01/64 The Ordeal
01/02/64 The Rescue
All episodes exist as 16mm telerecordings and have been released on Region 2 DVD in the UK, and on Region 1 DVD in the United States.
First Doctor / Ian Chesterton / Barbara Wright / Susan Foreman
Familiar Faces / Returning Characters
The Daleks
Audio Book- UK
- BBC Worldwide
- 5 × CD
- November 2005
- Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventures with the Daleks was the very first Doctor Who novelisation to be published, and was one of three to be released in hardback by Frederick Muller Ltd during the 1960s. Doctor Who and the Zarbi followed in October 1965, with Doctor Who and the Crusaders being published in March 1966.
Although it was no unusual thing for tie-in books based on television programmes to be released (as this web site should demonstrate!) the series from Frederick Muller was unusual in that they were based on existing television stories. With several notable exceptions, such as A for Andromeda and The Andromeda Breakthrough, which were sold abroad as science fiction novels in their own right thanks to having Fred Hoyle's name attached, and several collections of Twilight Zone adaptations from Rod Serling, the trend at the time was very much for original novels, with the likes of The Avengers, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and the various Supermarionation series from Gerry Anderson all spawning series of original fiction.
By the time the main series of Doctor Who novelisations from Target began to be released in the mid-1970s, TV tie-ins were routinely based on pre-existing television episodes, with the original novels now lagging behind. It would be a further twenty years before original fiction started to dominate the TV tie-in marketplace once more. - Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventures with the Daleks was the first of two novelisations to be written by David Whitaker, who was the story editor on the television series from its inception in 1963 through to The Dalek Invasion of Earth in 1964. His second novelisation, Doctor Who and the Crusaders, was based on his own four-part story — one of seven he would write for the television series between 1964 and 1970.
- The scripts to The Daleks were released by Titan Books in 1989 under the title The Daleks. The story was the first of eleven to be written for Doctor Who by Terry Nation, with all but two of them featuring the Daleks, the mechanical pepperpots from Skaro who made his name. The popularity of the creatures was such that, as well as invading toyshops throughout the UK, the first two Dalek stories were eventually transferred to the big screen in full colour, with Peter Cushing taking the lead role.
- As the first Doctor Who novel to be published it was obviously decided that it would be best to introduce the characters properly by going back to the beginning of their adventures. However, instead of summarising the events of 100,000 BC, David Whitaker came up with a completely new start to the series in his novelisation, beginning with a car crash on a cold and foggy Barnes Common. This change in established continuity would be echoed in the 1970s when Malcolm Hulke novelised his scripts to Colony in Space as Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon and created a completely new introduction for Jo Grant who, in reality, had first appeared three stories earlier in Terror of the Autons. In the event, that story was to be novelised by Terrance Dicks just over twelve months later, in May 1975.
- Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks was unusual in being one of the few Doctor Who books to be written in the first person, in this instance from Ian Chesterton's point of view.
- UK
- Hardback
- WH Allen
- May 1988
Doctor Who: The Edge of Destruction
UK / Paperback / Target Books / October 1988 / No.132
In a final bid to regain control of the TARDIS's faulty control system the Doctor is driven to experiment with a dangerous untried combination.
With a violent explosion the TARDIS blacks out and the crew find themselves trapped inside.
A simple technical fault? Sabotage? Or something even more sinister? Tension mounts as the Doctor and his companions begin to suspect one another.
What has happened to the TARDIS? Slowly a terrifying suspicion dawns. Has the TARDIS become the prisoner of some powerful fifth intelligence which is even now haunting the time-machine's dark and gloomy corridors?
Inside the Spaceship
Script Writer: David Whitaker
2 × 25 Minutes / BBC / Black and White
08/02/64 The Edge of Destruction
15/02/64 The Brink of Disaster
Both episodes exist as 16mm telerecordings and have been released on Region 2 DVD in the UK, and on Region 1 DVD in the United States.
First Doctor / Ian Chesterton / Barbara Wright / Susan Foreman
- The Edge of Destruction was the fourth and final Doctor Who novelisation to be written by Nigel Robinson. He went on to write Timewyrm: Apocalypse and Birthright for the New Adventures range of original Doctor Who novels, as well as novelising all five stories produced for the 1990s re-make of The Tomorrow People.
- Inside the Spaceship was the first of seven stories to be written for the television series by David Whitaker.
- The Edge of Destruction is the only novelisation to be set entirely in the TARDIS.
- UK
- Hardback
- WH Allen
- December 1984
The young Venetian Marco Polo is on his way to the Emperor's court in Peking when he meets the intrepid time-travellers, for the TARDIS has landed on Earth in the Year 1298.
Marco Polo recognises in the TARDIS a means of winning favour with the Emperor. But in the end the Doctor has no one but himself to blame for the loss of his wondrous travelling machine — which he gambles away to Kublai Khan...
Marco Polo
Script Writer: John Lucarotti
7 × 25 Minutes / BBC / Black and White
22/02/64 The Roof of the World
29/02/64 The Singing Sands
07/03/64 Five Hundred Eyes
14/03/64 The Wall of Lies
21/03/64 Rider from Shang-tu
28/03/64 Mighty Kublai Khan
04/04/64 Assassin at Peking
None of Marco Polo's seven episodes are currently known to exist. Luckily, off-air audio recordings were made by fans during the 1960s and were released on CD by BBC Worldwide in November 2003 with linking narration by William Russell.
First Doctor / Ian Chesterton / Barbara Wright / Susan Foreman
- Marco Polo was the first of three stories to be written for the television series by John Lucarotti, all of them being historically based stories featuring the First Doctor. During the 1980s he was the first of the 1960s Doctor Who script-writers to return to novelise his own television stories as the Target range started to increasingly focus on the early years of the series, with The Aztecs being published some six months prior to Marco Polo, and The Massacre eventually being released in 1987. Other writers to return would include Gerry Davis (who had already novelised several stories for Target during the 1970s), Donald Cotton, William Emms, Ian Stuart Black and Paul Erickson.
- Unfortunately for fans of the television series, Marco Polo is the first gap in the BBC archives, as none of the seven episodes are currently known to exist. As was then standard policy, after being copied to 16mm film for sales overseas, the original videotapes of Doctor Who were either destroyed or erased.
As the 1960s and 1970s progressed, the film copies themselves were then destroyed as the time period in which they were allowed to be sold expired. Fortunately, a number of the original 16mm negatives were retained by BBC Enterprises (who sold the series overseas) and prints of various other stories were recovered from overseas or from other sources.
As of April 2008, 108 of Doctor Who's 253 episodes from the 1960s are still missing from the archives — the final one to be recovered to date being Day of Armageddon, the second episode of the epic The Daleks' Master Plan, which was returned to the BBC in early 2003.
Fortunately, although the pictures may be lost forever, every single one of the missing episodes still exists in the form of off-air audio recordings made by fans of Doctor Who during the 1960s and early-1970s.
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- August 1980
- (Book Number: 38)
MARINUS
a remote force shielded island set in a sea of acid, governed by
THE CONSCIENCE
the ultimate computer which rules and balances the gentle life of Marinus, guarded by
ARBITAN THE KEEPER
ruthless protector of a peace-loving race threatened by
YARTEK
Warlord of the brutal sub-human Voords, sworn enemies of Arbitan and of Marinus, who has within his grasp
THE KEYS OF MARINUS
the Conscience's vital micro-circuits, the doors of good and evil. Can the Doctor find the hidden circuits in time? Arbitan's command was 'Find them, OR DIE!'
The Keys of Marinus
Script Writer: Terry Nation
6 × 25 Minutes / BBC + BBC1 / Black and White
11/04/64 The Sea of Death
18/04/64 The Velvet Web
25/04/64 The Screaming Jungle
02/05/64 The Snows of Terror
09/05/64 Sentence of Death
16/05/64 The Keys of Marinus
All six episodes exist as 16mm telerecordings and have been released on video in both the UK and United States
First Doctor / Ian Chesterton / Barbara Wright / Susan Foreman
- The Keys Of Marinus was one of only two television stories by Terry Nation not to include the Daleks — the other being The Android Invasion.
- David McAllister's cover art was originally intended for a novelisation of The Edge Of Destruction which David Whitaker was working on before his death. Rather bizarrely, it would later be used on the German edition of Doctor Who and an Unearthly Child.
- UK
- Hardback
- WH Allen
- June 1984
Doctor Who: The Aztecs
UK / Paperback / Target Books / September 1984 / No.88
UK / Paperback / Target Books / September 1992 / No.88
The TARDIS materialises in Mexico during the Aztec civilisation. The Doctor and his companions step outside to discover they are in a tomb — the tomb it turns out, of Yetaxa, once High Priest of the Aztecs.
Barbara is hailed as Yetaxa's reincarnation by Autloc, High Priest of Knowledge, and Tlotoxl, High Priest of Sacrifice, when they find her in the precincts of the tomb wearing the bracelet of the deceased Priest, now revered as a god.
And she takes advantage of her position of unaccustomed power to try and dissuade the Aztecs from practising human sacrifice...
The Aztecs
Script Writer: John Lucarotti
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Black and White
23/05/64 The Temple of Evil
30/05/64 The Warriors of Death
06/06/64 The Bride of Sacrifice
13/06/64 The Day of Darkness
All episodes exist as 16mm telerecordings and have been released on Region 2 DVD in the UK, and on Region 1 DVD in the United States.
First Doctor / Ian Chesterton / Barbara Wright / Susan Foreman
- The Aztecs was the second of John Lucarotti's three historical adventures for Doctor Who, although the subsequent 1984 novelisation was his first for WH Allen/Target.
- UK
- Hardback
- WH Allen
- February 1987
The TARDIS materialises on board a dark and silent spaceship. As the Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara penetrate the craft's eerie gloom they come across what appears to be the bodies of two dead astronauts.
But the astronauts are far from dead, and are living in mortal fear of the Sensorites, a race of telepathic creatures from the Sense-Sphere.
When the lock of the TARDIS is stolen the Doctor is forced into an uneasy alliance with the aliens. And when he arrives on the Sensorites' planet he discovers that it is not only the Humans who have cause to be afraid...
The Sensorites
Script Writer: Peter R Newman
6 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Black and White
20/06/64 Strangers in Space
27/06/64 The Unwilling Warriors
11/07/64 Hidden Danger
18/07/64 A Race Against Death
25/07/64 Kidnap
01/08/64 A Desperate Venture
All episodes exist as 16mm telerecordings and have been released on video in both the UK and United States.
First Doctor / Ian Chesterton / Barbara Wright / Susan Foreman
- The Sensorites was the first of four novelisationss to be written by Nigel Robinson, who would later be responsible for The Edge of Destruction, The Time Meddler and The Underwater Menace.
- The Sensorites was the only story to be written for the television series by Philip R Newman.
- UK
- Hardback
- WH Allen
- March 1987
It is 1774 and the TARDIS materialises some distance from Paris during the French Revolution — the infamous Reign of Terror.
Soon the TARDIS crew find themselves caught up in the tangled web of historical events. Imprisoned in a dank dungeon, Ian is entrusted with delivering a message to master-spy James Stirling.
Who is James Stirling? What world-shattering events are being discussed in a deserted inn off the Calais road? And can the Doctor and his friends escape a violent and bloody death at the dreaded guillotine?
The Reign of Terror
Script Writer: Dennis Spooner
6 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Black and White
08/08/64 A Land of Fear
15/08/64 Guests of Madame Guillotine
22/08/64 A Change of Identity
29/08/64 The Tyrant of France
05/09/64 A Bargain of Necessity
12/09/64 Prisoners of Conciergerie
The Tyrant of France and A Bargain of Necessity are both missing from the BBC archives, although the remaining four episodes all exist as 16mm telerecordings and have been released on video in both the UK and United States. Off-air audio recordings of all six episodes were released on CD by BBC Worldwide in 2006 with linking narration by Carole Anne Ford.
First Doctor / Ian Chesterton / Barbara Wright / Susan Foreman
- The Reign of Terror was the final Doctor Who novelisation to be 100% finished by Ian Marter before his death in 1987. Although he completed a first draft of The Rescue, it was subsequently given a final polish by series editor Nigel Robinson prior to publication.
- The Reign of Terror neatly ended the first season of Doctor Who by sending the travellers back to the 18th Century and the French Revolution, a period in history which Susan has an interest in, having been handed a book on the subject by Barbara in the very first episode of the series.
- The Reign of Terror was the first of three complete First Doctor stories to be written for Doctor Who by Dennis Spooner, who later went on to write The Romans and The Time Meddler. During 1965/6 he also co-wrote the twelve-part The Daleks' Master Plan with Terry Nation, with each man being responsible for six of the episodes. Spooner also worked on the television series as story editor during the majority of Season Two, replacing David Whitaker who had held the position during Season 1 and also for The Dalek Invasion of Earth and Planet of Giants, which were actually made along with Season 1 and then held over to the following season.
Away from Doctor Who, Dennis Spooner's name can be found on the credits of almost every notable telefantasy and action series produced for ITV during the 1960s, having contributed to the likes of Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds and The Avengers. Series created, or co-created by Dennis Spooner, include Man in a Suitcase, The Champions, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Department S and its spin-off Jason King. During the 1970s he worked primarily as a freelance script writer contributing to UFO, Doomwatch, Space: 1999 and The New Avengers.