Doctor Who
Novelisations: Second Doctor: Season 6
The first three Doctor Who novelisations were published in the 1960s by Frederick Muller Ltd, but it wasn't until 1973, when Target Books picked up the reprint rights, that the range of Doctor Who books began to expand.

Beginning with Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion, Target Books would go on to print books based on all but five of the television stories produced between 1963 and 1989, with numerous re-jacketed editions in between.

With the majority of stories novelised, the company, now owned by Virgin Publishing, went on to establish the enormously successful range of New Adventures novels.

The production of the 1996 TV movie, starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, saw BBC Books taking the decision to publish both a script book and novelisation of the story. Shortly afterwards, the decision was also taken that the time had come for Doctor Who fiction to be brought in-house, with Target/Virgin's twenty-four year association with the programme finally coming to an end in April 1997.
Doctor Who: The Dominators

Doctor Who: The Dominators cover image
by Ian Marter
  • UK
  • Hardback
  • WH Allen
  • April 1984
Other Editions
Doctor Who: The Dominators
Click for cover image UK / Paperback / Target Books / July 1984 / No.86
Click for cover image UK / Paperback / Target Books / February 1991 / No.86

The Dominators was also included as part of the Doctor Who Classics: The Dominators and The Krotons omnibus from Star Books in September 1988.
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books (1984)
The Doctor remembers Dulkis from a previous visit as a civilised and peaceful place. But times have changed, and his second trip is not quite the holiday he was expecting.

The Dulcians themselves are more reluctant than ever before to engage in acts of violence. The so-called Island of Death, once used as an atomic test site, has served as a dire warning to generations of Dulcians of the horrifying consequences of warfare. But an alien race prepares to take advantage of their pacifism...

The whole planet and its passive inhabitants are threatened with complete annihilation — and no one, it seems, is going to lift a finger to stop the evil Dominators and their unquestioning robot slaves.
Television Story
The Dominators
Script Writers: Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln

5 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Black and White

10/08/68 Episode 1
17/08/68 Episode 2
24/08/68 Episode 3
31/08/68 Episode 4
07/09/68 Episode 5

All five episodes exist, with Episode 3 as a 35mm telerecording and the remaining four as 16mm telerecordings. The complete story has been released on video in both the UK and United States. The soundtrack to the story was released on CD by BBC Worldwide in May 2007 with linking narration by Wendy Padbury.
Regular Characters
Second Doctor / Jamie McCrimmon / Zoe Heriot
Notes
  • The Dominators was the second of Ian Marter's three Second Doctor novelisations to be published. Unlike those based on The Enemy of the World and The Invasion, it failed to be controversial in any way whatsoever. Basically, it was every bit as dull as the TV story it was based on!
  • The Dominators was the third and final story for the television series to be written by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln, who would subsequently have a major falling out with the BBC over the use of the Quarks in the TV Comic comic strip.

    The television story was originally to have been six episodes in length, but was cut down do five before production began, something which would result in a hastily written extra episode being required to tag on to the start of The Mind Robber.
Doctor Who: The Mind Robber

Doctor Who: The Mind Robber cover image
by Peter Ling
  • UK
  • Hardback
  • WH Allen
  • November 1986
Other Editions
Doctor Who: The Mind Robber
Click for cover image UK / Paperback / Target Books / April 1987 / No.115
Click for cover image UK / Paperback / Target Books / August 1990 / No.115
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books (1987)
To escape a catastrophic volcanic eruption the Doctor takes the TARDIS out of space and time — and into a void he can only describe as 'nowhere.'

But the crisis is far from over and when the time-machine's circuits overload, the TARDIS explodes.

The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe come to in a dark unearthly forest. There they encounter a host of characters who seem somehow familiar: a beautiful princess with long flaxen hair, a sea traveller dressed in eighteenth-century clothes, and a white rabbit frantically consulting his pocket watch...

What is happening to the three time-travellers? What strange power guides their actions? In the Land of Fiction who can really tell?
Television Story
The Mind Robber
Script Writers: 1) Derrick Sherwin, 2) Peter Ling

5 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Black and White

14/09/68 Episode 1 1
21/09/68 Episode 2 2
28/09/68 Episode 3 2
05/10/68 Episode 4 2
12/10/68 Episode 5 2

All five episodes exist, with Episode 5 as a 35mm telerecording and the remaining four as 16mm telerecordings. The complete story has been released on Region 2 DVD in the UK and on Region 1 DVD in the United States.
Regular Characters
Second Doctor / Jamie McCrimmon / Zoe Heriot
Notes
  • The Mind Robber was the only Doctor Who story to be written by Peter Ling, better known in television as the co-creator with Hazel Adair of the much-ridiculed ITV soap opera Crossroads.

    With an extra episode required to expand The Mind Robber to five episodes, the first episode also marked the writing debut on Doctor Who of Derrick Sherwin, who had been working on the series as story/script editor since The Web of Fear the previous season. He would go on to write the eight-part The Invasion, based on an idea by Kit Pedler, before moving up the ladder again and producing The War Games, the very final story of the Second Doctor's era, and Spearhead from Space, the first Third Doctor story.
  • 1994 saw the publication of a sequel to The Mind Robber in the form of Conundrum, an original Seventh Doctor novel released as part of the New Adventures range, and written by Steve Lyons. A sequel to Conundrum, again written by Lyons, was published in 1995 under the title Head Games.
Doctor Who: The Invasion

Doctor Who: The Invasion cover image
by Ian Marter
  • UK
  • Hardback
  • WH Allen
  • May 1985
Other Editions
Doctor Who: The Invasion
Click for cover image UK / Paperback / Target Books / October 1985 / No.98
Click for cover image UK / Paperback / Target Books / September 1993 / No.98
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books (1985)
Materialising in outer space, the TARDIS is attacked by a missile fired from the dark side of the moon.

Back on Earth, the newly-formed United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, led by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, is disturbed by a series of UFO sightings over Southern England.

Meanwhile a large consignment of mysterious crates is delivered to the headquarters of International Electromatix, the largest computer and electronics firm in the world.

Three seemingly unconnected events — but in reality the preperations for a massive Cyberman invasion of Earth with one aim — the total annihilation of the human race.
Television Story
The Invasion
Script Writer: Derrick Sherwin

8 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Black and White

02/11/68 Episode 1
09/11/68 Episode 2
16/11/68 Episode 3
23/11/68 Episode 4
30/11/68 Episode 5
07/12/68 Episode 6
14/12/68 Episode 7
21/12/68 Episode 8

Episode 1 and Episode 4 are currently not known to exist, although the remaining six episodes are all held as 16mm telerecordings. The story has been released on Region 2 DVD in the UK and on Region 1 DVD in the United States, with the two missing episodes being represented by newly-created animations from Cosgrove-Hall which used off-air audio recordings of the episodes for their soundtrack. The complete story was released on CD by BBC Worldwide in January 2006 with linking narration by Frazer Hines.
Regular Characters
Second Doctor / Jamie McCrimmon / Zoe Heriot

Familiar Faces / Returning Characters
The Cybermen / Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart / Corporal Benton / Tobias Vaughn
Notes
  • The Invasion was the last of Ian Marter's three Second Doctor novelisations to be published, after Doctor Who and the Enemy of the World and The Dominators.
  • The Invasion featured the second appearance in the television series of Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart — now promoted to the rank of Brigadier and in charge of UNIT (United Nations Intelligence Taskforce) in the UK. In many respects, the story is very much a template for the Third Doctor's era, being set on Earth and with UNIT battling against an alien invader. It also introduced the character of Corporal Benton, played by John Levene, who would eventually be promoted to Sergeant and go on to be one of the regular supporting characters from Inferno onwards.
  • Tobias Vaghan made an unexpected re-appearance as the bad guy in the 1995 novel Original Sin, which introduced the characters on Chris Cwej and Roz Forrester.
  • The Invasion was the last of the four stories during the Second Doctor's era to feature the Cybermen. Apart from a brief glimpse of several Cybermen inside the Miniscope in Carnival of Monsters, they wouldn't return to the television series until 1975 in Gerry Davis' Revenge of the Cybermen.
Doctor Who: The Krotons

Doctor Who: The Krotons cover image
by Terrance Dicks
  • UK
  • Hardback
  • WH Allen
  • June 1985
Other Editions
Doctor Who: The Krotons
Click for cover image UK / Paperback / Target Books / November 1985 / No.99
Click for cover image UK / Paperback / Target Books / July 1991 / No.99

The Krotons was also included as part of the Doctor Who Classics: The Dominators and The Krotons omnibus from Star Books in September 1988.
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books (1985)
Many thousands of years ago strange crystalline creatures came down from the stars and settled on the planet of the Gonds.

Over the years they educated the Gonds through teaching machines in the great Hall of Learning. In return, the Gonds periodically selected their two most brilliant scholars to become the 'companions' of these mysterious beings.

But when the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe arrive on the planet, they soon discover the true evil purpose of the aliens and learn what it really means to be companions of the Krotons...

Back Cover Blurb — Target Books (1991)
According to legend, many thousands of years ago strange creatures came from the stars and settled on the planet of the Gonds. They were the Krotons.

And now, every year, the Gonds two greatest scholars are chosen to become the companions of the Krotons. They disappear and are never seen again, but it is held to be a great honour; for only the finest are chosen.

But when the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe arrive on the planet, they soon discover the true, evil purpose of the aliens and learn what it really means to be companions of the Krotons...
Television Story
The Krotons
Script Writer: Robert Holmes

4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Black and White

28/12/68 Episode 1
04/01/69 Episode 2
11/01/69 Episode 3
18/01/69 Episode 4

Search (VHS) Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com
The complete story exists in the form of 16mm telerecordings and has been released on video in both the UK and the United States.
Regular Characters
Second Doctor / Jamie McCrimmon / Zoe Heriot

Familiar Faces / Returning Characters
The Krotons
Notes
  • Although never seen again in the television series, the Krotons would later turn up in Lawrence Miles' Alien Bodies in 1997, an entry in the Eighth Doctor Adventures series which arguably set the path for the following eight years worth of novels.
  • The Krotons was the first story for Doctor Who to be scripted by Robert Holmes, who would go on to be one of the most prolific writers ever on the series, with some his most notable successes being Spearhead from Space, The Talons of Weng-Chiang and The Caves of Androzani. Between Season Twelve and Season Fifteen he was script editor on the programme.
Doctor Who: The Seeds of Death

Doctor Who: The Seeds of Death cover image
by Terrance Dicks
  • UK
  • Hardback
  • WH Allen
  • July 1986
Other Editions
Doctor Who: The Seeds of Death
Click for cover image UK / Paperback / Target Books / December 1986 / No.112
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books
Returning to Earth in the 21st century, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe immediately find themselves caught in the midst of a crisis. T-Mat — a form of instantaneous transportation essential to the smooth running of life on Earth — is going disastrously wrong.

The Doctor discovers that the T-Mat Base on the Moon has been taken over by a group of Ice Warriors, led by the villainous Slaar. Their home a desolate and dying Planet, the Martian invaders see Earth as a world ripe for conquest.

But before they can colonise Earth they must dramatically alter its atmosphere. And so they unleash the Seeds of Death...
Television Story
The Seeds of Death
Script Writer: Brian Hayles

6 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Black and White

25/01/69 Episode 1
01/02/69 Episode 2
08/02/69 Episode 3
15/02/69 Episode 4
22/02/69 Episode 5
01/03/69 Episode 6

All six 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.
Regular Characters
Second Doctor / Jamie McCrimmon / Zoe Heriot

Familiar Faces / Returning Characters
The Ice Warriors
Notes
  • The Seeds of Death was the second of two stories to feature the Ice Warriors during the Second Doctor's era. They would re-appear twice during the 1970s in The Curse of Peladon and The Monster of Peladon, both written by their creator, Brian Hayles.
Doctor Who: The Space Pirates

Doctor Who: The Space Pirates cover image
by Terrance Dicks
  • UK
  • Paperback
  • Target Books
  • March 1990
  • Book Number: 147
Back Cover Blurb
The charges detonate in a series of silent explosions, and space beacon Alpha One disintegrates into lumps of metal. The space pirates have discovered a new source of precious argonite...

General Hermack of the Space Corps diverts his V-ship to investigate — and arrives in the Pliny system in time to witness the destruction of another beacon. Determined to trap the pirates, he leaves a squad of guards on beacon Alpha Four — and shortly afterwards, in the beacon's computer bay, the incongruous shape of a blue police telephone box materializes.

Suspected by the Space Corps of being pirates, and then pursued as spies by the pirates themselves, the Doctor Zoe and Jamie risk asphyxiation in the vacuum of space, execution and explosion in their attempts to unmask the mastermind behind the thefts of argonite.
Television Story
The Space Pirates
Script Writer: Robert Holmes

6 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Black and White

08/03/69 Episode 1
15/03/69 Episode 2
22/03/69 Episode 3
29/03/69 Episode 4
05/04/69 Episode 5
12/04/69 Episode 6

Episode 2 exists as a 35mm telerecording and has been released on DVD as part of the Lost in Time box set in both the UK and United States. Off-air audio recordings exist of all the missing episodes and the complete story was released on CD by BBC Worldwide in February 2003 with linking narration by Frazer Hines.
Regular Characters
Second Doctor / Jamie McCrimmon / Zoe Heriot

Familiar Faces / Returning Characters
Notes
  • The Space Pirates was the sixty-fourth and final Doctor Who novelisation to be written by Terrance Dicks, whose Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion had been one of the first two new novelisations from Target Books in January 1974.

    He would go on to write numerous original Doctor Who novels for both Virgin Publishing and BBC Books in the 1990s and 2000s, beginning with Timewyrm: Exodus in 1991. His association with the series would continue after the re-launch of the television series in 2005 when he contributed the second and third paperback Doctor Who novels published for the Quick Reads initiative. In 2007 he wrote Invasion of the Bane, the very first book in a series of novelisations based on The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Doctor Who and the War Games

Doctor Who and the War Games cover image
by Malcolm Hulke
  • UK
  • Paperback
  • Target Books
  • October 1979
  • (Book Number: 70)
Other Editions
Doctor Who and the War Games
Click for cover image UK / Hardback / WH Allen / October 1979

Doctor Who: The War Games
Click for cover image UK / Paperback / Target Books / February 1990 / No.70
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books (1979)
Mud, barbed wire, the smell of death... The year was 1917 and the TARDIS had materialised on the Western Front during the First World War.

Or had it? For very soon the Doctor found himself pursued by the soldiers of Ancient Rome; and then he and his companions were reliving the American Civil War of 1863. And was this really Earth, or just a mock-up created by the War Lords?

As Doctor Who solves the mystery, he has to admit that he is faced with an evil of such magnitude that he cannot combat it on his own — he has to call for the help of his own people, the Time Lords.

So, for the first time, it is revealed who is Doctor Who — a maverick Time Lord who 'borrowed' the TARDIS without permission. By appealing to the Time Lord she gave away his position in Time and Space. Thus comes about the Trial of Doctor Who...
Television Story
The War Games
Script Writers: Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke

10 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Black and White

19/04/69 Episode 1
26/04/69 Episode 2
03/05/69 Episode 3
10/05/69 Episode 4
17/05/69 Episode 5
24/05/69 Episode 6
31/05/69 Episode 7
07/06/69 Episode 8
14/06/69 Episode 9
21/06/69 Episode 10

Search (VHS) Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com
All ten episodes exist as 16mm telerecordings and have been released on video in both the UK and United States.
Regular Characters
Second Doctor / Jamie McCrimmon / Zoe Heriot

Familiar Faces / Returning Character
The War Chief
Notes
  • The War Games was the final regular television story to feature the Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe. At the conclusion of the story, the Second Doctor is forced to regenrate for the second time and then exiled to Earth by the Time Lords. Jamie and Zoe were both returned to their own times after having the memories of their adventures with the Doctor removed.

    That wasn't to be the final time that the Second Doctor was seen in the television series, however, as he was later to appear in the tenth and twentieth-anniversary stories The Three Doctors and The Five Doctors, as well as starring alongside the Sixth Doctor in the Season Twenty-Two story The Two Doctors in 1985.

    As far as the original Doctor Who books are concerned, the fact that the Second Doctor was obviously considerably older in both The Five Doctors and The Two Doctors has led to the theory that, at some point between his trial and the Third Doctors's debut story Spearhead from Space, the Second Doctor carried out a number of missions on behalf of the Time Lords. This had resulted in several books, including Players and World Game, that feature the Second Doctor without any of his travelling companions.
  • The War Chief made an unexpected return in Terrance Dicks' original Doctor Who novel Timewyrm: Exodus in 1991.