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.
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 and the Horror of Fang Rock
by Terrance Dicks
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- March 1978
- (Book Number: 32)
Other Editions
Doctor Who and the Horror of Fang Rock
UK / Hardback / Longbow/WH Allen / 1978
Doctor Who and the Horror of Fang Rock
UK / Hardback / Longbow/WH Allen / 1978
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books
On a remote rocky island a few miles off the Channel coast stands the Fang Rock lighthouse. There have always been tales of the beast of Fang Rock, but when the Tardis lands here with Leela and the Doctor, the force they must deal with is more sinister and deadly than the mythical beast of the past.
It is the early 1900s, electricity is just coming into common usage, and the formless, gelatinous mass from the future must use the lighthouse generators to recharge its system. Nothing can stop this Rutan scout in its search and its experimentation on humans...
On a remote rocky island a few miles off the Channel coast stands the Fang Rock lighthouse. There have always been tales of the beast of Fang Rock, but when the Tardis lands here with Leela and the Doctor, the force they must deal with is more sinister and deadly than the mythical beast of the past.
It is the early 1900s, electricity is just coming into common usage, and the formless, gelatinous mass from the future must use the lighthouse generators to recharge its system. Nothing can stop this Rutan scout in its search and its experimentation on humans...
Television Story
Horror of Fang Rock
Script Writer: Terrance Dicks
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
03/09/77 Part One
10/09/77 Part Two
17/09/77 Part Three
24/09/77 Part Four
Horror of Fang Rock
Script Writer: Terrance Dicks
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
03/09/77 Part One
10/09/77 Part Two
17/09/77 Part Three
24/09/77 Part Four
DVD 
All episodes exist and have been released on Region 2 DVD in the UK, and on Region 1 DVD in the United States.
Regular Characters
Fourth Doctor / Leela
Familiar Faces
The Rutans
Fourth Doctor / Leela
Familiar Faces
The Rutans
Notes
- Horror of Fang Rock saw the only television appearance to date of a Rutan, one of the arch enemies of the militaristic Sontarans. The race had first been mentioned in Robert Holmes' The Time Warrior in 1973, which had first introduced the Sontarans.
Despite Horror of Fang Rock being the creatures only television appearance, they have been seen on screen on one other occasion, in the independent video spin-off Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans, which was later expanded and novelised for the New Adventures series by its script writer Terrance Dicks, and published as Shakedown.
The characters also made an appearance in Lance Parkin's The Infinity Doctors in November 1998, which may, or may not, actually fit into the established continuity of the various book series.
Doctor Who and the Invisible Enemy
by Terrance Dicks
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- March 1979
- (Book Number: 36)
Other Editions
Doctor Who and the Invisible Enemy
UK / Hardback / WH Allen / March 1979
Doctor Who and the Invisible Enemy
UK / Hardback / WH Allen / March 1979
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books
A mysterious cloud drifts menacingly through space...
A sudden energy flash and the Doctor is infected with the Nucleus of a malignant Virus that threatens to destroy his mind.
Meanwhile, on Titan, human slaves prepare the Hive from which the Virus will swarm out and infect the universe.
In search of a cure, Leela takes the Doctor to the Foundation where they make an incredible journey into the Doctor's brain in an attempt to destroy the Nucleus.
But can the Doctor free himself from the Nucleus in time to reach Titan and destroy the Hive? Luckily he has help — in the strangely dog-like shape of a mobile computer called K9...
A mysterious cloud drifts menacingly through space...
A sudden energy flash and the Doctor is infected with the Nucleus of a malignant Virus that threatens to destroy his mind.
Meanwhile, on Titan, human slaves prepare the Hive from which the Virus will swarm out and infect the universe.
In search of a cure, Leela takes the Doctor to the Foundation where they make an incredible journey into the Doctor's brain in an attempt to destroy the Nucleus.
But can the Doctor free himself from the Nucleus in time to reach Titan and destroy the Hive? Luckily he has help — in the strangely dog-like shape of a mobile computer called K9...
Television Story
The Invisible Enemy
Script Writers: Bob Baker and Dave Martin
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
01/10/77 Part One
08/10/77 Part Two
15/10/77 Part Three
22/10/77 Part Four
The Invisible Enemy has been released on Region 2 DVD in the UK alongside the spin-off story K9 and Company, and on Region 1 DVD in the United States.
The Invisible Enemy
Script Writers: Bob Baker and Dave Martin
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
01/10/77 Part One
08/10/77 Part Two
15/10/77 Part Three
22/10/77 Part Four
Regular Characters
Fourth Doctor / Leela / K-9
Fourth Doctor / Leela / K-9
Notes
- The Invisible Enemy was the first story to feature K-9, the robotic creation of Professor Marius who let the metal mutt in the Doctor's care at the conclusion of the story as he would be unable to take him back to Earth. The character remained in the television series until the end of The Invasion of Time, when he chose to remain on Gallifrey with Leela. The Doctor swiftly unboxed a second K-9, which he had obviously been working on, and this particular version remained aboard the TARDIS until the Season 18 story Warriors' Gate, when he stayed behind in E-Space with Romana. The next version of K-9 to appear was K-9 Mark III which Sarah Jane Smith discovered had been left for her when she returned home to Hazlebury Abbas in the spin-off drama K-9 and Company.
Doctor Who and the Image of the Fendahl
by Terrance Dicks
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- July 1979
- (Book Number: 34)
Other Editions
Doctor Who and the Image of the Fendahl
UK / Hardback / WH Allen / July 1979
Doctor Who and the Image of the Fendahl
UK / Hardback / WH Allen / July 1979
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books
'The Fendahl is death,' said the Doctor. 'How do you kill death itself?'
The ultra-modern technology of the Time Scanner combines with the ancient evil of Fetch Wood, and brings to life a terror that has lain hidden for twelve million years.
The Doctor and Leela fight to destroy the Fendahl, a recreated menace that threatens to devour all life in the galaxy.
'The Fendahl is death,' said the Doctor. 'How do you kill death itself?'
The ultra-modern technology of the Time Scanner combines with the ancient evil of Fetch Wood, and brings to life a terror that has lain hidden for twelve million years.
The Doctor and Leela fight to destroy the Fendahl, a recreated menace that threatens to devour all life in the galaxy.
Television Story
Image of the Fendahl
Script Writer: Chris Boucher
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
29/10/77 Part One
05/11/77 Part Two
12/11/77 Part Three
19/11/77 Part Four
Image of the Fendahl
Script Writer: Chris Boucher
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
29/10/77 Part One
05/11/77 Part Two
12/11/77 Part Three
19/11/77 Part Four
DVD
Image of the Fendahl was released on Region 2 DVD in the UK in April 2009, and on Region 1 DVD in the United States in September 2009.
Regular Characters
Fourth Doctor / Leela / K-9
Fourth Doctor / Leela / K-9
Notes
- Although Image of the Fendahl was the only television story to feature the monsters, they later turned up in The Taking of Planet 5, a 1999 Eighth Doctor Adventure from Simon Bucher-Jones and Mark Clapham.
The life-draining monsters were resurrected once more for Deus le Volt, the eighth novella in the spin-off Time Hunter series fom Telos Publishing. - Image of the Fendahl was the third and final story to be written for the television series by Chris Boucher. He went on to script edit all four seasons of Blake's 7 for the BBC, and also wrote nine episodes, including landmark stories such as Star One and the incredible Blake which ended the series with everyone but Avon apparently killed in a Federation ambush on Gauda Prime, after Blake had been despatched extremely bloodily mere minutes earlier.
In 1987 he created the short-lived science fiction series Star Cops, and also wrote five of the nine episodes.
More recently he has written four original Doctor Who novels: Last Man Running, Corpse Marker, Psi-ence Fiction and Match of the Day — all of them featuring the character of Leela who he created for the Doctor Who television series in The Face of Evil.
Doctor Who and the Sunmakers
by Terrance Dicks
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- November 1982
- (Book Number: 60)
Other Editions
Doctor Who and the Sunmakers
UK / Hardback / WH Allen / November 1982
Doctor Who and the Face of Evil was also included as part of the Doctor Who Classics: The Face of Evil and The Sunmakers omnibus from Star Books in May 1989.
Doctor Who and the Sunmakers
UK / Hardback / WH Allen / November 1982Doctor Who and the Face of Evil was also included as part of the Doctor Who Classics: The Face of Evil and The Sunmakers omnibus from Star Books in May 1989.
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books
Everyone knows that Pluto is a barren airless rock. So naturally the Doctor is surprised when he discovers artificial suns, an ultra-modern industrial city and a group of colonists being worked — and taxed — to death in this inhospitable and supposedly undeveloped part of the universe...
With the help of his companion Leela and the faithful K9, the Doctor takes on the mysterious and powerful Company, ruthless exploiter of planets and their people.
Everyone knows that Pluto is a barren airless rock. So naturally the Doctor is surprised when he discovers artificial suns, an ultra-modern industrial city and a group of colonists being worked — and taxed — to death in this inhospitable and supposedly undeveloped part of the universe...
With the help of his companion Leela and the faithful K9, the Doctor takes on the mysterious and powerful Company, ruthless exploiter of planets and their people.
Television Story
The Sun Makers
Script Writer: Robert Holmes
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
26/11/77 Part One
03/12/77 Part Two
10/12/77 Part Three
17/12/77 Part Four
The Sun Makers
Script Writer: Robert Holmes
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
26/11/77 Part One
03/12/77 Part Two
10/12/77 Part Three
17/12/77 Part Four
VHS
All episodes exist and have been released on video in the UK and United States.
Regular Characters
Fourth Doctor / Leela / K-9
Fourth Doctor / Leela / K-9
Notes
- The Sun Makers was to be the only story to feature the Usurians, although they would later get a brief mention in Gary Russell's Business Unusual, which begins with the Sixth Doctor tidying up some loose ends from a plot by the Master and the Usurians to defraud the world's banks.
Doctor Who and the Underworld
by Terrance Dicks
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- January 1980
- (Book Number: 67)
Other Editions
Doctor Who and the Underworld
UK / Hardback / WH Allen / January 1980
Doctor Who and the Underworld
UK / Hardback / WH Allen / January 1980
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books
Exploring the very edge of the known universe, the Doctor, Leela and K9 discover a group of astronauts searching for the lost gene bank of Minyan race. During the perilous voyage, the astronauts' craft plunges into the heart of a recently formed planet, wherein an awesome secret is hidden.
How will the Minyan quest end? What must the Doctor wrest from the Heart of the Oracle?
Exploring the very edge of the known universe, the Doctor, Leela and K9 discover a group of astronauts searching for the lost gene bank of Minyan race. During the perilous voyage, the astronauts' craft plunges into the heart of a recently formed planet, wherein an awesome secret is hidden.
How will the Minyan quest end? What must the Doctor wrest from the Heart of the Oracle?
Television Story
Underworld
Script Writers: Bob Baker and Dave Martin
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
07/01/78 Part One
14/01/78 Part Two
21/01/78 Part Three
28/01/78 Part Four
Underworld
Script Writers: Bob Baker and Dave Martin
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
07/01/78 Part One
14/01/78 Part Two
21/01/78 Part Three
28/01/78 Part Four
VHS
All episodes exist and have been released on video in the UK and United States.
Regular Characters
Fourth Doctor / Leela / K-9
Fourth Doctor / Leela / K-9
Notes
- Underworld was the first story to suggest why the Time Lords had withdrawn from interfering in the affairs of other worlds as their efforts had had an adverse effect on the planet Minyos.
The back story of the Time Lords was something that was pretty much ignored in the television series, but with the start of the New Adventures in 1991 it began to come to the fore, with stories such as Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible and Lungbarrow exploring Gallifreyan society and how the Time Lords had evolved into the time-travelling race seen in the television series.
Doctor Who and the Invasion of Time
by Terrance Dicks
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- February 1980
- (Book Number: 35)
Other Editions
Doctor Who and the Invasion of Time
UK / Hardback / WH Allen / February 1980
Doctor Who and the Invasion of Time
UK / Hardback / WH Allen / February 1980
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books
A traitor to the Time Lords?
Can the Doctor really be in league with the evil Vardans, spearheading a treacherous invasion of his home planet, Gallifrey?
Or is he playing a deadly double game, saving the Time Lords by appearing to betray them?
But the Vardans themselves are only pawns in the game, and the Doctor faces an old and deadly enemy, as he battles to foil the Invasion of Time.
A traitor to the Time Lords?
Can the Doctor really be in league with the evil Vardans, spearheading a treacherous invasion of his home planet, Gallifrey?
Or is he playing a deadly double game, saving the Time Lords by appearing to betray them?
But the Vardans themselves are only pawns in the game, and the Doctor faces an old and deadly enemy, as he battles to foil the Invasion of Time.
Television Story
The Invasion of Time
Script Writer: David Agnew (pseudonym for Graham Williams and Anthony Read)
6 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
04/02/78 Part One
11/02/78 Part Two
18/02/78 Part Three
25/02/78 Part Four
04/03/78 Part Five
11/03/78 Part Six
The Invasion of Time
Script Writer: David Agnew (pseudonym for Graham Williams and Anthony Read)
6 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
04/02/78 Part One
11/02/78 Part Two
18/02/78 Part Three
25/02/78 Part Four
04/03/78 Part Five
11/03/78 Part Six
DVD
All episodes exist and have been released on Region 2 DVD in the UK, and on Region 1DVD in the United States.
Regular Characters
Fourth Doctor / Leela / K-9
Familiar Faces
Chancellor Borusa / The Sontarans
Fourth Doctor / Leela / K-9
Familiar Faces
Chancellor Borusa / The Sontarans
Notes
- The Invasion of Time saw the departure of both Leela and K-9 who were to remain behind on Gallifrey at the conclusion of the story. Although a new version of K-9 would continue to travel with the Doctor, this was to be the last time that either of them would be seen in the television series.
The final Seventh Doctor novel in the New Adventures series, Lungbarrow, saw the Doctor return to Gallifrey and unsurprisingly saw many elements from the past returning including both Leela and K-9, as well as K-9 Mark II and Romana. The complete book can be found on the BBC's Doctor Who website. - The Invasion of Time saw the second appearance of the now Chancellor Borusa, who would turn up twice more in the Fifth Doctor's era in Arc of Infinity and The Five Doctors, each time played by a different actor. The character's final two appearances would see him elevated to the position of President of the High Council of Tme Lords.
- The Invasion of Time was the third of the four television stories from the original series to feature the Sontarans, after The Time Warrior and The Sontaran Experiment. It would be a further seven years before they made their final appearance in the Sixth Doctor tale The Two Doctors.
