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 Leisure Hive
by David Fisher
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- July 1982
- (Book Number: 39)
Other Editions
Doctor Who and the Leisure Hive
UK / Hardback / WH Allen / July 1982
Doctor Who: The Leisure Hive
UK / Paperback / Target Books / October 1993 / No.39
Doctor Who and the Leisure Hive
UK / Hardback / WH Allen / July 1982Doctor Who: The Leisure Hive
UK / Paperback / Target Books / October 1993 / No.39
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books (1982)
The Leisure Hive on the planet Argolis is an entertainment centre for galactic travellers. At the heart of the Hive is the Tachyon Recreation Generator, a machine with a most extraordinary performance capability and vital to the continued existence of the Argolin after their devastating war with the reptilian Foamasi...
While visiting the Hive, the Doctor and Romana are sucked into a whirlpool of treachery and deceit, and are eventually arrested on suspicion of murder...
The Leisure Hive on the planet Argolis is an entertainment centre for galactic travellers. At the heart of the Hive is the Tachyon Recreation Generator, a machine with a most extraordinary performance capability and vital to the continued existence of the Argolin after their devastating war with the reptilian Foamasi...
While visiting the Hive, the Doctor and Romana are sucked into a whirlpool of treachery and deceit, and are eventually arrested on suspicion of murder...
Television Story
The Leisure Hive
Script Writer: David Fisher
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
30/08/80 Part One
06/09/80 Part Two
13/09/80 Part Three
20/09/80 Part Four
The Leisure Hive
Script Writer: David Fisher
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
30/08/80 Part One
06/09/80 Part Two
13/09/80 Part Three
20/09/80 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 / Romana II / K-9 Mark II
Fourth Doctor / Romana II / K-9 Mark II
Notes
- The Leisure Hive was the last of David Fisher's four stories for the television series after The Stones of Blood, The Androids of Tara and The Creature from the Pit. The eventual novelisation was Fisher's second and final Doctor Who book, both of which were based on his own scripts.
Doctor Who: Meglos
by Terrance Dicks
- UK
- Hardback
- WH Allen
- February 1983
Other Editions
Doctor Who: Meglos
UK / Paperback / Target Books / May 1983 / (No.75)
France / Paperback / Editions Garancière / August 1987 / 8
UK / Paperback / Target Books / April 1993 / No.75
Doctor Who: Meglos
UK / Paperback / Target Books / May 1983 / (No.75) France / Paperback / Editions Garancière / August 1987 / 8 UK / Paperback / Target Books / April 1993 / No.75
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books (1983)
Zastor, Leader of the planet Tigella, rules a divided people. Savants and Deons are irrevocably opposed on one crucial issue — the Dodecahedron, mysterious source of all their power.
To the Savants the Dodecahedron is a miracle of science to be studied, observed and used to benefit Tigellan civilisation. To the Deons it is a god and not to be tampered with.
When the power supply begins to fluctuate wildly the whole planet is threatened, but the Tigellans cannot agree how they should deal with the problem.
Zastor welcomes the arrival of the Doctor and invites him to arbitrate, but the Deons are suspicious of the Time Lord — and perhaps rightly so...
Zastor, Leader of the planet Tigella, rules a divided people. Savants and Deons are irrevocably opposed on one crucial issue — the Dodecahedron, mysterious source of all their power.
To the Savants the Dodecahedron is a miracle of science to be studied, observed and used to benefit Tigellan civilisation. To the Deons it is a god and not to be tampered with.
When the power supply begins to fluctuate wildly the whole planet is threatened, but the Tigellans cannot agree how they should deal with the problem.
Zastor welcomes the arrival of the Doctor and invites him to arbitrate, but the Deons are suspicious of the Time Lord — and perhaps rightly so...
Television Story
Meglos
Script Writers: John Flanagan and Andrew McCulloch
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
27/09/80 Part One
04/10/80 Part Two
11/10/80 Part Three
18/10/80 Part Four
Meglos
Script Writers: John Flanagan and Andrew McCulloch
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
27/09/80 Part One
04/10/80 Part Two
11/10/80 Part Three
18/10/80 Part Four
VHS
All episodes exist and have been released on video in the UK and United States.
Regular Characters
Fourth Doctor / Romana II / K-9 Mark II
Fourth Doctor / Romana II / K-9 Mark II
Notes
- Meglos was the only story written for the television series by John Flanagan and Andrew McCulloch.
Doctor Who: Full Circle
by Andrew Smith
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- September 1982
- (Book Number: 26)
Other Editions
Doctor Who: Full Circle
UK / Hardback / WH Allen / September 1982
Doctor Who: Full Circle
UK / Hardback / WH Allen / September 1982
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books
Romana has been recalled to Gallifrey by the Time Lords — a summons that cannot be ignored, despite her extreme reluctance to give up the freedom and excitement life as the Doctor's companion has brought.
The time travellers' course is set, the flight path is clear, estimated time of arrival on Gallifrey is in thirty-two minutes — then the unexpected happens...
The full significance of their temporary loss of control over the TARDIS is only gradually brought home to the Doctor. For it is not on Gallifrey that they land but on the terror planet Alzarius, and at a time when the legendary Mistfall comes again — when the giant scaly creatures that inhabit the planet's swamps leave the marshes and go on the rampage, leaving a trail of death and destruction in their wake...
Romana has been recalled to Gallifrey by the Time Lords — a summons that cannot be ignored, despite her extreme reluctance to give up the freedom and excitement life as the Doctor's companion has brought.
The time travellers' course is set, the flight path is clear, estimated time of arrival on Gallifrey is in thirty-two minutes — then the unexpected happens...
The full significance of their temporary loss of control over the TARDIS is only gradually brought home to the Doctor. For it is not on Gallifrey that they land but on the terror planet Alzarius, and at a time when the legendary Mistfall comes again — when the giant scaly creatures that inhabit the planet's swamps leave the marshes and go on the rampage, leaving a trail of death and destruction in their wake...
Television Story
Full Circle
Script Writer: Andrew Smith
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
25/10/80 Part One
01/11/80 Part Two
08/11/80 Part Three
15/11/80 Part Four
Full Circle
Script Writer: Andrew Smith
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
25/10/80 Part One
01/11/80 Part Two
08/11/80 Part Three
15/11/80 Part Four
DVD
All episodes exist in their original format. Full Circle is was be released on Region 2 DVD in the UK in January 2009 as part of the E-Space Trilogy box set. It was released on Region 1 DVD in the United States in May 2009.
Regular Characters
Fourth Doctor / Romana II / K-9 Mark II / Adric
Fourth Doctor / Romana II / K-9 Mark II / Adric
Notes
- Full Circle saw the Doctor attempting to return Romana to Gallifrey, with the TARDIS accidentally passing into E-Space (a smaller universe than our own) via a CVE (charged vacuum emboitment — technobabble of a very Season 18 kind!). The story also saw the introduction of teenage mathematical genius Adric (Matthew Waterhouse), who stows away aboard the TARDIS, and marked the beginning of a series of stories which would eventually culminate in the entire cast of the series being changed in time for the following season.
- Full Circle was the only story written for the television series by Andrew Smith. Similarly, his novelisation of his own scripts was his only contribution to the printed Doctor Who universe.
Doctor Who and the State of Decay
by Terrance Dicks
- UK
- Hardback
- WH Allen
- September 1981
Other Editions
Doctor Who and the State of Decay
UK / Paperback / Target Books / January 1982 / (No.58)
Doctor Who and the State of Decay
UK / Paperback / Target Books / January 1982 / (No.58)
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books
The Doctor, Romana and K9 — and a young stowaway called Adric — are trapped in the alternative universe of E-Space.
Seeking help, they land on an unknown planet — and find a nightmare world where oppressed peasants toil for the Lords who live in the Tower, and where all learning is forbidden — a society in a state of decay.
What is the terrifying secret of the Three Who Rule? What monstrous creature stirs beneath the Tower, waking from its thousand-year sleep?
The Doctor discovers that the oldest and deadliest enemy of the Time Lords is about to spring into horrifying action.
The Doctor, Romana and K9 — and a young stowaway called Adric — are trapped in the alternative universe of E-Space.
Seeking help, they land on an unknown planet — and find a nightmare world where oppressed peasants toil for the Lords who live in the Tower, and where all learning is forbidden — a society in a state of decay.
What is the terrifying secret of the Three Who Rule? What monstrous creature stirs beneath the Tower, waking from its thousand-year sleep?
The Doctor discovers that the oldest and deadliest enemy of the Time Lords is about to spring into horrifying action.
Television Story
State of Decay
Script Writer: Terrance Dicks
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
22/11/80 Part One
29/11/80 Part Two
06/12/80 Part Three
13/12/80 Part Four
State of Decay
Script Writer: Terrance Dicks
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
22/11/80 Part One
29/11/80 Part Two
06/12/80 Part Three
13/12/80 Part Four
DVD
All episodes exist in their original format. State of Decay was released on Region 2 DVD in the UK in January 2009 as part of the E-Space Trilogy box set. It was released on Region 1 DVD in the United States in May 2009.
Regular Characters
Fourth Doctor / Romana II / K-9 Mark II / Adric
Fourth Doctor / Romana II / K-9 Mark II / Adric
Notes
- State of Decay was the first story for the television series by Terrance Dicks since Horror of Fang Rock for Season Fifteen. As well as continuing the loosely-linked E-Space trilogy which had begun with Full Circle, it also introduced vampirism into the series for the first time, with the last of the Great Vampires being destroyed at the conclusion. The story had originally started life several years earlier, but was dropped when BBC1's more high profile Count Dracula came along.
- Blood Harvest, a sequel to State of Decay, was eventually published as part of the New Adventures range of original novels in 1994, with several plot strands carrying across to Paul Cornell's Goth Opera, the first book in the Missing Adventures series.
As well as writing Blood Harvest, Terrance Dicks also returned to the subject for The Eight Doctors in 1997, the first book in the series of Eighth Doctor Adventures from BBC Books, part of which was set on the same un-named planet as State of Decay.
Doctor Who and Warriors' Gate
by John Lydecker
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- April 1982
- (Book Number: 71)
Other Editions
Doctor Who and Warriors' Gate
UK / Hardback / WH Allen / April 1982
Doctor Who and Warriors' Gate
UK / Hardback / WH Allen / April 1982
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books
The Doctor and his companions are trapped in an E-Space universe, struggling to find the co-ordinates which will break the deadlock and take them back into Normal Space.
When all else fails, the Doctor suggests programming the TARDIS on the toss of a coin. Before he realises what is happening, that is just what Adric has done...
When the TARDIS arrives at its destination, according to the console read-outs the craft is nowhere — and nowhere is exactly what it looks like...
The Doctor and his companions are trapped in an E-Space universe, struggling to find the co-ordinates which will break the deadlock and take them back into Normal Space.
When all else fails, the Doctor suggests programming the TARDIS on the toss of a coin. Before he realises what is happening, that is just what Adric has done...
When the TARDIS arrives at its destination, according to the console read-outs the craft is nowhere — and nowhere is exactly what it looks like...
Television Story
Warriors' Gate
Script Writer: Stephen Gallagher
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
03/01/81 Part One
10/01/81 Part Two
17/01/81 Part Three
24/01/81 Part Four
Warriors' Gate
Script Writer: Stephen Gallagher
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
03/01/81 Part One
10/01/81 Part Two
17/01/81 Part Three
24/01/81 Part Four
DVD
All episodes exist in their original format. Warriors' Gate was released on Region 2 DVD in the UK in January 2009 as part of the E-Space Trilogy box set. It was released on Region 1 DVD in the United States in May 2009.
Regular Characters
Fourth Doctor / Romana II / K-9 Mark II / Adric
Fourth Doctor / Romana II / K-9 Mark II / Adric
Notes
- Warriors' Gate was the first of two stories to be written for Doctor Who by Stephen Gallagher, who was to novelise both Warriors' Gate and 1983's Terminus under the pen-name John Lydecker.
As well as having a successful career writing original novels, he also wrote for a number of other television series including Chiller, BUGS, Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes and Rosemary & Thyme. In 2006 his original science fiction series Eleventh Hour was broadcast on ITV1 to less than rapturous applause, although his earlier adapations of Chimera and Oktober (both based on his own novels) had proved more popular.
Prior to Warriors' Gate Gallagher had penned the Last Rose of Summer trilogy of science fiction serials for commercial radio, all of which he subsequently novelised. - Warriors' Gate was the final part of the loosely-linked E-Space trilgy which had begun with Full Circle and continued with State of Decay. It continued the changes to Doctor Who that had begun earlier in the season, with both Romana and K-9 being left behind in E-Space at the conclusion of the story, with the Doctor and Adric returning to N-Space.
Doctor Who and the Keeper of Traken
by Terrance Dicks
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- May 1982
- (Book Number: 37)
Other Editions
Doctor Who and the Keeper of Traken
UK / Hardback / WH Allen / May 1982
Doctor Who: The Keeper of Traken
UK / Paperback / Target Books / June 1993 / No.37
Doctor Who and the Keeper of Traken
UK / Hardback / WH Allen / May 1982Doctor Who: The Keeper of Traken
UK / Paperback / Target Books / June 1993 / No.37
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books (1982)
For ages past, the Union of Traken has lived in peace and harmony thanks to the power of the Source, controlled by generations of Keepers.
But the current Keeper, his powers waning, senses some all-pervading evil about to invade his world. He summons the Doctor to his aid.
To save Traken the Doctor fights the terrifying Melkur — only to find that this new enemy conceals an older and even deadlier foe — one the Doctor has encountered before...
For ages past, the Union of Traken has lived in peace and harmony thanks to the power of the Source, controlled by generations of Keepers.
But the current Keeper, his powers waning, senses some all-pervading evil about to invade his world. He summons the Doctor to his aid.
To save Traken the Doctor fights the terrifying Melkur — only to find that this new enemy conceals an older and even deadlier foe — one the Doctor has encountered before...
Television Story
The Keeper of Traken
Script Writer: Johnny Byrne
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
31/01/81 Part One
07/02/81 Part Two
14/02/81 Part Three
21/02/81 Part Four
The Keeper of Traken
Script Writer: Johnny Byrne
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
31/01/81 Part One
07/02/81 Part Two
14/02/81 Part Three
21/02/81 Part Four
DVD
All episodes exist and have been released as part of the New Beginnings box set on Region 2 DVD in the UK, and on Region 1 DVD in the United States.
Regular Characters
Fourth Doctor / Adric / Nyssa
Familiar Faces
The Master
Fourth Doctor / Adric / Nyssa
Familiar Faces
The Master
Notes
- The Keeper of Traken was the first story to feature the character of Nyssa (Sarah Sutton), although she didn't actually join the Doctor and Adric aboard the TARDIS until the following story, Logopolis.
The Keeper of Traken also saw the first appearance in five years of the Master, who had last been seen on screen in The Deadly Assassin. As before, the character was now a decaying husk of his former self, searching for a way to extend his life. Having assumed the position of Keeper of Traken by the story's end (even if only temporarily) he was able to take over the body of Tremas (Nyssa's father) and continue his feud against the Doctor. And that feud continued straight away, as Logopolis was effectively the middle part of a trilogy of stories that re-booted the series with new characters and which had the presense of the Master as a linking theme. - The Keeper of Traken was the first of three television stories written for Doctor Who by Johnny Byrne, who would go on to write Arc of Infinity and Warriors of the Deep for the Fifth Doctor.
Doctor Who: Logopolis
by Christopher H Bidmead
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- October 1982
- (Book Number: 41)
Other Editions
Doctor Who: Logopolis
UK / Hardback / WH Allen / October 1982
UK / Paperback / Target Books / December 1991 / No.41
Doctor Who: Logopolis
UK / Hardback / WH Allen / October 1982 UK / Paperback / Target Books / December 1991 / No.41
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books (1982)
In theory the TARDIS should be able to change its appearance to blend in unobtrusively wherever it happens to materialise. In practice, however, because of a fault in the chameleon circuit, it always looks like a police box — a minor inconvenience the Doctor now hopes to correct.
Fixing the mechanism involves a visit to Earth and a trip to the planet Logopolis — normally a quiet little place that keeps itself to itself.
But on this occasion the meddling presence of the Doctor's arch enemy, the Master, ensures the disruption of normality. And even the Master is horrified by the threat of total chaos he unintentionally precipitates — until he finds a way to turn the imminent destruction of the universe to his own advantage...
In theory the TARDIS should be able to change its appearance to blend in unobtrusively wherever it happens to materialise. In practice, however, because of a fault in the chameleon circuit, it always looks like a police box — a minor inconvenience the Doctor now hopes to correct.
Fixing the mechanism involves a visit to Earth and a trip to the planet Logopolis — normally a quiet little place that keeps itself to itself.
But on this occasion the meddling presence of the Doctor's arch enemy, the Master, ensures the disruption of normality. And even the Master is horrified by the threat of total chaos he unintentionally precipitates — until he finds a way to turn the imminent destruction of the universe to his own advantage...
Television Story
Logopolis
Script Writer: Chrsitopher H Bidmead
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
28/02/81 Part One
07/03/81 Part Two
14/03/81 Part Three
21/03/81 Part Four
Logopolis
Script Writer: Chrsitopher H Bidmead
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
28/02/81 Part One
07/03/81 Part Two
14/03/81 Part Three
21/03/81 Part Four
DVD
All episodes exist and have been released as part of the New Beginnings box set on Region 2 DVD in the UK, and on Region 1 DVD in the United States.
Regular Characters
Fourth Doctor / Adric / Nyssa / Tegan Jovanka
Familiar Faces
The Master
Fourth Doctor / Adric / Nyssa / Tegan Jovanka
Familiar Faces
The Master
Notes
- After some seven years, Logopolis marked the end for the Fourth Doctor, as he fell to his death from the Pharos telescope at the conclusion of the story before regenerating into the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison). The story would essentially carry on in Castrovalva (broadcast in January 1982) with the newly-regenerated Doctor once more falling into one of the Master's traps.
In a nod to Logopolis, the final story from Season One of The Sarah Jane Adventures (The Lost Boy) saw the appearance of the Pharos Institution. - Logopolis was the first story to feature new companion Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding), an Australian air hostess who gets caught up in the Master's latest plans when she walks into the TARDIS in need of assistance afer her car breaks down on the way to Heathrow airport.
Tegan's introduction would see the Fifth Doctor travelling with three companions — the first time since the departure of Ben and Polly in The Faceless Ones way back in 1967 that the TARDIS had been so crowded. - Logopolis was the first of three stories to be written for the television series by Christopher H Bidmead who, at the time of its production, was script editor on the television series. He went on to write Castrovalva, the first proper story featuring the Fifth Doctor, for the following season, with his final work on the Doctor Who being the Season Twenty-One story Frontios. As part of an increasing common trend he novelised all three of the stories himself.
