by Terrance Dicks
- UK
- Hardback
- WH Allen
- November 1983
Other Editions
Doctor Who: The Five Doctors
UK / Paperback / Target Books / November 1983 / No. 81
UK / Paperback / Target Books / February 1991 / No. 81
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books (1983)
A twentieth anniversary special featuring the Doctor in all five of his regenerations.
Why are all five Doctors being removed from their separate time-streams? Who is the enemy they will have to unite against? What will become of the Doctors when the battle is over?
We have travelled a long way with Doctor Who. The Five Doctors gives us a chance to turn the clock back and meet some old friends — and some old enemies.
Television Story
The Five Doctors
Script Writer: Terrance Dicks
1 × 90 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
25/11/83 The Five Doctors
The Five Doctors has been released in the UK in three different forms on video. The first was edited, the second was the full version of the transmitted programme from 1983, and the third was a completely re-edited version with extra scenes, alternate takes and updated video effects which was released along with
The King's Demons in 1995. The re-edited version was also released on DVD in 1999. A two-disc set containing the previously released edit of
The Five Doctors, as well as the original unedited TV version and a host of extras, was released in the UK in March 2008. The two-disc edition was released on Region 1 DVD in the United States in August 2008.
Regular Characters
Fifth Doctor / Tegan Jovanka / Turlough
Familiar Faces / Returning Characters
First Doctor / Second Doctor / Third Doctor / Fourth Doctor / Susan Foreman / Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart / Sarah Jane Smith / Romana II / The Master / The Cybermen / The Daleks / The Yeti / President Borusa / Castellan / Jamie McCrimmon / Zoe Heriot / Liz Shaw / Captain Mike Yates / K9 Mark III
Notes
- As should be obvious from the details above, The Five Doctors was a one-off special produced to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Doctor Who. As well as featuring all five Doctors, it also brought back numerous old companions and enemies, and tried its best to provide a coherent story into the bargain!
- The Five Doctors was the final story to be written for the television series by Terrance Dicks, the former script editor on the show between 1968 and 1974, and prolific noveliser of Doctor Who stories for WH Allen/Target.
- The novelisation of The Five Doctors was unusual in a number of respects.
Firstly, it was released simultaneously in hardback and paperback, rather than having the paperback edition follow on some months after the hardback as was usual with the Doctor Who novelisations at the time.
Secondly, the paperback version was considered important enough to have a silver foil cover as well as a "First Edition" flash across the bottom right-hand corner.
And finally, the novelisation was actually available to buy before the story aired on television in the UK — something which wasn't at all to the liking of series producer John Nathan-Turner. The only other novelisation of a Doctor Who television story to be available in advance of broadcast was the one based on the 1996 Doctor Who television movie, which arguably went one better as there was a script book released as well!