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: Time and the Rani
by Pip and Jane Baker
- UK
- Hardback
- WH Allen
- December 1987
Other Editions
Doctor Who: Time and the Rani
UK / Paperback / Target Books / May 1988 / No. 128
UK / Paperback / Target Books / October 1991 / No. 128
Doctor Who: Time and the Rani
UK / Paperback / Target Books / May 1988 / No. 128 UK / Paperback / Target Books / October 1991 / No. 128
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books (1988)
Assailed by violent bolts of multi-coloured energy, the TARDIS is blasted off-course and forced to land on the barren planet of Lakertya. The turbulence brings about the Doctor's sixth regeneration. But that is the least of his worries. He has been hijacked by that ruthless renegade Time Lady, the Rani.
Why has the Rani brought the Doctor to Lakertya? What are the hideous Tetrap guards? Who are the eleven geniuses she has imprisoned in her stronghold? What is the vital significance of the asteroid of Strange Matter? And can the Doctor stop the Rani's diabolical scheme before it affects the whole of creation throughout time and space?
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books (1991)
'HE GLARED BLEAKLY AT THE RANI. 'THAT ASTEROID'S COMPOSED OF STRANGE MATTER! WHAT MONSTROUS EXPERIMENT ARE YOU DABBLING IN NOW?'
Assailed by violent bolts of energy, the TARDIS is blasted off-course and forced to land on the barren planet of Lakertya, and the violent buffeting triggers the Doctor's sixth regeneration. But that is the least of his worries. He has been hijacked by that ruthless renegade female Time Lord, the Rani.
Why has the Rani brought the Doctor to Lakertya? What are the hideous Tetrap guards? Who are the eleven geniuses she has imprisoned in her stronghold? What is the vital significance of the asteroid of Strange Matter? And can the Doctor stop the Rani's diabolical scheme before it affects the whole of creation throughout time and space?
Assailed by violent bolts of multi-coloured energy, the TARDIS is blasted off-course and forced to land on the barren planet of Lakertya. The turbulence brings about the Doctor's sixth regeneration. But that is the least of his worries. He has been hijacked by that ruthless renegade Time Lady, the Rani.
Why has the Rani brought the Doctor to Lakertya? What are the hideous Tetrap guards? Who are the eleven geniuses she has imprisoned in her stronghold? What is the vital significance of the asteroid of Strange Matter? And can the Doctor stop the Rani's diabolical scheme before it affects the whole of creation throughout time and space?
Back Cover Blurb — Target Books (1991)
'HE GLARED BLEAKLY AT THE RANI. 'THAT ASTEROID'S COMPOSED OF STRANGE MATTER! WHAT MONSTROUS EXPERIMENT ARE YOU DABBLING IN NOW?'
Assailed by violent bolts of energy, the TARDIS is blasted off-course and forced to land on the barren planet of Lakertya, and the violent buffeting triggers the Doctor's sixth regeneration. But that is the least of his worries. He has been hijacked by that ruthless renegade female Time Lord, the Rani.
Why has the Rani brought the Doctor to Lakertya? What are the hideous Tetrap guards? Who are the eleven geniuses she has imprisoned in her stronghold? What is the vital significance of the asteroid of Strange Matter? And can the Doctor stop the Rani's diabolical scheme before it affects the whole of creation throughout time and space?
Television Story
Time and the Rani
Script Writers: Pip and Jane Baker
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
07/09/87 Part One
14/09/87 Part Two
21/09/87 Part Three
28/09/87 Part Four
Time and the Rani
Script Writers: Pip and Jane Baker
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
07/09/87 Part One
14/09/87 Part Two
21/09/87 Part Three
28/09/87 Part Four
DVD 
Time and the Rani is due to be released on Region 2 DVD in the UK in 2010.
Regular Characters
Seventh Doctor / Melanie Bush
Familiar Faces / Returning Characters
The Rani
Seventh Doctor / Melanie Bush
Familiar Faces / Returning Characters
The Rani
Notes
- Time and the Rani was the first story to feature the Seventh Doctor, after BBC1 controller Michael Grade had ordered a re-vamp for Doctor Who and the removal of Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor. The opening few seconds sees a badly-wigged Sylvester McCoy (dressed as the Sixth Doctor) rolling over just in time to regenerate into the new Seventh Doctor.
Spiral Scratch, an original novel leading up to the regeneration, was published by BBC Books in 2005. - Time and the Rani was the last of Pip and Jane Baker's television stories for Doctor Who, and also (mercifully) the last of their four novelisations for Target Books.
- The character of the Rani was created by Pip and Jane Baker for the Season Twenty-Two story The Mark of the Rani. Although the character would not be seen in the television series again (apart from in the mind-numbingly awful Dimensions in Time sketch for Children in Need in 1993), she did make appearances in a number of books over the years.
- Race Against Time was one of six Make Your Own Adventure books published by Severn House in 1986, and saw the Bakers once again pitting the Rani against the Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown.
- State of Change from Christopher Bulis in 1994 was another Rani/Sixth Doctor/Peri tale, with Divided Loyalties from Gary Russell in 1999 including a number of flashback scenes set on Gallifrey (before the Doctor left) and which revealed that the Rani's name was Ushas.
- The Rani's final appearance to date was in The Rani Reaps the Whirlwind, an audio drama from BBV. Once again, the story was scripted by Pip and Jane Baker and saw Kate O'Mara reprising her television role as the Rani.
- Time and the Rani was the first novelisation to be published which featured the Seventh Doctor, and as such saw the first use of the new logo from the television series.
Rather unfortunately, an error occurred in the production of the first paperback edition from Target Books. Eagle-eyed owners will notice that the book claims to be No. 127 on the spine when it was actually No. 128. To confuse the matter further, No. 127 (The Mysterious Planet) claims to be No. 126 on the inside...
And talking of first paperback editions, the book was considered worthy enough to have "First Edition" plastered across the front cover. Twenty years on and precisely no one has a good explanation as to why such a bad book should get such treatment.
Doctor Who: Paradise Towers
by Stephen Wyatt
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- December 1988
- No. 134
Back Cover Blurb
Much in need of a holiday, Mel and the Doctor head for Paradise Towers: a luxury man-made planet with sparkling fountains, sunny streets, exotic flowers and a shimmering blue swimming pool.
But when the TARDIS materialises in a dark, rubbish-filled, rat-infested alley it seems that this particular Paradise has turned into Hell!
Pursued by rogue cleaning machines, authoritarian caretakers and old ladies with strange eating habits, the Doctor and Mel track down the source of the chaos to one mysterious character - the designer of Paradise Towers, the Great Architect himself...
Much in need of a holiday, Mel and the Doctor head for Paradise Towers: a luxury man-made planet with sparkling fountains, sunny streets, exotic flowers and a shimmering blue swimming pool.
But when the TARDIS materialises in a dark, rubbish-filled, rat-infested alley it seems that this particular Paradise has turned into Hell!
Pursued by rogue cleaning machines, authoritarian caretakers and old ladies with strange eating habits, the Doctor and Mel track down the source of the chaos to one mysterious character - the designer of Paradise Towers, the Great Architect himself...
Television Story
Paradise Towers
Script Writer: Stephen Wyatt
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
05/10/87 Part One
12/10/87 Part Two
19/10/87 Part Three
26/10/87 Part Four
Paradise Towers
Script Writer: Stephen Wyatt
4 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
05/10/87 Part One
12/10/87 Part Two
19/10/87 Part Three
26/10/87 Part Four
VHS
All episodes exist and have been released on video in the UK and United States.
Regular Characters
Seventh Doctor / Melanie Bush
Seventh Doctor / Melanie Bush
Notes
- Paradise Towers was the first of two stories to be written for the television series by Stephen Wyatt, with The Greatest Show in the Galaxy being broadcast the following year as the final story in Season Twenty-Five. Both stories were novelised by Wyatt himself.
- Paradise Towers was the first Doctor Who novelisation from Target/WH Allen since the 1970s to be published only in paperback — the hardback range from WH Allen had been cancelled due to falling sales, with the final title in that range being The Smugglers, published in June 1988.
Ignoring the series of novellas from Telos, which were generally to be found only in specialist Sci-Fi shops, the next hardback title to be easily found on the high-street was The Clockwise Man in 2005.
Doctor Who: Delta and the Bannermen
by Malcolm Kohll
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- January 1989
- No. 135
Back Cover Blurb
As the ten billionth customers at a space tollport the Doctor and Mel win the Grand Prize — a place on the Fabulous Fifties Coach Tour to Disneyland, Planet Earth.
Unfortunately, they don't quite make it there... Knocked off-course by a wayward satellite the coach party arrives instead at Shangri-la, a remote Welsh holiday camp.
But the peace and quiet of the countryside are soon shattered by the arrival of an army of marauding Bannermen soldiers, led by the ruthless Gavrok. They are tracking down Delta, the last of the Chimeron, with only one thought in mind — her destruction...
As the ten billionth customers at a space tollport the Doctor and Mel win the Grand Prize — a place on the Fabulous Fifties Coach Tour to Disneyland, Planet Earth.
Unfortunately, they don't quite make it there... Knocked off-course by a wayward satellite the coach party arrives instead at Shangri-la, a remote Welsh holiday camp.
But the peace and quiet of the countryside are soon shattered by the arrival of an army of marauding Bannermen soldiers, led by the ruthless Gavrok. They are tracking down Delta, the last of the Chimeron, with only one thought in mind — her destruction...
Television Story
Delta and the Bannermen
Script Writer: Malcolm Kohll
3 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
02/11/87 Part One
09/11/87 Part Two
16/11/87 Part Three
Delta and the Bannermen
Script Writer: Malcolm Kohll
3 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
02/11/87 Part One
09/11/87 Part Two
16/11/87 Part Three
DVD
All episodes exist. Delta and the Bannermen was released on Region 2 DVD in the UK in June 2009, and on Region 1 DVD in the United States in September 2009.
Regular Characters
Seventh Doctor / Melanie Bush
Seventh Doctor / Melanie Bush
Notes
- Delta and the Bannermen was the only story written for the television series by Malcolm Kohll, as well as being his only novelisation.
Doctor Who: Dragonfire
by Ian Briggs
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- March 1989
- No. 137
Back Cover Blurb
When the Doctor and Mel arrive in the Space Trading Colony, Iceworld, the Doctor can feel that there is mischief afoot. And he and Mel don't have to wait long before they discover the culprit, for there in the Refreshment Bar they meet up with that old intergalactic rogue, Sabalom Glitz.
Glitz is hot on the trail of hidden treasure and the Doctor, keen to do some scientific research, decides to join him. Down into the Ice Passages they go — through the Ice Garden, past the Singing Trees, beyond the Lake of Oblivion — in search of the Dragon's Treasure.
But the Doctor and his companions don't know the true worth of this mythical hoard. Only Kane, the most feared man in Iceworld, knows the secret of the Dragonfire...
When the Doctor and Mel arrive in the Space Trading Colony, Iceworld, the Doctor can feel that there is mischief afoot. And he and Mel don't have to wait long before they discover the culprit, for there in the Refreshment Bar they meet up with that old intergalactic rogue, Sabalom Glitz.
Glitz is hot on the trail of hidden treasure and the Doctor, keen to do some scientific research, decides to join him. Down into the Ice Passages they go — through the Ice Garden, past the Singing Trees, beyond the Lake of Oblivion — in search of the Dragon's Treasure.
But the Doctor and his companions don't know the true worth of this mythical hoard. Only Kane, the most feared man in Iceworld, knows the secret of the Dragonfire...
Television Story
Dragonfire
Script Writer: Ian Briggs
3 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
23/11/87 Part One
30/11/87 Part Two
07/12/87 Part Three
Dragonfire
Script Writer: Ian Briggs
3 × 25 Minutes / BBC1 / Colour
23/11/87 Part One
30/11/87 Part Two
07/12/87 Part Three
VHS
All episodes exist and have been released on video in the UK and United States.
Regular Characters
Seventh Doctor / Melanie Bush / Ace
Familiar Faces / Returning Characters
Sabalom Glitz
Seventh Doctor / Melanie Bush / Ace
Familiar Faces / Returning Characters
Sabalom Glitz
Notes
- Dragonfire was the first of two stories written for the television series by Ian Briggs, the second being The Curse of Fenric which was produced for the following season. As with the majority of Doctor Who novelistions around this time, Briggs novelised both stories himself.
- Dragonfire is probably most notable for seeing the daparture from the television series of Melanie Bush (Bonnie Langford) and the introduction of Ace (Sophie Aldred).
And making a re-appearance for the final time in the television series was Sabalom Glitz, who had last been seen in The Trial of a Time Lord the previous year. The character would later turn up in the original Sixth Doctor novel Mission: Impractical in 1998.
