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.
Third Doctor
Doctor Who: The Paradise of Death
by Barry Letts
- UK
- Paperback
- Doctor Who Books
- April 1994
Back Cover Blurb
'APPARENTLY THE THIGH BONE HAD BEEN BITTEN CLEAN THROUGH — WITH ONE SNAP OF THE TEETH.' 'THERE ISN'T A CREATURE ON EARTH CAPABLE OF DOING THAT!'
After a skirmish with an alien warrior in the Middle Ages, Sarah Jane Smith's life as a journalist in Croydon seems rather tame. She decides to track down the enigmatic character who took her back in time; with the Doctor, a good story is never far away. Her intuition pays off. The Doctor and UNIT are called to investigate a grisly murder at Space World, a futuristic new theme park. Tagging along, Sarah and her new colleague Jeremy soon find themselves facing huge crab-like creatures, mind-controlling devices and vicious flesh-eating beetles. And those are just the attractions...
'APPARENTLY THE THIGH BONE HAD BEEN BITTEN CLEAN THROUGH — WITH ONE SNAP OF THE TEETH.' 'THERE ISN'T A CREATURE ON EARTH CAPABLE OF DOING THAT!'
After a skirmish with an alien warrior in the Middle Ages, Sarah Jane Smith's life as a journalist in Croydon seems rather tame. She decides to track down the enigmatic character who took her back in time; with the Doctor, a good story is never far away. Her intuition pays off. The Doctor and UNIT are called to investigate a grisly murder at Space World, a futuristic new theme park. Tagging along, Sarah and her new colleague Jeremy soon find themselves facing huge crab-like creatures, mind-controlling devices and vicious flesh-eating beetles. And those are just the attractions...
Radio Story
The Paradise of Death
Script Writer: Barry Letts
5 × 30 Minutes / BBC Radio 5
27/08/93 Episode One
03/09/93 Episode Two
10/09/93 Episode Three
17/09/93 Episode Four
24/09/93 Episode Five
The Paradise of Death was released on double cassette in 1993 and CD in 2000. Both versions are extended and include scenes not present in the original broadcasts.
The Paradise of Death
Script Writer: Barry Letts
5 × 30 Minutes / BBC Radio 5
27/08/93 Episode One
03/09/93 Episode Two
10/09/93 Episode Three
17/09/93 Episode Four
24/09/93 Episode Five
Regular Characters
Third Doctor / Sarah Jane Smith / Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Familiar Faces / Returning Characters
Jeremy Fitzoliver
Third Doctor / Sarah Jane Smith / Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Familiar Faces / Returning Characters
Jeremy Fitzoliver
Notes
- The Paradise of Death was only the second Doctor Who book to be written by Barry Letts, who had contributed Doctor Who and the Daemons to the Target range in 1974. The following years saw him novelising his second radio story — The Ghosts of N-Space, co-writing Deadly Reunion with Terrance Dicks for the 40th anniversary of Doctor Who in November 2003, and writing Island of Death.
Apart from his contributions to published Doctor Who fiction, Barry Letts is best known to fans as the producer of the television series between 1970 and 1974, during which time he also co-wrote four stories with Robert Sloman: The Daemons, The Time Monster, The Green Death and Planet of the Spiders. - The character of Jeremy Fitzoliver would return in The Ghosts of N-Space before making one last appearance in Gary Russell's Sixth Doctor novel Instruments of Darkness in 2001.
Fourth Doctor
Doctor Who: The Pescatons
by Victor Pemberton
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- September 1991
- Book Number: 153
Back Cover Blurb
An invasion of meteorites and an environmental crisis!
An invasion of meteorites and an environmental crisis!
A scientific expedition has disappeared from the bed of the Thames Estuary, where a giant meteorite had landed years previously.
Having landed the TARDIS in the same vicinity, the Doctor and Sarah Jane are attacked at night by a vast, roaring creature.
Something reminds the Doctor of his encounter with the marine denizens of the planet Pesca, but before long his worst fears are confirmed: strange meteorites are landing all over the world, and the Pescaton invasion has begun.
Audio Story
The Pescatons
Script Writer: Victor Pemberton
The Pescatons was a semi-dramatised story that was first released on 12" record and cassette by Argo in 1976. Written by former Doctor Who script editor Victor Pemberton, it starred Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen, both reprising their television roles as the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith. It has subsequently been re-issued on CD and cassette a number of times, most recently by BBC Worldwide in 2005.
The Pescatons
Script Writer: Victor Pemberton
Regular Characters
Fourth Doctor / Sarah Jane Smith
Fourth Doctor / Sarah Jane Smith
Notes
- Victor Pemberton's only other written work for Doctor Who was the 1968 television story Fury from the Deep, which he subsequently novelised for Target Books in 1986.
- The Pescatons was the very last new title in the Target Books range of Doctor Who novelisations to be published. Although The Power of the Daleks, The Evil of the Daleks and The Paradise of Death would have the Target logo inside, they were all released under the Doctor Who Books imprint from Virgin Publishing.
Sixth Doctor
Doctor Who: Slipback
by Eric Saward
- UK
- Hardback
- WH Allen
- August 1986
Other Editions
Doctor Who: Slipback
UK / Paperback / Target Books / January 1987
Doctor Who: Slipback
UK / Paperback / Target Books / January 1987
Back Cover Blurb
The TARDIS materialises on board the Vipod Mor, a galactic survey ship captained by the repulsive Orlous Moston Slarn.
Things are not going too well on board the spacecraft: a mysterious killer stalks the ship's infrastructure; a junior officer, whose body is four years older than his brain, commands its bridge; the craft's computer seems to be developing its own distinctive personality; and Slarn threatens to vent his vindictive anger on his crew.
Soon the Doctor and Peri stumble upon a shocking secret, a secret upon which depends the fate of the entire Universe...
The TARDIS materialises on board the Vipod Mor, a galactic survey ship captained by the repulsive Orlous Moston Slarn.
Things are not going too well on board the spacecraft: a mysterious killer stalks the ship's infrastructure; a junior officer, whose body is four years older than his brain, commands its bridge; the craft's computer seems to be developing its own distinctive personality; and Slarn threatens to vent his vindictive anger on his crew.
Soon the Doctor and Peri stumble upon a shocking secret, a secret upon which depends the fate of the entire Universe...
Radio Story
Slipback
Script Writer: Eric Saward
6 × 10 Minutes / BBC Radio 4
25/07/85 Episode 1
25/07/85 Episode 2
01/08/85 Episode 3
01/08/85 Episode 4
08/08/85 Episode 5
08/08/85 Episode 6
Slipback was released on double cassette in 1988 alongside the record verson of Genesis of the Daleks. It was finally released on CD in 2001.
Slipback
Script Writer: Eric Saward
6 × 10 Minutes / BBC Radio 4
25/07/85 Episode 1
25/07/85 Episode 2
01/08/85 Episode 3
01/08/85 Episode 4
08/08/85 Episode 5
08/08/85 Episode 6
Regular Characters
Sixth Doctor / Peri Brown
Sixth Doctor / Peri Brown
Notes
- Slipback was one of only two Doctor Who novelisations from Eric Saward to be based on his own scripts — the other being Doctor Who and the Visitation. Ironically, despite novelising both The Twin Dilemma and Attack of the Cybermen, which were based on scripts from other people, his own scripts to Resurrection of the Daleks and Revelation of the Daleks were caught up in a dispute with Terry Nation's agents and never saw print in any form.
- Slipback manages to make a mockery of continuity by supplying a second cause for the Big Bang. Ironic seeing as Eric Saward was the script editor on the television story Terminus, which had explained it all first in 1983!
Doctor Who: The Nightmare Fair
by Graham Williams
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- May 1989
Back Cover Blurb
On Wednesday 27 February 1985 the BBC announced that their longest running sci-fi series, Doctor Who, was to be suspended. Anxious fans worldwide, worried that this might mean an end to the Time Lord's travels, flooded the BBC with letters of protest. Eighteen months later the show returned to the TV screens.
But missing from the Doctor's adventures was the series that would have been made and shown during those lost eighteen months. Now, available for the first time as a book, is one of those stories:
THE NIGHTMARE FAIR
Drawn into 'the nexus of the primeval cauldron of Space-Time itself,' the Doctor and Peri are somewhat surprised to find themselves at Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
Is it really just chance that has brought them to the funfair? Or is their arrival somehow connected with the sinister presence of a rather familiar Chinese Mandarin?
On Wednesday 27 February 1985 the BBC announced that their longest running sci-fi series, Doctor Who, was to be suspended. Anxious fans worldwide, worried that this might mean an end to the Time Lord's travels, flooded the BBC with letters of protest. Eighteen months later the show returned to the TV screens.
But missing from the Doctor's adventures was the series that would have been made and shown during those lost eighteen months. Now, available for the first time as a book, is one of those stories:
THE NIGHTMARE FAIR
Drawn into 'the nexus of the primeval cauldron of Space-Time itself,' the Doctor and Peri are somewhat surprised to find themselves at Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
Is it really just chance that has brought them to the funfair? Or is their arrival somehow connected with the sinister presence of a rather familiar Chinese Mandarin?
Regular Characters
Sixth Doctor / Peri Brown
Sixth Doctor / Peri Brown
Notes
- The Nightmare Fair was the only script completely written for Doctor Who by Graham Williams, who had been producer on the series from Season 15 through to Season 17. His other writing credits on the series were The Invasion of Time in 1978 which was co-written by Anthony Read, and City of Death which was co-written with Douglas Adams. In both cases the fact that the scripts were written by members of the production team meant that they were attributed to "David Agnew", an in-house pen-name.
- As originally planned, the very final word spoken in Revelation of the Daleks at the end of Season 22 would have been "Blackpool" — the intended location for the opening story of the following season. With the unexpected announcement that Doctor Who was to be "rested" for eighteen months, plans for the following season were thrown into complete chaos, and the decision was taken to excise the offending word from the conclusion of Revelation of the Daleks before broadcast. In the event, all of the planned stories for Season 23 were abandoned with the fourteen-part The Trial of a Time Lord being created as a replacement.
- The Nightmare Fair was the first of three books published by Target which were based on abandoned scripts for Season 23 of the television series.
- The character of the Celestial Toymaker had previously appeared in the television series way back in 1966, during the era of the First Doctor. With the abandonment of the original scripts for Season 23this re-match obviously never took place, but the character was to eventually turn up again in Divided Loyalties, a 1999 Fifth Doctor novel written by Gary Russell.
- An audio CD based on the unproduced scripts to The Nightmare Fair is due to be released by Big Finish Productions in November 2009 as part of their new Lost Stories series of Doctor Who audio plays. The scripts have been adapted by John Ainsworth, who will also be directing the play. As usual, Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant will be reprising their roles as the Sixth Doctor and Peri, while David Bailie will provide the voice of the Toymaker.
Doctor Who: The Ultimate Evil
by Wally K Daly
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- August 1989
Back Cover Blurb
On Wednesday 27 February 1985 the BBC announced that their longest running sci-fi series, Doctor Who, was to be suspended. Anxious fans worldwide, worried that this might mean an end to the Time Lord's travels, flooded the BBC with letters of protest. Eighteen months later the show returned to the TV screens.
But missing from the Doctor's adventures was the series that would have been made and shown during those lost eighteen months. Now, available for the first time as a book, is one of those stories:
THE ULTIMATE EVIL
With the TARDIS working perfectly the Doctor and Peri find themselves at something of a loose end. A holiday in Tranquela, a peace-loving country where there has been no war for over fifty years, seems the ideal solution.
Unfortunately their visit coincides with that of an unscrupulous arms dealer — the Machiavellian Dwarf Mordant...
On Wednesday 27 February 1985 the BBC announced that their longest running sci-fi series, Doctor Who, was to be suspended. Anxious fans worldwide, worried that this might mean an end to the Time Lord's travels, flooded the BBC with letters of protest. Eighteen months later the show returned to the TV screens.
But missing from the Doctor's adventures was the series that would have been made and shown during those lost eighteen months. Now, available for the first time as a book, is one of those stories:
THE ULTIMATE EVIL
With the TARDIS working perfectly the Doctor and Peri find themselves at something of a loose end. A holiday in Tranquela, a peace-loving country where there has been no war for over fifty years, seems the ideal solution.
Unfortunately their visit coincides with that of an unscrupulous arms dealer — the Machiavellian Dwarf Mordant...
Regular Characters
Sixth Doctor / Peri Brown
Sixth Doctor / Peri Brown
Notes
- The Ultimate Evil is the only work by Wally K Daly for the Doctor Who universe, and was the second of three books published by Target which were based on abandoned scripts for Season 23 of the television series.
Doctor Who: Mission to Magnus
by Philip Martin
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- July 1990
Back Cover Blurb
'Did I hear "Doctor"? Is it the Doctor I have drawn to me?' The laugh became more strident, forcing the Doctor to thrust his fingers into his ears in panic and close his eyes, as if here were a frightened child.
The TARDIS has been pulled off course and sent hurtling through space and time. When it finally stops, Peri is amazed to witness the Doctor's transformation into a cringing coward.
The takeover of the TARDIS by the school bully from the class of the fourth millennium on Gallifrey is only the first of the Doctor's problems. On the surface of the planet Magnus more of his old enemies are conspiring to trick the planet's all-female rulers; the Doctor and Peri have to foil a plot to freeze the entire world and wipe out most of the population.
'Did I hear "Doctor"? Is it the Doctor I have drawn to me?' The laugh became more strident, forcing the Doctor to thrust his fingers into his ears in panic and close his eyes, as if here were a frightened child.
The TARDIS has been pulled off course and sent hurtling through space and time. When it finally stops, Peri is amazed to witness the Doctor's transformation into a cringing coward.
The takeover of the TARDIS by the school bully from the class of the fourth millennium on Gallifrey is only the first of the Doctor's problems. On the surface of the planet Magnus more of his old enemies are conspiring to trick the planet's all-female rulers; the Doctor and Peri have to foil a plot to freeze the entire world and wipe out most of the population.
Regular Characters
Sixth Doctor / Peri Brown
Sixth Doctor / Peri Brown
Notes
- Mission to Magnus was the last of three books published by Target which were based on abandoned scripts for Season 23 of the television series.
- Mission to Magnus was the last of Philip Martin's three Doctor Who books to be published. As with his earlier novelisations of his scripts to Vengeance on Varos and Mindwarp (the second part of the epic Trial of a Time Lord) the story featured the slug-like Sil. The story also saw the return of the Ice Warriors who had last been seen in the television series in 1974 in The Monster of Peladon, having previously appeared in The Ice Warriors (1967), The Seeds of Death (1969) and The Curse of Peladon (1972).
- An audio CD based on the unproduced scripts to Mission to Magnus is due to be released by Big Finish Productions in December 2009 as part of their new Lost Stories series of Doctor Who audio plays. The scripts have been adapted by original writer Philip Martin. As usual, Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant will be reprising their roles as the Sixth Doctor and Peri, with Nabil Shaban once again voicing Sil.
Ninth Doctor
Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka
by Paul Cornell
- UK
- Paperback
- BBC Books
- February 2004
Back Cover Blurb
When the Doctor lands his TARDIS in the Lancaster town of Lannet, in the present day, he finds that something is terribly wrong. The people are scared. They don't like going out onto the streets at night, they don't like making too much noise, and they certainly don't like strangers asking too many questions.
What alien force has invaded the town? Why is it watching barmaid Alison Cheney? And what plans does it have for the future of the planet Earth?
The Doctor is helped (and hindered) by his new military liaison Major Kennet and his Royal Green Jacket troops. His old enemy the Master also plays a small part. During the course of this adventure he encounters a brand new race of ferocious alien monsters, and strikes up a friendship with his latest companion, Alison.
While starting with a small community under threat, this old-fashioned, very traditional but very up-to-date Doctor Who adventure takes in the entire world, from New Zealand to India, Siberia to the USA, and cosmic expanses beyond.
When the Doctor lands his TARDIS in the Lancaster town of Lannet, in the present day, he finds that something is terribly wrong. The people are scared. They don't like going out onto the streets at night, they don't like making too much noise, and they certainly don't like strangers asking too many questions.
What alien force has invaded the town? Why is it watching barmaid Alison Cheney? And what plans does it have for the future of the planet Earth?
The Doctor is helped (and hindered) by his new military liaison Major Kennet and his Royal Green Jacket troops. His old enemy the Master also plays a small part. During the course of this adventure he encounters a brand new race of ferocious alien monsters, and strikes up a friendship with his latest companion, Alison.
While starting with a small community under threat, this old-fashioned, very traditional but very up-to-date Doctor Who adventure takes in the entire world, from New Zealand to India, Siberia to the USA, and cosmic expanses beyond.
Webcast
Scream of the Shalka
Script Writer: Paul Cornell
6 × 10 Minutes / bbc.co.uk/doctorwho
13/11/03 Episode One
20/11/03 Episode Two
27/11/03 Episode Three
04/12/03 Episode Four
11/12/03 Episode Five
18/12/03 Episode Six
Despite having been submitted to the BBFC for classification, Scream of the Shalka has never been commercially released on DVD. However, it was broadcast at the rate of one episode a night on the BBC's interactive service on satellite from 30 December, 2003. Sadly, it was as part of the entertainment news stream, meaning that it wasn't the widescreen (16:9) version produced and only took up about a quarter of the screen, with an occasional scrolling banner at the bottom chopping off even more of the picture. A thoroughly pointless exercise all round...
Cosgrove-Hall, the production company who animated the story, subsequently went on to create the two animated Doctor Who episodes which were subsequently released on the DVD of The Invasion.
Scream of the Shalka
Script Writer: Paul Cornell
6 × 10 Minutes / bbc.co.uk/doctorwho
13/11/03 Episode One
20/11/03 Episode Two
27/11/03 Episode Three
04/12/03 Episode Four
11/12/03 Episode Five
18/12/03 Episode Six
Despite having been submitted to the BBFC for classification, Scream of the Shalka has never been commercially released on DVD. However, it was broadcast at the rate of one episode a night on the BBC's interactive service on satellite from 30 December, 2003. Sadly, it was as part of the entertainment news stream, meaning that it wasn't the widescreen (16:9) version produced and only took up about a quarter of the screen, with an occasional scrolling banner at the bottom chopping off even more of the picture. A thoroughly pointless exercise all round...
Cosgrove-Hall, the production company who animated the story, subsequently went on to create the two animated Doctor Who episodes which were subsequently released on the DVD of The Invasion.
Regular Characters
Ninth Doctor / Alison Cheney
Ninth Doctor / Alison Cheney
Notes
- At the time the Scream of the Shalka animation was originally announced, Richard E Grant's portrayal was intended to be the official Ninth Doctor. The subsequent announcement of a new television series several months later (and before Shalka went online) means that this is now not the official Ninth Doctor...
To date, Scream of the Shalka is the only full-length story to feature this particular version of the Ninth Doctor, although a one-off short story titled The Feast of the Stone, written by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright, and featuring the character, as well as new companion Alison Cheney, was published on the BBC Vampires website on 18 March, 2004. - Prior to writing Scream of the Shalka, Paul Cornell was best known to Doctor Who fans for writing numerous original novels, beginning with Timewyrm: Revelation in 1991. More recently he has written Father's Day for the television series, as well as adapting his 1995 Doctor Who novel Human Nature into a two-part story for the 2007 season.
- Scream of the Shalka is the very final Doctor Who novelisation to have been released (up to October 2007), and as well as novelising the six-part webcast, the book also included an extensive chapter by Paul Cornell titled The Making of 'Scream of the Shalka'.
Others
