Doctor Who
Original Novels: The Missing Adventures: 1995
The Missing Adventures

The Missing Adventures were a series of original novels featuring the adventures of the First to Sixth Doctors which were published by Virgin Publishing from July 1994.

The range was published monthly alongside Virgin's series of Seventh Doctor novels, The New Adventures, until their licence to publish Doctor Who tie-in books expired in May 1997.

The two ranges continued in a similar vein when BBC Books began to publish the Previous Doctor Adventures and Eighth Doctor Adventures in June 1997.
Doctor Who: The Romance of Crime

The Romance of Crime cover image
by Gareth Roberts
  • UK
  • Paperback
  • Doctor Who Books
  • January 1995
Back Cover Blurb
'HOW DO YOU KILL SOMEONE?' ASKED THE DOCTOR. 'EVISCERATE THEM, CRUSH THEM, REVERSE THEIR PARTICLES. BUT DO THE DEAD ALWAYS STAY DEAD?'

The TARDIS brings the fourth Doctor, Romana and K-9 to the Rock of Judgement: a court, prison and place of execution built into a rocket-powered asteroid. There they become embroiled in an investigation by the system's finest lawman.

What connects the macabre gallery of artist Menlove Stokes with the slaughter of a survey team on a distant planet? Why is Margo, chief of security behaving so strangely? And which old enemies of the Doctor's are aboard the unmarked spaceship making its way towards the rock?
Regular Characters
Fourth Doctor / Romana II / K9 Mark II

Familiar Faces / Returning Characters
Ogrons / Menlove Stokes
Notes
  • The Romance of Crime takes place between the television stories The Creature from the Pit and Nightmare of Eden.
  • The Romance of Crime was the first of four books to be written for the Missing Adventures range by Gareth Roberts, who would eventually go on to write for the television series proper in 2007 with the Tenth Doctor episode The Shakespeare Code.
  • The Romance of Crime was the first of three books by Roberts which were set during Season Seventeen of the television series, and as such the tone is rather lighter than in most Doctor Who novels, with a definite comic edge to them. The English Way of Death was published in 1996, with the final book of the three, The Well-Mannered War, being the very last Missing Adventure to released by Virgin in April 1997.
  • The character of Menlove Stokes subsequently appears in The Well-Mannered War before being left at St Oscar's University on the planet Dellah where he is Professor of Applied Art and able to get caught up in the adventures of Bernice Summerfield, beginning with the first Doctor-less book in the New Adventures series, Oh No It Isn't!.
  • The Ogrons first appeared in the 1972 television story Day of the Daleks, turning up again a year later in the 1973 story Frontier in Space. The Romance of Crime marked their first appearance in print in an original novel. Terrance Dicks later included an augmented Ogron called Garshak in his novels Shakedown and Mean Streets.
Doctor Who: The Ghosts of N-Space

The Ghosts of N-Space cover image
by Barry Letts
  • UK
  • Paperback
  • Doctor Who Books
  • February 1995
Back Cover Blurb
'WHEN THE BARRIER GIVES WAY THIS PLANET WILL BE FLOODED BY ALL THE EVIL IN N-SPACE. AND, AT THE MOMENT I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO STOP IT.'

Sarah Jane Smith, on holiday with her chum Jeremy and a bad case of writer's block, is amazed to find the Brigadier in the same part of Italy. He is there to help a distant relative whose tiny island home has been threatened by American mobster Max Vilmio.

When the ghosts that haunt the island's crumbling castle are joined by less benign spectres, the Brigadier summons the Doctor — who discovers that the whole of mankind is threatened by the plans of the ruthless Vilmio and his mysterious, hooded henchman.
Radio Story
The Ghosts of N-Space
Script Writer: Barry Letts

6 × 30 Minutes / BBC Radio 2

20/01/96 Episode One
27/01/96 Episode Two
03/02/96 Episode Three
10/02/96 Episode Four
17/02/96 Episode Five
24/02/96 Episode Six

The Ghosts of N-Space was released on double cassette in 1996 and CD in 2000.
Regular Characters
Third Doctor / Sarah Jane Smith

Familiar Faces / Returning Characters
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart / Jeremy Fitzoliver
Notes
  • The Ghosts of N-Space takes place between the television stories Death to the Daleks and The Monster of Peladon.
  • The Ghosts of N-Space is the only Misisng Adventure to have been written by Barry Letts, who served on the television series as producer between 1970 and 1974, as well as directing a number of other adventures, and co-writing four with Robert Sloman: The Daemons, The Time Monster, The Green Death and Planet of the Spiders. In 1993 he wrote the five-part Doctor Who radio serial The Paradise of Death, which he subsequently novelised, and The Ghosts of N-Space was conceived as a follow-up. In the event, it was to be a much delayed follow-up as the back of the book states that it was to be on BBC Radio 2 in 1995, whereas the six-part adventure eventually went out in January 1996 — the final time that Jon Pertwee would play the Third Doctor before his death in the May of the same year.
  • The next Doctor Who book from Barry Letts was the 2003 novel Deadly Reunion which he co-wrote with Terrance Dicks, before going solo again for Island of Death in July 2005.
  • Unfortunately, like the earlier Paradise of Death, the immensely irritating and incredibly dense Jeremy Fitzoliver is included. However, anyone who would like to see the end of the annoying little twerp should track down a copy of Gary Russell's Instruments of Darkness, published as part of the Previous Doctor Adventures range of books in 2001, in which the demise of one "John Doe" is a notable feature...
Doctor Who: Time of Your Life

Time of Your Life cover image
by Steve Lyons
  • UK
  • Paperback
  • Doctor Who Books
  • March 1995
Back Cover Blurb
'ORGANIC BUGS MUST BE PURGED FROM THE SYSTEM,' THE SCREEN TOLD HIM. THEN, MORE SUCCINCTLY, 'YOU DIE.'

The Network broadcasts entertainment to the planets of the Meson system: Death-hunt 3000, Prisoner: The Next Generation, Bloodsoak Bunny...Sixteen channels, and not one of them worth watching. But for the citizen's of poverty-stricken Torrok, television offers the only escape from a reality too horrible to face.

Angela, a young inhabitant of Torrok, leaps at the chance to travel to the Network with a hermit who calls himself the Doctor. However, all is not well on the giant, chaotic space station. A soap star has murdered his wife's lover; the robotic regulars of Timeriders are performing random kidnappings; and a lethal new game show is about to go on air.

Can the Doctor uncover the cause of the apparently random disturbances — or will his appearance as a competitor on Death-hunt 3000 be the last of his life.
Regular Characters
Sixth Doctor / Grant Markham
Notes
  • Time of Your Life takes place immediately after the final part of the television story The Trial of a Time Lord, novelised as The Ultimate Foe.
  • Time of Your Life was one of only two Missing Adventures books written by Steve Lyons, both of which featured a brand new companion created specifically for the books — Grant Markham. Time of Your Life introduced the character, but as things turned out, his only other appearance was in Lyons' next book for the series, Killing Ground.
Doctor Who: Dancing the Code

Dancing the Code cover image
by Paul Leonard
  • UK
  • Paperback
  • Doctor Who Books
  • April 1995
Back Cover Blurb
'THE BRIGADIER'S GOING TO SHOOT YOU, JO,' THE DOCTOR SAID GRIMLY.' AND THEN HE'S GOING TO SHOOT ME. BOTH OF US ARE GOING TO DIE.'

The Doctor builds a machine designed to predict the future. It shows the Brigadier murdering him and Jo in cold blood. Unable to tell where or when this event is destined to occur, the Doctor and Jo decide they must stay apart.

Jo is sent on a top-secret mission to the war-torn Arab nation of Kebiria. But upon arrival, she is immediately arrested and consigned to a brutal political prison. The Kebirians have something to hide: deep in the North African desert, an alien infestation is rapidly growing, and the Doctor and UNIT soon discover that unless stopped, the alien presence will spread to overrun the entire world.
Regular Characters
Third Doctor / Jo Grant

Familiar Faces / Returning Characters
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart / Captain Yates / Sergeant Benton
Notes
  • Dancing the Code takes place between the television stories Planet of the Daleks and The Green Death.
  • Dancing the Code was the second of three Missing Adventures by Paul Leonard, and the first of two which would feature the popular pairing of the Third Doctor and Jo Grant. Leonard's final book for the range was Speed of Flight in 1996, although he would go on to be a regular contributor to the BBC's Eighth Doctor Adventures.
Doctor Who: The Menagerie

The Menagerie cover image
by Martin Day
  • UK
  • Paperback
  • Doctor Who Books
  • May 1995
Back Cover Blurb
'IT IS SAID BY SOME THAT THIS CITY RESTS OVER THE GREAT MENAGERIE. MEN WHO FELT TEMPTED TO MEDDLE IN SCIENCE WERE CURSED AND TURNED INTO BEASTS.'

A nameless city on a prmitive, rain-sodden planet. The ruling Knights of Kuabris strive to keep order as hideous creatures emerge from the sewers to attack the populace. It seems that there might be some truth in the prophecies after all.

While Jamie languishes in the castle dungeons, the Doctor is forced to lead an expedition beneath the city to search for the fabled Menagerie of Ukkazaal. Meanwhile Zoe has been sold as a slave to a travelling freak show — and one of the exhibits is coming to life.
Regular Characters
Second Doctor / Jamie McCrimmon / Zoe Heriot
Notes
  • Menagerie takes place between the television stories The Space Pirates and The War Games.
  • The Menagerie was the only Doctor Who novel by Martin Day to be written for Virgin Publishing, although he would go on to co-write several with Keith Topping for the BBC ranges of books (including The Devil Goblins from Neptune — the very first book in the Previous Doctor Adventures series), before branching out on his own once more with the likes of The Sleep of Reason and the Tenth Doctor book Wooden Heart.

    Alog with Topping and fellow who author Paul Cornell, Martin Day also co-wrote a series of non-fiction television guides for Virgin Publishing including The Doctor Who Discontinuity Guide, The New Trek Programme Guide, X-Treme Possibilities (looking at The X-Files) and the problematic Avengers Dossier which had previously been pulped in it's earlier Avengers Programme Guide form. The trio are also responsible for writing the long-out-of-print Guinness Book of Classic British TV, which really should be revised some day.
Doctor Who: System Shock

System Shock cover image
by Justin Richards
  • UK
  • Paperback
  • Doctor Who Books
  • June 1995
Back Cover Blurb
'WE'RE DICING WITH DEATH ON THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY TO HELL.'

A rebellion on another planet. A kidnapping in central London. The head of MI5 assassinated. A hostage seige suddenly and violently ended by the SAS. A computer CD slipped into the Doctor's pocket by a dead man...

It's 1998, and the global information superhighway is about to come on line. OffNet controls everything digital from cars to sliding doors, from interactive television to military command and control systems.

The Doctor and Sarah must join forces with an old friend in a race against time: to prevent the breakdown of technological society and foil an unconventional alien takeover bid.
Regular Characters
Fourth Doctor / Sarah Jane Smith

Familiar Faces / Returning Characters
Harry Sullivan / The Voracians
Notes
  • System Shock takes place between the television stories The Seeds of Doom and The Masque of Mandragora.
  • System Shock was the only Missing Adventure to be written by Justin Richards, who has since gone on to be the most prolific writer of original Doctor Who books. A sequel titled Millennium Shock was written at short notice in 1999 when another book fell through.
  • Not wanting to ignore what proved to be an exciting tale, Richards makes sure that 1987's Harry Sullivan's War gets mentioned in passing, with Harry now working for MI5.
Doctor Who: The Sorcerer's Apprentice

The Sorcerers Apprentice cover image
by Christopher Bulis
  • UK
  • Paperback
  • Doctor Who Books
  • July 1995
Back Cover Blurb
'THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS MAGIC,' THE DOCTOR SAID.

But the land of Elbyon might just prove him to be wrong. It is a place, populated by creatures of fantasy, where myth and legend rule. Elves and dwarves live in harmony with mankind, wizards wield arcane powers and armoured knights battle monstrous dragons.

Yet it seems that Elbyon has secrets to hide. The TARDIS crew find a relic from the thirtieth century hidden in the woods. Whose sinister manipulations are threatening the stability of a once peaceful land? And what part does the planet play in a conflict that may save an Empire, yet doom a galaxy?

To solve these puzzles, and save his companions, the Doctor must learn to use the sorcery whose very existence he doubts.
Regular Characters
First Doctor / Ian Chesterton / Barbara Wright / Susan Foreman
Notes
  • The Sorcerer's Apprentice takes place between the television stories Marco Polo and The Keys of Marinus.
  • The Sorcerer's Apprentice was the second of five Missing Adventures to be written by Christoper Bulis.
Doctor Who: Invasion of the Cat-People

Invasion of the Cat-People cover image
by Gary Russell
  • UK
  • Paperback
  • Doctor Who Books
  • August 1995
Back Cover Blurb
'EXPLODE THE BUOYS? BUT THAT WILL DESTROY THE EARTH!' 'OH DEAR, SO IT WILL. PASS ON MY APOLOGIES TO THE HUMANS, WON'T YOU?'

Earth has been invaded. Twice. Thousands of years ago by a race searching for a new power source. More recently by the galactic marauders known as the Cat-People, who intend to continue the work done by the earlier visitors, with devestating results.

The recently regenerated Doctor, along with companions Ben and Polly, teams up with a group of amateur ghost-hunters and a mysterious white witch on a journey that takes them from twentieth-century Cumbria to the Arabian deserts of folklore and Australia 40,000 years in the past. Can the Doctor stop the invaders and disarm the bombs left buried beneath the planet's surface — or have the ancient Aborigines of Australia sung the seeds of their own destruction?
Regular Characters
Second Doctor / Ben Jackson / Polly
Notes
  • Invasion of the Cat-People takes place between the television stories The Power of the Daleks and The Highlanders.
  • Invasion of the Cat-People was the first of two Missing Adventures written by Gary Russell.
Doctor Who: Managra

Managra cover image
by Stephen Marley
  • UK
  • Paperback
  • Doctor Who Books
  • September 1995
Back Cover Blurb
'EUROPA IS INFESTED BY GHOSTS, VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES GHOULS AND OTHER GROTESQUES SPAWNED FROM OLD EUROPEAN FOLKLORE. I THINK WE'RE IN A SPOT OF BOTHER, SARAH JANE.'

Europa, designed by lunatics a thousand years in the future, is a resurrected Europe that lives in an imaginary past.

In Europa, historical figures live agian: Lord Byron combats Torquemada's Inquisition, Mary Shelley is writing her sequel to Frankenstein, and Cardinal Richelieu schemes to become Pope Supreme while Aleister Crowley and Faust vie for the post of Official Antichrist.

When the Doctor and Sarah Jane arrive, they are instantly accused of murdering the Pope. Aided only by a young vampire hunter and a revenant Byron, they must confront the sinister Theatre of Transmogrification in their quest to prove their innocence.
Regular Characters
Fourth Doctor / Sarah Jane Smith
Notes
Doctor Who: Millennial Rites

Millennial Rites cover image
by Craig Hinton
  • UK
  • Paperback
  • Doctor Who Books
  • October 1995
Back Cover Blurb
'THE MILLENNIUM, MEL: THE LAST NEW YEARS' EVE OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. BUT IT'S DEFINITELY NOT PARTY TIME.'

England, 1999: the Doctor and Mel have come to London to celebrate the new year with old friends — and to heal old wounds. But others are making more sinister preperations to usher in the new millennium. A software house is about to run a program that will change the fabric of reality. And an entity older than the universe is soon to be reborn.

When Anne Travers' fear of the Great Intelligence and millionaire philanthropist Ashley Chapel's researches combine, London is transformed into a dark and twisted mirror image populated by demons and sorcerers. Only the Doctor can put things right, but his friends have also been shockingly changed and he cannot trust anybody — least of all himself.
Regular Characters
Sixth Doctor / Melanie Bush

Familiar Faces / Returning Characters
Anne Travers / The Great Intelligence / The Yeti / The Valeyard
Notes
  • Millennial Rites takes place between the television stories The Trial of a Time Lord and Time and the Rani.
  • Millennial Rites was Craig Hinton's second and final book for the Missing Adventures and saw the return of Anne Traver who was last seen on the television series in the 1968 adventure The Web of Fear. Unsurprisingly, the Great Intelligence (aka Yog-Sothoth) also pops up — anyone wondering why Yog-Sothoth sounds suspiciously familiar may want to have a quick Google for information on HP Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos.
  • Millennial Rites is actually the Great Intelligence's fourth defeat in the Who universe as the spin-off video Downtime (released the same month as Millennial Rites) also features the Great Intelligence and the Yeti. Despite the fact that the novelisation of that story wasn't published until January 1996, it takes place before Millennial Rites and is referenced inside it.
  • As well as bringing back old characters from the 1960s, Millennial Rites also pays some attention to the thorny subject of the Valeyard, the ill-conceived creation from The Trial of a Time Lord who was revealed to be a version of the Doctor somewhere between his twelfth and thirteen regenerations. Although Millennial Rites doesn't actually feature the Valeyard as such (Virgin's authors having been told that the character was off-limits) it does try and deal with Doctor's reaction to the knowledge that the Valeyard may exist at some point in the future.

    Matrix from Robert Perry and Mike Tucker in 1998 finally dealt with the issue head on by having the Valeyard come back and get comprehensively trounced by the Seventh Doctor.

    Well, he shouldn't have been Jack the Ripper...
Doctor Who: The Empire of Glass

The Empire of Glass cover image
by Andy Lane
  • UK
  • Paperback
  • Doctor Who Books
  • November 1995
Back Cover Blurb
'THERE IS AN OLD VENETIAN SAYING,' THE DOCTOR MURMURED. 'THE COUNCIL OF TEN SEND YOU TO THE TORTURE CHAMBER; THE COUNCIL OF THREE SEND YOU TO THE GRAVE.'

A strange invitation brings the Doctor, Steven and Vicki to Venice in the year of our Lord 1609: a place of politics and poison, science and superstition, telescopes and terror. Gallileo Galilei is there demonstrating his new invention to the Doge, and William Shakespeare is working as a spy for King James I. And there are other visitors too: inhuman ones that lurk in the shadows.

Vicki is abducted to a flying island, Steven is accused of murder and challenged to a duel. The Doctor, meanwhile, finds himself at the centre of what looks like an attempted invasion. But who are the invaders? And why can't they proceed without his help?
Regular Characters
First Doctor / Vicki / Steven Taylor

Familiar Faces / Returning Characters
Irving Braxiatel
Notes
  • The Empire of Glass takes place between the television stories The Time Meddler and Galaxy 4.
  • The Empire of Glass was the only Missing Adventure to be written by Andy Lane, although he has written (or co-written) four other Doctor Who novels, as well as contributing Slow Decay to the first batch of three Torchwood novels.
  • The Empire of Glass saw the second appearance in the Doctor Who novels or Irving Braxiatel, originally created by Justin Richards for Theatre of War. In terms of Braxiatel's own personal timeline this Empire of Glass actually takes place before that adventure.
Doctor Who: Lords of the Storm

Lords of the Storm cover image
by David A McIntee
  • UK
  • Paperback
  • Doctor Who Books
  • December 1995
Back Cover Blurb
'THEY'VE BEEN FIGHTING THIS WAR FOR LONGER THAN MAN HAS BEEN WALKING UPRIGHT, AND THEY DON'T TAKE PRISONERS'

The war between the Sontarans and the Rutans has been raging for millenia. Billions have died and whole star systems have been obliterated in the conflict. Now, finally, one side may have victory within its grasp.

The human colony world of Raghi is crucial to that victory. When the Doctor and Turlough arrive there, they find a seemingly stable society ruled by a strict caste system. But all is not as it seems. Members of the lower caste are being struck down by a mysterious illness. People are vanishing in their hundreds. And strange objects have been observed orbiting the sun.

Why is Raghi so important to the feuding alien empires? And how high a price will the galaxy pay if the conflict comes to an end?
Regular Characters
Fifth Doctor / Turlough

Familiar Faces / Returning Characters
The Sontarans / The Rutans / Karne
Notes
  • Lords of the Storm takes place between the television stories Resurrection of the Daleks and Planet of Fire.
  • Lords of the Storm was the first of three books written for the Missing Adventures by David A McIntee, and all of them would contain links to characters from the television series in one form or another — The Dark Path involved the Master and The Shadow of Weng-Chiang, unsurprisingly, was a sequel to The Talons of Weng-Chiang.
  • The Sontarans were created by Robert Holmes in for the 1973/4 television story The Time Warrior, although on that occasion the only Sontaran to be seen was Linx. They subsequently appeared in a further three adventures over the following twelve years, and went on to feature in a number of video spin-offs including Mindgame, Mindgame: Trilogy and, most notably, Shakedown: The Return of the Sontarans.

    Although only mentioned in passing in The Time Warrior, the Rutans did eventually make one appearance in the television series themselves, in Terrance Dicks' highly atmospheric 1977 story The Horror of Fang Rock.
  • The Rutan spy Karne escapes at the end of this novel to set up the events of the same month's New Adventure novel Shakedown, which, as well as containing a novelisation of the video spin-off story, also had a totally new story wrapped around it.