The UK Sci-Fi TV Book Guide: Doctor Who: Original Novels: New Series Adventures: 2007

Original Novels: New Series Adventures

2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010

2007

Made of Steel
Sting of the Zygons
The Last Dodo
Wooden Heart
Forever Autumn
Sick Building
Wetworld
Wishing Well
The Pirate Loop
Peacemaker

Unlike the New Adventures and Eighth Doctor Adventures which had featured the ongoing adventures of the Seventh and Eighth Doctors respectively, and which had been aimed at an adult readership, the BBC's range of New Series Adventures are aimed at a younger audience, and also feature very little continuity between the novels, making them very much standalone stories.

The first three hardbacks were released in May 2005 and featured the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler.

With the unexpected regeneration of Christopher Eccleston at the conclusion of his first season, it quickly became apparent that the book range would also be undergoing a change.

The second and final batch of books to feature the Ninth Doctor (set later in Season 27 and including Rose and Captain Jack Harkness) were released in September 2005.

The first three novels featuring the Tenth Doctor and Rose were published in April 2006, while March 2007 saw the release of Made of Steel, the first book to feature new companion Martha Jones. Martha was later phased out and replaced by Donna Noble for four books in 2008. With the exception of The Story of Martha, all future books featuring the Tenth Doctor were to see him travelling on his own.

Doctor Who: Made of Steel

by Terrance Dicks

UK
Paperback
BBC Books
March 2007

Back Cover Blurb
A deadly night attack on an army base. Vehicles are destroyed, soldiers killed. The attackers vanish as swiftly as they came, taking highly advanced equipment with them.

Metal figures attack a shopping mall. But why do they only want a new games console from an ordinary electronics shop? An obscure Government Ministry is blown up — but, in the wreckage, no trace is found of the secret, state-of-the-art decoding equipment.

When the TARDIS returns the Doctor and Martha to Earth from a distant galaxy, they try to piece toghether the mystery. But someone — or something — is waiting for them. An old enemy stalks the night, men no longer made of flesh...

Regular Characters
Tenth Doctor / Martha Jones

Familiar Faces / Returning Characters
The Cybermen

Notes

Made of Steel was released as part of the Quick Reads scheme, which is designed to encourage more people to read, in particular adult learners. It was the second Doctor Who book to be released after the success of I Am a Dalek in 2006.
Made of Steel was the very first book to be published that featured new companion Martha Jones. Unusually, it was released several weeks before the character made her debut on television in the episode Smith and Jones!
Like the Daleks, the Cybermen have only rarely appeared in the various ranges of Doctor Who novels.

Their first appearance was in David Banks' Iceberg, released in September 1993 as part of the New Adventures range of books, with their final appearance in a book from Virgin Publishing being in Killing Ground, Steve Lyons' 1996 Sixth Doctor novel.

The only novel from BBC Books to feature the Cybermen was Mike Tucker and Robert Perry's Illegal Alien, a 1997 Seventh Doctor novel in the Previous Doctor Adventures range which saw the time travellers landing in the London of 1940 at the height of the Blitz.
Made of Steel was Terrance Dicks' first book for the New Series Adventures, and continued his line of Doctor Who fiction which stretches back to 1974 when he wrote Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion, the first new book for the Target Books range of novelisations. He went on to novelise over seventy of the television stories for the company over the following sixteen years. Between August 1991 and November 2003 he wrote ten original Doctor Who novels for Virgin Publishing and BBC Books.

Away from the world of publishing, he was the script editor on the Doctor Who television series between 1968 and 1975, and also wrote (or co-wrote) six stories for the series, including the twentieth-anniversary special The Five Doctors in 1983.

Doctor Who: Sting of the Zygons

by Stephen Cole

UK
Hardback
BBC Books
April 2007
Book Number: 13

Back Cover Blurb
The TARDIS lands the Doctor and Martha in the Lake District in 1909, where a small village has been terrorised by a giant, scaly monster. The search is on for the elusive 'Beast of Westmorland', and explorers, naturalists and hunters from across the country are descending on the fells. King Edward VII himself is on his way to join the search, with a knighthood for whoever finds the Beast.

But there is a more sinister presence at work in the Lakes than a mere monster on the rampage, and the Doctor is soon embroiled in the plans of an old and terrifying enemy. As the hunters become the hunted, a desperate battle of wits begins — with the future of the entire world at stake...

Regular Characters
Tenth Doctor / Martha Jones

Audiobook

UK
BBC Audiobooks
2 × CD / Download
2 hours 11 minutes
July 2007

Abridged reading of the novel, narrated by Reggie Yates who plays Martha's brother, Leo Jones, in the television series.

Notes

Sting of the Zygons was released at the same time as The Last Dodo and Wooden Heart. It was Stephen Cole's fourth novel for the New Series Adventures.
The only television story to feature the Zygons was the 1975 Fourth Doctor story Terror of the Zygons, later novelised by Terrance Dicks under the title Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster.

Somewhat surprisingly, prior to Sting of the Zygons they had only featured in one other Doctor Who novel, 1997's The Bodysnatchers, an entry in the Eighth Doctor Adventures range which was set in Victorian London and which also the character of Professor Litefoot from the enormously popular story The Talons of Weng-Chiang.

Doctor Who: The Last Dodo

by Jacqueline Rayner

UK
Hardback
BBC Books
April 2007
Book Number: 14

Back Cover Blurb
The Doctor and Martha go in search of a real live dodo, and are transported by the TARDIS to the mysterious Museum of the Last Ones. There, in the Earth section, they discover every extinct creature up to the present day, all still alive and in suspended animation.

Preservation is the museum's only job — collecting the last of every endangered species from all over the universe. But exhibits are going missing...

Can the Doctor solve the mystery before the museum's curator adds the last of the Time Lords to her collection?

Regular Characters
Tenth Doctor / Martha Jones

Audiobook

UK
BBC Audiobooks
2 × CD / Download
2 hours 16 minutes
July 2007

Abridged reading of the novel, narrated by Freema Agyeman who plays Martha Jones in the television series.

Notes

The Last Dodo was released at the same time as Sting of the Zygons and Wooden Heart. It was Jacqueline Rayner's third novel for the New Series Adventures.

Doctor Who: Wooden Heart

by Martin Day

UK
Hardback
BBC Books
April 2007
Book Number: 15

Back Cover Blurb
A vast starship, seemingly deserted, is spinning slowly in the void of deep space. Martha and the Doctor explore the drifting tombs and discover that they may not be alone after all.

Who survived the disaster that overcame the rest of the crew? What continues to power the the vessel? And why has a stretch of wooded countryside suddenly appeared in the middle of the craft?

As the Doctor and Martha journey through the forest, they find a mysterious, fog-bound village — a village traumatised by missing children and prophecies of its own destruction..

Regular Characters
Tenth Doctor / Martha Jones

Audiobook

UK
BBC Audiobooks
2 × CD / Download
2 hours 31 minutes
July 2007

Abridged reading of the novel, narrated by Adjoah Andoh who plays Martha's mother, Francine Jones, in the television series.

Notes

Wooden Heart was released at the same time as The Last Dodo and Sting of the Zygons.
Wooden Heart was Martin Day's first book for the New Series Adventures, although he had written (or co-written) five earlier Doctor Who books for Virgin Publishing and BBC Books between 1995 and 2004, beginning with the dismal The Menagerie and working his way up the extraordinarily good The Sleep of Reason.

Doctor Who: Forever Autumn

by Mark Morris

UK
Hardback
BBC Books
September 2007
Book Number: 16

Back Cover Blurb
It is almost Halloween in the sleepy New England town of Blackwood Falls. Leaves litter lawns and sidewalks, paper skeletons hang in windows, and carved pumpkins leer from front porches.

The Doctor and Martha soon discover that something long-dormant has awoken, and this will be no ordinary Halloween. What is the secret of the ancient tree and the book discovered tangled in its roots? What rises from the churchyard at night, sealing the lips of the only witness? Why are the harmless trappings of Halloween suddenly taking on a creepy new life of their own?

As nightmarish creatures prowl the streets, the Doctor and Martha must battle to prevent both the townspeople and themselves from suffering a grisly fate...

Regular Characters
Tenth Doctor / Martha Jones

Audiobook

UK
BBC Audiobooks
2 × CD / Download
2 hours 13 minutes
March 2008

Abridged reading of the novel, narrated by Will Thorp who played Toby in The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit.

Notes

Forever Autumn was released at the same time as Sick Building and Wetworld.
Forever Autumn is the first New Series Adventure to be written by Mark Morris, although he wrote two earlier Doctor Who novels for the BBC in the late 1990s.

Bodysnatchers was the third novel written for the Eighth Doctor Adventures series and saw the Doctor encounter the Zygons in Victorian London as well as re-uniting him with the popular characters of Professor Litefoot and Henry Gordon Jago, seen on television in The Talons of Weng-Chiang. Morris's second Doctor Who novel was Deep Blue, a Fifth Doctor tale for the Previous Doctor Adventures series which was published in March 1999.

Doctor Who: Sick Building

by Paul Magrs

UK
Hardback
BBC Books
September 2007
Book Number: 17

Back Cover Blurb
Tiermann's World: a planet covered in wintry woods and roamed by sabre-toothed tigers and other savage beasts. The Doctor is here to warn Professor Tiermann, his wife and their son that a terrible danger is on its way.

The Tiermann's live in luxury, in a fantastic, futuristic, fully-automated Dreamhome, under an impenetrable force shield. But that won't protect them from the Voracious Claw. A huge and hungry alien creature is heading remorselessly towards their home. When it arrives everything will be devoured.

Can they get away in time? With the force shield cracking up, and the Dreamhouse itself deciding who should or should not leave, things are looking desperate...

Regular Characters
Tenth Doctor / Martha Jones

Audiobook

UK
BBC Audiobooks
2 × CD / Download
2 hours 12 minutes
March 2008

Abridged reading of the novel, narrated by Will Thorp who played Toby in The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit.

Notes

Sick Building was released at the same time as Forever Autumn and Wetworld. It was first announced under the title The Wicked Bungalow.
Sick Building is Paul Magrs' first book for the New Series Adventures, although he has previously written four titles for BBC Books' earlier ranges of Doctor Who novels. The Scarlet Empress, The Blue Angel and Mad Dogs and Englishmen were all written for the Eighth Doctor Adventures, while Verdigris was a Third Doctor tale penned for the Previous Doctor Adventures series. All four books featured Iris Wildthyme, a rogue Time Lord of Magrs' own invention whose TARDIS is in the form of a red, No. 22 bus and who likes to go round claiming the Doctor's triumphs as her own. Quite possibly the most irritating character to have ever been committed to paper...

Doctor Who: Wetworld

by Mark Michalowski

UK
Hardback
BBC Books
September 2007
Book Number: 18

Back Cover Blurb
When the TARDIS makes a disastrous landing in the swamps of the planet Sunday, the Doctor has no choice but to abandon Martha and try to find help. But the tranquillity of Sunday's swamps is deceptive, and even the TARDIS can't protect Martha forever.

The human pioneers of Sunday have their own dangers to face: they're starting to see that Sunday's wildlife isn't as harmless as it appears. Why are the otters behaving so strangely, and what is the creature in the swamps that is so interested in the humans, and the new arrivals?

The Doctor and Martha must fight to ensure that human intelligence doesn't become the greatest danger of all.

Regular Characters
Tenth Doctor / Martha Jones

Audiobook

UK
BBC Audiobooks
2 × CD / Download
2 hours 22 minutes
March 2008

Abridged reading of the novel, narrated by Freema Agyeman who plays Martha in the television series.

Notes

Wetworld was released at the same time as Forever Autumn and Sick Building.
Wetworld is the first New Series Adventure to be written by Mark Michalowski, although he has written a Doctor Who novel for each of the company's earlier ranges of novels, beginning with his Seventh Doctor story Relative Dementias in January 2002. His Eighth Doctor novel Halflife was published in April 2004.

Doctor Who: Wishing Well

by Trevor Baxendale

UK
Hardback
BBC Books
December 2007
Book Number: 19

Back Cover Blurb
The old village well is just a curiosity — something to attract tourists intrigued by stories of lost treasure, or visitors just making a wish. Unless something alien and terrifying could be lurking inside the well. Something utterly monstrous that causes nothing but death and destruction.

But who knows the real truth about the well? Who wishes to unleash the hideous force it contains? What terrible consequences will follow the search for a legendary treasure hidden at the bottom? No one wants to believe the Doctor's warnings about the deadly horror lying in wait — but soon they'll wish they had...

Regular Characters
Tenth Doctor / Martha Jones

Audiobook

UK
BBC Audiobooks
2 × CD / Download
2 hours 21 minutes
July 2008

Abridged reading of the novel, narrated by Debbie Chazen who played Foon Van Hoff in Voyage of the Damned.

Notes

Wishing Well was released at the same time as The Pirate Loop and Peacemaker.
Wishing Well was Trevor Baxendale's first book for the New Series Adventures, but he had previously written for both the Previous Doctor Adventures (Fear of the Dark) and the Eighth Doctor Adventures series, for which he contributed four titles — the last being 2004's The Deadstone Memorial. Something in the Water, his first contribution to the BBC Books range of original Torchwood novels, was released in March 2008.

Doctor Who: The Pirate Loop

by Simon Guerrier

UK
Hardback
BBC Books
December 2007
Book Number: 20

Back Cover Blurb
The Doctor's been everywhere and everywhen in the whole of the universe and seems to know all the answers. But ask him what happened to the Starship Brilliant and he hasn't the first idea. Did it fall into a sun or black hole? Was it shot down in the first moments of the galactic war? And what's this about a secret experimental drive?

The Doctor is skittish. But if Martha is so keen to find out he'll land the TARDIS on the Brilliant, a few days before it vanishes. Then they can see for themselves... Soon the Doctor learns the awful truth. And Martha learns that you need to be careful what you wish for. She certainly wasn't hoping for mayhem, death, and badger-faced space pirates!

Regular Characters
Tenth Doctor / Martha Jones

Audiobook

UK
BBC Audiobooks
2 × CD / Download
2 hours 31 minutes
July 2008

Abridged reading of the novel, narrated by Freema Agyeman who plays Martha in the television series.

Notes

The Pirate Loop was released at the same time as Wishing Well and Peacemaker.
The Pirate Loop is the first New Series Adventure to be written by Simon Guerrier, although he has previously written The Time Travellers, the penultimate book for the Previous Doctor Adventures series.

Doctor Who: Peacemaker

by James Swallow

UK
Hardback
BBC Books
December 2007
Book Number: 21

Back Cover Blurb
The peace and quiet of a remote homestead in the 1880s American West is shattered by the arrival of two shadowy outriders searching for 'the healer'. When the farmer refuses to help them, they raze the house to the ground, using guns that shoot bolts of energy instead of bullets...

In the town of Redwater, the Doctor and Martha learn of a snake-oil salesman whose patent medicines actually cure his patient. But when the Doctor and Martha investigate, they discover the truth is stranger, and far more dangerous. Caught between the law of the gun and the deadly plans of intergalactic mercenaries, the Doctor and Martha are about to discover just how wild the West can become...

Regular Characters
Tenth Doctor / Martha Jones

Audiobook

UK
BBC Audiobooks
2 × CD / Download
2 hours 9 minutes
July 2008

Abridged reading of the novel, narrated by Will Thorp who played Toby in The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit.

Notes

Peacemaker was released at the same time as The Pirate Loop and Wishing Well.
Peacemaker is James Swallow's first work for the Doctor Who universe.