Tag: Doctor Who Books

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‘Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen’ by James Goss and Douglas Adams

Paul Ferry

There’s a certain familiarity that accompanies Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen, adapted by James Goss from script material written by the late, great Douglas Adams. Ah, you say; that’ll be the opening sequence which Adams recycled for his third Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy book Life, the Universe and Everything that he’s talking about. Well yes, there’s that, but the familiarity doesn’t end there. The similarity to Life, the Universe and Everything is certainly a problem; the essential premise of a quest to find the constituent elements of the Wicket Gate, a key to unlock the prison in which the deadly Krikket robots are incarcerated is exactly the same … Continue reading ‘Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen’ by James Goss and Douglas Adams

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‘Doctor Who – Rose’ by Russell T. Davies

Paul Ferry

For anyone who grew up in Britain in the 1970s, the Target novelisations were as much a part of Doctor Who as the television series itself. Along with Doctor Who Weekly in the latter part of the decade, they provided a vital link with the series when it wasn’t on the air. I remember walking home from the local library with a huge pile of the colourful hardbacks; I didn’t necessarily read them all at once, but I was attracted to the exciting, vibrant colours and – when I did eventually read them – by the exciting, vibrant prose. Now BBC Books, under the … Continue reading ‘Doctor Who – Rose’ by Russell T. Davies

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‘In the Blood’ by Jenny T. Colgan

Paul Ferry

To tie in with its 2005 revival of Doctor Who, the BBC launched not one but two lines of spin-off novels to accompany the series. There was a standard range of workmanlike adventures by reliable but lesser-known authors and a ‘premium’ range of big impressive hardbacks by big impressive authors with names you might recognise from the best sellers list. It hasn’t always been a successful arrangement; Alistair Reynolds and Stephen Baxter turned in wonderful Doctor Who novels, whereas fantasy legend Michael Moorcock wrote a great Michael Moorcock novel that seemed to bear little relation to Doctor Who. Jenny T. Colgan wouldn’t have … Continue reading ‘In the Blood’ by Jenny T. Colgan