In The Last Duty Eileen was only a cameo. Her inclusion came quite late to the mix, and despite her character hinting at a past fighting aliens, we didn’t fully explore this, so when the opportunity came along to delve deeper, I jumped at the chance.

Eileen worked in the Filter Room, the top secret hub of Britain’s air defence, and tracked the first V2 rocket into the country! Before she died, I had a brief conversation with her about our Lethbridge-Stewart series. We joked about her being the first person to track an alien rocket into the country and this sparked an idea. Her sad death prompted us to include her in The Last Duty, but now we feel the time is right to discover more about Eileen’s alien fighting exploits during WW2.

My aunt would have been tickled pink at the fact that she is a central character in this the latest book in the Lethbridge-Stewart series.

For this second cover I wanted to create a full colour image rather than my usual mix of colour and black and white. I had also backed myself into a corner with The Life of Evans. I found it quite difficult to fade the hand-drawn train explosion into the background, so here for the first time I decided to create the fire effects digitally, though Travers and Eileen are still pencil drawings.

I was aware of Eileen from seeing her on the TV, but I never knew just how famous she was until I did my preliminary research. It turns out that she lived quite a life, so there was no pressure to get her portrait right... not! I'm pleased to say that the feedback I received from the family totally blew me away. I just hope that I have done her justice for all her fans.

Travers’ life between The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear is still pretty much unexplored, bar a few hints here and there. It has already been established that he worked for a previous version of the Home-Army Operational Corps during World War 2, but this is our first look at what his work entailed. It’s all part of a much larger canvas, as we slowly unveil the hidden mysteries and secrets of Professor Travers’ remarkable life.

For a limited period, Candy Jar Books are opening their Lethbridge-Stewart short story range to everybody (as long as you've never written for the series before). All you have to do is send a one line idea, and a short story you've written (any original short story, as long as it's a finished piece), so the editors can gauge your writing ability.

Please visit our website for more information and the pitch guidelines. Please note Candy Jar will not consider any submission that had not taken into account the information in the guidelines.

Lauren Thomas, publishing coordinator at Candy Jar, said:

Candy Jar is also looking for submissions for their forthcoming book that celebrate fifty years of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.

Shaun Russell, head of publishing at Candy Jar, said

If you have an idea, then send it to havoc@candyjarbooks.co.uk with the words 'FACT PITCH' in the subject bar.

We had great feedback from Richard’s Blood of Atlantis cover. His style harks back to the classic era of Doctor Who, and we wanted to showcase this talent across a number of books. As a result we have commissioned him for all three novellas.

One of my favourite artists is Drew Struzan, the man responsible for some the most iconic poster designs of the 20th century, including Back to the Future, Indiana Jones and Star Wars. I would never compare myself to him, but I do try to follow his traditional design philosophy. Shaun, who is also a fan of his work, wanted the novellas to embrace this hand-drawn style.

The main range evolved into a circular motif, so for the novellas we thought we could do something slightly different. Diamond shapes are a standard element of classic Doctor Who, notably the logo used from 1974 to 1979, and it seemed an obvious thing to echo here. Shaun worked with Richard to develop the overall concept, while I continued my focus on the stories.

Once we’d fixed on the idea, I started work on the individual elements for the composition. Candy Jar prefers the artwork for the covers to be submitted as separate elements, rather than a single completed piece of artwork. I’m sure Drew Struzan has never done this, but it does allow for a greater flexibility when I am creating elements individually, or as a whole. So this cover is actually made up of several illustrations; Evans, the train and explosion, the standing stones, the sunset, the old man, and finally his hand.

Tickets are now available for the Fathom Events presentation of BBC AMERICA’s Doctor Who: Season 10 Premiere, playing in movie theaters nationwide for two nights only on Monday, April 17 and Wednesday, April 19, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. local time, following BBC AMERICA’s television premiere on Saturday, April 15 at 9/8c.

In addition to the feature content, audiences will enjoy the premiere episode of the Doctor Who spinoff series Class, featuring a guest appearance by the Doctor himself, Peter Capaldi, and the never-before-seen bonus feature Becoming the Companion, in which fans will travel with new companion Pearl Mackie from the London stage through the doors of the TARDIS to a once-in-a-lifetime role, or as Pearl says, “the most insane thing that's ever happened to me.” The bonus feature includes exclusive interviews with Pearl Mackie, Peter Capaldi, and Steven Moffat, and is narrated by Ingrid Oliver.

With as the official retail partner of the Doctor Who: Season 10 Premiere cinema event, attendees can bring in their ticket stub or proof of purchase to Hot Topic retail locations for 25% off Doctor Who merchandise, valid March 10 – May 6, 2017.

In addition, fans who purchase tickets through Atom Tickets will receive three free Doctor Who digital comic books from Titan Comics and ComiXology, delivered to purchasing email address on event date.

These partnerships along with Fathom Events presentation is all brought together through licensing deals with BBC Worldwide North America.

Tickets can also be purchased online by visiting www.FathomEvents.com or at participating theater box offices. Fans throughout the U.S. will be able to enjoy the event in more than 550 select movie theaters. For a complete list of theater locations visit the Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change).

I was thrilled to find out my next cover was to feature Professor Travers, in a tribute to Chris Achilleos’ original Three Doctors Target novelisation. I decided to put Jack Watling as the professor on the cover in his ‘possessed by the Intelligence’ state from The Web of Fear. I screen-grabbed a reference from the platform scene with Victoria, and painted his portrait on my WACOM Intuos Pro at around 2-300 x magnification, colouring as I went, with the shading from the screen-shot as reference. The visualisation of the Intelligence was a greater challenge, with the brief stating an ‘ethereal old man-like figure’ in the Omega pose. So, to give the impression of the burning Intelligence within, I opted for a glow from the eyes and mouth, stopping short at having the energy crack the parchment-like figure’s skin.

With Owen, there was a modern reference picture of Ryan Jaymes (a friend of Andy’s, who ‘modelled’ for us) from which to base the character on. It was just a matter of late-’60s/early-’70s hair needing to be applied, as well as clothing based on Adrian Salmon’s character guide art. I thought it would also be nice to add some sympathetic lighting, picked from colours in the background and reflected on the face/hair (including a Shaggy from Scooby Doo style Beard!).

Thonmi was slightly more challenging, as it had to be the same actor who portrayed him in The Abominable Snowmen, David Spenser, but aged somewhat. So the relevant robes and head-dress were required. Luckily with the assistance of Andy, I managed to find a reference online of the actor in later days so was able to incorporate this into the visualisation of Thonmi you see now on the cover.

Day began as a series of interludes set within the framework of Night, but when we considered the eventual word count of Night (which is deliberately set out to be the longest novel in the range thus far) we decided to make Day a novella in its own right. Although both books are connected, in so much as they both explore the origins of the Intelligence, they are still written in such a way that you don’t necessarily need to read one to understand the other. Although, of course, if you have both, then you will get a fuller and more enriching experience.

The relationship between Lethbridge-Stewart and Sally has been simmering away in the background of the series so far, ten novels in total. The Daughters of Earth has been set up very deliberately to put Sally in a position that makes her look at her engagement in a very different way.

Readers adored the team-up of Lethbridge-Stewart and Chorley in 2015’s Mutually Assured Domination, so it was only a matter of time before we paired them together once again, removing them from all familiar surroundings, leaving them with no choice but to work together. With, no doubt, hilarious results.

We’re very excited about our latest series of novels, which not only begins our 50th Anniversary celebrations of the Great Intelligence, but also brings two new authors to the novel range.