Doctor Who: The Complete History - Issue 1 - Volume 55
Edited by John Ainsworth
Original production notes: Andrew Pixley
Additional material: Jonathan Morris, Richard Atkinson, Alistair McGown
Published 9th September 2015, £1.99

New York, New York - so good that they visited it twice. Yes, that's right! New York is the setting for two of the four stories, starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, featured in this volume. In truth though, the New York of Gridlock - 'New' New York - is a completely different city, on a completely different world to the more familiar 'Big Apple' of Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks. The Two cities, and the two stories themselves, couldn't be further apart. In fact, all four stories in this volume superbly demonstrate the breadth and variety of settings, time periods, and types of story that Doctor Who encompasses; from a bleak far future in Gridlock, to Dalek plots during America's Great Depression of the 1930's in Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks, to genetic tampering in present day London in The Lazarus Experiment, and back to the future onboard a doomed spaceship, plummeting into a sun, in 42. Each story is a self-contained mini-movie. It's hard to imagine that anyone could ever get bored with Doctor Who.

Of course, although each of the four stories is self-contained and can be enjoyed in its own right, there are some ongoing story threads running through them. Not least of these is the evolution of Martha Jones from tag-along traveller to fully fledged Companion. It has to be said that the Doctor is a little bit reluctant to embrace Martha as his new shipmate - he's still smarting from his recent forced separation from Rose Tyler [see Army of Ghosts/Doomsday - Volume 53] and isn't in a hurry to get close to anyone new. But Martha's having none of it, and puts the Doctor on the spot at the end of Gridlock, forcing him to open up and reveal the details of his past. And then again, at the end of The Lazarus Experiment, Martha initially declines another trip in the TARDIS, feeling the Doctor is just giving her a series of one-off "treats". The Doctor relents and acknowledges Martha's true status as a travelling companion, rather than just a passenger. He even presents her with her very own TARDIS key at the end of 42. We also see some foreshadowing of dark events in the future. With his dying words, the ancient Face of Boe tells the Doctor in Gridlock that he is not alone... while on present day Earth, election fever is in the air with the unseen Mr Saxon tipped to be the next prime minister. But why is Mr Saxon so interested in Martha Jones, warning her mother that the Doctor is a dangerous man? All will be revealed in the climactic final three episodes of the 2007 series - Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords [2007 - see Volume 56].

John Ainsworth - Editor