In tribute to the 50th anniversary of BBC Radio 1, Candy Jar Books has announced a Kindle-only short story, ’48 Crash by Mark Carton.

This weekend sees the BBC celebrate with a three-day “vintage” digital radio station, Radio 1 Vintage, with 50 one-hour themed shows compiled from Radio 1 archive material, featuring DJs from across its entire history. To coincide, the story ’48 Crash will be available to buy from Amazon Kindle over the same period.

Shaun Russell, head of publishing at Candy Jar Books, said:

Mark Carton has been an avid follower of the Lethbridge-Stewart range, and is the author of Candy Jar children’s novel The League of the Red-Nosed Gentlemen. He says:

A free PDF version of ’48 Crash will also be available to customers who purchase The Flaming Soldier from the Candy Jar website.

We didn’t know that we were breaking rules. And I think we were also blessed by the fact that we didn’t have all that baggage of the past to get in the way...

Range Editor Andy Frankham-Allen introduces the fifth series of books:

Series Five opens with The New Unusual by first-time novelist, Adrian Sherlock, who wrote the short story, The Playing Dead, in 2016. This tale sees our heroes being drawn to Australia after investigating strange goings-on at dream-ins, mysterious new age gatherings in which people explore their deepest desires through eggs of alien origin. This book features the return of Lethbridge-Stewart’s nephew, Owain.

A Very Private Haunting by Sharon Bidwell, who is no stranger to wrting novels, with quite a CV behind her, including the Lethbridge-Stewart short story, The Wishing Bazaar in 2016. This books sees Arthur Penrose finally take ownership of a Scottish manor house that’s been in his family for generations. There are many secrets in the house, but what connects them to the mysterious shadow creatrues that Lethbridge-Stewart and his men are investigating?

The series is wrapped off with The Man from Yesterday, by popular novelist Nick Walters, who returns with his much-anticipated second novel in the Lethbridge-Stewart series, following 2015’s Mutually Assured Domination. Here, Lethbridge-Stewart learns the truth behind his father’s disappearance at the end of World War II, when aliens arrive on Earth from a mysterious reigon of space known only as the Realm. This book features the return of Lethbridge-Stewart’s brother from another reality, James Gore, and his father, Air Commander Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart!

Head of Publishing Shaun Russell says:

New companion Bill Potts has joined the Twelfth Doctor on a brand-new adventure, taking them to an island in the Atlantic in the 9th century CE. Caught in the middle of a stand-off between a group of Vikings and Ice Warriors, Bill and the Doctor had to ensure the mighty battling forces united against an even greater threat – a sentient disease-carrying Flood!

The Claws of Axos might not have been the most obvious of choices to go for, but there were quite a few voices missing from the original commentary, recorded over a decade ago!

It was great to get the serial's director Michael Ferguson, script editor Terrance Dicks, co-writer Bob Baker and Axos himself Bernard Holley to commentate on the serial for the first time. We were also thrilled to welcome back Katy Manning and Richard Franklin.

The Tenth Doctor, Gabby, and Cindy investigate a mysterious black hole - out of which white light is spilling - and which has drawn the attention of an ancient foe of The Doctor!

We’re very pleased to be able to offer two iconic lots from classic Doctor Who as part of our live auction. These great items and hundreds more will go under the hammer at Prop Store’s Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction on 26th September 2017 at London’s BFI IMAX proudly presented by ODEON.

The Cruel Oil is a result of our recent short story open submission window. It was a simple but intruiging pitch; When disaster occurs at a North Sea platform, and dead bodies preserved in tar from the spillage begin to disappear from their morgues, Lethbridge-Stewart and Anne Travers discover just how cruel the oil of Earth can be... Upon reading the full outline I just knew it contained a ‘classic era’ feel, and would be better suited to Anne Travers and Bill Bishop. Which led me to another idea...

Just over ten years ago, I read my first Doctor Who book in my local Waterstones. Naturally, having failed to grow up all this time later, I leapt at the opportunity to submit a pitch to the Lethbridge-Stewart short story opportunity. When Andy suggested the idea of depicting Anne Travers and Bill Bishop's first date, and Anne coming to terms with her father's death, I knew then we had a story worth telling. Now, at long last, it has materialised! And no one is safe from the Silhouettes. Here's to never quite growing up.

Even in one of 21st-century Doctor Who’s more complex seasons, Human Nature / The Family of Blood (2007) is a standout story: a narrative with mythic ambitions, which illuminates the true nature and character of the Doctor through the courage and failings of his unknowing human alter ego, John Smith.

Uniquely, the story is also an adaptation of an original Doctor Who novel, scriptwriter Paul Cornell’s Human Nature (1996). Though no specific incidents, and few characters, remain the same, the adaptation is remarkably faithful given the given the differing demands of context, era, and medium. Both versions deal with war and trauma, humanity and the alien, school, and family, though sometimes with differing emphases. In particular, the treatment of pacifism and the claims of World War I to be a ‘just war’ changes significantly.

As the story of a ‘god’ who becomes human and must sacrifice his life to save the world, the two-parter also opens up questions of theology unusual in Doctor Who, which adds an extra dimension to the overall season arc, and to the development of the character of David Tennant’s Doctor.