K9 Stole My Trousers
An Autobiography

Bob Baker, co-writer of three Oscar and BAFTA winning Wallace & Gromit films, creator of K9, and writer of numerous Doctor Who episodes, releases his autobiography this June.

A stalwart of HTV, Bob has worked with Sir Laurence Olivier, Leonard Rossiter, Ron Moody, Toyah Willcox and Trevor Eve. Among his many TV credits, Bob wrote a number of episodes of Doctor Who with co-writer Dave Martin, several episodes of Bergerac starring John Nettles and the smash hit children's show, Into the Labyrinth; Bob also script edited the popular crime series Shoestring.

Bob is perhaps best known for his work with Nick Park on Aardman Animations' Oscar and BAFTA-winning shorts, The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave and A Matter of Loaf and Death, and the feature film The Curse of the Wererabbit.

Among his recent work, Bob has just finished the first 26-part series of the regenerated K9, currently showing on the Disney Channel and Channel 5 and is gearing up for a second series in the coming year.

Bob’s life has been rich and varied; his adventures outside of his illustrious career range from a wine-tasting tour of France and mad sea voyages with the legendary Keith Floyd to playing jazz with John Fortune of Bremner, Bird and Fortune. K9 Stole My Trousers is a tribute to some of the finest talents in TV in the last fifty years, both people Bob worked with and people he considered himself lucky to know in his personal life.

Fifty Years in Time and Space: A Short History of Doctor Who
by Frank Danes
282 pages, published by St Mark's Press, out now

St Mark’s Press has just released a new, unauthorised, single volume critical history of the programme: "Fifty Years in Time and Space: A Short History of Doctor Who". The author is Frank Danes and the cover is by Roger Langridge, whose work regularly appeared in Doctor Who Magazine.

Frank is Head of English at King’s Ely school in England. He’s written Victorian Literature for Cambridge University Press and those of us with long memories may remember that he co-edited the fanzine Fendahl way back in the late 70s and early 80s. Fifty Years in Time and Space is a well-written, amusing and carefully researched guide.

Frank comments:

The book is available direct from St Mark's Press, or from Amazon, Galaxy 4, Who One, The Who Shop and other bookshops.

Celebrate Regenerate
edited by Lewis Christian
due for publication 13th July 2013

In order to aid the celebrations of Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary this year, quite an epic-sized group of fans have come together from all over the world to build Celebrate Regenerate, a fan-made (non-profit and unofficial) book, filled with reviews and articles covering every televised story.

At over 300 A4 pages, this doorstop of a book is packed with pieces from over 250+ fan writers, and we’ve even included some fanart too. To top it all, we’ve also bagged a few exclusive interviews with Series 1 director, Joe Ahearne; writer Tom MacRae, and writer Joseph Lidster which will be published alongside some other special features in the book.


The project, now a year in the making, is set to be released on 13th July this year, well in time for the anniversary. We aim to simply add to the growing list of contributions from other fans and writers, and our goal is now to reach out to as many fans as possible to share our finished project.

(Up until 8th July, we’re offering everybody the chance to have their name listed in the book as a 'Companion' too, to make up for them not knowing about this and being able to submit)

This is an non-profit, unauthorised and unofficial fan publication, and will be available for free for download in PDF format; it will also be possible to purchase a physical copy via lulu.com.


For more details, visit the Celebrate Regenerate website and Facebook page.

Liberating Earth, A Faction Paradox Collection
edited by Kate Orman
due for publication by Obverse Books in May 2014

Coming in May 2014 from Obverse Books: Liberating Earth, an anthology of science fiction and fantasy written entirely by women, edited by award-winning Australian author Kate Orman.

In Liberating Earth, rival cousins from the mysterious time-travelling Faction Paradox cult decide our planet should be freed from the human race and placed in better hands. As the cousins ruthlessly compete to create the perfect alternative Earth, history and reality change wildly again and again. Humanity is helpless. Or is it?

SF and fantasy readers and viewers, especially women, are increasingly calling for more work by female writers. Stuart Douglas of Obverse Books has commissioned Liberating Earth in response to that demand.

Editor Kate Orman was the first woman published in the Doctor Who: the New Adventures range of novels, eventually writing and co-writing a total of thirteen Who-related books, as well as publishing original fantasy and science fiction.

Liberating Earth will be printed in hardback and ebook formats in May 2014.

The Doctor: His Lives and Times
by James Goss and Steve Tribe
Published by BBC Books on 26 September 2013, hardback

"I'm the Doctor. I’m a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. And I'm the man who’s going to save your life."

He's made a mark on almost every era of history, and he’s touched millions of lives across space and time. In these pages you'll find just some of the stories behind those brief encounters, each of them addressing the question that must never, ever be answered: "Doctor Who?"

This is the story of an impossible life – of a man who borrowed a spaceship, travelled through time and continually saved the universe - as told by the Doctor's friends, by his enemies, and by the man himself. Letters, journals, trial records, secret government files and the occasional bit of tabloid journalism reveal the never-before-told story of Gallifrey's last Time Lord.

Contributors to His Lives and Times include: Colin Baker, John and Carole E. Barrowman, Tim Berners-Lee, Nicholas Briggs, Jenna Coleman, Paul Cornell, Rusell T Davies, Peter Davison, Terrance Dicks, Neil Gaiman, Mark Gatiss, Waris Hussein, Bonnie Langford, Paul McGann, Steven Moffat, Matt Smith, Laila Ward and Marcus Wilson.

The Vault
by Marcus Hearn
Published by BBC Books on 24 October 2013

Drawing on unseen and iconic material from the BBC archive and private collectors, The Vault is an unforgettable journey through 50 years of Doctor Who, via carefully selected photographs, props, costumes designs, production memos, letters, scripts and more.

This is the full and official story of Doctor Who, from the first pre-production memos in 1963 to the most recent props created for the 2013 series, including interviews with key players and scores of prop photos, design sketches and behind the scenes stills from every decade of the show’s production. Taking you year by year through the world’s
longest running science fiction series, Marcus Hearn explores the show’s groundbreaking innovations as well as its impact on popular culture through books and comics, magazines and toys, merchandise and ephemera.

The Vault is a collector’s dream, and the ultimate celebration of Doctor Who.

The Wheel of Ice
by Stephen Baxter
Published by BBC Books on 1 August 2013, paperback

The Wheel. A ring of ice and steel around a moon of Saturn, and home to a mining colony supplying Earth. It’s a bad place to grow up.

The colony has been plagued by problems and there are stories of mysterious creatures glimpsed aboard the Wheel. Many of the younger workers refuse to go down the warrenlike mines anymore. And then young Phee Laws, surfing Saturn’s rings, saves an enigmatic blue box from destruction.

Aboard the Wheel, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe find themselves caught in a mystery that goes right back to the creation of the solar system. A mystery that could kill them all.

The book will be published on 29th October 2013, and its new title is Time and Relative Dimensions in Faith (and yes, there is a reason for the plural dimensions – as the editors Andrew Crome and James McGrath explain inside the book). The book is currently estimated to be a 304 page 198x126mm paperback, with 19 chapters written by contributors from the UK, US and Australia covering a wonderfully diverse range of subjects – all related to the exploration of religious themes in Doctor Who (in its many forms – TV old and new, books, audios, comics, etc).

As a Doctor Who fan myself I am absolutely delighted to be publishing this book in the show’s 50th anniversary year.

PRESS RELEASE

TIME & SPACE VISUALISER by Paul Smith is the first exploration of both the factual and fictional history of the famous TV series through a range of eye-catching graphics, presenting information about the show in a way never seen before

Look at any book about ‘Doctor Who’ and it’ll be full of text and tables, dates and facts – dense with detail that the eye skips over and the mind struggles to take in. Wonderful Books’ TIME & SPACE VISUALISER: THE STORY AND HISTORY OF DOCTOR WHO AS DATA VISUALISATIONS is the first to take this information and express it in an engaging, graphical form.

It reveals who are the most popular writers and directors; all the places on Earth the Doctor has visited and how often he goes to other planets; which companions gained the most experiences from their travels in the TARDIS; the most common comeuppances for the Doctor’s enemies; how long it would take to watch every episode back to back; and much more.

As ‘Doctor Who’ nears its 50th anniversary, cementing its place among that select group of TV series that have become part of the national consciousness, TIME & SPACE VISUALISER -- available now on Amazon -- takes a fresh perspective, visualising information from every aspect of the programme to show there are lots of options beyond lists and tables.

Each chart is accompanied by detailed notes discussing the background and context of the areas under examination, how the data was compiled and what it reveals. The results can therefore be appreciated by those interested in the possibilities of data visualisation while also presenting new angles to ‘Doctor Who’ devotees who might think they know all there is to know about the show.

TIME & SPACE VISUALISER examines a TV series in a way never done before, providing a unique view of a much-covered subject.

Tip of the Tongue
Written by Patrick Ness
Published 23rd May 2013

In 1945, a strange new craze for Truth Tellers is sweeping the kids of small-town America. The Fifth Doctor and Nyssa soon arrive to investigate the phenomenon, only to discover that the actual truth behind the Truth Tellers is far more sinister than anyone could have imagined...

The Fifth Doctor is always the Doctor I thought most likely to be a novelist. People sometimes call him slightly passive, but I think it's more that he's observing, watching, waiting on the fringe to make his move. Just like any good writer. Which is why I've made this story one of those – which I've always liked – where the Doctor stays a bit out of the action and we see what happens through a non-canon character and get a whole different point of view of all the strange things happening. It's a bit how it feels when you watch the show as a young viewer.

After billion of years of imprisonment, the vicious Sild have broken out of confinement. From a ruined world at the end of time, they make preparations to conquer the past, with the ultimate goal of rewriting history. But to achieve their aims they will need to enslave an intellect greater than their own . . .

On Earth, UNIT is called in to investigate a mysterious incident on a North Sea drilling platform. The Doctor believes something is afoot, and no sooner has the investigation begun when something even stranger takes hold: the Brigadier is starting to forget about UNIT's highest-profile prisoner. And he is not alone in his amnesia.

As the Sild invasion begins, the Doctor faces a terrible dilemma. To save the universe, he must face his arch-nemesis – the Master.

Do you know your Sontarans from your Silurians? What are the 40 best ways to defeat a Dalek? What are the galactic co-ordinates of Gallifrey?

Test your knowledge of the last Time Lord and the worlds he's visited in Who-ology, an unforgettable journey through 50 years of Doctor Who.

Packed with facts, figures, and stories from the show's entire run, this unique tour of space and time takes you from Totter's Lane to Trenzalore, taking in guides to UNIT call signs, details of the inner workings of sonic screwdrivers, and a reliability chart covering every element of the TARDIS.

It also includes tables, charts, and illustrations, as well as fascinating lists and exhaustive detail.

The Roots of Evil
Written by Philip Reeve
Published 23rd April 2013

When the Fourth Doctor takes Leela to visit an immense tree space station known as the Heligan Structure, little do they know that the tree has been asleep for centuries, dreaming of vengeance against a man in a blue box… As the tree awakes, the Time Lord and his companion soon discover why they are such unwelcome guests.

I started watching Doctor Who during the Tom Baker era and so to me he is the ‘real’ Doctor, and it was a huge honour to be asked to write about him. I tried to imagine myself to a Saturday teatime, circa 1979: a new Doctor Who story was about to begin – where would the TARDIS materialise and what would be waiting for it?