Target Novelisations For 2023 SpecialsBookmark and Share

Sunday, 16 July 2023 - Reported by Marcus
Target

BBC Books has announced that Target novelisations of the 2023 Doctor Who Specials will published early next year. 

The three specials will be broadcast in the upcoming Autumn season, marking 60 years of Doctor Who. They all feature David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor and Catherine Tate returning to the series as Donna Noble.

The scripts have been written by returning showrunner Russell T Davies and each book will be written by a different author. 

Each book will have specially commissioned cover artwork by Anthony Dry.

 

Launched in 1973, Target Books published novelisations of almost every Doctor Who serial aired between 1963 and 1989.

In 2012 BBC Books began reissuing these classic paperbacks and in 2018 expanded the Target range to include all-new novelisations of modern-era Doctor Who episodes. This year, Target Books celebrates its 50th year publishing Doctor Who.

All three books will be published on the 11th of January 2024 and are available to preorder. 

 





FILTER: - Target - Fourteenth Doctor

Doctor Who Target Collection 2023Bookmark and Share

Thursday, 19 January 2023 - Reported by Marcus
BBC Books

BBC Books are to publish new Doctor Who Target books in July 2023

BBC Books has announced that it will be expanding the Doctor Who Target range with five new titles in Summer 2023, all publishing on 13th July, each with newly commissioned cover artwork by Anthony Dry.

The new titles celebrate Target publishing Doctor Who books for half a century. The 2023 collection celebrates the dramatic return of David Tennant and showrunner Russell T Davies to the programme.

Both The Waters of Mars by Phil Ford and The Planet of Ood by KeithTemple are  Doctor Who episodes from the Tenth Doctor era.

Fans will also be able to add a Twelfth Doctor adventure, as played by Peter Capaldi, to their collection with The Zygon Invasion by Peter Harness and a Thirteenth Doctor novelisation with Kerblam! by Peter McTighe.

Stephen Gallagher’s Warriors’ Gate and Other Stories will feature the Fourth Doctor.

Launched in 1973, Target Books published novelisations of almost every Doctor Who serial aired between 1963 and 1989, with only a few notable exceptions.

BBC Books began reissuing these classic paperbacks in 2012, and in 2018 expanded the Target range to include all-new novelisations of modern-era Doctor Who episodes.

This year, the expansion continues with:

Kerblam!: Graham (Bradley Walsh), Yaz (Mandip Gill), Ryan (Tosin Cole), The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) (Credit: BBC Studios (Ben Blackall))Kerblam! by Peter McTighe

Kerblam! is the biggest online retailer in the galaxy – but how did it become so big? When the Doctor’s Kerblam! package includes a mysterious request for help, she heads straight to the company’s warehouse moon to investigate...
 

Pete McTighe is a British screenwriter, producer, and lifetime Doctor Who fan. As well as writing episodes of Doctor Who, he has written two series of hit BBC drama The Pact, alongside writer and showrunner duties on A Discovery Of Witches, The Rising, and Wentworth for which he received five Australian Writers Guild nominations. He also writes and directs acclaimed short films to promote Doctor Who - The Collection Blu-ray releases.

Planet of the Ood (Credit: BBC)The Planet of Ood by Keith Temple

The Doctor and Donna learn that the planet of the Ood holds cruel and awesome secrets. As they battle for justice and survival, the fate of the entire Ood race hangs in the balance. Will the outcome be salvation – or extinction?

Keith Temple is a British screenwriter whose credits include Doctor Who, Doc Martin and the original BBC comedy drama, Angel Cake starring Sarah Lancashire. He has also written extensively for Continuing Drama including EastEnders, Emmerdale, River City and Casualty. Most recently, he wrote the screenplay for the horror feature film, Wyvern Hill. He has also written for the stage and lectures widely on screenwriting and filmmaking.

The Waters of Mars (Credit: BBC)The Waters of Mars by Phil Ford

The first human colony on Mars is destined for destruction in a nuclear explosion. This tragedy is a fixed point in history. The laws of time dictate that it cannot –must never – be changed. But as the Doctor’s darkest hour comes calling, he resolves to break the rules as he never has before...

 

Phil Ford has written scripts for Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures for BBCTelevision. He also wrote animated Doctor Who adventure Dreamland, and four Doctor Who Adventure Games. His extensive screenwriting credits include episodes of Taggart, Bad Girls, New Captain Scarlet and Coronation Street. He co-created Wizards vs Aliens with Russell T Davies.

The Zygon Invasion (Credit: BBC)The Zygon Invasion by Peter Harness

It took three Doctors to broker a fragile peace between Zygons and Humans. Now the Twelfth Doctor must face the fallout alone. With his alliescompromised and his companion believed dead, can he stop the world from plunging into war?
 

Peter Harness is an English playwright, screenwriter and actor. He has contributed to programs such as McMafia, City of Vice, and Case Histories and wrote a new miniseries adaptation of The War of the Worlds for BBC One

Credit: BBCWarriors’ Gate and Other Stories by Stephen Gallagher

A new-to-print, expanded novelisation of the classic 1981 adventure. With the TARDIS caught in the collapsing void between two different universes, the Fourth Doctor is drawn into a dangerous alliance with a race of enslaved, time-sensitive aliens.

The consequences are explored in two further short stories, one exclusive to this volume!

Stephen Gallagher is an English screenwriter and novelist from Manchester. He wrote two serials for Doctor Who, as well as writing for Rosemary & Thyme and Bugs. He also created and wrote Eleventh Hour, a science-based series for ITV.

Each of the authors for the 2023 Target books are the original screenwriters of the TV episodes.





FILTER: - Target - Fourth Doctor - Tenth Doctor - Twelfth Doctor - Thirteenth Doctor

New Target Books AnnouncedBookmark and Share

Monday, 24 January 2022 - Reported by Marcus
Target

BBC Books has announced that it will be expanding the Doctor Who Target range with five new titles in Summer 2022, all published on 14th July 2021, each with newly commissioned cover artwork by Anthony Dry. 

Penned by the original scriptwriter the late David Fisher and adapted from his new 2011 and 2014 audio novelisations, The Stones of Blood, and The Androids of Tara are now being released as two Target books. The original Target versions, published in the 1970s, were written by former Doctor Who script editor Terrance Dicks. 

These will be accompanied by a Target edition of  The Fires of Pompeii by James Moran, as well as The Eaters of Light by Rona Munro and The Zygon Invasion by Peter Harness. 

For Doctor Who fans, the range of novelisations published by Target Books in the 1970s and 1980s holds a special place. There was a novel published for almost every Doctor Who serial between 1963  and 1989, with five notable exceptions.

Since 2012, BBC Books has been successfully reissuing these classic paperbacks and expanding the Target range to include all-new novelisations of modern-era Doctor Who episodes. These latest additions to the collection, all by the original writers of the TV episodes, will help Target fans complete their classic and modern-era collections.

  • The Stones of Blood by David Fisher - An ancient stone circle becomes a battleground as the Fourth  Doctor must outwit the deadliest alien criminal this side of hyperspace. 
  • The Androids of Tara by David Fisher - The Fourth Doctor and Romana’s search for the fourth segment of the all-powerful Key to Time leads them to the planet Tara. 
  • The Fires of Pompeii by James Moran - It is AD 79, and the Tenth Doctor and Donna arrive in Pompeii on the eve of the town’s destruction. Mount Vesuvius is ready to erupt and bury its surroundings in molten lava, just as history dictates. Or is it? 
  • The Eaters of Light by Rona Munro - The Twelfth Doctor takes Bill and Nardole back to 2nd century  Scotland to learn the fate of the ‘lost’ Ninth Legion of the Imperial Roman Army. 5,000 soldiers vanished without explanation - how? 
  • The Zygon Invasion by Peter Harness - It took three Doctors to broker a fragile peace between  Zygons and Humans. Now the Twelfth Doctor must face the fallout alone. With his allies compromised and his companion believed dead, can he stop the world from plunging into war? 


James Moran said:

I’ve been watching Doctor Who and reading the Target books for as long as I can remember. The books were an essential part of my childhood, examining the amazing cover art, and  “seeing” stories that aired before I was born. I loved learning new words from them, like  “capacious”, and am beyond thrilled to become part of this publishing legend!

Rona Munro said:

It’s wonderful to have another chance to revisit the ideas of my last Doctor Who story, Eaters of Light, they are ideas that have been with me for a very long time and Doctor Who, as always, proved to be the largest and most exciting world in which to realise them.

Peter Harness said:

Like many, many others, I learned to read and to love books by reading Target novelisations. The Saturday afternoon journey to Garland’s bookshop in Bridlington to see if any new  Doctor Who stories had materialised on their shelves. Scouring markets and second-hand shops in hope of finding an old copy of Doctor Who and the Sea Devils. Desperately pestering my poor cousin until he finally lent me his copy of Doctor Who and The Doomsday Weapon. Making my Grandad read me The Enemy of the World when he would’ve much preferred to fall asleep with the newspaper. There is a sense of magic and excitement about Target books which has stayed with me my whole life. And I can’t begin to tell you how wonderful it feels to be writing my own Target book  of one of my own Doctor Who stories.
 




FILTER: - Target - BBC Books