Black Archive #76: Logopolis

Wednesday, 16 April 2025 - Reported by Marcus

The latest release in the Black Archive series looks at the Fourth Doctor's swan song Logopolis.

‘Structure is the essence of matter, and the essence of structure is mathematics.’

Logopolis (1981) is a mournful epic of cosmic destruction, obsolescence, and collapse, and marked the final serial in Tom Baker’s long run as the Doctor.

With a star unsure if he really wanted to leave, and a producer keen to explore new directions, Logopolis is a story set in the centre of a transitional space. This Black Archive investigates the changes before and behind the camera, explores the story’s themes of entropy and rebirth, and places it in the context of a specific moment in the history of both computing and Doctor Who.

The book is by Jonathan Hay the author of Science Fiction and Posthumanism in the Anthropocene. They lecture at the University of Chester.

BLACK ARCHIVE #76: LOGOPOLIS is available for pre-order now in paperback at a sale price of £5.99 and electronic formats, at a price of £3.99, direct from Obverse Books and from selected online retailers.

FILTER: - Books - Forth Doctor

Black Archive #73 Under the Lake / Before the Flood

Thursday, 31 October 2024 - Reported by Marcus

Black Archive #73 (Credit: Obverse Books)

The latest publication in the Black Archive series looks at the Twelfth Doctor story Under the Lake / Before the Flood.

‘You can’t cheat time. I just tried. You can’t just go back and cut off tragedy at the root. Because you find yourself talking to someone you just saw dead on a slab. Because then you really do see ghosts.’

A base under siege, a time travel paradox, and ghosts! With these elements in place, Toby Whitehouse’s Under the Lake and Before the Flood (2015) tread familiar ground for fans of Doctor Who while also moving in bold new directions, both in terms of story-telling and character representation.

This two-part story sees Peter Capaldi’s 12th doctor break the fourth wall, speaking directly to the audience. His lecture on “the bootstrap paradox” serves to set up the central puzzle of these episodes while insisting that it remain unsolved. Meanwhile, actress Sophie Stone’s portrayal of Cass challenges traditional representational tropes surrounding disabled people. Simultaneously, this character asks us to think further about how we understand disability in, and through, science fiction.

The book is written by Ryan C. Parrey, PhD is Senior Lecturer in Disability Studies and director of the Disability Studies program at Eastern Washington University near Spokane, Washington, USA. and Kevin S. Decker, PhD is Professor of Philosophy at Eastern Washington University.

Under the Lake / Before the Flood is available now in paperback and electronic formats, direct from Obverse Books and from selected online retailers.

FILTER: - Books - Twelfth Doctor

Doctor Who: Print the Legend

Friday, 14 June 2024 - Reported by Marcus

The latest special from Doctor Who Magazine, Doctor Who: Print the Legend, is now available.

This lavish, 116-page bookazine from the makers of Doctor Who Magazine is the essential guide to novelisations – hardback, paperback and audio adaptations of television stories.

Highlights include profiles of leading authors, a section on collecting rarities, a look at the recording of the audiobooks and a tribute to illustrator Chris Achilléos.

Exclusives include a previously unpublished extract from The Enemy of the World, the book that legendary Doctor Who writer David Whitaker was working on before his death in 1980.

Editor Marcus Hearn says

The first of these books was published in 1964, and there have been 223 to date,
This special issue includes details on every single one, with cover illustrations, information about reprints, foreign-language editions and much more.

Each issue of Print the Legend comes with a free CD audiobook, randomly selected from the BBCAudiobooks Doctor Who range.

Doctor Who: Print the Legend is on sale now from panini.co.uk and WH Smith priced £11.99 (UK).

Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £10.99.

FILTER: - DWM - Books

New Book by Bonnie Langford

Thursday, 9 May 2024 - Reported by Marcus

BBC Books is to publish a Doctor Who murder mystery written by Bonnie Langford

A band of killers. Survivors with a secret. A death-defying murder mystery in space.

When young Mel’s business partner, Sabalom Glitz embarks on yet another “get rich quick” scheme, it marks the start of an epic, death-defying murder-mystery in space.

After barely escaping the snares of a murderous galactic cult, Mel searches for fellow survivors in a nearby spaceship graveyard – while Glitz looks to fill his pockets. But the discovery of a spaceship with its crew in suspended animation and incredible secrets on board leaves the duo stranded with no way off.

Mel revives the crew – and then the murders start. Murders that cannot possibly have been committed by any of the crewmembers. In fact, there are only two realistic suspects – Glitz and Mel themselves…

The audiobook of Doctor Who: Death in the Stars, written and narrated by Bonnie Langford, is out on 22nd August 2024.

FILTER: - BBC Books

Ice Hot

Friday, 26 April 2024 - Reported by Marcus

A new anthology of short stories set in Doctor Who’s Paradise Towers has been announced by Obverse books

In 1987, Andrew Cartmel took over as Script Editor of Doctor Who, and immediately began to plan how to revitalise a TV series which some in the higher echelons of the BBC thought of as moribund and ripe for a final cancellation.

With one script already commissioned before he replaced Eric Saward in the role, the very first televised adventure in Cartmel’s now legendary Masterplan was Paradise Towers, written by newcomer Stephen Wyatt.

At various times, Paradise Towers has been described at the story which introduced camp into the show, the source of swimming pool phobia, and the first step back from the brink for the series in terms of quality story telling.

Sadly, it wasn’t able to prevent the 1989 cancellation, but since then it’s returned in comic book format, has been critically analysed at book length, and is now the setting for a second anthology from Obverse Books.

Fully licensed from, and with a new story by, Paradise Towers creator, Stephen Wyatt, ICE HOT is edited by Kara Dennison (Crunchyroll, Iris Wildthyme) and features new Who fiction from Mags L Halliday (History 101, Faction Paradox: Warring States), Finn Clark (Times Mosaic), Paul Driscoll (Seasons of War: Gallifrey), Tim Gambrell (UNIT, Lethbridge-Stewart) and many others.

Available for pre-order now. Publication date: 20 May 2024

FILTER: - Books

Three Fifteenth Doctor Doctor Who Novels Coming

Thursday, 18 April 2024 - Reported by Marcus

Doctor Who - Eden Rebellion (Credit: BBC Books)

Doctor Who - Ruby Red (Credit: BBC Books)

BBC Books has announced that three new Doctor Who novels will be published this year, featuring Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor. Each book is an original, stand-alone adventure and will be published simultaneously in hardback and audiobook. The books are:

Ruby Red by Georgia Cook

April, 1242: the Doctor and Ruby answer a distress call sent from medieval Russia. The signal’s sender? Ranavere, an alien girl forced to take part in a barbaric conflict between the armies of Estonia and Novgorod on the frozen surface of Lake Peipus. Ranavere wants to escape, but her distress call has summoned her warmongering sisters, intent on preserving family tradition whatever the cost. And as human battle begins, the Doctor and Ruby must face a more devastating threat – a monstrous entity with plans of conquest, growing stronger beneath the icy lake…

Georgia Cook is an illustrator and writer from London. She has written for several sets in the Big Finish Doctor Who Audio range, including The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles, Gallifrey: War Room, and the Interludes. She has also contributed short stories to publications such as Baffling Magazine and Flame Tree Press, and is a frequent contributor to various horror anthology podcasts as a writer and voice over artist.

The audiobook edition of Doctor Who: Ruby Red will be narrated by Millie Gibson, who plays companion Ruby Sunday in the TV series

Caged by Una McCormack

Are aliens ever abducted by aliens? And if they were, would anyone believe their story? When the Doctor and Ruby arrive on Cavia, they meet a gentle local who is certain that she has been taken for study by creatures from the stars. The Doctor is concerned to find mysterious meteors appearing in the sky, while strange robotic creatures crowd the forests, watching everything and waiting for…what? Who is interested in Cavia, and why? What is the sinister truth of the abductions? The Doctor and Ruby must discover the secrets of this mysterious world – and those who would seek to destroy it…

Una McCormack is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. She has written many Doctor Who articles, scripts and novels, including The King's Dragon, The Way Through the Woods, Royal Blood, Molten Heart and Time Lord Victorious: All Flesh is Grass, all from BBC Books.

Eden Rebellion by Abi Falase

On the crystalline planet of Yewa, the Gardens of Kubuntu are a true Eden, said to be the most peaceful destination in the universe. At least, until the Doctor and Ruby arrive. Ancient rivalries between Yewa and its more prosperous sister world of Bia are being stirred by forces unknown, threatening to plunge its people into anarchy. With Ruby swept up in the fire of the Yewan rebellion, the Doctor finds dark secrets buried deep in the planet’s ancient history – and his hopes for a lasting peace hanging by a thread. For sinister guardians stalk the Gardens of Kubuntu, while an implacable enemy plots in the shadows – and in plain sight…

Abi Falase is a Black British writer and director, reimagining fundamental societal concepts in inventive new worlds. Creating what they like to call “feel-good social realism”, wrapping big discussions about everything from race and gender to capitalism in little pockets of humour – because if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.

Ruby Red by Georgia Cook (BBC Books, £14.99) is out in hardback and audiobook on 13th June

Caged by Una McCormack (BBC Books, £14.99) is out in hardback and audiobook on 27th June

Eden Rebellion by Abi Falase (BBC Books, £14.99) is out in hardback and audiobook on 24th November

FILTER: - Fifteenth Doctor - Books

UNIT: The Vaughn Identity

Sunday, 21 January 2024 - Reported by Chuck Foster

The Vaughn Identity (Credit: Candy Jar Books)

2024 will see the launch of Candy Jar’s UNIT range with a series of original novels.This new series of books now squarely focuses on UNIT and explores the fall-out from The Invasion, both on a personal and national level, and how the story would have been spun by the government and the press.

As the title suggests, the first book, The Vaughn Identity, looks into the background of Tobias Vaughn, picks up where the TV story The Invasion left off. It is written by the range editor, Tim Gambrell, who said:

There’s a lot left open at the end of The Invasion. Tobias Vaughn’s story – and the whole International Electromatics set-up – is very layered and detailed. We see repeatedly in Doctor Who that once the main threat is dealt with the Doctor is quick to leave.

As a character, he was in a class of his own – due very much to Kevin Stoney’s bravura performance, but also because of Derrick Sherwin’s script and Douglas Camfield’s direction. We know Vaughn was killed at the end of The Invasion, and left hanging over the railings. I wanted to find a way to get more from the character without pretending that he hadn’t really died on screen, which would have felt like a cop-out. I also wanted to work purely within the situations and concepts that Derrick Sherwin had created, to give my story the sense that it was finishing off, or tidying up any strands left hanging loose after the TV story had concluded.

But as well as looking back to The Invasion, The Vaughn Identity also looks forward to the series of books that will follow. Tim continued:

We’ve got a wider cast of UNIT regulars to take our books forward. Readers have already been introduced to many of them in the two UNIT Files short story collections (Operation Wildcat, 2022, and Operation Fall-Out, 2023) but The Vaughn Identity allows us to see how they were impacted by the events of The Invasion, making it more of a shared experience. As the first novel of the range, it’s important to introduce and involve new regular characters in the action and the storyline and not simply as an info-dump roll call.

There are a few minor nods to the Lethbridge-Stewart range, but nothing that would faze new readers. We want this to be a jumping-on point, a fresh start whilst also quietly acknowledging the achievement of the previous range.

There will be another short Benton Files book, free with the hardback of The Vaughn Identity. More details of that will be available nearer the time.

The Vaughn Identity can be pre-ordered from the Candy Jar website.

FILTER: - Books - Candy Jar - UNIT

The Church on Ruby Road on DVD and BBC Books

Friday, 15 December 2023 - Reported by Marcus

The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) (Credit: BBC Studios)

Doctor Who Christmas special, The Church on Ruby Road, is now available to pre-order on DVD and Blu-ray and as a TARGET novelisation.

The Church on Ruby Road will see the Fifteenth Doctor Ncuti Gatwa take control of the TARDIS and meet a new companion Ruby Sunday, played by Millie Gibson.

Long ago on Christmas Eve, a baby was abandoned in the snow. Today, Ruby Sunday meets the Doctor, stolen babies, goblins and perhaps the secret of her birth...

Little is known about Ruby Sunday as she was abandoned on Christmas Eve as a baby. Now living with her mum, Carla and grandmother, Cherry, her world is about to be turned upside down when she encounters the Doctor and the two set off on their first adventure together.

Alongside Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson is Davina McCall who will be playing herself as she joins the cast alongside Michelle Greenidge as Ruby’s mum Carla, Angela Wynter as Ruby’s grandmother Cherry and Anita Dobson as Mrs Flood.

Doctor Who’s Christmas special, The Church on Ruby Road, airs December 25th at 5.55pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, and streams on Disney+ globally outside of the UK and Ireland.

Fans can pre-order the DVD and Blu-ray here

As well as the DVD and Blu-ray, BBC Books will be publishing a novelisation of The Church on Ruby Road under the TARGET imprint. Russell T Davies' original script has been novelised by up-and-coming literary talent Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson.

Jikiemi-Pearson is a science-fantasy author and co-founder of the organisation Impact of Omission, as featured in the Guardian, Huffpost, and the Channel 4 Documentary "Where's My History?" with footballer and anti-racism campaigner Troy Deeney.

An audio version of the novel will be available read by Angela Wynter

The Church on Ruby Road (BBC Books, £14.99) is out in hardback on 25th January 2024. Pre-order here

FILTER: - Books - Blu-ray/DVD

UNIT: A Legacy in Doctor Who / Down in the London Underground

Sunday, 19 November 2023 - Reported by Chuck Foster

"We deal with the odd... the unexplained. Anything on Earth... or beyond.”

Candy Jar Books is pleased to announce details of its second and third books celebrating 60 Years of Doctor Who.

UNIT: A Legacy in Doctor Who explores the rich history of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce – and later Unified Intelligence Taskforce – from its inception under producer and writer Derrick Sherwin, through the UNIT family days of Jon Pertwee’s Doctor, all the way to the Kate and Osgood era of recent years. With UNIT featuring in numerous other media like Reeltime Productions, Big Finish audio, and the Lethbridge-Stewart range from Candy Jar Books, the legacy of UNIT – and its importance to Doctor Who extends beyond its television appearances.UNIT is as much a part of the tapestry of Doctor Who as the Doctor, the TARDIS, or the Daleks. The organisation has been part of the show since the Cybermen first marched down the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral in 1968’s The Invasion, and continue to be one of the Doctor’s closest allies in the battle to save humanity from the galaxy’s greatest threats.

Author, Baz Greenland, believes that the UNIT stories really get to heart of what makes good Doctor Who:

I’ve had the honour to write stories in the Lethbridge-Stewart and Lucy Wilson ranges, but this was something quite special. I’m a huge fan of the Jon Pertwee era and UNIT is a key ingredient in that. Jon Pertwee, Roger Delgado, Nicholas Courtney, Caroline John, Katy Manning, Elisabeth Sladen, Richard Franklin and John Levene all bring such warmth and energy to the show and feature in some absolutely terrific episodes – not just Pertwee’s; The Invasion, Terror of the Zygons and Battlefield are all classics in my eye and UNIT are at the heart of that.

Featuring a retro cover by 100 Objects of Dr Who artist Martin Baines, the book features exclusive interviews with writers and actors John Levene and Sophie Aldred, and explores the development of UNIT, its importance in the Doctor Who mythos and the actors that brought these iconic characters to life – from Nicholas Courtney’s stalwart Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart to Jemma Redgrave’s courageous Kate Stewart.

Baz continued:

It was quite a daunting task to delve into the mythos and creation of UNIT, but it’s been such a treat too. As a big Doctor Who fan, I feel I’ve learned more about the stories, the characters, and the actors that played them and I hope readers of the book will find something new too, that will only strengthen an appreciate for the Brig and UNIT – from 1968, all the way to the modern era as we head into the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who!

Candy Jar’s other release propels the reader right back to the Brig’s first appearance in Doctor Who. Written by popular Lethbridge-Stewart, Lucy Wilson and children’s author George Ivanoff, Down in the London Underground takes a sidestep look at the Brig’s first story, The Web of Fear

George explained:

The idea struck me when I was browsing a copy of Darth Vader and Son, a Star Wars picture book. And I suddenly thought... Candy Jar could do something like this with the Doctor Who characters and creatures they have the rights to use. So, I wrote a pitch. And Shaun jumped at the chance. The book does not feature the Brig, but instead focuses on the Army as it battles the Yeti in the London Underground.

Although aimed at young people, this picture book tries not to dodge the realities shown in The Web of Fear. Head of Candy Jar, Shaun Russell, said:

I am a big fan of the Doctor Who/Mr Men books by Adam Hargreaves and felt that this would be a great way to celebrate Doctor Who’s 60th birthday. This book, however, has a slightly darker side. Death is always present in Doctor Who, and just like Grimms’ Fairy Tales, this story attempts to be a true reflection of the world in which it is set. The Yeti are here to invade, and they take no prisoners.

Down in the London Underground has been also been illustrated by Martin Baines:

I’ve always loved illustrating the Yeti, but this assignment was slightly different. I thought it was very important for my cartoon-like artwork to offset the dark nature of the book. I added a few touches of my own and I hope children and adults will enjoy this chilling adventure.

Both UNIT: A Legacy in Doctor Who and Down in the London Underground are available to pre-order from Csndy Jar Books.

FILTER: - Candy Jar - Books

Adventures in Type and Space – Charity Bookazine

Wednesday, 11 October 2023 - Reported by Marcus

Adventures in Type and Space (Credit: Ten Acre Films)

Ten Acre Films is releasing Adventures in Type and Space in December, a charity bookazine exploring the title sequences of classic Doctor Who.

Highlights include new in-depth interviews with Bernard Lodge (title designer 1963-1979), Peter Govey (special cameraman 1970-1979), Gareth Edwards (titles animator 1987-1989), along with contributions from Sid Sutton (title designer 1980-1986) and the family of Oliver Elmes (title designer 1987-1989).

Illustrated throughout with rare and unseen imagery, Adventures in Type and Space is a celebration of the artistry and ingenuity that went into creating Doctor Who's extraordinary title sequences, told by the people who made them, and includes a foreword by Mark Gatiss.

Proceeds will benefit Unicef, Bernard Lodge's chosen charity.

Created by Graham Kibble-White, Jack Kibble-White and Stuart Manning.

Format: 124 pages; full colour,

21cm x 21cm, perfect-bound

All pre-orders will be entered into a prize draw to win a one-of-kind print of the diamond logo, taken from the original metal-block master used to create the actual TV graphic, personally printed and signed by Bernard Lodge.

Pre-order here

FILTER: - Books

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