FORMAT: PAPERBACK | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
The Doctor always shows up when people need help in difficult times, and this spring was no exception. When the world struggled through lockdowns, there was a wellspring of creativity and generosity in the Doctor Who community.
Both Chris Chibnall’s official team and the Doctor Who: Lockdown! initiative led by Emily Cook commissioned new fiction from the show’s writers. Thirteen of these stories, plus three new ones, are collected in this book in aid of BBC Children in Need.
There’s a rich variety and playfulness to the reprinted stories. Russell T Davies tells us what happened to the Nestene and Novice Hame after their appearances in the TV series, and presents an alternative ending to the Time War. Steven Moffat’s story, The Terror of the Umpty Ums, couldn’t be more Moffat – heartfelt horror with a meta twist. And Paul Cornell has the Doctor visit a character left behind back in The Family of Blood.
As for the three new stories: Vinay Patel’s The Tourist is a fun follow-up to Fugitive of the Judoon; Mark Gatiss has the Doctor visit an old companion in Fellow Traveller; and the highlight is Neil Gaiman’s One Virtue, and a Thousand Crimes, a swashbuckling adventure featuring the Corsair.
So, while you may have already read the majority of this book’s contents online, this is worth picking up for the three new stories and the illustrations by a range of artists. Plus, it’s a nicely compiled volume for a good cause, and a reminder that, in dark times, the Doctor is never far away.
