Love and Liberty

It’s the end of an era. With every year’s-worth of these nuggets I’ve aimed to say only positive things, but this year makes that difficult to manage: the BBC have cancelled the series and, though they aren’t admitting it, we know. In the books, Target are approaching their final novelisations too, but this year’s are not only of superb quality but, against all hope, herald something new. Survival is crisply written and evocative; Ghost Light intense and densely packed with detail; and in…

Doctor Who – Remembrance of the Daleks

“For one vertiginous moment the Dalek Supreme wanted to skip.”

Like one of the first Targets, this one of the last novelises an all-out action story and effortlessly beats it. Ben Aaronovitch’s stunning novel goes at a relentless pace (like its supercharged Daleks), but there’s still room for compelling emotion and extracts from never-written books.


If there’s one second-hand Doctor Who novelisation to trace, it’s probably this one. Let’s hope the New Year brings a CD talking book of this, too. The DVD of the TV story is probably best-bought in the comprehensive Davros box set, where it boasts many impressive extras (and special effects) not seen on the original release.


It’s 11.59pm on the last day of the ‘real’ year, and that, of course, means that I’ve posted this through the magic of cheating several hours ago. With luck, Richard and I will now be in Cambridge, though probably not this time watching The Curse of Fenric. You never know, though. But if you think 1989-90’s end of an era means the end of Doctor Who…

Labels: BBC, Books, Cambridge, Doctor Who, Reviews, Sylvester McCoy, The Master, Why Is Doctor Who Brilliant?