by Tat Wood and Dorothy Ail

Mad Norwegian Press, out now

An in-depth analysis of the third series of the revived Doctor Who…

I have a horrible feeling that by the time Tat Wood and Dorothy Ail get round to analysing Series 10, each story will be getting its own separate 500,000 word volume, such is the expansion that this series has undergone since it started with a modest book on the entirety of the Third Doctor’s time. And as with each of the most recent volumes – starting with the expanded Third Doctor, but definitely including the Series 1 and 2 book – you may well disagree with some of the theories that are propounded, but you can’t fault the willingness to try to make sense of things.

For me the highlights of this book – and, to be scrupulously honest, the only part that I’ve read in its entirety before writing this – are the sidebar essays that we now get with every story. These tie into the the whole of Doctor Who, from 1963 to date, and have no hesitation in bringing in books, audios, comic strips and anything else that has come out that has some relevance to the topic under discussion. Again, you may not agree with some of the conclusions drawn but the writers show their workings – and the topics can range from the very specific (why doesn’t the 10th Doctor mention the Time War to the 5th in Time Crash) to the more general (Is Kylie from the Planet Zog which delves into Russell T Davies’ logic in the re-creation of the show).

That’s not to say the information about each episode is not worthy of a good read – there’s just so damn much of it that if I read it all, this review wouldn’t be out till next Christmas. There’s material regarding the creation of the episodes, and then, as normal, a number of diversions at a tangent in the discussion of its roots.

Verdict: As opinionated and entertaining as ever. 9/10

Paul Simpson