By Lance Parkin and Lars Pearson

Mad Norwegian Press, out now    

The “modern era” – 1963-2017 – examined in chronological (and occasionally obsessive) detail…

Given that one volume of this massive work covers from the creation of the universe up to 1962, and the other goes from 2018 to the end of Time (and indeed beyond, I suspect), you might wonder how the hell Parkin and Pearson can possibly find enough material in a mere 55 years to fill a book this size?

Well, actually, I suspect they probably ended up cutting some stuff. Because there’s all the modern-day Doctor Who stories to cover, on screen, in comics and in books. There’s Torchwood on screen and audio as well as in print (and…er… there’s some rather scathing comments about the chronology and some anachronisms that slipped through the net). There’s the Sarah Jane Adventures (on screen and… you’ve got the idea). And Class. Which was in 2016. Definitely. Except it fits better in 2017.

And there’s all the non-BBC material – Big Finish stories for Counter-Measures, UNIT and others. There’s the “Haisman Timeline” – which basically throws a huge spanner in the works for dating certain elements relating to B******** L*********-S****** (not sure if I’m allowed to mention the name!). And modern day stories for Erimem. And Faction Paradox get in on the act.

More than in the other volumes, there are a number of problems which simply can’t be resolved – story A and story B simply can’t happen at the same time, or in the relationship which you’d expect. (And don’t mention Miracle Day – not because of its perceived quality, but because nobody remembers it. Except sometimes in the Torchwood audios.)

Verdict: This chronology is far more coherent than it has any right to be, given the complete and utter contrariness of its subject matter, and any Who fan who’s ever wondered about how things fit together will have fun reading through the entries… 10/10

Paul Simpson