By Anthony Wilson and Robert Smith?

ATB Press, out now

A subjective look back at the New Adventures.

It’s sometimes sobering to remember that Doctor Who on TV came to an end nearly 30 years ago – at least in its classic form. The period between Survival and the TV Movie, in fictional terms, was filled with stories that were supposedly too broad and too deep for the small screen, courtesy of Virgin Publishing, who took the licence and ran with it successfully for five years of books. Some of them were good, a very few of them were great, a lot demonstrated their authors learning their craft, and a few… well, there are a few that didn’t work. (No one ever sets out to write a bad book, or make a bad episode of a TV show – but events and abilities can lead to less than optimal product.)

Robert Smith? clearly enjoys a two-pronged approach to Doctor Who criticism – many of his other works are joint with Graeme Burk – and teaming up with Anthony Wilson means that we can get vastly different takes on the books. The opinions are written without fear or favour: some of the criticisms border on the personal (and it’s interesting that the first editor of the range gets blamed for elements, whereas things wrong later are seen as down, on the whole, to the writers rather than his successor). There are occasional comments (and portions of text) that make you suspect that the authors feel that, were they there at the time, they’d have done a better job – or at least tidied up some of the mistakes. (In a book that talks about showrunner “Russell T Davis”, quotes assorted urban myths about the show as if they’re facts, and looks at sequential sections that appear to have swapped round numerals in their page quote references, there’s an element of people in glass houses throwing stones with the typo nitpicking in here – although it has to be said, a few of them are fun.)

Unsurprisingly, I don’t agree with all their opinions – it would be a rather odd book if I or any fan did – but their debates bring back strong memories of a series that kept the flame flickering… Did books that on the whole sold to a tiny minority of fans influence the 2005 revival of Doctor Who, as much as is suggested here? I suspect not (and certainly not with regard to the minutiae of both books and TV episodes). Did the New Adventures prove that Doctor Who worked in even more different environments than had been displayed across the 26 years of the show? Without a doubt – and it’s that element that comes across best here.

Verdict: Some elements may well annoy you, some things just feel wrong, others are spot on… so absolutely true to form for the series they’re discussing. 7/10

Paul Simpson