annual-2017By Paul Lang

Puffin Books, out now

The annual collection of Doctor Who related facts, games and comic strips.

This year’s annual is another success for Mr Lang, who provides a book that will gladden the heart of any young fan who gets it – and will give them hours of entertainment – but which also is great fun for those of us who are really far too old to be reading children’s annuals. There’s a few in-jokes (the name of the a cat-hair strewn, cardigan-wearing head teacher who’s replaced by Missy in the text story is one that had me laughing out loud), as well as some clever repurposing of material from many decades ago.

Although it would seem as if there’s no new television episodes to plunger, all of Series 9 was broadcast after the 2016 annual was published, so there’s material from pretty much every episode of that, retold in some unusual way – whether it’s reports by the Osgoods, or a timeline for Me or River Song (the latter being very useful!). A couple of comic strips and some quizzes are scattered throughout, along with references to the entire run of the show (the Doctor’s autobiography, with footnotes from Missy, sets the tone).

Verdict: Great fun, and not a book to be overlooked because it’s apparently aimed at “kids”. 8/10

Paul Simpson

Click here to order from Amazon.co.uk