By Russell T Davies

BBC Books, out 5 April

Rose Tyler finds her life turned upside down when a mysterious traveller saves her life in the basement of the shop where she works, and reveals a plan by the deadly Nestene Consciousness to take over the planet.

There are moments when reading Russell T Davies’ novelisation of his 2005 series reboot script where you can imagine the writer sat at his desk, PC screen revolved to portrait position, and hooting ‘marvellous!’ while tapping away at the keyboard. Why? Because surely writing a Target book based on one of your own teleplays must be on the bucket list of any Doctor Who fan-turned-writer. And who would blame Davies for grinning when typing in chapter titles like Descent into Terror or The Journey Begins (though no Escape to Danger or An End and a Beginning)?

Unlike Steven Moffat’s adaptation of The Day of the Doctor, this is a very straightforward conversion. That’s not to say a lot of work hasn’t gone into it, but it feels more like a Target book in length and tone. Instead of just dropping the script onto the page and filling in the blanks, Davies has constructed a new way to experience Rose. You only have to have The Shooting Scripts for the series open next to this to appreciate the changes.

The dialogue is not verbatim to what was scripted, with the author considering each line in the context of the novel, making changes as required. Lines are added, changed or taken away. For example, Bernie Wilson (he now has a first name) is now the caretaker at Henrik’s rather the chief electrician of the script, with the story having less of the frenetic cuts used to set-up Rose’s life.

It’s hard to under-estimate just how important Rose was to the success of the 21st Century Doctor Who, having to establish not only the series format to new viewers, but create a companion with whom we could take the journey – and all in 45 minutes. This novelisation by the original writer is an alternate take on that launch that presents the story as if it were a book, rather than an adapted screenplay. It’s very different to his 1996 Damaged Goods, tonally aligned to the Target format, being easy to follow for younger readers, while also being an enjoyable read for the older, nostalgia seekers.

Verdict: As playful and easy-to-follow as you’d hope, Davies is having a ball creating another version of Rose, which can proudly sit on the shelf alongside other volumes in your Target library. 9/10

Nick Joy

Click here to order Rose from Amazon.co.uk