Doctor Who: The Price of Paradise
by Colin Brake; audiobook read by Shaun Dingwall (BBC Audio, 2006)
A competent SF story that captures the Tenth Doctor and Rose quite well. Through the Paradise Planet and her guardians, Blake works in a meaningful idea rather than the ‘slapdash make a monster hash of it’ approach of many other Who writers.
Doctor Who, Doom Coalition 2: The Sonomancer
by Matt Fitton (Big Finish, 2016)
Fitton manages some strong characterisation — Liv Chenka takes charge; Helen Sinclair bonds with River Song — but although Alex Kingston is quite the drawcard, the lack of interaction between her and Paul McGann is disappointing, as is the plot degeneration into runaround dénouement.
Doctor Who, Doom Coalition 2: The Gift
by Mark Platt (Big Finish, 2016)
Following the format of the first Doom Coalition series, Mark Platt presents listeners with the classic third episode let-down. The plot doesn’t so much tread water as flounder horribly, the production degenerating into a loud, disorderly shambles as it heralds episode four.
Doctor Who, Doom Coalition 2: Scenes from her Life
by John Dorney (Big Finish, 2016)
An audio drama but a TV idea, the sort to make one wonder at what Paul McGann’s Doctor could have been (or could still be if brought back in, say, a multi-Doctor special). A nice mix of Classic and New Series styles.
Doctor Who, Doom Coalition 2: Beachhead
by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish, 2016)
A simple enough little story but well-handled, the audio drama remaining coherent even while cutting amongst four female characters (plus Paul McGann’s Doctor). As a continuity note, the Voord do seem rather more sprightly than they were in The Keys of Marinus!
Doctor Who: Galaxy Four
by William Emms (Target, 1985); audiobook read by Maureen O’Brien (BBC Audio, 2017)
Galaxy Four is perhaps the closest Doctor Who ever came to straight-up exploration science fiction, complete with doomed planet and rampant xenophobia. William Emms, novelising his own script, delves into the characters’ thoughts and so adds considerable depth to the on-screen action.
Doctor Who: Breakfast at Tyranny’s
by Nick Abadzis; ill. Giorgia Sposito & Valeria Favoccia (Titan Comics, 2017)
The Tenth Doctor and three non-television companions are thrown into a disorienting world of illusion (hence, not a good point to join the comic strip adventures). Once the action moves to Ancient China there are some nice visual touches to the storytelling.
Doctor Who: Survival
by Rona Munro (Target, 1990); audiobook read by Lisa Bowerman (BBC Audio, 2018)
The Target range of Doctor Who books for the most part offered mere echoes of the televised serials. Survival is something of an exception, Rona Munro turning her scripts into a straightforward but effective novel operating free of the story’s on-screen limitations.
Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen
by Douglas Adams & James Goss (BBC Books, 2018)
Goss takes delight in adding a fourth book to Douglas Adams’ trilogy of Doctor Who stories, channelling the unfocussed wit of ‘Life, the Universe and Everything’ (Adams’ version), diligently but to the detriment of the Doctor Who tale that could have been.
Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time
by Steven Moffat; dir. Rachel Talalay (BBC, 2017)
The Christmas special has some touching performances (Mark Gatiss) and ends on a high with Jodie Whittaker’s first scene, yet for the most part spends too much time prepping the audience for the handover and trying—quite shamelessly—to manipulate our emotions.