Doctor Who: The Light at the End
by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish, 2013)
A 50th anniversary celebration featuring Doctors Four through Eight. The story is remarkably coherent and remains so despite incorporating a plethora of characters and cameos. The Doctors themselves take centre stage and all feel important. Definitely one of Big Finish’s better efforts.
The Stranger: Summoned by Shadows
by Christian Darkin (BBV, 1991)
An oddity within the Doctor Who universe, The Stranger unofficially continues the Sixth Doctor’s adventures (sans copyrighted features like the TARDIS) subsequent to the show’s cancellation in 1989. This short but perfectly competent story has production values reminiscent of the Cartmel years.
Doctor Who: Rose
by Russell T Davies (BBC Worldwide, 2018); audiobook read by Camille Coduri (W.F. Howes, 2018)
As Doctor Who novelisations go, this one is quite special. Russell T Davies has an easy style and fleshes out his original story, adding considerable depth to Rose and also many of the minor characters. Camille Coduri’s audiobook reading captures the nuances.
P.R.O.B.E. – The Zero Imperative
by Mark Gatiss (BBV, 1994)
A creepy Doctor Who spin-off that sees Liz Shaw investigating supernatural deaths at a psychiatric hospital. Liz, however, doesn’t actually feature that much, and it’s a little difficult to reconcile the other Who actors (four ex-Doctors, no less!) with their new roles.
Running Through Corridors: Rob and Toby’s Marathon Watch of Doctor Who, Volume 2: The 70s
by Toby Hadoke & Rob Shearman (Mad Norwegian Press, 2016)
The perfect viewing companion for 70s Who. Hadoke and Shearman are not uncritical but their focus is very much on the good bits; that is, making the most of whatever is on screen and recognising value in each episode’s (sometimes unrealised) ambitions.
Doctor Who: Scratchman
by Tom Baker with James Goss (BBC Books, 2019)
A novelisation of the film script that Tom Baker and Ian Marter wrote back in the 1970s. The content is dark verging on horror, yet the tone is very much Baker’s latter-day staple of bemused, gently deadpanned, Doctor as lost man-child comedy.
Doctor Who: Dimensions in Time
by John Nathan-Turner and David Roden (BBC, 1993)
A 14-minute charity special mashup with EastEnders seems a rather sad way for Doctor Who to have celebrated its 30th anniversary. The interchanging multi-Doctor, multi-companion plot is impossibly silly, but amidst all the rattling snippets some of the acting is surprisingly good.
Doctor Who: Time in Office
by Eddie Robson (Big Finish, 2017)
Four mostly self-contained episodes revisiting the notion of the Fifth Doctor as President of Gallifrey. Robson plays around with tropes and there are some amusing moments, albeit that the overarching narrative wavers between comedy and drama and cops out in an anti-climax.
Doctor Who: The Paradox Planet
by Jonathan Morris (Big Finish, 2016)
Disappointingly, this story is not self-contained but rather one of a separately issued brace. The titular paradox, though inventive, is thus hard to gauge. Character-wise, Romana seems overly supercilious and the Doctor a bit too faux-affable (yet without the underlying moral authority).
Doctor Who: The Last Day at Work
by Harry Draper; audiobook read by Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish, 2018)
Draper writes well for the Second Doctor and Jamie, crafting a short story with a neat premise and a mood very much in keeping with its valedictory nature. Narrator Nicholas Briggs joins in by giving a passable impersonation of the two leads.