The Virgin Missing Adventures were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who , which had been cancelled in 1989, featuring stories set between televised episodes of the programme. The novels were published from 1994 to 1997, and featured the First through Sixth Doctors. (The Seventh Doctor also appeared in one novel.) The Missing Adventures complemented the Virgin New Adventures range, which had proved successful.[ citation needed ]
Virgin had purchased the successful children's imprint Target Books in 1989, with Virgin's new fiction editor Peter Darvill-Evans taking over the range. Target's major output was novelisations of televised Doctor Who stories, and Darvill-Evans realised that there were few stories left to be novelised. He approached the BBC for permission to commission original stories written directly for print, but such a licence was initially refused. However, after the television series was cancelled at the end of 1989, Virgin were granted the licence to produce full-length original novels continuing the story from the point at which the series had concluded. [1]
The first range covered only the continuing adventures of the Seventh Doctor, but when that proved successful, Virgin also created this range covering the previous Doctors, with new stories that fit in between the televised serials. [2]
In addition to original novels, the Missing Adventures series also incorporated two novelisations: The Ghosts of N-Space , based upon a mid-1990s BBC audio play, and Downtime , which was based upon an independent video production featuring several characters from the Doctor Who series (the novelisation is one of the few Doctor Who novels in which the Doctor does not appear as a central character).
When the BBC decided in 1996 to do their own line of novels with the Eighth Doctor, they withdrew the license from Virgin to publish the Eighth Doctor Adventures. The adventures of the previous Doctors were taken up by the BBC in the Past Doctor Adventures line of books.
In 2014, both The Scales of Injustice and The Sands of Time were reprinted as part of BBC Books' The Monster Collection. These were followed with The English Way of Death, a part of The History Collection (2015).
Including books featuring two of the Doctors, the total tallies are: First Doctor, 5 books; Second, 4 books; Third, 6 books; Fourth, 8 books; Fifth, 5 books; Sixth, 5 books; and Seventh, 1 book.
# | Title | Author | Doctor | Featuring | Published |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Goth Opera | Paul Cornell | Fifth | Tegan, Nyssa, Romana | July 1994 |
2 | Evolution | John Peel | Fourth | Sarah Jane | September 1994 |
3 | Venusian Lullaby | Paul Leonard | First | Ian, Barbara | October 1994 |
4 | The Crystal Bucephalus | Craig Hinton | Fifth | Tegan, Turlough, Kamelion, Dorothy | November 1994 |
5 | State of Change | Christopher Bulis | Sixth | Peri | December 1994 |
6 | The Romance of Crime | Gareth Roberts | Fourth | Romana II, K-9 | January 1995 |
7 | The Ghosts of N-Space | Barry Letts | Third | Sarah Jane, the Brigadier | February 1995 |
8 | Time of Your Life | Steve Lyons | Sixth | Grant Markham | March 1995 |
9 | Dancing the Code | Paul Leonard | Third | Jo, UNIT | April 1995 |
10 | The Menagerie | Martin Day | Second | Jamie, Zoe | May 1995 |
11 | System Shock | Justin Richards | Fourth | Sarah, Harry | June 1995 |
12 | The Sorcerer's Apprentice | Christopher Bulis | First | Ian, Barbara, Susan | July 1995 |
13 | Invasion of the Cat-People | Gary Russell | Second | Ben, Polly | August 1995 |
14 | Managra | Stephen Marley | Fourth | Sarah Jane | September 1995 |
15 | Millennial Rites | Craig Hinton | Sixth | Mel | October 1995 |
16 | The Empire of Glass | Andy Lane | First | Steven, Vicki; plus Irving Braxiatel | November 1995 |
17 | Lords of the Storm | David A. McIntee | Fifth | Turlough | December 1995 |
18 | Downtime | Marc Platt | none | The Brigadier, Sarah Jane, Victoria | January 1996 |
19 | The Man in the Velvet Mask | Daniel O'Mahony | First | Dodo | February 1996 |
20 | The English Way of Death | Gareth Roberts | Fourth | Romana II, K-9 | March 1996 |
21 | The Eye of the Giant | Christopher Bulis | Third | Liz Shaw, UNIT | April 1996 |
22 | The Sands of Time | Justin Richards | Fifth | Tegan, Nyssa | May 1996 |
23 | Killing Ground | Steve Lyons | Sixth | Grant Markham | June 1996 |
24 | The Scales of Injustice | Gary Russell | Third | Liz Shaw, UNIT | July 1996 |
25 | The Shadow of Weng-Chiang | David A. McIntee | Fourth | Romana I, K-9 | August 1996 |
26 | Twilight of the Gods | Christopher Bulis | Second | Jamie, Victoria | September 1996 |
27 | Speed of Flight | Paul Leonard | Third | Jo, Mike Yates | October 1996 |
28 | The Plotters | Gareth Roberts | First | Ian, Barbara, Vicki | November 1996 |
29 | Cold Fusion | Lance Parkin | Fifth and Seventh | Adric, Nyssa, Tegan; Roz, Chris | December 1996 |
30 | Burning Heart | Dave Stone | Sixth | Peri | January 1997 |
31 | A Device of Death | Christopher Bulis | Fourth | Sarah Jane, Harry | February 1997 |
32 | The Dark Path | David A. McIntee | Second | Jamie, Victoria | March 1997 |
33 | The Well-Mannered War | Gareth Roberts | Fourth | Romana II, K-9 | April 1997 |
Three of the Missing Adventures were sequels to televised serials, they were:
Two of the Missing Adventures were novelisations:
Many Missing Adventures featured old foes, including:
Speed of Flight is the only novel in the series that is a prequel; to Timelash.
In 1996, Virgin Books published Who Killed Kennedy , a Doctor Who novel by David Bishop. Although set during the time of the Third Doctor, Virgin published this book as a standalone work and not as part of the Missing Adventures series.
The Silurians and Sea Devils are two fictional related ancient species created by Malcolm Hulke for the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The Silurians are a race of scientifically advanced reptilian humanoids from the dawn of man which first appeared in Doctor Who in Hulke's 1970 serial Doctor Who and the Silurians. The two species will foreground the plot of the upcoming Doctor Who spin-off series The War Between the Land and the Sea by Russell T Davies.
The Virgin New Adventures are a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who. They continued the story of the Doctor from the point at which the television programme went into hiatus from television in 1989.
Doctor Who spin-offs refers to material created outside of, but related to, the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.
Peter Darvill-Evans is an English writer and editor.
Terrance William Dicks was an English author and television screenwriter, script editor and producer. In television, he had a long association with the BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who, working as a writer and also serving as the programme's script editor from 1968 to 1974. The Doctor Who News Page described him as "arguably the most prolific contributor to Doctor Who". He later became a script editor and producer of classic serials for the BBC.
John Peel is a British writer, best known for his TV series tie-in novels and novelisations. He has written under several pseudonyms, including "John Vincent" and "Nicholas Adams". He lives on Long Island, New York. While his wife is a US citizen, Peel continues to travel under a British passport.
Ace is a fictional character played by Sophie Aldred in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A 20th-century Earth teenager from the London suburb of Perivale, she is a companion of the Seventh Doctor and was a regular in the series from 1987 to 1989 and returned in 2022. She is considered one of the Doctor's most popular companions.
Ghost Light is the second serial of the 26th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in three weekly parts on BBC1 from 4 to 18 October 1989.
Battlefield is the first serial of the 26th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 6 to 27 September 1989. It was the last to feature Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in Doctor Who.
The Talons of Weng-Chiang is the sixth and final serial of the 14th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 26 February to 2 April 1977. In the serial, which is set in 19th-century London, the 51st century criminal Magnus Greel travels to the city and poses as an ancient Chinese god to find his missing time machine.
Marc Platt is a British novelist and playwright. He is best known for his work with the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.
Black Orchid is the fifth serial of the 19th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on BBC1 on 1 and 2 March 1982.
The Eighth Doctor Adventures are a series of spin off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and published under the BBC Books imprint. 73 books were published overall.
The Past Doctor Adventures were a series of spin-off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and published under the BBC Books imprint. For most of their existence, they were published side-by-side with the Eighth Doctor Adventures. The novels regularly featured the First through Seventh Doctors. The Infinity Doctors had an ambiguous place in continuity and featured an unidentified incarnation of the Doctor. The Eighth Doctor co-starred with the Fourth Doctor in one novel (Wolfsbane) and, after the Eighth Doctor Adventures had ceased publication, a novel featuring the Eighth Doctor and set between two earlier Eighth Doctor Adventures was published within the Past Doctor series.
Gareth John Pritchard Roberts is a British television screenwriter, novelist and columnist best known for his work related to the science-fiction television series Doctor Who. He has also worked on various comedy series and soap operas.
The Ghosts of N-Space is a radio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was recorded in 1994 and finally broadcast in six parts on BBC Radio 2 from 20 January to 24 February 1996. This was the second Third Doctor radio play, following The Paradise of Death in 1993. Plans for subsequent serials were abandoned after the death of Jon Pertwee in May 1996.
Lungbarrow is an original novel written by Marc Platt and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Published in Virgin Books' New Adventures range, it was the last of that range to feature the Seventh Doctor.
Martin Day is a screenwriter and novelist best known for his work on various spin-offs related to the BBC Television series Doctor Who, and many episodes of the soaps Fair City, Doctors and Family Affairs. Having worked previously at Bath Spa University, he is now visiting lecturer in creative writing at the University of Winchester and the Wessex regional representative of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain.
Lists of books based on Doctor Who cover different types of book in the Doctor Who media franchise. These include novels, audiobooks, and short story anthologies. The lists are organized by publisher and imprint.