Target Books

Last updated

Target Books
Target books.png
Parent company
Founded1973 (1973)
Country of originUnited Kingdom

Target Books is a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became well known for their highly successful range of novelisations and other assorted books based on the popular science fiction television series Doctor Who . Their first publications based on the serial were reprints in paperback of three novels which had been previously published as hardbacks: Doctor Who and the Daleks and Doctor Who and the Crusaders by David Whitaker, and Doctor Who and the Zarbi by Bill Strutton. As these sold well further novelisations of the show were commissioned. [1] In 1975 Universal-Tandem was sold by its American owners, the Universal-Award group, to the British conglomerate Howard and Wyndham. The company was renamed Tandem Publishing Ltd before being merged with the paperback imprints of Howard and Wyndham's general publishing house W. H. Allen Ltd to become Wyndham Publications Ltd in 1976. However, during 1977 and 1978 the Wyndham identity was phased out and, until 1990, Target books were published by 'the paperback division of WH Allen & Co'.

Contents

The most prolific writer in the Doctor Who range was Terrance Dicks, [2] while actor turned writer Ian Marter, Malcolm Hulke, Philip Hinchcliffe and Nigel Robinson (who was for a time the editor of the range) were also contributors.

The company also produced novelisations of various other films and television series, again aimed mostly at the child and teenage markets. They also published a number of original children's and teenage novels. In 1973, the company produced a successful paperback edition of Tim Dinsdale's book, The Story of the Loch Ness Monster . In 1977, Target published the novelisation of the Ray Harryhausen film, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger .

W. H. Allen was acquired by Virgin Books in a process that spanned late 1986 to late 1987. [3] In 1994 the Target imprint was closed down and the last three novelisation published by Virgin were under the Doctor Who Books imprint. [4] They did, however, feature the Target logo inside and were numbered in Target's "Doctor Who Library" on inside pages.

Random House, through its United Kingdom division, acquired a 90% stake in Virgin Books (including Target) in March 2007. [5] In November 2009, Virgin became an independent imprint within Ebury Publishing, a division of the Random House Group. [6]

Ebury Publishing having acquired a majority shareholding of BBC Books in 2006, [7] BBC Books published reprints of several of the Target Doctor Who novelisations starting in 2011 . [8]

In 2018 BBC Books started publishing novelisations of select post-2005 Doctor Who stories and a new abridged version of City of Death using the Target branding in a range of books called the Target Collection. [9] [10] This range also included novelisations of stories not published by the original Target Books as they were unable to secure rights, as well as print versions of audiobook exclusive novelisations previously released by BBC Audio.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Whitaker (screenwriter)</span> English television writer and novelist

David Arthur Whitaker was an English television writer and novelist who worked on the early years of the science-fiction TV series Doctor Who. He served as the programme's first story editor, supervising the writing of its first 51 episodes from 1963 to 1964.

Virgin Books is a British book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Group, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company.

<i>The Daleks</i> 1963 Doctor Who serial

The Daleks is the second serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on BBC TV in seven weekly parts from 21 December 1963 to 1 February 1964. Written by Terry Nation and directed by Christopher Barry and Richard Martin, this story marks the first appearance of the show's most popular villains, the Daleks, and the recurring Skaro people, the Thals. In the serial, the First Doctor, his granddaughter Susan Foreman, and her teachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright land in an alien jungle and are captured by the Daleks, a race of mutated creatures who survive off the radiation that remains in the atmosphere after a nuclear war with their enemies. As the group attempt to escape the Daleks, they discover more about the planet and the ensuing war, and attempt to broker a peace.

<i>Virgin New Adventures</i> Novels based on Doctor Who, 1991 to 1999

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.

Day of the Daleks is the first serial of the ninth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 1 to 22 January 1972. It was the first of four Third Doctor serials to feature the Daleks, which returned to the series for the first time since The Evil of the Daleks (1967).

Doctor Who spin-offs refers to material created outside of, but related to, the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Foreman</span> Fictional character in Doctor Who

Susan Foreman is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The granddaughter of the Doctor and original companion of their first incarnation, she was played by actress Carole Ann Ford from 1963 to 1964, in the show's first season and the first two stories of the second season. Ford reprised the role for the feature-length 20th anniversary episode The Five Doctors (1983) and the 30th anniversary charity special Dimensions in Time (1993).

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC Books</span> British publisher

BBC Books is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The imprint has been active since the 1980s.

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.

The Power of the Daleks is the completely missing third serial of the fourth season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 5 November to 10 December 1966. It is the first full story to feature Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor.

<i>Virgin Missing Adventures</i> Series of Doctor Who-based novels (1994–1997)

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 Missing Adventures complemented the Virgin New Adventures range, which had proved successful.

The Wheel in Space is the seventh and final serial of the fifth season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in six weekly parts from 27 April to 1 June 1968.

Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd was a United Kingdom paperback publishing company established in the early 1960s as Tandem Books.

Lists of books based on <i>Doctor Who</i>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David J. Howe</span> British historian and writer

David J. Howe is a British writer, journalist, publisher, and media historian.

William H. Allen and Company was a bookselling and publishing business in London, England, at first known for issuing works related to the British colonies. It operated from headquarters in Leadenhall Street, later moving to Waterloo Place. Early owners and staff included James P. Allen, William Ferneley Allen, and William Houghton Allen.

References

  1. ↑ "Terrance Dicks - Doctor Who Interview Archive".
  2. ↑ "Daleks, doctors and a dog called Goliath". 20 February 2008.
  3. ↑ Howe, David J. (2007). The Target Book. Surrey: Telos Publishing Ltd. p. 112.
  4. ↑ Howe, David J. (2007). The Target Book. Surrey: Telos Publishing Ltd. pp. 131–134.
  5. ↑ Joel Rickett, Random House UK buys Virgin Books, The Bookseller , 5 March 2007 (via archive.org)
  6. ↑ Benedicte Page, "Virgin joins Ebury stable, Sadler leaving", The Bookseller , 2 November 2009
  7. ↑ The Random House Group acquires majority shareholding in BBC Books BBC Press Office. 22 June 2006
  8. ↑ "SFX - GamesRadar+". gamesradar.
  9. ↑ "Steven Moffat and Russell T Davies are writing special Doctor Who novels". Radio Times. 15 November 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  10. ↑ "New Target Novalisations". doctorwhonews.net. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.