The Doctor Who Book Club
Podcast
The DWRS are pleased to welcome The Doctor Who Book Club to our site.
The DWBC Podcast is brought to you by Erik and Sean, a man who is only now dipping his toe in the waters of Who literacy and his more learned friend.
You can catch their podcasts either here or on their home page.
The DWBC Podcast is brought to you by Erik and Sean, a man who is only now dipping his toe in the waters of Who literacy and his more learned friend.
You can catch their podcasts either here or on their home page.
Episode 16 - Business Unusual
A security force with no official identity... a managing director with no name... a sinister creature on guard patrol resembling some kind of hellhound... SeneNet is no ordinary multinational company...
The Doctor arrives in Brighton, 1989, traveling alone. He soon discovers his old friend, the Brigadier, has gone missing investigating SeneNet, whose new interactive games console is soon to be released at an absurdly reasonable price. He was last seen at their headquarters — based in the picturesque Ashdown Forest...
Investigating further, the Doctor becomes more and more entangled in a deadly web of intrigue. Together with Mel, a plucky computer programmer from Pease Pottage, the Doctor must overcome the conspiracy of silence, rescue the Brigadier and save the world once again — something that would be a lot easier if he just know where to start...
The Doctor arrives in Brighton, 1989, traveling alone. He soon discovers his old friend, the Brigadier, has gone missing investigating SeneNet, whose new interactive games console is soon to be released at an absurdly reasonable price. He was last seen at their headquarters — based in the picturesque Ashdown Forest...
Investigating further, the Doctor becomes more and more entangled in a deadly web of intrigue. Together with Mel, a plucky computer programmer from Pease Pottage, the Doctor must overcome the conspiracy of silence, rescue the Brigadier and save the world once again — something that would be a lot easier if he just know where to start...
Episode 15 - The Crooked World
The people of the Crooked World lead an idyllic existence.
Take Streaky Bacon, for example. This jovial farmer wants nothing more from life than a huge blunderbuss, with which he can blast away at his crop-stealing nemesis. And then there's Angel Falls, a racing driver with a string of victories to her name. Sure, her trusted guardian might occasionally put on a mask and menace her for her prize money, but that's just life, right? And for Jasper the cat, nothing could be more pleasant than a nice, long nap in his kitchen — so long as that darn mouse doesn't jam his tail into the plug socket again.
But somebody is about to shatter all those lives. Somebody is about to change everything — and it's possible that no one on the Crooked World will ever be happy again.
The Doctor's TARDIS is about to arrive. And when it does... That's all folks!
Take Streaky Bacon, for example. This jovial farmer wants nothing more from life than a huge blunderbuss, with which he can blast away at his crop-stealing nemesis. And then there's Angel Falls, a racing driver with a string of victories to her name. Sure, her trusted guardian might occasionally put on a mask and menace her for her prize money, but that's just life, right? And for Jasper the cat, nothing could be more pleasant than a nice, long nap in his kitchen — so long as that darn mouse doesn't jam his tail into the plug socket again.
But somebody is about to shatter all those lives. Somebody is about to change everything — and it's possible that no one on the Crooked World will ever be happy again.
The Doctor's TARDIS is about to arrive. And when it does... That's all folks!
Episode 14 - Love and war
On a planet called Heaven, all hell is breaking loose.
Heaven is a paradise for both humans and Draconians -- a place of rest in more ways than one. The Doctor comes here on a trivial mission -- to find a book, or so he says -- and Ace, wandering alone in the city, becomes involved with a charismatic Traveller called Jan.
But the Doctor is strenuously opposed to the romance. What is he trying to prevent? Is he planning some more deadly game connected with the mysterious objects causing the military forces of Heaven such concern?
Archaeologist Bernice Summerfield thinks so. Her destiny is inextricably linked with that of the Doctor, but even she may not be able to save Ace from the Time Lord's plans.
This time, has the Doctor gone too far?
Find out what Sean and Erik thought here.
Heaven is a paradise for both humans and Draconians -- a place of rest in more ways than one. The Doctor comes here on a trivial mission -- to find a book, or so he says -- and Ace, wandering alone in the city, becomes involved with a charismatic Traveller called Jan.
But the Doctor is strenuously opposed to the romance. What is he trying to prevent? Is he planning some more deadly game connected with the mysterious objects causing the military forces of Heaven such concern?
Archaeologist Bernice Summerfield thinks so. Her destiny is inextricably linked with that of the Doctor, but even she may not be able to save Ace from the Time Lord's plans.
This time, has the Doctor gone too far?
Find out what Sean and Erik thought here.
Episode 13 - A device of death
'As a member of an inferior race, you either work to serve the cause of Averon, or die.'
Sarah is marooned on a slave world where the only escape is death. Harry is caught in the middle of an interplanetary invasion, and has to combine medicine with a desperate mission. And the Doctor lands on a world so secret it does not even have a name.Why have the TARDIS crew been scattered across the stars? What terrible accident could have wiped the Doctor's memory? And what could interest the Time Lords in this war-torn sector of space?
At the heart of a star-spanning conspiracy lies an ancient quest: people have been making weapons since the dawn of time -- but perhaps someone has finally discovered the ultimate device of death.
Find out what Erik and Sean thought here.
Sarah is marooned on a slave world where the only escape is death. Harry is caught in the middle of an interplanetary invasion, and has to combine medicine with a desperate mission. And the Doctor lands on a world so secret it does not even have a name.Why have the TARDIS crew been scattered across the stars? What terrible accident could have wiped the Doctor's memory? And what could interest the Time Lords in this war-torn sector of space?
At the heart of a star-spanning conspiracy lies an ancient quest: people have been making weapons since the dawn of time -- but perhaps someone has finally discovered the ultimate device of death.
Find out what Erik and Sean thought here.
Episode 12 - Atom Bomb Blues
Los Alamos, New Mexico, 1945. The Second World War is coming to its bloody conclusion, and in the American desert the race is on to build an atomic bomb.
The fate of the world is at stake -- in more ways than one. Someone, or something, is trying to alter the course of history at this most delicate point. And destroy the human race. Posing as a nuclear scientist with Ace as his research assistant, the Doctor plays detective among the Manhattan Project scientists, while desperately trying to avoid falling under suspicion himself.
As the minutes tick away to the world's first atom bomb blast, the Doctor and Ace find themselves up to their necks in spies, aliens of the flying-saucer variety, and some very nasty saboteurs from another dimension...
Find out what Sean and Erik thought here.
The fate of the world is at stake -- in more ways than one. Someone, or something, is trying to alter the course of history at this most delicate point. And destroy the human race. Posing as a nuclear scientist with Ace as his research assistant, the Doctor plays detective among the Manhattan Project scientists, while desperately trying to avoid falling under suspicion himself.
As the minutes tick away to the world's first atom bomb blast, the Doctor and Ace find themselves up to their necks in spies, aliens of the flying-saucer variety, and some very nasty saboteurs from another dimension...
Find out what Sean and Erik thought here.
Episode 11 - Alien Bodies
On an island in the East Indies, in a lost city buried deep in the heart of the rainforest, agents of the most formidable powers in the galaxy are gathering. They have been invited there to bid for what could turn out to be the deadliest weapon ever created.
When the Doctor and Sam arrive in the city, the Time Lord soon realises they've walked into the middle of the strangest auction in history — and what's on sale to the highest bidder is something more horrifying than even the Doctor could have imagined, something that could change his life forever.
And just when it seems things can't get any worse, the Doctor finds out who else is on the guest list.
Find out what Erik and Sean thought here.
When the Doctor and Sam arrive in the city, the Time Lord soon realises they've walked into the middle of the strangest auction in history — and what's on sale to the highest bidder is something more horrifying than even the Doctor could have imagined, something that could change his life forever.
And just when it seems things can't get any worse, the Doctor finds out who else is on the guest list.
Find out what Erik and Sean thought here.
Episode 10 - Time's Crucible - Cat's Cradle
You’re on your own, Ace.
The TARDIS is invaded by an alien presence, and is then destroyed. The Doctor disappears.
Ace, lost and alone, finds herself in a bizarre deserted city ruled by the tyrannical, leech-like monster known as the Process.
Lost voyagers drawn forward from Ancient Gallifrey perform obsessive rituals in the ruins.
The strands of time are tangled in a cat’s cradle of dimensions.
Only the Doctor can challenge the rule of the Process and restore the stolen Future.
But the Doctor was destroyed long ago, before Time began.
Find out what Sean and Erik thought here.
The TARDIS is invaded by an alien presence, and is then destroyed. The Doctor disappears.
Ace, lost and alone, finds herself in a bizarre deserted city ruled by the tyrannical, leech-like monster known as the Process.
Lost voyagers drawn forward from Ancient Gallifrey perform obsessive rituals in the ruins.
The strands of time are tangled in a cat’s cradle of dimensions.
Only the Doctor can challenge the rule of the Process and restore the stolen Future.
But the Doctor was destroyed long ago, before Time began.
Find out what Sean and Erik thought here.
Episode 9 - The Dark Path
'He's one of my own people, Victoria, and he's hunting me.'
Darkheart: a faded neutron star surrounded by dead planets. But there is life on one of these icy rocks - the last enclave of the Earth Empire, frozen in the image of another time. As the rest of the galaxy enjoys the fruits of the fledgling Federation, these isolated Imperials, bound to obey a forgotten ideal, harbour a dark obsession.
The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria arrive to find that the Federation has at last come to reintegrate this lost colony, whether they like it or not. But all is not well in the Federation camp: relations and allegiances are changing. The fierce Veltrochni - angered by the murder of their kinsmen - have an entirely different agenda. And someone else is manipulating the mission for his own mysterious reasons - another time traveller, a suave and assured master of his work.
The Doctor must uncover the terrible secret which brought the Empire to this desolate sector, and find the source of the strange power maintaining their society. But can a Time Lord, facing the ultimate temptation, control his own desires?
Find out what Erik and Sean thought about it here.
And you read what Matthew from the House of Lungbarrow thought as well.
Darkheart: a faded neutron star surrounded by dead planets. But there is life on one of these icy rocks - the last enclave of the Earth Empire, frozen in the image of another time. As the rest of the galaxy enjoys the fruits of the fledgling Federation, these isolated Imperials, bound to obey a forgotten ideal, harbour a dark obsession.
The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria arrive to find that the Federation has at last come to reintegrate this lost colony, whether they like it or not. But all is not well in the Federation camp: relations and allegiances are changing. The fierce Veltrochni - angered by the murder of their kinsmen - have an entirely different agenda. And someone else is manipulating the mission for his own mysterious reasons - another time traveller, a suave and assured master of his work.
The Doctor must uncover the terrible secret which brought the Empire to this desolate sector, and find the source of the strange power maintaining their society. But can a Time Lord, facing the ultimate temptation, control his own desires?
Find out what Erik and Sean thought about it here.
And you read what Matthew from the House of Lungbarrow thought as well.
Episode 8 - The Infinity Doctors
“Sing about the past again, and sing that same old song.
Tell me what you know, so I can tell you that you’re wrong.”
Gallifrey.
The Doctor’s home planet. For twenty thousand centuries the Gallifreyans have been the most powerful race in the cosmos. They have circumnavigated infinity and eternity, harnessed science and conquered death. They are the Lords of Time, and have used their powers carefully.
But now a new force is unleashed, one that is literally capable of anything. It is enough to give even the Time Lords nightmares. More than that: it is enough to destroy them.
It is one of their own.
Waiting for them at the end of the universe.
Find out what Sean and Erik thought about it here.
Order your Reprinted Copy today.
Tell me what you know, so I can tell you that you’re wrong.”
Gallifrey.
The Doctor’s home planet. For twenty thousand centuries the Gallifreyans have been the most powerful race in the cosmos. They have circumnavigated infinity and eternity, harnessed science and conquered death. They are the Lords of Time, and have used their powers carefully.
But now a new force is unleashed, one that is literally capable of anything. It is enough to give even the Time Lords nightmares. More than that: it is enough to destroy them.
It is one of their own.
Waiting for them at the end of the universe.
Find out what Sean and Erik thought about it here.
Order your Reprinted Copy today.
Episode 7 - Legacy of the Daleks
England in the late 22nd century is slowly recovering from the devastation that followed the Daleks’ invasion. The Doctor’s very first travelling companion -- his granddaughter, Susan -- is where he left her, helping to rebuild Earth for the survivors. But danger still remains all around...While searching for his lost companion, Sam, the Doctor finds himself in Domain London. But it seems that Susan is now missing too, and his efforts to find her lead to confontation with the ambitious Lord Haldoran, who is poised to take control of southern England through all-out war. With the help of a sinister advisor, Haldoran’s plans are already well advanced. Power cables have been fed down a mineshaft, reactivating a mysterious old device of hideous power. But has the Dalek presence on Earth really been wiped out? Or are there still traps set for the unwary?
The Doctor learns to his cost once again that when dealing with the evil of the Daleks, nothing can be taken at face value...
Listen to what Erik and Sean thought here.
The Doctor learns to his cost once again that when dealing with the evil of the Daleks, nothing can be taken at face value...
Listen to what Erik and Sean thought here.
Episode 6 - Conundrum
‘Doctor, we’re talking about an old man who used to dress up in a skintight white jump suit and fly around New York catching super-villains. Don’t you think there’s something just a bit unusual about that?’
A killer is stalking the streets of the village of Arandale. The victims are found one each day, drained of blood. And if that seems strange, it’s nothing compared to the town’s inhabitants.
The Doctor, Ace and Bernice think they’re investigating a murder mystery. But it’s all much more bizarre than that. And much more dangerous.
Someone has interfered with the Doctor’s past again, and he’s landed in a place he knows he once destroyed. This time there can be no escape.
Listen to what Sean and Erik thought here.
A killer is stalking the streets of the village of Arandale. The victims are found one each day, drained of blood. And if that seems strange, it’s nothing compared to the town’s inhabitants.
The Doctor, Ace and Bernice think they’re investigating a murder mystery. But it’s all much more bizarre than that. And much more dangerous.
Someone has interfered with the Doctor’s past again, and he’s landed in a place he knows he once destroyed. This time there can be no escape.
Listen to what Sean and Erik thought here.
Episode 5 - Scales of Injustice
‘And what exactly, Doctor Shaw, do you think C19 does with the dead bodies of plastic dummies, reptile men, primordial throwbacks and all their human victims?’
A little boy goes missing; a policewoman begins drawing cave paintings; and the employees at the mysterious Glasshouse are desperate to keep everyone away -- the Doctor suspects it’s all down to a group of homo reptilia. His assistant, Liz Shaw, has ideas of her own and has teamed up with a journalist to search for people who don’t exist.
While the Brigadier has to cope with UNIT funding, the breakdown of his marriage and Geneva’s threats to replace him, the Doctor must find the reptiles alone.
And behind it all lies a conspiracy to exploit UNIT’s achievements -- a conspiracy reaching deep into the heart of the British Government.
Listen to what Erik and Sean thought here.
A little boy goes missing; a policewoman begins drawing cave paintings; and the employees at the mysterious Glasshouse are desperate to keep everyone away -- the Doctor suspects it’s all down to a group of homo reptilia. His assistant, Liz Shaw, has ideas of her own and has teamed up with a journalist to search for people who don’t exist.
While the Brigadier has to cope with UNIT funding, the breakdown of his marriage and Geneva’s threats to replace him, the Doctor must find the reptiles alone.
And behind it all lies a conspiracy to exploit UNIT’s achievements -- a conspiracy reaching deep into the heart of the British Government.
Listen to what Erik and Sean thought here.
Episode 4 - Empire of Death
In 1856, a boy discovers he can speak with the voices of the dead. He grows up to become one of England’s most celebrated spiritualists.
In 1863 the British Empire is effectively without a leader. Queen Victoria is inconsolable with grief following the death of her beloved husband, Prince Albert. The monarch’s last hope is a secret séance.
The Doctor and Nyssa are also coming to terms with loss following the death of Adric and Tegan’s sudden departure. Trying to visit the Great Exhibition of 1851, the time travellers are shocked when a ghost appears in the TARDIS, beckoning them to the Other Side.
What is hidden in a drowned valley guarded by the British Army? Is there life after death and can it be reached by those still alive? And why is the Doctor so terrified of facing his own ghosts?
Listen to what Erik and Sean thought here.
In 1863 the British Empire is effectively without a leader. Queen Victoria is inconsolable with grief following the death of her beloved husband, Prince Albert. The monarch’s last hope is a secret séance.
The Doctor and Nyssa are also coming to terms with loss following the death of Adric and Tegan’s sudden departure. Trying to visit the Great Exhibition of 1851, the time travellers are shocked when a ghost appears in the TARDIS, beckoning them to the Other Side.
What is hidden in a drowned valley guarded by the British Army? Is there life after death and can it be reached by those still alive? And why is the Doctor so terrified of facing his own ghosts?
Listen to what Erik and Sean thought here.
Episode 3 - The Eight Doctors
‘Trust the TARDIS...’Recuperating after the trauma of his recent regeneration, the Doctor falls foul of a final booby-trap set by his arch-enemy, the Master.
When he recovers, the disorientated Doctor looks in a mirror and sees the face of a stranger. He knows only that he is called “the Doctor” -- nothing more. But something deep inside tells him to trust the TARDIS, and his hands move over the controls of their own accord.
The TARDIS takes him to a strangely familiar junkyard in late-nineties London, where he is flung into a confrontation between local drug-dealers and Samantha Jones, a rebellious teenager from Coal Hill School.
But the Doctor soon finds the TARDIS transporting him to various other places in order in order to recover all his memories -- and that involves seeing seven strangely-familiar faces...
Listen to what Erik and Sean thought about The Eight Doctors.
When he recovers, the disorientated Doctor looks in a mirror and sees the face of a stranger. He knows only that he is called “the Doctor” -- nothing more. But something deep inside tells him to trust the TARDIS, and his hands move over the controls of their own accord.
The TARDIS takes him to a strangely familiar junkyard in late-nineties London, where he is flung into a confrontation between local drug-dealers and Samantha Jones, a rebellious teenager from Coal Hill School.
But the Doctor soon finds the TARDIS transporting him to various other places in order in order to recover all his memories -- and that involves seeing seven strangely-familiar faces...
Listen to what Erik and Sean thought about The Eight Doctors.
Episode 2 - Damaged Goods
'Wherever this cocaine has travelled, it hasn't gone alone. Death has been its attendant. Death in a remarkably violent and inelegant form.
The Doctor, Chris and Roz arrive at the Quadrant, a troubled council block in Thatcher's Britain. There's a new drug on the streets, a drug that's killing to a plan. Somehow, the very ordinary people of the Quadrant are involved. And so, amidst the growing chaos, a bizarre trio moves into number 43.
The year is 1987: a dead drug dealer has risen from the grave, and an ancient weapon is concealed beneath human tragedy. But the Doctor soon discovers that the things people do for their children can be every bit as deadly as any alien menace - as he uncovers the link between a special child, an obsessive woman, and a desperate bargain made one dark Christmas Eve.
Listen to what Erik and Sean thought about Damaged Goods.
The Doctor, Chris and Roz arrive at the Quadrant, a troubled council block in Thatcher's Britain. There's a new drug on the streets, a drug that's killing to a plan. Somehow, the very ordinary people of the Quadrant are involved. And so, amidst the growing chaos, a bizarre trio moves into number 43.
The year is 1987: a dead drug dealer has risen from the grave, and an ancient weapon is concealed beneath human tragedy. But the Doctor soon discovers that the things people do for their children can be every bit as deadly as any alien menace - as he uncovers the link between a special child, an obsessive woman, and a desperate bargain made one dark Christmas Eve.
Listen to what Erik and Sean thought about Damaged Goods.
Episode 1 - The Sorcerer's Apprentice
‘There’s no such thing as magic,’ the Doctor said.
But the land of Elbyon might just prove him to be wrong. It is a place, populated by creatures of fantasy, where myth and legend rule. Elves and dwarves live in harmony with mankind, wizards wield arcane powers and armoured knights battle monstrous dragons.
Yet is seems that Elbyon has secrets to hide. The TARDIS crew find a relic from the thirtieth century hidden in the woods. Whose sinister manipulations are threatening the stability of a once peaceful lane? And what part does the planet play in a conflict that may save an Empire, yet doom a galaxy?
To solve these puzzles, and save his companions, the Doctor must learn to use the sorcery whose very existence he doubts.
Listen to what Erik and Sean thought about The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
But the land of Elbyon might just prove him to be wrong. It is a place, populated by creatures of fantasy, where myth and legend rule. Elves and dwarves live in harmony with mankind, wizards wield arcane powers and armoured knights battle monstrous dragons.
Yet is seems that Elbyon has secrets to hide. The TARDIS crew find a relic from the thirtieth century hidden in the woods. Whose sinister manipulations are threatening the stability of a once peaceful lane? And what part does the planet play in a conflict that may save an Empire, yet doom a galaxy?
To solve these puzzles, and save his companions, the Doctor must learn to use the sorcery whose very existence he doubts.
Listen to what Erik and Sean thought about The Sorcerer's Apprentice.