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Doctor Who Target Books (Numerical Order) #144
Doctor Who: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
CREEPY. That's what Ace thinks of clowns. But the Doctor insists on entering the talent contest at the Psychic Circus, the self-proclaimed Greatest Show in the Galaxy, on the planet Segonax.
What has reduced Segonax to an arid wasteland? Why have the happy-go-lucky circus folk stayed here for so long? And why are they no longer happy? Above all, what is the dreadful truth about the Ringmaster and his robot clowns?
The Doctor and Ace need all their death-defying skills in the big top to uncover a brooding, ancient evil that has broken the spirit of the Circus and demanded the sacrifice of so many lives.
What has reduced Segonax to an arid wasteland? Why have the happy-go-lucky circus folk stayed here for so long? And why are they no longer happy? Above all, what is the dreadful truth about the Ringmaster and his robot clowns?
The Doctor and Ace need all their death-defying skills in the big top to uncover a brooding, ancient evil that has broken the spirit of the Circus and demanded the sacrifice of so many lives.
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
176 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Wyatt
58 books6 followersStephen Wyatt was educated at Latymer Upper School and then Clare College, Cambridge. After a brief spell as Lecturer in Drama at Glasgow University, he began his career as a freelance playwright in 1975 as writer/researcher with the Belgrade Theatre Coventry in Education team.
His subsequent young people's theatre work includes The Magic Cabbage (Unicorn 1978), Monster (York Theatre Royal 1979) and The Witch of Wapping (Half Moon 1980).
In 1982 and 1983 he was Resident Writer with the Bubble Theatre for whom he wrote Glitterballs and The Rogue's Progress.
Other theatre work includes After Shave (Apollo Theatre 1978), R.I.P Maria Callas (Edinburgh Festival / Hen and Chickens 1992), A working woman (from Zola's L'Assommoir) (West Yorkshire Playhouse 1992) and The Standard Bearer (Man in the Moon 2001). He also collaborated with Jeff Clarke on The Burglar's Opera for Opera della Luna (2004) "stolen from an idea by W. S. Gilbert with music nicked from Sir Arthur Sullivan".
His first work for television was Claws, filmed by the BBC in 1987, starring Simon Jones and Brenda Blethyn. Wyatt then went on to write two scripts for the science fiction series Doctor Who — these were Paradise Towers and The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. Both of those serials featured Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor. His other television credits include scripts for The House of Eliott and Casualty.
He has worked for BBC Radio since 1985 as both an adapter and an original playwright.
His subsequent young people's theatre work includes The Magic Cabbage (Unicorn 1978), Monster (York Theatre Royal 1979) and The Witch of Wapping (Half Moon 1980).
In 1982 and 1983 he was Resident Writer with the Bubble Theatre for whom he wrote Glitterballs and The Rogue's Progress.
Other theatre work includes After Shave (Apollo Theatre 1978), R.I.P Maria Callas (Edinburgh Festival / Hen and Chickens 1992), A working woman (from Zola's L'Assommoir) (West Yorkshire Playhouse 1992) and The Standard Bearer (Man in the Moon 2001). He also collaborated with Jeff Clarke on The Burglar's Opera for Opera della Luna (2004) "stolen from an idea by W. S. Gilbert with music nicked from Sir Arthur Sullivan".
His first work for television was Claws, filmed by the BBC in 1987, starring Simon Jones and Brenda Blethyn. Wyatt then went on to write two scripts for the science fiction series Doctor Who — these were Paradise Towers and The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. Both of those serials featured Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor. His other television credits include scripts for The House of Eliott and Casualty.
He has worked for BBC Radio since 1985 as both an adapter and an original playwright.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 4, 2024
The Greatest Show in the Galaxy has always been a curious creature of a story. Partly creepy, partly the series rediscovering itself and how to thrive despite the lack of a budget to realize its ambitions. Something that Stephen Wyatt’s TV script tapped into, even if it wasn’t entirely a success on-screen. Which makes its novelization, published just after the series went off the air, something of a frustrating read. Unlike his adaptation of Paradise Towers (itself not an entirely successful effort but which resorted much of what he’d intended), Wyatt doesn’t make much effort to expand upon what was seen on TV. Indeed, it’s much more in the vein of the earlier Terrance Dicks novelizations which add enough prose and the odd detail to the TV script to avoid it being a script-book. Even so, the strengths of the original TV script are present, even if Wyatt sadly doesn’t do much to add new life to it in prose as the likes of Ben Aaronovitch or Marc Platt would adapting their scripts for Target. A shame, but a significant improvement over Paradise Towers’ novelization all the same.
January 7, 2026
A quite polished retelling of a very unsettling story. Like Remembrance Of The Daleks, you can see the foundations of the New Adventures being laid out but this doesn’t quite disappear up its own fundament the way many of them did. Characters are fleshed out and built up, the setting oozes unease and the story unfolds at a brisk pace. My only complaint would be that Bellboy’s handing over of his robot control device feels more like a plot coupon than it did on-screen.
September 21, 2018
Another perfectly competent and solid adaptation. However, it's another story from the batch of McCoy adventures (such as "Paradise Towers" and "Delta and the Bannermen") that isn't novelized to quite the same level of ambition as "Remembrance of the Daleks" or the season 26 novelizations. Perfectly enjoyable for what it is, but considering how brilliant it was on television, I wish Stephen Wyatt had let loose a bit more and given us even more expanded details and disturbing loopy-ness.
March 13, 2022
The novelization of The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is kind of a sad coincidence, being the first novelization to be published after the airing of Survival and the ending of the show. After this book was published while there would be twelve more novelizations, nine before the beginning of the Virgin New Adventures in 1991, the final three being longer novelizations from John Peel of the Patrick Troughton Dalek stories and Barry Letts novelizing The Paradise of Death. Stephen Wyatt’s The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is almost fitting to be the first post-Survival novelization as it is a meta-commentary on the state of Doctor Who in the late 1980s, taking place in a setting which essentially represents the show as a whole and its translated somehow more starkly when in novel form. Wyatt did not get the luxury of Ben Aaronovitch’s Remembrance of the Daleks novelization with an increased word count and was still working with the basic 120-140 pages of text, yet he manages to pack so many things into this small novelization. Wyatt as a writer writes a genuinely surreal experience in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy due to the story’s meta commentary and Wyatt’s prose essentially building upon the emotions of fear that mount throughout the story.
For instance, there is a sense of maliciousness from Captain Cook and the circus itself from the very beginning, with this great description of how dark and cramped the tent feels when the Doctor and Ace first enter. It’s also a slow burn to get the Doctor and Ace to the circus itself, allowing a lot of the dread to set in with some added scenes outside of the Doctor and Ace getting the junk mail to Segonax. The book opens with a description of the Ringmaster’s rap which in the audiobook is attempted by Sophie Aldred which kind of makes it hilarious. There is this fear and more run down idea to the Psychic Circus throughout where the characters have almost more tension while the final confrontation with the Gods of Ragnarok and the Doctor creates almost more tension. The book ends with the explosion, beautifully described and an actual final few moments between the Doctor and Ace leaving which feels like a thesis statement, which helps especially since this was published immediately after the show ended. It’s almost a statement from Wyatt, unintentionally that the show will somehow still go on though in a different form. It becomes an interesting prelude to what would become the Virgin New Adventures, not because of some added content, but because of translating as story into prose with some occasional pieces of darkness sprinkled throughout that play more on the cosmic horror elements of the premise that the show could never do. The book is reflective on where the show could have been going, especially if Wyatt was given a third serial in Season 26.
Overall, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is a perfect example of how to adapt a television story in an era where VHS releases were picking up steam (several serials would have been released and the first Seventh Doctor VHS release would only release two years after this in the UK). It doesn’t change things, but provides quite a lot of depth to an already well regarded story. Wyatt’s writing style is also perfect making it a genuine shame he wouldn’t write for Doctor Who again in any form until 2021’s The Psychic Circus. 10/10.
For instance, there is a sense of maliciousness from Captain Cook and the circus itself from the very beginning, with this great description of how dark and cramped the tent feels when the Doctor and Ace first enter. It’s also a slow burn to get the Doctor and Ace to the circus itself, allowing a lot of the dread to set in with some added scenes outside of the Doctor and Ace getting the junk mail to Segonax. The book opens with a description of the Ringmaster’s rap which in the audiobook is attempted by Sophie Aldred which kind of makes it hilarious. There is this fear and more run down idea to the Psychic Circus throughout where the characters have almost more tension while the final confrontation with the Gods of Ragnarok and the Doctor creates almost more tension. The book ends with the explosion, beautifully described and an actual final few moments between the Doctor and Ace leaving which feels like a thesis statement, which helps especially since this was published immediately after the show ended. It’s almost a statement from Wyatt, unintentionally that the show will somehow still go on though in a different form. It becomes an interesting prelude to what would become the Virgin New Adventures, not because of some added content, but because of translating as story into prose with some occasional pieces of darkness sprinkled throughout that play more on the cosmic horror elements of the premise that the show could never do. The book is reflective on where the show could have been going, especially if Wyatt was given a third serial in Season 26.
Overall, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is a perfect example of how to adapt a television story in an era where VHS releases were picking up steam (several serials would have been released and the first Seventh Doctor VHS release would only release two years after this in the UK). It doesn’t change things, but provides quite a lot of depth to an already well regarded story. Wyatt’s writing style is also perfect making it a genuine shame he wouldn’t write for Doctor Who again in any form until 2021’s The Psychic Circus. 10/10.
April 24, 2021
Stephen Wyatt's previous Doctor Who, "Paradise Towers," shares much in common with this one. Both start from very interesting premises. Both incorporate strange resettings of character tropes. Both build a mystery through an intriguing two thirds of the story. And both fail when the big reveal finally happens. Here, Doctor 7 and Ace get visited by an advertising satellite, space junk mail, promoting the Psychic Circus, the "Greatest Show in the Galaxy." Of course, nothing is as it seems. Beings from around the Galaxy are invited to perform in the circus to compete from some unnamed great prize. This leads to a number of bizarre types of people heading to the circus. The circus, though, is turned into some kind of weird killing enterprise to appease some unknown power. The problematic ending drags this story down for me. It's a rabbit-out-of-hat sort of ending in which the Doctor just seems to "know" what is going on and how to fix without much preparation for the reader on how he knows. Also, the reveal does not make much sense. Wyatt has tried in his novelization to correct some of this, with many broad hints about how the Doctor is seeing clues that others miss and that maybe he had an idea about it all from the moment the junk mailer entered the TARDIS. These touches really do not fix enough of the problems to make the ending any more sensible or satisfying than it originally was.
July 18, 2021
Between a 3 and a 4 for me. Been looking forward to this one, as been long time since I saw the TV story and never read the book before, but I always enjoy the more metaphysical stories (such as with the Celestial Toymaker, the Guardians) and is combined with a bit of cosmic horror here that I also enjoy.
The story itself is an interesting one I think, quite a bit of mystery and suspense early on, and for the most part the one off characters are pretty well fleshed out, most somewhat grey in nature, and add to the plot well, and I quite liked Mags and am glad she got other stories through Big Finish and the like eventually.
The Doctor is definitely in his darker style here, but isn't so manipulative, and it is made uncertain as to whether he knew what he was getting into, but certainly didn't proactively seek it out like in other stories this season, though still has hints of being something more than a Time Lord, which I don't like :)
Ace in good form here as usual, getting into and out of trouble and moving things along.
All round, an enjoyable read, though if I wasn't into the metaphysical and cosmic horror, not sure I would have enjoyed it so much.
The story itself is an interesting one I think, quite a bit of mystery and suspense early on, and for the most part the one off characters are pretty well fleshed out, most somewhat grey in nature, and add to the plot well, and I quite liked Mags and am glad she got other stories through Big Finish and the like eventually.
The Doctor is definitely in his darker style here, but isn't so manipulative, and it is made uncertain as to whether he knew what he was getting into, but certainly didn't proactively seek it out like in other stories this season, though still has hints of being something more than a Time Lord, which I don't like :)
Ace in good form here as usual, getting into and out of trouble and moving things along.
All round, an enjoyable read, though if I wasn't into the metaphysical and cosmic horror, not sure I would have enjoyed it so much.
November 19, 2023
Doctor Who: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (1989) by Stephen Wyatt is the novelisation of the fourth and final serial of season twenty five of Doctor Who.
The TARDIS has a remarkable satellite break in and inform them of an invitation to the Psychic Circus on the planet Segonax. The Doctor decides to go despite Ace’s trepidation. The Psychic Circus once travelled the Universe but now stays in Segonax and there is something very disturbing about it now.
The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is not a bad story with a strong meta element about Doctor Who itself.
However having created a clever set up the finish is fairly flat. But it’s not bad.
The TARDIS has a remarkable satellite break in and inform them of an invitation to the Psychic Circus on the planet Segonax. The Doctor decides to go despite Ace’s trepidation. The Psychic Circus once travelled the Universe but now stays in Segonax and there is something very disturbing about it now.
The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is not a bad story with a strong meta element about Doctor Who itself.
However having created a clever set up the finish is fairly flat. But it’s not bad.
December 1, 2025
A solid, if unremarkable adaptation of this serial. It's not one of the best McCoy era stories, not the worst either, but this novelisation fails to fill in some of the gaps in the show, or provide extra background or motivation for the characters. At face value therefore, it's fine, but lacking depth and a bit of a missed opportunity.
April 13, 2023
One of the better Target novelizations. While the non-TD authors of Target novelizations could be varied in quality (Terence Dudley wrote some bad ones) most were at least competent. Wyatt is on the higher end of these authors.
May 16, 2017
Better than the televised version but not by much.
December 12, 2018
Started off not great but got slightly better, doesn't quite capture the manic energy of the TV episodes somehow.
August 25, 2023
An entertaining adaption. Stephen Wyatt fleshes out this strange story a little to good effect. Sophie Aldred does an excellent job with the narration.
January 19, 2024
"So long as you entertain us you may live. When you no longer entertain us, you die."
February 8, 2019
Werepenguin Productions Content Description:
Keywords: 7th Doctor, Ace, Circus, Space Travel-Future
Violence and Gore: minor realistic (blood from cuts, nosebleeds, split lips, bruises, etc.)
Profanity: PG Language
Sex and Nudity: None
https://www.werepenguinproductions.or...
Keywords: 7th Doctor, Ace, Circus, Space Travel-Future
Violence and Gore: minor realistic (blood from cuts, nosebleeds, split lips, bruises, etc.)
Profanity: PG Language
Sex and Nudity: None
https://www.werepenguinproductions.or...
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April 8, 2009http://nhw.livejournal.com/1079514.html?#cutid5[return][return]Wyatt's book is not really an improvement on the TV original. Shorn of (for once) decent production values and the compelling performances of the actors, the holes in the plot and clunky scene-setting are more apparent, and Wyatt, having written a TV script, is reduced to reporting what we saw on screen without being able to add much to it. Fails the Bechdel test - each female character is rigidly paired off with a male, and on the rare occasions that they converse it is always about one of the men (usually the Doctor).
November 15, 2009
A desolate planet seems an odd place for a circus, but the Seventh Doctor and Ace soon learn there's something very wrong about this circus and the one family that seems to be its only audience.
Light weight story, that sags a bit in the middle, as everyone just seems to run around, get captured, escape etc, but the beginning and ending are entertaining and introduce a menace that I wish we'd had a chance to see show up again.
Light weight story, that sags a bit in the middle, as everyone just seems to run around, get captured, escape etc, but the beginning and ending are entertaining and introduce a menace that I wish we'd had a chance to see show up again.
August 27, 2012
Worth reading for Whovians.
Want to read
November 1, 2014"Older and dealer menace"? Who even wrote this summary?! I'm sure that's supposed to be "deadlier"...
May 7, 2016
One of the best Doctor Who audiobooks in a long time. Sophie put her heart and soul into this reading and even sang the songs :) Spot on.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews