Doctor Who: Spiral Scratch

Past Doctor Adventures #72

by Gary Russell

When the Doctor and Mel receive a message about the Lamprey, the Doctor is confused. He's never heard of such a thing. Mel on the other hand has, which is odd as the Lamprey is a demon from a distant planet, far, far in the future - somewhere she's never heard of, let alone visited. Meanwhile two strangers are watching every move the Doctor makes, one minute stopping calamity, the next causing it. Are they the force for good that they claim? Just as Mel thinks she's got this time-travelling business sorted out once and for all, along comes the peculiar Pierrot family to challenge everything she believes to be real...

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Fiction, Time Travel, Novels, Fantasy

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Gary Russell is a British freelance writer, producer and former child actor. As a writer, he is best known for his work in connection with the television series Doctor Who and its spin-offs in other media. As an actor, he is best known for playing Dick Kirrin in the British 1978 television series The Famous Five.

Reviews

[Michael Battaglia · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my least favorite categories of Past Doctor Adventures are the ones that solely exist to explain some niggling point of continuity that was either glossed over or never dealt with at the time because nobody really cared. Most of the time this comes down to writing an entire novel based around a bit of minutiae that probably keeps none but the hardcore up at night, forcing us to wallow in a story that wraps itself like a pretzel around old continuity simply so that someone can sleep better at night now that we know how Important Person got from Point A to Point B, or how he came to wear different clothes. It's not that I mind these things being explained, per se, after about seven years writing about these books it's not impossible that I should count myself among said "hardcore", I just wish someone could fold it into a scene or two, and not base the entire book around it.

That said, this novel takes care of a rather glaring gap in the life of the Doctor so I can't say it's not addressing some needless detail. But I can't say that I'm overjoyed it exists either. Anyone who has been following the life of the Doctor at all generally knows that the transition from one Doctor to another is typically a Big Deal and marked by some sort of epic event or sacrifice. But when you rank memorable regenerations, the Sixth Doctor's winds up being last by some degree (and that's a list that includes the Seventh Doctor's rather startling inability to realize he's about to walk into a hail of bullets) as the televised evidence suggests that he simply fell down and hit his head on the TARDIS console. Sadly, it's an example of real life BBC politics creeping into the show . . . after a rather tumultuous tenure that had the BBC ticked off at him for reasons that had little to do with him, Colin Baker had been fired from the show (though, given his reaction to the script each week was probably "Are they serious?" I can't imagine he felt too badly about it) and although given a chance to come back and film a proper regeneration scene, his answer was probably understandably filled with expletives. So be it. Thus Sylvester McCoy in a wig stood in and instead of seeing his epic last moments, we see why the TARDIS should have been fitted with those foam pieces they put on sharp corners so that babies don't crack their heads open.

The Virgin Missing Adventures didn't get show his final moments but gave us a decent explanation why he regenerated for such a lame reason, i.e. the Seventh Doctor, fearing that the Sixth Doctor might turn into the evil Valeyard, triggered his own regeneration to solve that problem, and because he had stuff to do and time was a-wastin'. It completely fit with the more manipulative personality and big-picture oriented Seventh Doctor, as well as gave him a complex darking shading and the Sixth Doctor slightly more of an edge in the process, albeit not a harder head.

Gary Russell, and presumably the BBC, either didn't like or forgot about that explanation and so decided to write him a proper regeneration story. I will say, it's not an awful idea to do a "final" Sixth Doctor story, if nothing else then to give some closure to the character so his tenure could be bookended properly. But either this isn't the story to do it or Russell isn't the writer to bring it about. The Doctor and Mel, through a process that seems to take quite a while, have come to realize that parallel universes are crossing over and that an entity outside of time has crept in and is trying to devour everything in sight, leaving it to our faithful Time Lord and his favorite red-headed friend, as well as the Doctors of a dozen other timelines, to try and fix things.

There's promise to quite a bit of this, actually. The concept of alternate universe Doctors isn't something we see too often (the most notable was the "Merlin" future Doctor of "Battlefield") and some of the ideas he comes up with (a world where the Roman Empire never fell, another where Silurians and people interbred) would have merited a more in-depth look on their own. In fact the whole concept of the Doctor sacrificing himself not just to save his timeline, but all his timelines for all time, is the sort of thing that regeneration stories are made for. With time altering itself and falling apart around him, he could make that last-ditch effort we knew he was capable of. But for the most part it involves the various Doctors crossing over with Mel and each other in some time-twistiness, while the actual villain bwah-ha-has all over the place and acts all villainy. But we'll get to that.

The prose hamstrings this book more than I thought possible. At first I thought it was just me but for the most part the prose is a blunt instrument making every passage far more tedious than it has to be. When it's not being tonally off and needlessly casual (what a fun romp saving time is! ha ha!), the dialogue between Mel and the Sixth Doctor veers from pompous to asinine, sometimes in the course of a single paragraph. Russell takes the worst aspects of each character (the Sixth Doctor's boorishness, Mel's inherent Melness) and supercharges them so that most of their conversations, especially early on before the plot kicks in, just grate. I understand he didn't have much to work with and Mel is probably second only to Adric in terms of people acting like a ball and chain on the plot. But other writers have made Mel work. It's possible, I've seen it happen. It can be done. But not here.

If the Doctor was given a foe worth sparring against, one formidable enough to make his regeneration a forgone conclusion, this certainly could have come off better. But the time monster is called a Lamprey and not only looks like one, looks like one in such a way that you can imagine the actor putting on the rubber costume or the hand puppet experiencing the magic of CSO. Given an unlimited budget of imagination and the opportunity to create something truly strange and dangerous, Russell instead gives us something that would fit in perfectly during the 80s era of the show. And that's not exactly a compliment. This is later compounded by Lampreys disguising themselves as people with the last name of Lamprey, so that the Doctor must interact with epic menaces named Monica and Bernard Lamprey. Whatever tension could be in the book is sucked right out as he tangles with a peril that should be beyond our understanding but cackles and struts just like any other grade C "Doctor Who" villain. One who needs to steal people from time so she can keep sucking time out of the universe. But why is she only stealing certain random human beings who serve no purpose to the plot except to be kidnapped and pad things out some more.

Once you realize that the whole point of the story is to get us to that opening scene of "Time and the Rani", it all seems very much by numbers. Given the chance to go out on a swaggering burst of righteous pomposity, we simply get a fight that leaves him weakened enough to regenerate. There's some pathos in the final scenes and I do wish that Colin Baker had been given a chance to act his heart out in them, but with the whole novel enslaved to its own needs, there seems to be no need to push things the extra kilometer and make it a truly memorable experience. Instead, he's done in by a time sucking spineless space beast named Monica, and still winds up face-planting on the TARDIS floor when it's over. If there's anything that better symbolizes the distance between the promise and the results of the Colin Baker era, then I haven't seen it yet.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fitting story for the Sixth Doctors regeneration.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really a 3.5 but I couldn’t bring myself to round up.

Not the best Doctor Who MDA, but a valiant attempt to fill in a missing chapter. The writing is extremely clunky throughout but occasionally yields gems such as this:

"Our lives have so many advantages, Melanie. We see myriad things we'd otherwise be denied. But there's a price to pay. Your price is not knowing. Mine is knowing."

I mean, that's GREAT.

Am I sorry I read this, No. But will I be reading it again? Also no.

[Harry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one book in particular that has interested me for a long time. Not just because the cover itself is fantastic but also that it is an alternative regeneration story for the sixth doctor.

Having experienced The Ultimate Foe, The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure and now this, I can say that this in opinion is my favourite version of a sixth doctor regeneration. I recently bought the re release of Times Champion which I have yet to read but so far, Spiral Scratch is my favourite version of the four Sixie finales.

The book itself is actually very well paced and there is always something interesting going on. I was told before going into the book that it’s quite crazy but just to stick with it, which I did. And I’m glad I did so.

What’s interesting about this book is that Garry Russel stated that when he wrote this book he wasn’t in a great place at the time and didn’t feel as though he wrote something that wasn’t as good as he could’ve made it. Personally I thought this was such an enjoyable read, it’s probably one of my favourite Doctor Who books.

I don’t want to give much away, just my general opinion of the book. If you’re a fan of the sixth doctor then is definitely recommended (that’s if you can find it for a reasonable price!). This is definitely how the Sixth Doctor should’ve regenerated in the show!

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spiral Scratch is probably one of the better Russell DW's out there, but that's not really saying much. At the very least, this entry to the Whoniverse is fast-paced and interesting. However, it's also messy and confusing. The story involves multiverses clashing, and this isn't immediately revealed to the reader; nor is the indication of which Doctor we are following. The reader is just supposed to figure it out through context. A clear delineation of chapters belonging to the alternate Doctors and Mels would have been helpful. I would be several pages in to a section before I realized that it was from the perspective an alternate Doctor, and I felt like I needed to go back and restart it- it was beyond frustrating.
Unfortunately this isn't a story that you can read a small amount and put down again, because you will be hopelessly lost. This is one of those DW's where I feel like I got the basic gist of the story, but I'm sure I didn't get all of it.
What's good about this then? The Doctor (6) is marvelously in character, as well as Mel. The story is engaging for the most part, and really does make you think. It's certainly not awful, but could have been executed more clearly and concisely. As for the end? Well, it ties in to 7's first episode. This part was done well, and made me want to rewatch Time and the Rani- and I'm not a huge fan of McCoy.
This 6 is okay, if a bit scattered, and fills a gap in the DW lore. If you need to scratch that itch, this will do that nicely.

[Nicholas Whyte]

"http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1348972.html#cutid3[return][return]Russell wrote Beautiful Chaos, which is my favourite of the New Series Adventures, but this is rather journeyman stuff. In particular, the writing style of the opening passages is very clunky indeed. Eventually he settles down to the story of multiple Doctors and Mels across different universes and pursued by giant time-travelling lampreys, but it's not his best work"

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an attempt to give Colin Baker's 6th Doctor a proper final story, it certainly swings for the fences...but doesn't always hit the mark. While Gary Russell completely masters the 6th Doctor and Mel, the alternate-universe plot lines become far too undisciplined by its conclusion, and the 6th Doctor's pre-regeneration sacrifice seems more of a technical issue than an emotional one. Not quite what it could have been, but a much better end-of-Doctor story than something like "The Tenth Planet".

[David Layton · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not the universe this time; it's the whole multiverse. That is the premise on which hangs Gary Russell's story of how the 6th Doctor ends. There is no doubt that Russell spent years in various media trying to revitalize and rewrite the reputation of Doctor 6. I agree with him that Colin Baker's Doctor was underserved in his time on TV, and that the TV writers never figured out how to write to Colin Baker's strengths as an actor. Russell goes all out to try to rectify that problem. Russell's Doctor 6 is still tetchy, but not just as a personality quirk, but as a defense against his own tendency of caring too much. Russell's Doctor 6 is much more perceptive, too. And, as Russell writes him, Doctor 6 will make the grand self-sacrifice that other Doctors likely wouldn't. So, Russell writes a story that would highlight these characteristics and justify the regeneration that we never properly got to see on TV. Russell also attempts to justify the various media spinoffs (comics, cd audios, fan films, etc.) as alternate universes rather than tie them into a secure, single timeline. The idea to accomplish this is that something has happened to cause ruptures across the multiverse and allowed a hideous time-eating lamprey to turn the multiverse into chaos soup. The justification for this seems to be the existence of a Human-Lamprey hybrid (never mind the impossibility of species from different worlds or realities breeding), and the accidental discovery by an Earth scientist of a special chemical reaction that will open the pathways for the evil lamprey to travel. Or something like that. It's not entirely clear. Instead of trying to follow all the various alternative Doctors and their attempts to track down the problem, Russell concentrates on three, with three versions of Mel quite different from each other (which makes one alternate Doctor mistaking the wrong Mel something of a plot hole). At the heart of this is rather standard Doctor Who fare, though. An evil creature from another dimension with god-like powers that "eats" time has got loose and must be put back into its cage. One can give it a new body, but it's still pretty much the same thing as in dozens of other Doctor Who stories across the media. The villain, therefore, is not particularly compelling, since its motivation is basically nutrition. In the end, "Spiral Scratch" is a noble effort, but deeply flawed.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spiral Scratch isn’t just another Doctor Who novel—it’s a swan song, a metaphysical time puzzle, and a love letter to Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor, wrapped in quantum chaos and multiverse madness. With this book, Gary Russell sets out to do something no televised episode ever properly did: give the Sixth Doctor a true, meaningful, and emotionally resonant farewell. And oh boy, does he deliver—with heart, style, and a whole lot of interdimensional weirdness.

The story begins in classic Who fashion: reality is breaking down, timelines are collapsing, and something very, very hungry is devouring alternate universes. But rather than running away, the Doctor—bold, brash, and more emotionally aware than we often saw him on TV—dives straight into the storm. Alongside the ever-curious Mel Bush, he begins unraveling a cosmic plot involving shadowy parasites, alternate selves, collapsing timelines, and a threat that might just require the ultimate sacrifice.

Russell’s narrative swings big. This is high-concept sci-fi on a cosmic scale—fractured realities, quantum entanglements, multiple versions of characters, and a villain whose motives are both tragic and terrifying. But at its heart, Spiral Scratch is about regret, choice, and legacy. What defines a person when there are a million versions of them scattered across the multiverse? What does it mean to be this Doctor, this Mel, in this moment?

One of the book’s most powerful feats is how it reclaims the Sixth Doctor's arc. Often remembered for loud jackets and louder moods, this Doctor is rendered with deep internal conflict, fierce intelligence, and real emotional weight. He’s still arrogant and sharp-tongued, but there’s vulnerability beneath the bravado. And Spiral Scratch makes it mean something—this Doctor chooses to end, not in some off-screen tumble between regenerations, but in an act of heroism and sacrifice that feels earned.

Gary Russell’s prose is brisk, smart, and packed with references that long-time fans will gobble up like jelly babies. The pacing is brisk, the stakes apocalyptic, and the emotional payoff hits like a well-aimed sonic screwdriver to the chest.

In essence, Doctor Who: Spiral Scratch is multiverse sci-fi done with soul. It’s a redemption arc, a regeneration in all but name, and a must-read for anyone who believes the Sixth Doctor deserved better. It proves that even in a swirling vortex of collapsing realities, what truly matters is the heart inside the TARDIS.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) and Mel find themselves caught up in a mix of overlapping time zones and crisscrossing alternate universes as they discover a dangerous interdimensional foe that threatens all reality.

As I understand it, this is one of many Who stories which attempts to fill the gap between the Sixth Doctor's televised adventures and the appearance of the Seventh Doctor, following Colin Baker's unceremonious dismissal by the BBC.
Now, although I've warmed to him somewhat over the years, I think it's fair to say that almost no-one would call the Sixth their favourite Doctor. Add to that the fact that Mel Bush is certainly one of the worst companions, with the constant snarky bickering between the two characters being endlessly irritating and it's safe to say this book has an uphill struggle to begin with.

In all honesty, I didn't like the first half to two-thirds of this book at all.
We're bombarded with dozens of alternate realities and secondary characters, with little indication of how they actually feed into the main narrative. Some of these alternate realities are actually quite engaging, but the book jumps track just as things are getting interesting. Now, it's not the author's fault that I read this book in 2023, when multiverse stories have become pretty much cliché, but it certainly doesn't help that none of the alternate reality plot points feel fresh now (although, honestly, they were already done to death by the likes of Star Trek decades ago).

To my surprise, however, Russell actually managed to pull the finale of the book together tightly enough that I actually, finally, became invested in what was going on.
In fact, the scene in which countless alternate version of the Sixth Doctor join forces to save the entire multiverse was genuinely powerful and felt like a fitting lead-in to the Doctor's 'lost' regeneration.

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *

[Dylan Green · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is quite possibly one of the worst books I've ever read. Not solely because the plot is a contrived mess, but the prose is completely underwhelming. It honestly started off really strong, with a lot of interesting concepts (especially for Doctor Who, where frankly if you find something that hasn't been done before you might as well be awarded a medal) but quickly veered off track as soon as the Doctor actually shows up. I'm not sure if that's ironic or not. If I wasn't required to finish this book I probably wouldn't have, which is saying something considering I've only ever given up on two books before.

[Zack Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's fantastic. That and brilliant are the two words I'd use to describe it.
In this final adventure for the Sixth Doctor, we are presented with variants of the Doctor and his companion, Mel, each of whom reflects different sides of their personalities. It's a ton of fun to see the different Doctors, even though it means we go long stretches without 'our' Doctor. The final battle is probably the greatest climax to any Doctor Who story, and it really encapsulates who the Doctor is.

[Jacqueline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a tie-in to the wonderful British Science Fiction television show Doctor Who. It is not a novelization of an episode but rather an original story, that borrows the characters of the Sixth Doctor (played by Colin Baker) and Melanie Bush (played by Bonnie Langford) under license from the BBC. Doctor Who is the world's longest-running science fiction program, having run continuously from 1963 to 1989, picked up for a TV movie in 1996, and then returned to the screens in 2005 and still running strong. The program will celebrate it's 50th Anniversary next year (2013). The BBC Past Doctor Adventures (sometimes referred to as PDA) were published by BBC Books and are one of five series of original tie-in novels. There was also a series of novelizations published by Target Books (the paperback arm of UK publisher WH Allen). Of all the various Doctor Who novels I've read I find the PDAs and EDAs (Eighth Doctor Adventures, published at the same time) to be the best.

This was one of the best Doctor Who BBC Books Past Doctor Adventures I've read. The story felt like a good Doctor Who story, something that could have been done on the series - if they'd had the budget. It's actually a complex tale. The Doctor and Mel head to Carsus, the universe's ultimate library to meet an old friend of the Doctor's, a retired Time Lord named Rummas. It's not quite a vacation, but not quite a mission to save the universe - yet. However, while traveling to Carsus, various other versions of the Doctor and sometimes Mel appear in the TARDIS. When they arrive at the library, first the Doctor find Rummas dead, then he's alive. Mel sees other versions of his helpers at the library. And before long she and the Doctor have to save the universe.

However, it isn't just the universe at stake -- it's the multiverse. Spiral Scratch deals with multi-universe theory in a highly interesting way without being too bogged down in long explanations. Before long, The Doctor and Mel are trying to save Helen, but as things get more complex, and they continuously fail and return to the Library, it becomes apparent that something bigger is going on.

What that is... is Monica, a Lamprey, a creature that lives in the Vortex itself and devoures Chronon (time) Energy. However, Rummas has become trapped - because Monica lives outside of time, and Rummas lives life in a normal line and cannot change his own past -- every time Rummas tries to stop Monica, she can simply slip back and stop him. Rummas, unaware of this, continues to call the Doctor to him, bringing in more and more versions of the Doctor from different alternate universes.

Our version of the Doctor, and Mel, are unaware of this - as is the reader at first, as they try to rescue various time-sensitives, from various planets, in various different universes of the multi-verse. And each time the Doctor fails - he or Mel sees ghost images of other versions of himself in the TARDIS control room.

The fun of this novel starts with the various different universes such as an Imperial Earth where Rome never fell. The novel also includes chapters without the Doctor or Mel as Monica goes about her business of wrecking havoc - which the reader can slowly put together like clues in a great mystery novel. I also liked the other versions of the Doctor -- one dressed in mourning black, with a scar on his face, missing an eye. He's kinder and gentler than "our Doctor" but also blames himself for Peri's death (in the universe where Rome never fell - she was from the Americas and a native princess named Brown Perpugilliam). Another Doctor travels with a human/Silurian hybrid named Melanie Baal. These "other" Doctors and Mels are fascinating.

The conclusion of the story is fantastic, and I loved it. I'm not going to spoil it here, but trust me... if you're a long-time Who fan, familiar with various versions of the show and official tie-ins to it, you will enjoy Spiral Scratch. Also, this novel fills in a continuity gap from the original series that most fans will recognize. I also loved, loved, loved that. And I will say, though normally I don't really like the companion Mel, I found that this book made me much more sympathetic to her, which is an accomplishment. I highly, highly, highly recommend this novel to fans of the TV Series Doctor Who. I also think that if you like a good tie-in novel with a strong SF plot, you'll enjoy this... though if you don't know Doctor Who you'll probably miss some subtleties of the plot.

[Lawrence · Rating 2 out of 5]

https://gnomeship.blogspot.com/2021/1...

[Chris Wing · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a bit of a sucker for events in Doctor Who. New comapanions arriving, companions leaving, a challenge to established continuity... a Doctor regenerating.
And this is exactly what this book offers, the final sixth Doctor story.

Somehow, I managed to avoid reading this for pretty much 10 whole years (flying in the face of my statement only moments prior!), so, when I heard that Big Finish were doing their own culmination to old Sixie's term, I decided to pull my finger ot and read this first.

It's no spoiler to say that this story segues (overlaps, even) into the 7th Doctor's first story, Time and the Rani, but, of course, it's the journey that it's all about.
And, for an event book, I can't say I was overwhelmed. Now, I fully appreciate that this has had 10 years of hype (not on the same scale as the new star Wars, granted), but it all felt a little rushed. The story was fine, and the build up was fine, or rather, would have been fine, if the tome was a longer one. Instead, we got a lot of seemingly random set up of characters and then suddenly, the end play was upon us.
I totally missed where the Doctor did the middle of the book!

However, there was more than one Doctor to contend with and I enjoyed keeping up with with version of the sixth Doctor was doing what. In fact, I'd be interested in a whole novel for the 'Roman empire' version.

The final scenes were quite enjoyable and felt like a fitting end for this Doctor. They felt quite cinematic and I felt worked quite well.

What I felt let this book down, was the depiction of Mel. Unfortunately, I didn't recognise her at all. One of my key requirements for Doctor Who fiction is that I can 'hear' the established characters (namely the Doctor & companion(s). This, for me, is the deal braeker and I simply could not hear Mel.
Since when did Mel say 'Screw you, Bitch'? I'm totally bemused as to how Gary and I have watched the same stories with Mel in when he portrays her in this way. Also, her back story about her uni days being in accommodation that was a notorious shag pad does not sound like the sort of abode Mel would have gravitated to (or stuck around in for very long at all).
I appreciate some novels tried to make established characters a bit more gritty/earthy/real, but this did not succeed here, I feel.

For many a year, I counted this as the official swansong of the sixth Doctor. Whilst it was a very competant piece (and indeed, enjoyable for the most part), I'm actually beginning to feel that I shall allow that title to the BF audio release. That way, this can be another of the alternate Doctors and the out of character Mel can remain as is...

[Marci · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was an amazing book. I haven seen any of the Sixth Doctor episodes so this was my first introduction to him, and I rather liked it. I would have given it five stars if it wasn't for one page in the middle.
Besides that it was fantastic! And confusing...

[Lana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bright green skin? Really? I can't finish this book.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of fun, adventure and parallel universes, a spectacular end to the 6th Doctor's era!

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's still a 5/5 for me.

[Nicola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Messy plot, but the ending almost redeemed it.