Doctor Who: The Adventures Before: Eight Tales That Prelude the Greatest Adventures of the Doctor

Doctor Who New Series anthologies

by Mark Griffiths, Steve Cole, Janet Fielding

What did Osgood do the morning of the Day of the Doctor?

What happened to Tegan before Arc of Infinity, and why does it involve strange sentient lights in the Australia outback?

What was the Tenth Doctor doing in a hall of mirrors, right before Planet of the Dead?

Answers to all these questions lie in an incredible collection of new Doctor Who short stories that give a glimpse into the moments just before we saw the Doctor step on screen.

From Skaro to Apalapucia, from a shop front drained of colour to Rassilon’s tomb, join a host of incredible adventures across the universe with Doctors, companions, friends and foes.

Genres: Doctor Who, Audiobook, Science Fiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published October 3, 2024

Reviews

[Adia · Rating 3 out of 5]

i'm not so huge a Doctor Who fan that i've watched all, or even most, of the episodes these stories preclude; but they were still fun.

The Boy and the Dalek, by Mark Griffiths. the 2nd Doctor, Victoria, and Jamie receive a distress signal and go to the aid of the only lifeform aboard a crash-landed craft...a Dalek? the Dalek shows them the events that led to the wreck: a human boy stranded on Skaro and the damaged Dalek that rescues him. Griffiths tried to write the motives of the Dalek's extremely uncharacteristic show of kindness as a "furthering of the race", but this didn't make it any more believable. Daleks aren't really capable of compassion/human emotion, which renders this story unconvincing. 2 stars.

The Roots of Evil, by Steve Cole. two ambitious burglars set out to steal an alien plant (a Krynoid) from UNIT headquarters. funded by a rich botanist and armed with a paranormal weapon, the team manages to pull off the heist. the plant, however, proves to be more trouble than it's worth. it soon infects one of the burglars, taking his shape and ransacking the estate...the 4th Doctor runs into the Krynoids later on. 3 stars.

Little Did She Know, by Janet Fielding. Tegan Jovanka (played by the author of this story) returns to her homeland of Australia after travelling with the 5th Doctor and witnessing the death of her aunt Vanessa. still struggling with the loss and desperate to repair her relationship with her father, Tegan is hesitant to mention the strange lights she sees one night among the cane...when the crop is set on fire, her father falls unconscious, and the Mara return to feed on the fear in her mind, Tegan must overcome more than she'd bargained for. 2 stars.

The Four Faces of Immortality, by Gary Russell. this story takes place on Gallifrey. Borusa, corrupt Time Lord and tutor of the Doctor, wakes to find himself eternally trapped in the Death Zone after attempting to win the Game of Rassilon using the Doctor's intelligence. he finds trapped with him 3 other Time Lords who tried to attain Rassilon's secrets as well: Pendad, a President of the Time Lords with delusions of grandeur; Mool, an underling who rose against Galifrey and abused the powers of time travel; and Jarell, a student who was greedy for forbidden knowledge and went seeking the Cloister Wraiths. lots of Gallifreyen lore; 4 stars.

Becky's Impossible Day, by Beth Axford. a salon owner named Becky is just closing up when she encounters a strange creature, a furry thing that begins to absorb all the color in the room. finished with that, it starts to attack Becky, leaching the color from her clothes and the life from her body. fortunately, the 9th Doctor is nearby; by using dark memories to repel the alien, Becky gets a glimpse of the war-torn past of the Doctor. a few living mannequins are mentioned too...i appreciated the look at the more painful side of the Time Lord. 4 stars.

Smiley's Mirror Exhibit, by Janelle McCurdy. a young Nova Star (Osgood?) runs into the 10th Doctor while investigating the strange disappearance of her schoolfriend Jake. children have been vanishing after visiting a mirror museum advertised with an eerie smiling face. the pair find themselves up against a monster called the Smiley, that traps children in mirrors, using their energy and appearing as a grinning conglomeration of all of its victims. creepy, but i felt it got a bit cheesy toward the end. the lore of the Smiley didn't make a ton of sense to me either; it can be defeated by seeing its own reflection but lives in a hall of mirrors?? still, one of my favorites. i like 10. 3.5

The Fall of Apalapucia, by E. L. Norry. Apalapucia is a paradisiacal vacation planet whose beings communicate via telepathy and have achieved a state of continual happiness and painlessness. visitors to the planet are treated to Sublimation, a process that uses telepathy to turn the subject's anguish, fear, and insecurity into a beautiful work of art. one of the oldest Sublimators, Celedor, is determined to make one final masterpiece before he retires. against regulations, he choses as his subject a child from a lizard-race. the statue that he creates from the child's strange memories is glorious, the pinnacle of Apalapucian art...but the next day things go terribly wrong. the statue is decaying, dying, the Apalapucians themselves in agony— infected with Chen-7. 3 stars

The Morning of the Day of the Doctor, by Ingrid Oliver. follows Petronella Osgood (played by the author) through her day as a UNIT agent excited to meet the Doctor for the first time. not much happens (objects disappear from paintings, things hide around corners) but something is clearly brewing in the paranormal world....3 stars.

[Nick Josselin-Mellish · Rating 2 out of 5]

A handful of the stories here aren't bad (the Tegan, Osgood and Borusa ones are good), but "prequels" is, at best, pushing it for the most part and, at worst, flat-out inaccurate.

[Isabella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3 stars

The Boy and the Dalek by Mark Griffiths:
In the first story the Second Doctor and Victoria and Jamie find a derelict space ship with only a Dalek on board. They see the Dalek's memories and learn he was a scientist and tried to help a little human boy but the Daleks like eugenics and try to exterminate the scientist Dalek for being impure. I love Two so any story with him is amazing, even if this one didn't include him that much.


The Roots of Evil by Steve Cole:
Some UNIT operatives steal an alien gun and try to hide it. Then they go to steal more UNIT things and one of them is a creepy plant. Someone gets pricked by the creepy plant and alien hijinks ensue.


Little Did She Know by Janet Fielding:
This one starts with an Australian flight attendant complaining about smoking. It’s got to be Tegan. (It’s also written/read by Janet Fielding so that’s another big clue.) Tegan goes back to her home town in Australia (it’s Bundaberg which to me is ginger beer town) and reminisces about her childhood. It’s so funny seeing some similarities between her experiences and mine. I can vividly remember multiple people bringing in snake skins for show and tell. It was like the main event and a mini competition for who could bring the longest one. (I found mine in the actual grounds of the school, so it wasn’t that big but incited a few scavenger hunts in the following weeks.) An alien also inhabits a brown snake, the most poisonous of Aussie snakes. Yes they call their most deadly snake by the most boring name ever. I often rib my Australian dad about this.


The Four Faces of Immortality by Gary Russell:
A Timelord in the past wants to be immortal and tries to get the secret from Rasilion, aka asshole Timelord founder guy. I think I liked this story, but I'm not sure. It bounced around a lot and so I didn't get a good grasp on what it was trying to do and/or say.


Becky's Impossible Day by Beth Axford:
Nine helps a girl when an alien invades her hair dressing salon. I thought it would be better than it was, and got excited when I realised that Nine was going to be in it, but it wasn't that great. Could have done with a bit more Nine, honestly.


Smiley's Mirror Exhibit by Janelle McCurdy:
Ten meets a young girl in a mirror hall thing and basically tells her everything about himself, two hearts and all. I was a little disappointed, again, that a great Doctor was wasted on a mediocre story.


The Fall of Apalapucia by E.L Norry:
A species are obsessed with art and making it. This was supposed to be connected to that episode where Amy gets left behind and grows old, but I didn't see the connection. Maybe that is because I haven't watched that episode in a while, but that's not my fault. That's the BBC's fault for hoarding all their content and not letting international audiences see anything.


The Morning of The Day of the Doctor by Ingrid Oliver:
Osgood meets “The Curator” ie Tom Baker and has to locate the Doctor. It's no secret that Osgood was created as a audience stand in with her fixation and love of the Doctor. While Osgood could very easily give off "hello fellow kids" energy or come across as tacky, I think it is partially a testament to Ingrid Oliver's portrayal of her that she is a fully fledged character on her own, with just the right amount of Doctor-obsession to be relatable. Having Oliver write this story herself (and read it too, with the audio) means that the balance of fan/character is struck perfectly here.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

While some of the stories are prequels in the vaguest sense, “The Adventures Before” still makes for quite an enjoyable read. The anthology takes a handful of the most well-known Doctor Who adventures, and imagines what happened right before the episode starts. What results is a collection of wildly inventive and often surprising tales, spanning the entirety of the Whoniverse. Of particular enjoyment is Janet Fielding’s “Little Did She Know”, Gary Russell’s “The Four Faces of Immortality”, Janelle McCurdy’s “Smiley’s Mirror Exhibit”, and Ingrid Oliver’s “The Morning of the Day of the Doctor”.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a great premise, but not all the stories live up to it -- ironically, the "guest" authors (Janet Fielding & Ingrid Oliver) are the ones who take the fullest advantage of the opportunity. But there rest fall between several less interesting stools, either too much unnecessary fanwank (the pre-Seeds of Doom tale) or an odd tone of humour that simply doesn't fit (Gary Russell...what were you thinking with that pre-Five Doctors story). Not quite the work it could have been.

[Joe Kessler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short story collection has a fun concept that's mostly executed rather well, depicting new prequel events for eight Doctor Who episodes: The Daleks (First Doctor, 1963-1964), The Seeds of Doom (Fourth Doctor, 1976), Arc of Infinity (Fifth Doctor, 1983), The Five Doctors (Fifth Doctor, 1983), Rose (Ninth Doctor, 2005), Planet of the Dead (Tenth Doctor, 2009), The Girl Who Waited (Eleventh Doctor, 2011), and The Day of the Doctor (Eleventh Doctor, 2013). That range could stand to be more even / more representative of the program's full history -- there's nothing from the past decade, for instance, despite the book being released in late 2024 -- and readers who aren't familiar with the Classic serials presumably won't find those entries as entertaining. But for what we're given and the sort of Whovian that I am, I've enjoyed it.

I think it helps that the Doctor isn't actually on-hand for many of these tales, providing the supporting cast a greater chance to shine. I'm reminded of the Star Wars: From A Certain Point of View project, which likewise finds interesting ways to deepen the smaller roles from on-screen. And sure enough, the weakest title here is definitely the Tenth Doctor outing "Smiley's Mirror Effect" by Janelle McCurdy, which both centers that usual Time Lord hero and doesn't really tell us anything new about either the character or the upcoming TV plot.

We're on stronger footing with our looks into the psyches and family lives of companions Tegan Jovanka ("Little Did She Know") and Petronella Osgood ("The Morning of the Day of the Doctor"), each written by the respective actress in question, although my favorite piece is probably the unexpected origin story for the villainous Harrison Chase and his henchman Scorby in Steve Cole's "The Roots of Evil." I'd also note that this Doctor Who anthology is far superior overall to the actual recent Origin Stories one, which in my opinion relied too heavily on memory wipes to preserve the timeline and keep specific characters from knowing things / people that they shouldn't have so far in advance of their television debuts. Since these new offerings generally function as more immediate prologues, that particular creative constraint is removed, and the work as a whole is significantly better for it.

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[Finlay O'Riordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eight prose stories set before eight different televised episodes. Hm, yeah, this could be interesting... Or not.


"The Boy and the Dalek" is a surprisingly sweet tale about a Dalek, though it is somewhat predictable for the most part. Set before "The Daleks".


"The Roots Of Evil" was a borefest. Pretty much just a shortened copy of the story it preceedes ("The Seeds Of Doom"), or indeed ANY Krynoid story ("Tales of Trenzalore" springs to mind). Way too long, actually the second longest of all eight stories. No action, just... Dialogue, and the internal thoughts of our random main character.


"Little Did She Know" explores Tegan's family and her home life between her two TARDIS stints. I found it interesting to see the aftermath of the Master's murder of Vanessa on the Jovanka family, but it doesn't hold much relevance to the story it's set before, "Arc Of Infinity", beyond references to Tegan's planned trip to Amsterdam.


"The Four Faces Of Immortality" was the first story in this book which I felt was actually worthwhile. It is technically set during "The Five Doctors" as opposed to before, but barring that, I actually really liked this one. It addressed the question of the faces on the side of Rassilon's tomb; the kind of question every story in this book ought to have been based around. It also makes reference to Big Finish and VNA stories, which I loved (classic Gary Russell; though even by his standards these references are actually pretty lite).


"Becky's Impossible Day" focuses on a small businesswoman being attacked by a colour-eating alien when the Doctor shows up and save her. Classic Doctor Who weirdness. This one is set before "Rose", so the obvious question for me is why wasn't a prequel to this story focused on the Nestene? Or the Ninth Doctor post-regeneration? Or Clive? Or Jackie or Micky or Rose herself? Or the mysterious Wilson who disappeared under Henriks before the episode? Yeah, I thought this was another pretty pointless one. The focus should have been on something more relevant.


"Smiley's Mirror Exhibit" was the second story I found entertaining in this book. The concept of the 'Smiley' felt like a true Tennant-era creepy monster, and indeed the whole tale rang true to the 2009 specials. The audiobook version of this, by the way, features some amazing narration with a surprisingly compelling Tennant impersonation. Set before "Planet Of The Dead", and its connection to that episode is pretty forced, but a decent short story anyway.


"The Fall Of Apalapucia" is an example of a great idea which starts off good, but eventually becomes a really strange and confusing mess. I had high hopes for this one as it could have clearly detailed events which led to the abandonment of the planet seen in "The Girl Who Waited", but instead, I just got lost halfway through, wondering what kind of drugs I must've taken to be reading something so bizarre and non-sensical.


"The Morning Of The Day Of The Doctor" is set before, well, "The Day Of The Doctor". As far as prologues and prequels go, this works pretty well and leads directly into the special. I don't care much for Osgood as a character, but I acknowledge she was a major player in the 50th anniversary, so this was a deserved and sensible exploration of her character.


So yeah, of the eight stories in this book, I only found three of them to be worthwhile.


Overall, if you're hoping for a set of exciting adventures set before some iconic episodes and fill in the gaps of ones which start in media res, you'll be sorely disappointed by this release. You might like it if you're happy for just any old Who content of any quality, but I struggle to see who exactly this book is intended for.


In my opinion, this is just a little piece of expanded Who media you can take or leave at your own discretion. It completely misses the mark of what it sells itself as by seemingly choosing some of the most random stories to offer prequels for; most of which didn't need one.


That said, I still have hope for October's "The Adventures After" since I believe it will be easier to write short stories coming AWAY from established adventures rather than leading into them.

[June · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've only read the stories here that (at least claim to) precede the stories I've watched, which is the Nuwho stories + the boy and the dalek. And I gotta say the same as other reviewers that calling most of these stories 'prequels' is a stretch to say the least. Some of them have a decent amount of connective tissue but are still standalone adventures in their own right that could comfortably sit elsewhere in space and time (the boy and the dalek, smiley's mirror exhibit). Others just leave me confused on how anyone could call them prequels at all, besides maybe a couple lines tacked on the end to tie into the TV story, which two unrelated episodic serials could also do without anyone considering them related stories as a whole. So not what I expected going in, but each one still did provide an at least decent story in it's own right. The last two stories (the final of which isn't even listed in the contents?) are the most fitting for what I expected going in and so leave the best impression on me. It is a mixed bag so it's best to rate each story seperately.

The boy and the dalek
This was a very strong start for the book, and is just within what I personally would define as a prequel. There's something satisfying about what for once does actually seem to be a 'good dalek', a mythological creature who's possibility of existence is always toyed with, watching on as the totally unfamiliar tardis crew land on skaro for the first time as the legendary story of the daleks takes it's first steps. And it manages to make it totally believable, 8.5/10

Becky's impossible day
After the strong start I gotta say this is the weakest of all the stories. The alien threat just doesn't feel impactful and even a bit silly, I can't remember if we even got a description of what it physically looks like? It's also only one or two lines of dialogue about mannequins tying it to Rose. 4.5/10

Smiley's mirror exhibit
This one was fun, nothing exceptionally unique to make it really stand out but it's carried well by the young girl protagonist, who's natural intelligence makes her and the doctor together a joy to read. 7.5/10

The fall of apalapucia
Okay this one I get the impression it's supposed to be set on the same world as the girl who waited, but I just cannot connect the dots coherently? Both are on Apalapucia in futuristic environments with a corporate sort of friendliness to them with the destruction of this society beginning in this prequel and the aftermath shown in the episode. But in the episode the pandemic was a pathogen spread between beings with two hearts. But this prequel made out the pandemic to be 'xumaans', creatures inhabiting the mind of those that fall sick. And these ideas just don't seem to gel to me? But continuity nitpicks aside this was a fairly interesting story following a struggling artist trying to claim back glory which ends up costing everything. I just wish, once again, that details were ironed out so that it felt like a coherent prequel. 7/10

The morning of the day of the doctor
Now this one is a prequel. I could imagine this being a short for TV in a similar vein as pond life. It's light on plot but very heavy on character, which I love. 9/10

Chemistry
I suppose the reason this one isn't in the contents and only treated like it's a throwaway bonus feature is because it hasn't got a tie to any particular story. But as if many of the others do successfully? Despite it's treatment it's one of the better little stories in here, again one that's very light on plot but is character focused, but that's all a prequel needs to be otherwise it would be part of the main plot story! I'm not very familiar with the 7th doctor so there might be hints being dropped that I'm missing that hint at the teacher being him? I'm fairly certain it was the doctor in one of their incarnations anyway, and I love the fun of that. 8/10

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked parts of pretty much every story, as in they each had at least one idea or moment that appealed to me, but I didn't find any of them completely satisfying either - with the exception of "The Fall of Apalapucia", which I thought was genuinely entertaining from start to finish.

[Jeremy Cartner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before the story another story waits

A mixed bag this. Some great stories and some that are just ok. The five doctors one by Gary Russell was my favourite. Now to read the adventures after.

[Helen Marsden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Little disappointed in the last story.

[Toby Sutton-Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this was a nice little anthology! I would admit that some of the stories hardly really count as prequels, and that some of the stories chosen are a little bizarre, but I enjoyed my time reading this. I would say the best of the set are The Boy and the Dalek and Becky's Impossible Day, both very well written and quite emotional. Janet Fielding and Ingrid Oliver's contributions have the same edge of sentimental loveliness that the trend of "Whoniverse stories written by actors" usually have. My least favourite? The Fall of Apalapucia, but that may have something to do with the fact I can't frigging stand the episode it's based on...

[Keef · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a real mixed bag. I'd say the first couple of stories were the best ones, but I really didn't enjoy some of the others.

[Anna Butler-Whittaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a fan of Doctor Who, but I didn’t know all of the episodes this related to so I didn’t recognise all or the stories, but it was a fun concept and well done, prequels to several popular episodes. I enjoyed it.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories that were strongest were, broadly, individual adventures in their own right, with a tangential connection to being a prequel. This linking theme hasn’t paid off brilliantly, but this is a fine way to spend an hour or two.