Doctor Who: Adventures in Lockdown

Doctor Who: Lockdown #1-16

by Emily Cook (Editor), Paul Cornell, Russell T. Davies

Darkness Never Prevails.

While staying home was a vital safety measure in 2020, the freedom of the TARDIS remained a dream that drew many - allowing them to roam the cosmos in search of distraction, reassurance and adventure. Now some of the finest TV Doctor Who writers come together with gifted illustrators in this very special short story collection in support of BBC Children in Need.

Current and former showrunners - Chris Chibnall Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat - present exciting adventures for the Doctor conceived in confinement, alongside brand new fiction from Neil Gaiman, Mark Gatiss and Vinay Patel. Also featuring work from Chris Riddell, Joy Wilkinson, Paul Cornell, Sonia Leong, Sophie Cowdrey, Mike Collins and many more, Adventures in Lockdown is a book for any Doctor Who fan in your life, stories that will send your heart spinning wildly through time and space...

£2.25 from every copy sold in the UK of Doctor Who: Adventures in Lockdown will benefit Children in Need (registered charity number 802052 in England & Wales and SC039557 in Scotland)

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Adventure, Anthologies

192 pages, Paperback

First published November 5, 2020

Reviews

[Sarah ♡ (let’s interact!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

”Remember, you will get through this. And things will be all right. Even if they look uncertain. Even if you’re worried. Darkness never prevails.” - The Doctor.

An apt quote from our favourite Time Lord to sum up this year as a whole. The lockdowns have been tricky for so many of us, but we will be okay in the end and are (most importantly) keeping each other safe.

This is a lovely collection of short Doctor Who stories accompanied by some great artwork. It features tales by the three NuWho showrunners (Russell T Davis, Steven Moffat and Chris Chibnall) plus two of my favourite writers Neil Gaiman and Mark Gatiss - who have of course written for Who many times before.
Gaiman’s story about the Corsair alone is what made me rate this collection 4 stars overall.

Moffat’s story ”The Tales Of The Umpty Ums” was another highlight for me, as the twist in the tale slowly unravels and it ends so completely differently to what you first would imagine.

Russell T Davis’ ”Doctor Who and The Time War” was published on the DW website earlier this year but it was great to read again. It’s nice to see what Davis’ ideas for the end of the Time War are, as it was supposed to be part of the 50th anniversary before he knew Moffat had a plan regarding the Eight Doctor and regeneration (the War Doctor!!). It is followed up by his sequel to his first episode of Who - ”Rose” which I believe had also been published online earlier in the year. It makes me nostalgic for his era, as that’s when I first became a fan of the show properly as a child (was always aware of Classic Who from my parents).

This is an incredibly quick read, but well worth it, especially as some of the proceeds go towards the BBC’s Children In Need charity.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not really sure how to rate this collection of stories that were created during the first U.K. lockdown.

On the one hand it's great that all the contributions have been pulled together in one volume, as all the tales were written for the fans to enjoy for free they're all relatively short and sweet.

The tweetalongs were a really nice touch and added a real sense of community to help fans to connect during the spring shutdown.
Many of the stories selected had these accompanying prologues and additional scenes simultaneously released.
Reading them in isolation doesn't quite have the same impact.

I'm glad that a portion of the sales will go to Children in Need, whilst this could serve as a nice reminded of something positive to come out of 2020.

[Kandice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful! Not only did I get more tales of my beloved Doctor, but the proceeds go to charity, so it's a win-win.

Most of these tales were of Jodi's Doctor, Thirteen, and she was written in a lovely way, by each author that wrote one of her stories. She is kind and feeling and that was made abundantly clear on the page. But there were also appearance from Eccleston's Nine, Smith's Eleven and Tennant's Ten. There was even a mention of a ginger Doctor! Whoo hoo! My secret (not anymore) is that Rupert Grint will be the ginger Doctor. One can hope...

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice collection of bits and bobs of Doctor Who in short stories, a poem, and the Doctors’ lockdown speech when COVID-19 just started to interfere with our way of life. The writing in this collection is done in majority by various showrunners of new Who and they all deliver.
This is really comfort reading which is the books’ purpose which it does really well and there are some nice illustrations.
So the book delivers and it’s price does include a benefit for BBC’s Children in Need good cause.
Great fun for Whovians.

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Considering the wealth of talent from the world of Doctor Who I expected these short stories to be much better. There are a few good ones, but a lot of them are mediocre at best. At least sales of the book helped raise money for the BBC Children In Need appeal, so it wasn't a total loss.

[Thomas Page · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag of stories, all quite short but if you want a short story collection that you can dip in and out of this is really quite good. The tales by Steven Moffat, Neil Gaiman and Russell T Davies are the best for me and full of imagination and a sense of fun. This is for charity too so it’s worth picking up just don’t expect it to take you long to finish.

[Harri · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mixed bag with some good ideas. But unfortunately everything is just a little too short to be a satisfying exploration of those ideas.
However, as a collection of lockdown stories for children, I can see it being a fun escape.

[mollie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️’s* (Very Good).

A Message from the Doctor - 3
Things She Thought While Falling - 3.5
The Terror of the Umpty Ums - 4.5
Doctor Who and the Time War - 3.5
Revenge of the Nestene - 2.5
Rory’s Story - 3
One Virtue, and a Thousand Crimes - 3.5
The Simple Things - 3
The Tourist - 3
Press Play - 4
The Shadow Passes - 2.5
Shadow of a Doubt - 2.5
The Shadow in the Mirror - 3
Fellow Traveller - 4
Listen - 4
The Secret of Novice Hame - 4.5

Overall rating - 3.5

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to order this book shipped from the UK as it wasn't available in Canada, but fortunately Waterstones was able to ship internationally. It's a very short collection, theoretically of 16 short stories but some can't really be called that - a two page introduction, or a poem, for example.

Authors include three New Who showrunners (Russell T Davis, Steven Moffat and Chris Chibnall) as well as Who episode writers Neil Gaiman and Mark Gatiss. They're all written with the 13th doctor (Jodie Whittaker) as the Doctor and generally do a pretty good job of getting her "voice" right, however they're wildly varied in their apparent target audience. Some seem to be aimed at very young fans who probably don't even remember another Doctor; while others seem to reference such obscure points of classic Who lore that even someone who grew up watching Tom Baker in the 80s didn't catch all the references. Some are good (is Neil Gaiman ever NOT good?) and some are fairly meh. They're also accompanied by a series of generally charming illustrations.

Proceeds from the book go to support the Children In Need charity so I don't begrudge spending the money, but overall I'm a little disappointed there wasn't more to the book.

[The Post Monument · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Message from the Doctor - 4 stars
Things She Thought While Falling - 3 stars
The Terror of the Umpty Ums - 4 stars
Doctor Who and The Time War - 3.5 stars
Revenge of the Nestene - 3 stars
Rory’s Story - 3.5 stars
One Virtue, and a Thousand Crimes - 3.5 stars
The Simple Things - 3 stars
The Tourist - 3 stars
Press Play - 4 stars
The Shadow Passes - 3 stars
Shadow of a Doubt - 2.5 stars
Shadow in the Mirror - 4 stars
Fellow Traveller - 4.5 stars
Listen - 3.5 stars
The Secret of Novice Hame - 4.5 stars

Overall - 3.5 stars

[somebody once toldme · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adventures in Lockdown is a collection of short Doctor Who stories, most of which originated online earlier this year as parts of lockdown projects, hence the name. The stories are all highly enjoyable in my opinion and there are some really imaginative ideas in there, with Steven Moffat's 'The Terror of the Umpty Ums' and Neil Gaiman's 'One Virtue, and a Thousand Crimes' (the latter is one of three new stories written for this book) being particular highlights.

Arguably the biggest flaw with this book is something that many people (myself included, to be honest) will see as a positive, which is that a lot of the stories lean quite heavily on fairly obscure continuity references, to the extent that I can imagine most children who read this book will be baffled by much of it. Some of these references are subtle, but other stories are direct follow-ups to specific TV episodes from years ago (decades ago, in one case). There's even an appearance from Bernice Summerfield in Paul Cornell's very short 'Shadow of a Doubt' - not that you'd know it if you haven't seen the YouTube video in which that story first appeared, because it's written in first-person without any obvious clues as to who the narrator is. Also, 'Rory's Story' by Neil Gaiman is presented in the form of the script, complete with notes addressed to Arthur Darvill, that was used when filming the YouTube version of it, but this is barely explained in the book, so this choice of format might be quite confusing to anyone who's not aware of the YouTube video.

Casual viewers might prefer to read one of the full-length Doctor Who novels, then, which tend to be more approachable than this anthology. But if you know your Strax from your Drax, chances are you'll love Adventures in Lockdown. Yes, it's very short and most of the stories are available online for free, but the three new stories and the new illustrations are great, and some of the proceeds go to Children in Need, so it's well worth the price if you ask me.

[Mikey · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far when I’ve read an anthology I like to do a kind of short general review and then look at each story individually, but in this instance I’ll just do the first - partly because I didn’t take any notes this time round because I’d read the majority when it was initially posted online.

But, aye, 2020’s been a weird one, but all things considered it’s been pretty good on the Doctor Who front, as Chris Chibnall decided that we needed the Doctor more than ever, and Emily Cook’s watchalongs regularly brought a large group of Who fans together to watch and discuss a bunch of old favourites, with some of the cast and crew joined in on the experience too, including many of the writers who contributed new stories that have found themselves gathered here. Along with these are stories originally published on the BBC website thanks to Chibnall reaching out to Who writers old and new, and also a few stories completely original to this book’s release.

All in all, this book is a great mix of characters and themes, with a hopeful opening message from the Thirteenth Doctor to kick things off. It’s a lovely wee collection, and it’s been for a good cause!

My only disappointment is Farewell, Sarah Jane not appearing here in some form but I’d have to imagine it’s probably a minefield as far as the rights are concerned. But that’s not enough of an issue for me to warrant scoring this any less!

[Nikos Dunno · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have given it a lower score had the subject matter been different or if it didn't include a couple of stories from favourite writers. I have to admit though that most of the stories left me feeling a bit uninterested. It seemed as if they were written around a not so exciting plot twist or in a way where the Doctor is a hidden character and not the actual protagonist. I would have preferred something more straight forward.

[Matthew Kresal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collecting many of the stories written for the Doctor Who website and the Lockdown tweet-along, Adventures in Lockdown is fun and a brisk little anthology of Doctor Who fiction. There's an alternative end to the Time War from Russell T Davies, Neil Gaiman sharing an adventure for the roguish Corsair, Paul Cornell having Team TARDIS sheltering in place, and Steven Moffat's tale of a young boy and The Terror Of The Umpty Ums. There's also some new fiction, such as a poignant little tale from Mark Gatiss featuring a reunion long sought by Doctor Who fans and some lovely artwork from a variety of illustrators. While some of the stories, such as Paul Cornell's pieces written for the Human Nature/Family of Blood tweet-along, lose something of their impact out of context, it's a fun slice of Whovian prose, and with proceeds going towards a good cause, well worth a fiver (or thereabouts).

[PP9000 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very enjoyable quick read. The authors really captured the voice & mannerisms of the 13th Doctor. Some of these stories are already available online but it's nice to have them in print form & this book is for charity so please go & buy it if you can!

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful. During this past year's COVID lockdown, the great "Doctor Who" screenwriters of the 21st century made contributions of new & unreleased materials in order to distract from the banality of real life...and it works...brilliantly...and joyously. This is a delightful set of stories, designed to do nothing more than remind us of why we are all "Doctor Who" fans...and that there are no greater fans than the people who have brought our favourite Time Lord to the screen over the last 16 years. Read this and you will agree with the blurb: darkness will NOT prevail.

[Owen Townend · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doctor Who proved a unique uniting force during the first COVID-19 lockdown, with scheduled re-watches of seminal episodes featuring amusing Twitter commentary from those who worked on it. As an extra treat, some of the writers returned to pen short stories and scripts to give Whovians some new media to enjoy.

Adventures in Lockdown collects most of these, featuring showrunners of the past like Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat and present day screenwriters like Vinay Patel and Pete McTighe. I must admit to being more interested in the work of the former as we haven't seen Davies or Moffat write Doctor Who for a while and these stories provided an opportunity for them to catch up with characters and round off plotlines from their time on the show. Though it's great to see new creators contribute, the real perks of this collection are tied into legacy.

That being said there were some stories that confused me with where they are in the canon or just left me cold. To appreciate Vinay Patel's story requires me to watch the episode Fugitive of the Judoon in much closer detail and, like most vocal Whovians, I'm afraid Chris Chibnall has yet to impress me with his storytelling either on page or on screen. Then again these stories actively invite you to return to Doctor Who episodes of the past which is marvellous.

Doctor Who: Adventures in Lockdown is a delightful miracle of a book which I will cherish regardless of a couple of missed connections. It's the kind of collection that only exists because of a worldwide shift in the human condition and a need for a Doctor to keep us going. I recommend it to fans of the show who could do with a boost.

Notable Stories

• Doctor Who and the Time War by Russell T Davies – it’s fascinating to read how Davies conceived the Time War with its weaponised entropy and God-like dimensions.

• One Virtue, and a Thousand Crimes by Neil Gaiman – Gaiman’s writing is always a joy and now we have a much better idea of his Time Lord creation The Corsair, a pirate in time and space.

• The Simple Things by Joy Wilkinson – the most memorable story featuring the Thirteenth Doctor which makes good use of her first three companions and adds a classic alien to the mix.

[Alex Sarll]

For the most part, those Pollyannas trying to find any positives in the utter awfulness of the Event drive me potty. But aside from Staged, my one concession is that it did 2020's Doctor Who output a world of good. After another woeful Chibnall season, fan Emily Cook's organising a series of watchalongs of older stories spurred the writers of those to contribute various sidebars, deleted scenes and epilogues, some of which were then acted out by the relevant returning cast members, and all of which went some way to getting the taste of The Timeless Child out of one's mouth. This volume collects those pieces, together with three new ones, of which the highlight is undoubtedly Neil Gaiman (with Chris Riddell art!) showing us a little more of the Corsair. Does it add a further complication to a part of the Doctor's backstory which was already quite busy? Yeah, but it's worth it. Plus, all those lovely pieces from Davies, Moffat, Cornell and more, reminding us of what now seem very distant times when watching Doctor Who could be funny, moving, inspiring, instead of a leaden obligation. Because this is, more than ever, a fallen world, Chibnall is of course here too, not least with the Doctor's opening message: "Remember, you will get through this. And things will be all right. Even if they look uncertain. Even if you’re worried. Darkness never prevails.” Which is deeply debatable even in Whoniverse terms, let alone regarding our own far darker world – though in one of my favourite of the reprinted pieces here, The Terror Of The Umpty Ums, Moffat once again pulls his wonderful trick of erasing the border between the two just enough to let some hope seep through. Pete McTighe manages something similar in Press Play, reminding us that however bad the world (and indeed, the current show) may be, at least we always have the old episodes. Well, most of them, and bless him, he even works that in. The volume concludes with Rusty's heartbreaking revisit to Novice Hame...

And then just to spoil it all, they whack a drawing of a CyberTimeLord at the end.

[Namratha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this was utterly delightful. Bringing together writers old and new of Doctor Who, you have a mixed bag of short stories that cater to your fantasy-loving imagination and at the same time, fill you with promise and hope during a tumultous time in our lives that seems straight out of an apocalyptic, Doctor-with-the-TARDIS-to the rescue script room.

Most of the tales revolve around the current Time Lord Jodie and her companions. You get a glimpse into her amiable nature, kind heart and earnest desire to set things right with quiet reassurance and a sense of fairness.

Previous (and much loved) Doctors make an appearance too and might seem confusing if you aren't familiar with the plot lines or are a bonafide Whovian. However, the stories are engaging and don't leave you fuddled. Neil Gaiman, Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat are reliable favourites with their contributions. New writers give us engaging fare too.

Written during the Lockdown, it brims with the promise of escaping into the great big beyond from the depths of our squishy couches, having fun intergalactic adventures and nursing the fledgling promise that when we finally come out freely, "the air is good".

Rather enjoyable.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, a pretty good and definitely comforting and easy read. I enjoyed the mix of doctors it occasionally portrayed, although I wish it had shown a wider range of doctors (as I had thought it would, due to the range of authors) than it did. Brilliant writing though - my favourite two stories were definitely the last two, by Steven Moffat and Russel T. Davies (RTD) respectively - the first of which was a short poem, that I hope to keep as a reminder to myself (and I adored the last stanza, as it referred to *my* doctor (if you’re not a whovian, everyone has their own doctor, and it’s usually the first one you started watching. Mine is the 11th: Matt Smith’s doctor - specifically with Amy and Rory) and finished on:
“I am a madman in a box.”
The last one was by RTD and was a classic David Tennant (DT) story, featuring the Novice Hame, which was actually one of the first episodes I ever saw. Every time the Doctor spoke, you read it in DT’s voice, and the nostalgia and coziness it created was fantastic.

So, in summary, I would recommend, it is a very good book (and very quick to read as well, which is always a bonus!), but I would have liked to see a wider variety of doctors, as well as having RTD and Moffat just write stories about the doctors they wrote - rather than stories about 13.

[Brayden Raymond · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must say I wasn't blown away by it but I did sit down and absorb it in one evening. I particularly liked the story involving George the cat Mittens as a cat dad myself.

I only wish I had read this earlier in the pandemic as it truly is a great little collection to have been read when adventures were taken from us.

There wasn't a single story in this that I didn't like, I loved the Tourist as I said, but I also loved The Terror of the Umpty Ums and The Simple Things.

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic collection of stories from the lockdown watchalongs. Some are missing, but most are present and correct.

There are some truly amazing new stories too, my favourites being Neil Gaiman's story about the Corsair, and Mark Gatiss's Thirteenth Doctor and Susan reunion. This is a book well worth having on the shelf, if you don't own it already.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good light read, some not true to cannon, but worth a read anyway

[Sam Whale · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a difficult book to review. On the one hand the stories found in this paperback are mostly written as part of the Doctor Who Lockdown scheme which featured Tweetalongs of episodes with the writers and actors, short stories, short films and singlongs all designed to bring Doctor Who fans together in what has been for Britons a truly tumultuous year. In addition the physical version f this book, which collects said stories together, is being sold for Children in Need. Both of these are incredible causes and I want to thank every writer, director, actor and publisher involved, as well as the fantastic Emily Cook, for contributing as they have and making lockdown that much more bearable. With that in mind this is a 5 star collation without a doubt.

However when reviewing the Prose devoid of context it is a bit of a mixed bag. I think Neil Gaiman and RTD have the strongest showings in the collection. 'Rory's Story' was a lovely look into the companions life after the Doctor and the Covid parallel given with WW2 was clever, while 'One Virtue and a Thousand Crimes' was by far the most intriguing read and I would gladly buy a book or comic further detailing the adventures of the Corsair; a time lord renegade mentioned in Gaiman's ''The Doctor's Wife'' from 2011. RTD gives us to bizarre and fascinating dived into what Dr Who could have been with both 'Doctor Woo and the Time War' and 'Revenge of the Nestene (a sequel to 2005's 'Rose')' while also closing the book with a truly heartfelt and gorgeously written piece in 'The Secret to Novice Hame '.

I also rather enjoyed 'Fellow Traveller' by Mark Gatiss, a sequel to 1964's 'Dalek Invasion of Earth' which shows an aged Susan searching for a Dalek husk for some closure after the death of her husband and bumping into 13 on her journeys. This one was pretty touching and an enjoyable read. 'Press Play' by Pete McTighe could be seen as something of a prequel to this story as it features 13 being finding a recording of Susan who implore her to not stay lonely and grumpy which I think could be seen as the inciting incident which lead to 13 finally searching for her granddaughter. as Nice as 'Press Play' was I'd have like it to have been placed next to 'Fellow Traveller' in the physical copy of the book as their spacing had meant I had rather forgotten about the former by the time I was reading the latter.

Other contributions Include Steven Moffat, who provides a fairly well written Poem which acts as a bootstrap sequel/prequel to Listen as well as the metatextual 'Terror of the Umpty Ums' which was a little on the nose. Chris Chibnall provides a fairly intriguing glimpse in the the 13th Doctors mindset immediately after her regeneration in 'Things She Thought while Falling'' while Paul Cornell provides a trilogy of stories which revolve around Sister of Mine from 2007's 'The Family of Blood' while featuring appearances from 13 and Bernice Summerfield. I found all these too be mixed bags and took some umbrae with 13 declaring all her past incarnation to have been wrong to trap the Family of Blood which reminded me a lot of 11 essentially doing the same in 'Day of the Doctor'.

Finally we have 'The Simple Things' by Joy Wilkinson and 'The Tourist' by Vinay Patel which I unfortunately I did not enjoy much at all. Much again I would like to give my sincerest thanks to both writers, and indeed all the writers for contribution to this book. Neither of these stories were my cup of tea however.

I think fans of Doctor Who will find a lot of interesting odds and ends in this collection and while I would not under any circumstances recommend it to a casual viewer it is well worth a purchase for diehards, especially as it is going to such a good cause.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3663226.html

A collection of short stories, most of which were published on the BBC website or in various other places last year during what we must now call the first lockdown. The high point is Neil Gaiman's “One Virtue, and a Thousand Crimes”, featuring the Corsair (see also), and there are a couple of wee gems by Paul Cornell, but I must say that I enjoyed them all, especially the feeling that the collection was not so very deliberately crafted - sometimes these anthologies try a bit too hard for coherence. Diehard fans will enjoy some of the obscure continuity references, but I think even casual fans will just enjoy the stories as such.

[Eilise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm glad I own this collection, even though most of the content is stuff that came out online during lockdown, but because of that, it almost feels like a time capsule that documents what the Doctor Who community was up to during that time. It was fun to read but a bit repetitive since I'd already come across a lot of the content already and probably not worth it unless you're a big Doctor Who nerd. I saw someone else refer to it as comfort reading and I would definitely agree with that, obviously a lot of it is about hope and perseverance, even more so than it usually is with Doctor Who because of the time the stories were written in.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved Jodie Whittaker's reassuring lockdown speech as the Thirteenth Doctor. Was it aimed at kids? Obviously. Did it make me feel better too? I'm not ashamed to say it did. The script for that speech is included in this little collection, which also features short stories and snippets from other Doctor Who-related writers. It's a Children in Need endeavor too and I had a lot of fun reading it.

[Christopher Prew · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was OK. Some decent stories, some poor ones. The best, in my opinion, were "The Virtue and a Thousand Crimes" by Neil Gaiman,"The Shadow Passes" by Paul Cornell and "The Secret of Novice Hame" by RTD

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a nice selection of (occasionally really) short stories. Overall I give it 4/5 stars.

A Massage from the Doctor 3/5 - It's a nice opening, short, very fitting and kind, since it was written in 2020 amidst the pandemic.

Things She Thought While Falling 3/5 - A pleasant addition to the first episode of the Thirteenth Doctor. I liked it a lot, but it's also doesn't give that much insight into her mind as I was expecting.

The Terror of the Humpty Ums 0.1/5 - If I could give less than 1 star to it I would. This story is an abomination, because it's literally says “Doctor Who (the show) keep children from murdering adults in their household”.....

Doctor Who and the Time War 5/5 - How I wish this story could have been the uncontested canon instead of the War Doctor and Co. subpar anniversary fairy tale fix it fanfiction.

Revenge of the Nestene 5/5 - The novelisation of Rose was the finest example what a novelisation of a TV episode should be. This story is a gripping and thought provoking addition to Rose. I hope this will make it into the upcoming series 14 of Doctor Who.

Rory's Story 4/5 - A slice of life short story from the Pond/Williams household.

One Virtue, and a Thousand Crimes 4/5 - A fun story with the Corsair. I hope this character also makes it into the TV show someday.

The Simple Things 5/5 - I like the sentiment that the ordinary things are the ones which turn out to be really meaningful in the end. This story was exactly that. And Graham was in the focus which is always nice.

The Tourist 5/5 - Now, this short story started out entirely ordinary but developed into such an interesting idea! I loved it, it's a perfect base for an episode. I think the show needs more aliens and creatures which are nice and peaceful like the Oods are. Those were completely missing from the Moffat era and barely present during Chibnall's.

Press Play 5/5 - This was just lovely. I could totally see it happening and everyone could come up with ideas what times the Doctor would choose to revisit.

The Shadow Passes 5/5 - It was a nice slice of life short story reflecting the suddenness of the COVID pandemic and both the negative and positive side of staying at home. Of course only in the depth 10 pages allow.

Shadow of a Doubt 1/5 - No, just no.

The Shadow in the Mirror 1/5 - Human Nature/ Family of Blood is one of the best stories in NuWho. It shows a side of the Doctor which is always lurking under the surface but rarely escape from them. What Ten did to the Family served a purpose. Going back on it, retconning it, make it a fairy tale just ruins it by retrospect. There are some things which should never be touched (like The Time War for example) because doing so makes the story hollow and shallow. Because of this, this and the previous story are just plain terrible even as an idea, putting it on paper is even worse.

Fellow Traveller 5/5 - The perfectly written meeting. Mark Gatiss is an underrated writer in Doctor Who. This story from him is brilliant just like his historicals.

Listen 1/5 - Moffat did it with the last verse. It's just like all his stories: not a bad idea, beyond words terrible execution. A writer who can't write characters to save his life should learn some self-awareness and refrain from writing character studies. Although the poem is better than the episode which share its name it’s still no better than awful.

The Secret of Novice Hame 5/5 - RTD hinted seeds here which could bloom into fantastic stories on screen later. I'm looking forward to it.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thirteen stories, one script and a poem by various Who writers, most of which were originally released online as part of the Who community's drive to create some positivity in the UK lockdown of 2020. This printed edition, with three new stories included, was produced to benefit the charity Children In Need and features appearances by the First, Tenth and Thirteenth Doctors.

I have to admit that I wasn't expecting a great deal from this book; a charity version of previously online content didn't sound like a recipe for literary gold. Perhaps in part because I had low expectations, I was really impressed by the stories we get here, which are among some of the best to appear in a Who anthology in recent years.
Given the writing talents involved and their relationship to the show itself (all three showrunners of the modern era!), I probably shouldn't have been surprised.

There are several fairly meta entries here, including Peter McTighe's story about the self-isolating Doctor being encouraged to watch recordings of her previous adventures and Russell T. Davies' original version of the end of the Time War before Steven Moffat had revealed 'The Day of the Doctor'.
There's also a poignant 'Message from the Doctor' at the beginning which includes the line 'Listen to science. And listen to doctors, right? They've got your back'.
However, the best of these meta stories is Moffat's 'The Terror of the Umpty Ums', which is a meditation on Doctor Who stories themselves. Although the Davies story which vaguely infers that Boris Johnson is an Auton attempting to exact revenge against humanity certainly gets you thinking...

There's also some really good straight fiction on offer here too with Neil Gaiman and Mark Gatiss giving us my favourite offerings. Which is hardly a surprise because I love both of their work in general.
Gaiman presents us with a story of the Corsair, the Time Lord remembered fondly by the Doctor in 'The Doctor's Wife', as she attempts to steal the Hand of Omega and deliver it to a certain grumpy grandfatherly character.
Gatiss meanwhile takes the Thirteenth Doctor to the 22nd Century for a long-overdue reunion in a Britain still recovering from being invaded by the Daleks.

Overall this is a really good collection of fun and insightful stories told by some of Who's greatest writers. On top of that it's a book with an express mission to deliver hope and positivity in dark times, whose proceeds go to charity. What better book for a Who fan to buy than that?

Never cruel, never cowardly. Be kind.

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