Doctor Who: Origin Stories

Doctor Who New Series anthologies

by Sophie Aldred

We all change, when you think about it. We're all different people all through our lives

Amy Pond looks for her Raggedy Man, Jo Grant remembers her childhood, the Master hunts the past . . . a young girl discovers a love for explosives.

Eleven incredible stories from the world of Doctor Who - the early lives of friends and foes that have never been told before. The characters and their writers:

Ace by Sophie Aldred
Sarah-Jane Smith by Mark Griffiths
The Master, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Madame Vastra by Dave Rudden
Ryan Sinclair and Yaz Khan by Emma Norry
Clara Oswald by Jasbinder Bilan
Amy Pond by Nikita Gill
Davros; by Temi Oh
Martha Jones by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Jo Grant by Katy Manning

Also Includes a brand-new story feauturing the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate).

© 2022 Doctor Who (P)2022 Penguin Audio

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

320 pages, Paperback

First published September 29, 2022

About the author

Sophie was brought up in Blackheath, South East London. After leaving school she took a degree in drama at Manchester University. By singing in working men's clubs she gained her equity card and began her acting career in the theatre. She was appearing in 'Fiddler on the Roof' with Topol when she heard from her agent that she had an audition for a part in Doctor Who. Initially she believed her role would be playing Ray in 'Delta and the Bannermen'. She eventually found out that she'd landed the role of Ace in 'Dragonfire'. Later still she discovered that Ace would be the new travelling companion of the Doctor, then played by Sylvester McCoy. Two further seasons followed before the show was finally cancelled. Sophie has had much television work since and has continued to demonstrate her acting and singing talents in the theatre. She married Vince Henderson on July 12 1997 and now has a son named Adam John Henderson, born on the 10th February 2000. Sophie maintains her connections with Doctor Who by attending many fan conventions and by starring in spin-off projects on video and audio.

Reviews

[Preethi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first foray into the Doctor Who textual canon and I had a fantastic time!! Also yes, I'm super salty about the fact that I read the older version of this book which doesn't include the new Ten & Donna story :')

[Isabella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating: 2 stars

Step 1: A young companion is doing normal life things
Step 2: They encounter something weird and then see the Doctor
Step 3: The Doctor and baby companion do something brief and solve the alien problem
Step 4: The Doctor then says "bye" and wipes companions mind before TARDIS-ing away
Step 5: Companion back in normal life with random thought about what happened, but then shrugs and continues on.

And again. And again. And again. It got tiresome. And incredibly predictable. Some of the stories were different and therefore good, but mostly I was bored and frustrated at the wash rinse repeat structure.

[Joe Kessler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag, as such collections often are. The premise of this Doctor Who title is that its entries are prequels exploring various incidents from before the characters ever meet up with the Doctor on-screen, and because this is a sci-fi franchise, the authors have all included some sort of alien (or at least, futuristic tech) element in their stories. That works well for the ones whose protagonists led strange lives prior to their canonical time on the show, which indeed have turned out to be my favorites in this book: young Davros seeking the advice of a rumored psychic in Temi Oh's "The Last of the Dals," Vastra hunting a murderer in the days leading up to her people's hibernation in Dave Rudden's "The Big Sleep," and Missy killing the Time Lords who brought her child self before the Untempered Schism in Dave Rudden's "Tempered."

On the other hand, though, we have a lot of tales here about the ordinary humans who will eventually join the TARDIS as wide-eyed companions, with the writers generally acting to preserve the later TV continuity by deploying some form of a memory wipe at the end. Thus, despite the presence of a few imaginative team-ups -- Ace with the Thirteenth Doctor in Sophie Aldred's "Chemistry"; Yaz and Ryan with the Second Doctor in Emma Norry's "The Myriapod Mutiny"; Martha with the Ninth Doctor in Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé's "Doctor Jones" -- most of these individuals do not make it out of their adventures actually remembering them, which limits the entertainment value and impact alike. (The licensed audio dramas from Big Finish have done a far better job, in my opinion, of finding ways to cross people's timelines without resorting to such reversals.)

Ultimately there's stuff here for fans to enjoy, like former cast members Sophie Aldred and Katy Manning writing for the roles they once played, but only "Tempered" comes close to adding anything essential to our understanding of the characters or the series mythology.

[Content warning for gun violence, insects burrowing into people, and gore.]

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[Jon Arnold · Rating 3 out of 5]

That this is a flawed concept is evident in how many of the stories default to ‘early meeting with the Doctor, but conveniently forgetting it’. It’s often fun though, particularly Dave Rudden’s always inventively skewed takes on the show’s history.

[Marie Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, I was very eager to read this book. The idea of it was great: giving us more insight into our beloved character's past. When I saw the cover, I was thrilled! Most of the characters were among my favourites. Yet, this book didn't hit the right button for me, at least, not all the way through.

What I really liked about this book is how it allowed us to glimpse into the past of some well-known and less-known characters. Among my favourite stories were Kate Stewart's and Madame Vastra's because their stories didn't evolve around the Doctor. "My Daddy fights Monsters" was absolutely heart-wrenching and I loved seeing this version of Kate, a child already willing to fight for what matters to her, and hoping that her father will come home. Vastra's story was amazing, and the end made it all the more worthwhile. I suppose, with the companions, the only story that really made a difference to me was Amy and Rory's story.

Don't get me wrong, the other stories were great. Most of them. But each of the companions' stories, whether they were classic or not, involved the Doctor which I found somehow disappointing. I was hoping that their lives were more than their relationship with the Doctor, that we would get to see where they had gotten their values, how they resembled or not, the older version that we've seen on tv. And I didn't feel like we got that. The end of the book, from Clara's story to Missy's, somehow disappointed me, despite featuring some of my favourite characters. It just didn't feel like them. I found their stories underwhelming and after a while, the mind-wipe trope gets old.

Overall, I think this book is a great collection of stories. Could it have been better? Yes. Were all the stories good? No. But I'm still thankful it exists. I'd rate this book 3,5.

[Liam Crook-Chambers · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting set of short stories focusing on some of the origins and childhoods of a number of Doctor Who characters (once you get over the improbability of the Doctor having met various of his future companions also when they were children of course). Certain short stories are more memorable than others - stories featuring Sarah Jane Smith, Martha Jones and Donna Noble are particular highlights, however it is also great to have a bit more backstory to the incredibly underused Vastra. Special shoutout to the the stories featuring Ace and Jo (which are written by the actors themselves, Sophie Aldred and Katy Manning) and the epilogue featuring the fantastically evil Missy. A very enjoyable read.

[Mesh'la Cyar'ika · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Doctor Who: Origin Stories" has to be my favourite Doctor Who book to date. Doctor Who books don't usually stick out to me, just because the way they are written most of the time, but I quickly fell in love with "Doctor Who: Origin Stories". I loved how they decided to write for less obvious characters and not just the main companions. Seeing snippets of different characters' lives before they met the Doctor was really fun and interesting to see what their day to day life was like. Its also nice to see a story from the perspective of a companion, because usually in Doctor Who books they dont really have much of an input to the story.

I would really like to see a sequel book about other companions and characters before they met the Doctor aswell.

[auteaandtales · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

I loved this! I will give a little mini review for each little short story, but I will say I can’t believe I almost didn’t preorder this book. It gave me a lot of joy.

Chemistry

This one follows Ace, the companion of the seventh doctor. I’ve only seen the Classic Who episodes once so don’t have much of a connection to the companions yet, but Ace was one who really stuck with me and I loved her at first sight, so I’m really thrilled about this addition. Also, it builds up my excitement for the upcoming Doctor Who episodes.

I loved the writing style of this one, loved reading from Ace’s perspective and it included all the things I loved about Ace. It was written in the same style as a fun, cosy Doctor Who episode with some exciting twists. A very strong start (for me).

My Daddy Fights Monsters

This follows child Kate Steward. Also very excited to read from her perspective, I wish we had more episodes featuring this character and I’m excited we at least get her in books (and Big Finish). The writing style was really good, it also felt like a classic Doctor Who episode! It has some parts that felt like Zygon references although I’m not sure if that was intentional or not.

My only dislike about this one was that I wish it was told more from Kate’s point of view rather than the people around her and more focus on Kate herself in general, although I do enjoy reading from a villains’ perspective.

The Myriapod Mutiny

This was told from the perspectives of Ryan Sinclair and Yasmine (Yaz) Kahn, the most recent companions of the 13th doctor. This one included some fun shoutouts to the episodes of the show, which I find really enjoyable. I also loved hearing from Ryan’s perspective and how his dyspraxia effects him, I feel like he didn’t get enough screen time on the show.

I loved the storytelling, also, it was very fun and showed more of the early stages of Ryan and Yaz’s relationship, which I love and their friendship is so wholesome.

The Last of the Dals

This showed the perspective from one of my favourite Doctor Who villains’, Davros. We get to see what happened to him after the doctor saved him when he was a child and some of his thought processes and what exactly went wrong there, which I loved because I’ve been curious about what exactly happened there. It also felt like a commentary on what a shared trauma can do to people and how it can change and corrupt people.

I did enjoy the writing style although it was probably my least favourite of the stories (not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, though), it just had less of a classic and nostalgic Doctor Who feel to it.

Murmuration

This was told from the perspective of Sarah Jane Smith, a companion of the forth doctor. I loved reading about her interactions with the doctor as a lot of this short story was dialogue, which I liked a lot, I love hearing their back and forths. It was also a fun background on why she decided to become a journalist and loved reading about the ways the doctor had his effects on her and her life.

The Big Sleep

This was told from the perspective of Vastra, which I was so excited about as she’s one of my favourite “cameo”/reoccurring characters in Doctor Who. It was cool to read about the reptilians before they were frozen in time as I was always curious about what went on there and it helped to understand the anger, pain and resentment in her that we saw when we first met her on screen. She has little specs of who she will be in the future as well once the doctor and Jenny positively influence her. The ending was wholesome too and I loved the dinosaurs!

Doctor Jones

This is told from the perspective of Martha Jones, companion of the tenth doctor. I was very excited for this one not just because I love Martha but also because I love this author, I’ve read her work before and heavily enjoyed it. I loved learning about how she became a doctor, more of her family dynamics, funny, there were references to the episodes Martha features in and we got to see how the doctor effects her even though she doesn’t remember him, which is a common theme in these short stories and I loved that it tied these stories together. It’s very wholesome.

The Girl Who Tore Through the Universe

Told from the perspective of Amy and Rory, companions of the eleventh doctor. This is exciting because it again showed things I was curious about such as her parents vanishing. It also makes references to the episodes, which I loved. I wanted a bit more from the story but I did enjoy reading about Amy and Rory before their relationship and also shows how much Amy really did miss her mother, which wasn’t a main focus point in the show.

Clara Oswald and the Enchanted Forest

This is of course about Clara Oswald, companion to the 11th and 12th doctor. I was a little nervous about this one as she’s probably my least favourite companion from the new who (I don’t hate her though). It shows Clara’s defiance, which is a character trait I really liked about her, and had nice moments such as the leaf and her mum although i would have liked to see her mum and dad together and have some reference to the soufflés (i do think it’s overused but i love it nonetheless). I also liked that her relationship with her mum was normal and was romanticised after her death which is a normal thing to do in grief I feel.

Velvet Hugs

This is from the respective of Jo Grant and as I said earlier i’ve only seen the classic eps once so i’m not very familiar with Jo so therefore won’t get the references or have as close a connection with this short story as i do with the others. I loved the appearance from the Brigadier. This one felt more wholesome, familiar orientated and emotional but was also the only story where it was after her doctor days are over rather than told before they met the doctor or in the early days. She must have been special!

Epilogue: Tempered (master/missy)

I’m excited because i love this character and i’m happy to read this perspective. i loved to find out how missy became missy as i’ve wanted to know more about that story and my curiosity is satisfied for now. I also loved the time lord references although i did want a bit more from her childhood.



Overall just a really fun and adventurous collection of stories with the perfect balance of emotional, funny and enjoyable, much like what I enjoy from the TV show. I suspect I will be rereading this again in the future, and I’m glad I caved and bought it in the end.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable collection of short stories. Most of them feature some of the show’s most iconic companions in adventures set before they met the Doctor. On the surface, that’s a super cool idea. And one that all of the authors have a lot of fun with. And lest you think it’s just a collection of regular stories, rest assured that each of these tales feels distinctly Doctor Who-ish, often featuring some kind of alien (or sci-fi) threat for the companions to overcome. And honestly, it’s a lot of fun seeing these characters react to these otherworldly events in the years before that kind of strangeness becomes commonplace for them.

Among my favorites are Dave Rudden’s “My Daddy Fights Monsters” (featuring Kate Lethbridge-Stewart), Temi Oh’s “The Last of the Dals” (featuring Davros), Dave Rudden’s “The Big Sleep” (featuring Vastra), and Nikita Gill’s “The Girl Who Tore Through the Universe” (featuring Amy and Rory). But on the whole, there’s not a weak story in the bunch.

Unfortunately, the collection kind of cheats with that premise a little bit. Several of the stories feature the companions either meeting a different incarnation of the Doctor or just meeting their incarnation far earlier than they’re supposed to and then having their memories erased. And that kind of feels like cheating. But still, the stories are almost all universally great. And the collection is well worth a read for any Doctor Who fan looking for their Doctor Who fix.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/doctor-who-origin-stories-ed-dave-rudden/

An anthology of eleven short stories about Doctor Who characters before their first appearances on TV Doctor Who. No editor’s name is given, but I am assuming it was Dave Rudden because three of the stories are by him (featuring Kate Stewart, Castra and Jenny, and the Master/Missy); whoever did edit it, it is a shame that they are not given credit.

Two of the other stories are by the actors who actually played the respective companions on screen – Sophie Aldred (Ace) and Katy Manning (Jo Grant), both rather interesting takes on their own characters’ back-stories, Sophie Aldred’s being a good start to the collection as a whole.

Five of the other six are by women of colour who haven’t previously written for the Whoniverse but have strong writing credentials elsewhere – oh, OK, I’ll name them: Emma Norry (Yaz and Ryan meet the Second Doctor); Temi Oh (Davros); Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé (Martha Jones meets the Ninth Doctor); Nikita Gill (Amy and Rory as kids); and Jasbinder Bilan (Clara pre-meets the Eleventh Doctor). The other is by Mark Griffiths (Sarah Jane Smith meeting the Fourth Doctor as a schoolgirl). One of them is not very good, but the rest are all excellent, and I can recommend this to anyone with a vague awareness of the series.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been on a Doctor Who kick recently and have been reading lots of books in the franchise, which has included short story collections including Time Trips and Tales of Terror. The stories in those range from mediocre to decent. In that sense, this collection is of a higher quality than those ones, with stories ranging from decent to fantastic.

As always with collections, the stories range in quality. When they're great though, they shine brighter than Kasterborous. An ace Ace story, a surprisingly philosophical exploration of determinism and the nature of evil with Davros and a touching personal recollection of Jo's life punctuate the book and it's always a delight to see different Doctors interact with their past and future companions. Ryan and Yaz get some much needed characterisation here, with the former's dyspraxia actually being relevant to him and being a plot driver, Missy's lore is expanded upon and there are some delightful cameos by extended universe characters. While some stories stand out, the others are at least enjoyable, something which can't be said of the other collections where they often felt like a slog to get through.

A refreshingly good collection of short stories that combine new and old elements of Doctor Who, sometimes fantastically, always decently. Very easy and engaging to read, if you're going to read a DW short story collection, this is definitely one to consider.

[Kaoru · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book, but probably not the one I expected.

I thought we would explore the characters' lives before they joined the Doctor, as the description on the back of the book says. You know, as in learning something about what they were up to, what kind of friends they had, some further backstory, etc.

We only get that in three or so stories. What happens instead is that they team up with the Doctor anyway and hunt down some space enemy or something. And since they meet him too early, he has to wipe their memory, or else their recollections would mess with the timeline. Story after Story after story. Uh. Um.

It's... fine, I guess. I mean, the book wasn't boring. The pages are turnable enough and the few stray stories that don't get annexed by this formulaic approach are quite interesting, in fact. Like the one about Davros or Vastra. But if you were to treat these short stories as canonically, you do feel that all these early encounters only make the actual first meet-ups less special and meaningful in retrospect. Before they were all ordinary people who suddenly got to have the ride of their lifetime. Now they're special and chosen ones, and that's infinitely less interesting, let alone even relatable.

[Rollin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall decent. I only really went in wanting to read some of the stories. Mainly just Jo's.
Some of the stories honestly didn't make sense to me without changing it so it could work in canon. (I know its not that important that it does, but it takes away something for me if I can't slot it in somewhere.)
I think Amy's one shouldn't have been about her at all. Would have preferred a story focusing on Rory.
The only way I could enjoy that story was if imagined it was in the post big bang 2 universe and even then the ending didn't make sense. I could probably get behind it more if they were kids and could just forget what happened, but them being teens... no.
Jo's one made me tear up. Loved it.
I liked Kate's, and I am glad it did have a lot with her mother and seeing the damage caused between her and the brig's relationship, and the fact that she can't tell Kate. Fiona made that story great for me.

[Toby Sutton-Long · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a bit of a mixed bag, and in my view a little inferior to some of the other Who anthologies released in recent years, which is an awful shame as this had a lot of potential and one I was really looking forward to start reading. Most of these are basically "companion meets the Doctor/alien villains as a child and then has to have their mind wiped", which is OK the first time but gets old really quickly. However, when this does well it does really well, the highlights for me being Chemistry, The Last of the Dals, Clara Oswald and the Enchanted Forest and Velvet Hugs (which made me hugely emotional). So run of the mill but still worth reading in my view. However I will say that I disapprove of them adding an extra story in the paperback - not cool BBC Books! I'm not buying this again!

[Anna Sinjin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesomely fun! I loved hearing about incidents in everyone's lives that the show didn't go into. My favorites were Sarah Jane Smith and Amy Pond. The end of Ace's threw me for a loop.

I was only disappointed in two of the stories - the final two. Jo's origin story didn't have much of a story attached to it, more like an introduction. It was interesting, but there wasn't a climax and the whole thing was pretty glossed over. The Master's was interesting but a bit hard to follow and it wasn't an origin story. It mentioned them as a kid, but went into even less detail than the show did. We get a mention of Missy's "origin", but again, it was just a mention and then no cohesive story. I wish both of these had had more to them. They were interesting but lacking.

[John Parungao · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doctor who Origin stories

Early adventures of various characters from the universe of the Doctor who series. Some of them are timey wimey and confusing, especially the ones which feature companions meeting the Doctor before their actual original meeting. Of all the stories featured my favorites featured Amy Pond and Rory Williams having an extra dimensional adventure, Madame Vastra in a crime solving caper , and an origin story for Missy.
I also enjoyed the one featuring the early days of Jo Grant. These were all entertaining tales of what made each of these characters great companions for the Doctor.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of stories that was effortless to read. If anything, the stolid/straightforward companion stories (involving Sarah, Marth, Amy & Rory) were the least interesting parts of the collection. The most interesting stories were the two stories written by actual former companions (Sophie Aldred & Katy Manning, who contributed an exciting & melancholy tale respectively) and the stories about figures such as Davros, the Silurian Vastra, and Missy...tales that delved into dark & terrible formative experiences. This is great stuff.

[Idamus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought for Ace, played (and written) by her original actor, Sarah Jane, who for obvious reasons was not and Martha, who wasn’t either, missed Freema a bit.
Overall, OK stories, made me miss Ace and Sarah Jane something fierce. Sadly I only have audiobooks and youtube clips, Who is not available in Denmark.
A bunch of the stories had a cop out of the future companions not actually being allowed to remember the adventure, wish they had just not had it to be honest, not that the adventures weren’t fun, just, kinda pointless.
Between 2.5 and 3.5 stars.

[Chris Griffin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was concerned when I heard the premise for this collection. Nearly all the Doctor’s companions led normal full lives before they met him, so how could stories from their early lives be interesting
I was right to be concerned. So many of these (5 of 11) have the companions memory wiped at the end. Really tedious

Worst offender to me is the Ace story. Why bother having her inspired in chemistry by a great teacher for several years when the Doctor can interfere and
do it in a few weeks?

Best story is Vastra’s, and that (just) rescues this sad collection from being a 1.

[ella !! · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the most part, I enjoyed this book. However, some of the stories did not feel engaging. I am genuinely such a fan of the ‘Doctor Who’ universe, and find myself enjoying anything from it, but regarding this book, I did not read all of the stories.

Out of the 12 stories, I think I read 7.

I wish this book included more companions, such as Rose, River and Bill, I felt as though they were bypassed, when they each have such individual and interesting stories.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s been many years since I delved into the world of Dr Who in book form and I wasn’t disappointed. As with all short story books there are some stories that didn’t pique my interest as much as others but on the whole it was love.y to find so many loved characters had other adventures that were unto.d until now. And that The Doctor, in all his guises, keeps and eye on his companions. Great book with nice bite sized stories.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

All of the stories in this book are well written, Vastra, Davros and The Master all get highlights that would've all made great novels. The problem is most of them aren't even origin stories, they're just earlier encounters with The Doctor they either can't remember or realised they had which kind of ruins their "first" encounters a bit but it's an entertaining enough read.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life is about change, but for some people, even the smallest change can make the most amazing difference.

This collection of stories is well written and, apart from some egregious "timey-wimey" and "mind wipe" deus ex machina to hit the reset switch, quite cleverly done to allow future companions to meet the Doctor for the first time.

[Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so excited to read this book but I’m afraid it didn’t quite meet the mark. As I’m sure most collections of short stories are, the variety of authors means that some stories are a solid 10/10 whereas others really miss the mark. A highlight of this book was seeing modern day companions with older doctors, especially the one featuring Ryan & Yaz. 3.8/5 stars

[Emmaby Barton Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

v interesting seeing characters origins/backstories on characters and plot lines (like vastra and davros’) as with any anthology, i enjoyed some more than others. favourites were the middle ones (2-9, but especially clara and amy’s stories). didn’t care for 10. missys one was cool but confusing for the first half.

[Michela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was pure joy to read. I honestly was hooked from beginning to end and I couldn't put this book down. With books like this where there are many short stories I tend to like one or two of the stories in general but in this one I loved all of them. I don't have any complaints to be honest. This was just a really fun read.

[Emma Dargue · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was OK. Like any selection of short stories there are ones that you are going to enjoy/get more out of than others. However this selection only had one story that I connected with on any significant level was Jo's origin story which expanded on what we knew about her start in life. Also liked Kate's story

[Bo Schutte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of lovely little stories about some great characters, same like Twelve Angels Weeping and Timelord Fairytales.
Some stories were better than the others but thats a given. Love that some of them are written by their actors, gives that extra spark of love!

[Pers · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection of tales.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed bag