The Book Report #104

Episode #103

Doctor Who – The Invasion By Ian Marter

The Book

This book is the novelisation of the TV serial originally written by Derrick Sherwin from the original outline by Kit Pedler, by arrangement with the BBC.

This is book No. 98 in the Doctor Who library.

This is a Target Book first published in 1985 by the paperback division of W.H. Allen & Co. plc. It was printed and bound in Great Britain by Anchor Brendon Ltd, Tiptree, Essex.

The copy I own is paperback with 156 pages and an advertisement to send away for more books by post.

Ian Marter was also an actor who played Harry Sullivan in the Doctor Who series during the 4th Doctor’s reign and, in one episode from the 7th Doctor, as Lieutenant John Andrews.

What Did I Think?

The book was created for a TV story released in the late sixties.

This story involves the second Doctor, played by Patrick Troughton, with companions Jamie and Zoe.

The Doctor wasn’t looking for trouble; he was looking for a friend of his who could help him fix a couple of circuit boards.

A couple of questions:

1, For an advanced race, hundreds, maybe thousands of years of technically advanced people, why are they still using circuit boards?

2, If these circuit boards are that advanced, why would a man from the late 20th century have any knowledge to be able to fix them?

Of course, we will never get an answer.

The Doctor and friends land in a cow field and try to make their way to London, but of course, things happen, their friend is missing, and people are watching. Not just them, but a huge tech company that has a hand in nearly everything, and people seem to go missing whenever the company is involved.

The Doctor is eventually taken, with Jamie, by unknown, secret individuals, and they are told what is going on when they are taken to meet Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart. Who has started the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. Otherwise known as U.N.I.T.

After some investigating with the help of the Doctor, they eventually find out that the Cybermen are involved and work together to stop their impending invasion.

Give Me More

I couldn’t help but love this story. I have missed this writing style and the pure Britishness of this story and its characters. You cannot compare this to today’s Doctor Who. It is in a different league. And I would like to return to it as often as possible.

This is also a shorter story, but the writing is so packed and dense that it feels closer to the 2006 series of Doctor Who books.

Would I Recommend?

Absolutely. This book stands out in a way that less recent Doctor Who novels don’t quite match up. The storytelling has its own style that is missing in other books I have been reading recently.

I am comparing books written twenty years ago to this one written forty years ago.

Please give this a go.

Would you like to purchase your very own copy?

You could try these online stores: Amazon UK/USA and Waterstones. AbeBooks UK/USA, Barnes & Noble, or eBay UK/USA.

Alternatively, you could try your local bookshop or even your local library.