Written by Malcolm Hulke, based on his scripts for the 1972 TV serial.

This is clearly set sometime after 1977 when, Hulke tells us, “North Sea oil started gushing” and Beatles songs are “golden oldies”. It starts with another excellent prologue, as a ship is sunk by the Sea-Devils, more horrible than on TV as Hulke gets inside the heads of the doomed sailors. As the Doctor and Jo set out to check in with the captive Master (last read about at the mercy of UNIT at the climax to Doctor Who and the Dæmons) the book becomes a debate on his fate, framed for children but perfectly sensible, on the different perspectives on justice and capital punishment. Only then does Hulke introduce us to the novel’s unlikely lead.

The book might have been called The Tragedy of George Trenchard, this novel’s Dr Quinn, as Hulke tells the bulk of the plot through his eyes, and exploring his motives for allying with his sole prisoner. Trenchard is self-aware enough to know he’s a bit of a joke, and is desperate to prove his worth to the family name, and to Britain. He’s also smart enough to suspect the Master is going to betray him, but not smart enough to work out how. We see his growing unease at the criminal lengths the Master is making him go to, the lies he has to tell his old friend Captain Hart. In the end, his belated attempts to put things right leave him humiliated by a civil service secretary, and even his last act of heroism goes wrong as he forgets to take the safety catch off his gun (in a moment of kindness, the Doctor does it for him, leaving him with some honour in death).

The long central section of the book is very good indeed, with a great deal of suspense and humour. There is an Agatha Christie moment when the Doctor points out details of the Master’s imprisonment that don’t add up: Trenchard’s pedantic personality is at odds with a lapse over the Master’s weekly book allowance – in itself irrelevant, but it leads the Doctor to suspect Trenchard isn’t playing with a straight bat. There are a couple of funny scenes when Trenchard corners Hart about an upcoming golf competition, and then later Captain Hart and P.C. Watkins getting annoyed by each other as they investigate the disappearance of the Doctor.

The problem is, with so much focus on Trenchard’s relationship with the Master, the Sea-Devils get none of the characterisation Hulke provided their Silurian cousins in Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters. It robs the Master’s final words to the Doctor, “You do realise you’ve just committed mass murder”, the impact they deserve – as the Doctor has committed the act he abhorred in the earlier story. After Trenchard’s death, the story races toward a conclusion, and a final battle between Navy and Sea-Devils that occupies about a page of text, as though Hulke was almost at word count and just wanted to get the thing done. This goes beyond conciseness and just seems cursory – a similar problem as the conclusion to Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon. All this means the book, while as well written as Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters, never quite reaches the same heights. Grade 2.

Next Time: Doctor Who And… The Abominable Snowmen