Written by Terrance Dicks, based on his pseudonymous scripts for the 1976 TV serial.

If Terrance Dicks really disliked the changes Robert Holmes made to his Frankenstein story, which led to him demanding, in a fit of pique, for it be put out “under some bland pseudonym” then none of that is evident in this full-blooded novelisation. It begins, as Dicks often does, with an atmospheric prologue telling the sad story of Kriz (surely the inspiration for the Big Finish companion C’rizz) and his crash-landing on the desolate planet Karn (last seen in Doctor Who and the Daleks in Seven Keys to Doomsday) where he comes to a grisly end at the hands of Condo, brutish servant of Dr. Solon. It’s a great horror movie moment, and sets the tone for a story that leans into every Universal Films cliche with a sinister witch cult, a mad scientist in a gothic castle, lightning storms and something horrible lurking in the basement.

Dicks keeps all of the deliciously overblown dialogue (which sounds more like Holmes than him), as Solon curses Maren the leader of the Sisterhood of Karn in terms like “palsied harridan” and Morbius bemoans his life as a sponge. But there’s also more Dicksian wit with Solon put-upon by his ever-demanding master: “Faithful disciple as he was, Solon felt he couldn’t endure another second of Morbius’s nagging reproaches.” Also, some very conscious nods to Universal, with a chapter called “The Monster Walks” which must be a reference to the poster for The Bride of Frankenstein which promised, “The monster talks!”

There are also numerous Dicksian embellishments, like Sister Ohica’s memory of a traitor to the Sisterhood, “banished from the order for betraying its secrets to the followers of Morbius… Before their eyes the offending Sister had withered into an ancient crone, collapsing in a heap of dusty bones.” The author is a bit of a continuity nerd, and he also can’t resist adding some details of Morbius’ crimes: “Morbius, greatest of the High Council of the Time Lords, had sought to lead his people into paths of domination and conquest.

I think in retrospect Dicks was rightly proud of this story – to the extent he wrote a 2002 prequel, Warmonger. It adds intriguing details to our knowledge of the Time Lords and the Doctor which have made it one of the more influential Classic serials on the 21st Century show – The Night of the Doctor; Hell Bent, and The Timeless Children are all inspired by it. And surely the Sisterhood’s experiments in immortality, the confused impression of faces Sarah Jane glimpses on Morbius’ scanner, Morbius’ Division-like desire to impose Time Lord rule on the universe and his obsession with Karn point the way to the truth: Morbius is the true Timeless Child, and Tecteun kidnapped him from the Sisterhood… Grade 2.

Next Time: Doctor Who And… The Planet of Evil.