Written by Terrance Dicks, based on Bob Baker and Dave Martin’s scripts for the 1976 TV serial.

An uncomplicated retelling of the scripts, with few additions or clarifications, perhaps suggesting Dicks thought they were satisfactory if not greatly inspiring. There’s a good joke about alien planets looking like quarries made right at the start, and some sketched in character backstories for Carter (“a vintage car enthusiast and… something of an amateur racing driver too”) and Professor Watson. The latter gets probably the most poignant moment in the book:

“Professor Watson’s little daughter had answered the phone. Delighted to find her father on the line she’d began a long rambling account of some school triumph. For a moment Watson felt like yelling at her to get off the line. Then he thought it would be a pity if his daughter’s last memory was of him shouting at her. He forced himself to listen patiently, then said, ‘That’s very good, Susy, I’m sure your teacher was pleased. Be a good girl and get mum for me, will you? I’m a bit short of time. Quickly now?’ When his wife came on the line, Watson found himself quite incapable of telling her that he would probably be dead in a few minutes time. Let her be happy for a while longer, she’d hear soon enough”.

Ultimately, Dicks can’t hide the amount of pottering to and from reactors in the middle section, which becomes repetitive and stalls the growing menace of the regenerating Eldrad. He pulls it back a bit for the finale on a suitably desolate Kastria, but the overall impression is best described as “workmanlike”. Grade 4.

Next Time: Doctor Who And… The Invisible Enemy.