Written by Malcolm Hulke, based on Malcolm Hulke & Terrance Dicks’ scripts for the 1969 TV serial.

45 years before an abridged (and colourised) edit of the TV serial dropped on the BBC, Malcolm Hulke condensed his 10-part epic finale to Doctor Patrick’s adventures into this crisp 143-page novel. It’s more masterful (if less Master-full – “Zoe thought she detected a moment of mutual recognition between the Doctor and the War Chief, as though they had once known each other” but there’s little here to suggest he is the Master), although that’s to be expected given Hulke wasn’t constrained by what had been recorded a decade earlier when coming to make his cut.

Hulke’s politics are on full display, with the Socialist dream of working people across frontiers joining forces against their imperialist oppressors. Zoe gets to put across some feminist messages to the shock of Lady Jennifer:

‘Perhaps if women took over we wouldn’t have wars,’ Zoe suggested.
‘That’s radical talk. A woman’s place is in the home. Lady Jennifer realised what she had just said. ‘Except, of course, during a war.’
‘Which men have started,’ said Zoe.

I’m also a big fan of Hulke’s approach to the arrival of the Time Lords. Instead of the grandiose organ music and slow-motion effect that heralded their coming on TV, Hulke signals their awesome power with a cold wind that rushes across the planet and chills the War Lord: “‘Have no fear,’ he said. ‘The Time Lords are on their way.” It leads into The Trial of Doctor Who, which – like this adaptation as a whole – captures the key beats without leaving the reader feeling short changed. Grade 2.

Next Time: Doctor Who And… The Destiny of the Daleks.