Now: Nineteen Seventy-Eight                                                                     

 

 The Snow Devils   Comic story, published 1978                                       Doctor: 4

Illustrated ?and written by John Canning.

Contemporary to publication Takes place in the Himalayas.


The Sinestran Kill   Audio Drama, released 2019                                       Doctor: 4

Featuring Ann, with the Sontarans, K9 II (informative mention)

Written by Andrew Smith.

Informed guess Takes place in London; self-dated 1978 CE.

Anya Kingdom, mostly known to the Doctor as Ann Kelso, was a humanoid of presumable Tellurian descent, born in the forty-first century CE.


Doctor Who Discovers Strange and Mysterious Creatures   Illustrated short story, to a large extent, published 1978                                                                                           Doctor: 4

Written by writer employed by W H Allen.

Contemporary to publication Takes place on Earth.


Collector’s Item    Audio short story, released 2017                        Doctor: 4

Featuring Sarah Jane

Written by Paul J Salamoff.

Informed guess Takes place at a car boot sale, presumably in the UK, after Robot.


Aquarius: The Invertebrates of Doom   Short story, published 2002  Doctor: 7

featuring Mel

Written by Andrew Collins.

Informed guess Takes place in the UK; self-dated 1978 CE.


The Crowmarsh Experiment   Audio Drama, released 2018        Doctor: 4

Featuring Leela

Written by David Llewellyn.

Takes place ostensibly in London, self-dated March 1978 CE.


The Shadowman  Novel, published 2019                                        Doctor: 0

Featuring Anne Travers, Grace technology, with UNIT (informative mention)

Written by Sharon Bidwell.

Informed guess Takes place in France; self-dated a version of 1978 CE.


The Space Ghost   Comic story, published 1975                                        Doctor: 4

featuring Sarah Jane

Illustrated ?and written by John Canning.

informed guess Takes place in Yorkshire, after Death Flower as published.

 

Thanks principally to Big Finish, a sizeable proportion of Doctor Who material consists of audio dramas, not a form that has made a big splash in mainstream culture. The sole exception I can think of is the original radio series of The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, written by Douglas Adams of this parish and first broadcast in 1978. The entire, often contradictory, story ascribable to this title is a bit much to draw into Doctor Who narrative, but the radio series alone with its shaggy-dog fate of the Earth might be the result of an abortive campaign in the Second War in Heaven.

 

Mother, Maiden, Crone   Novel, published 2020                     Doctor: 0

Featuring Iris Wildthyme, Vince Cosmos

Written by Courtney Milnestein.

Informed guess Takes place in London; self-dated 1978 CE.


The Pirate Planet    TV story, broadcast 1978                               Doctor: 4

featuring K9 II, Romana, Grace technology

Written by Douglas Adams, script edited by Anthony Read.

Informed guess Takes place on Zanak; dated 1978 CE by Parkin in Ahistory.


The Eerie Manor   Comic story, published 1978                                       Doctor: 4

Illustrated ?and written by John Canning.

Contemporary to publication Takes place in the UK.


The Empire of the Wolf   Gamebook, published in 2010                 Doctor: 11

Featuring Amy or possibly an Amy ganger, Rory

Written by Neil Corry.

Takes place on Earth: the Doctor thinks it is about “a hundred years” after Tooth and Claw


The Drosten’s Curse   Novel, published 2015                              Doctor: 4

Written by A L Kennedy.

Takes place in Arbroath, on the east coast of Scotland; self-dated early June, 1978 CE.


The Death Pit   Short story, published 2013                                               Doctor: 4

Written by A L Kennedy.

This is another telling of the events of The Drosten’s Curse.


The Stones of Blood   TV story, broadcast 1978                          Doctor: 4

featuring K9 II, Romana, Grace technology

Written by David Fisher, script edited by Anthony Read.

Takes place in Cornwall; dated 1978 CE by Parkin in Ahistory.


The Movellan Manoeuvre   Audio Drama, released 2020             Doctor: 0

Featuring the Movellans, the Counter Measures Group

Written by John Dorney.

Informed guess Takes place in London; after The Hollow King as released.

The Movellans are time-travelling artificial intelligences, generally embodied in rather stylish androids.


Fever Island   Audio Drama, released 2019                                           Doctor: 4

Featuring K9 II, Ann

Written by Jonathan Barnes.

Takes place in Scotland; self-dated September 1978 CE.


The Dalek Gambit   Audio Drama, released 2020                             Doctor: 0

Featuring the Daleks, the Movellans, the Counter Measures Group

Written by Roland Moore.

Informed guess Takes place in the UK; not long after The Movellan Manouvre.


Homework   Short story, published 2008                                                    Doctor: 2

featuring Jamie, Zoe

Written by Michael Coen.

Takes place in London; self-dated September 1978 CE.


The Mystery of the Rings   Illustrated short story, published 1984       Doctor: 6

featuring Peri

Written by the World Distributors 1985 Annual crew.

informed guess Takes place in rural England; self-dated autumn, in the late 1970s CE.


Guardian of the Tomb   Comic story, published 1978                             Doctor: 4

Illustrated ?and written by John Canning.

Contemporary to publication Takes place in the UK.


The Sea Devil              Comic story, published 1978                                  Doctor: 4

Illustrated ?and written by John Canning.

Contemporary to publication Takes place on the Scottish coast and in the North Sea.

 

 

 

Total Stories Considered               532  

Proportion Written By Women   8%                                          

 

Top Docs

3                 193 stories

4                 40 stories   Climber!

2                 33 stories  

1                 21 stories

7                 21 stories           

8                 14 stories           

11               13 stories   Climber!

10               12 stories  

12               12 stories  

6                 10 stories  

Unbound   9 stories             

5                 8 stories             

13               4 stories    

9                 2 stories    

         

         

 

Top Twenty Recurring Elements

 

Alastair and the Lethbridge-Stewart family                                                                                                                                         207 stories

UNIT                                                                    158 stories

London                                                                142 stories

Regional England                                               119 stories         

Jo                                                                         83 stories  

Benton                                                                77 stories  

North America                                                   65 stories

Yates                                                                   61 stories  

The Travers family                                            51 stories  

Liz                                                                        50 stories           

The Master                                                         45 stories  

At sea                                                                  40 stories  

The Intrusion Counter-Measures Group        39 stories Climber!

Scotland                                                              34 stories Climber!

Continental Europe                                           30 stories           

Iris Wildthyme                                                   26 stories   Climber!

Sarah Jane                                                          26 stories  

The Time Lords                                                  26 stories            

Christmas                                                            25 stories  

Senor 105                                                           19 stories  

 

         

Top Decades

 

The Teens                                                           235 stories

The Seventies                                                    106 stories         

The Noughties                                                    80 stories

The Nineties                                                       47 stories

The Twenties                                                     36 stories

The Sixties                                                          24 stories  

The Eighties                                                        4 stories

 

And Top Twenty Years

 

2016                                                          42 stories

2015                                                          29 stories  

2013                                                          28 stories  

2018                                                          28 stories   Climber!    

2019                                                          28 stories   Climber!

2017                                                          26 stories  

1970                                                          24 stories

1973                                                          20 stories  

2011                                                          19 stories

1972                                                          18 stories

2012                                                          18 stories

2020                                                          18 stories Climber!    

2021                                                          17 stories

2001                                                          16 stories           

1974                                                          14 stories  

1993                                                          10 stories

2007                                                          10 stories

2010                                                          10 stories

1971                                                          9 stories=

1978                                                          9 stories=   New entry!

2005                                                          9 stories=  

2009                                                          9 stories=  

 

         

 

Total Writers (including showrunners, script editors, anthology linking material writers)                                                232

Proportion of Female Writers                         11%      

 

Top Twenty Writers

 

Terrance Dicks                                          26 stories  

? John Canning                                         20 stories  

Anonymous Polystyle Writers               14 stories  

Paul Magrs                                                14 stories  

John Dorney                                             12 stories   Climber!    

Andy Frankham-Allen                            12 stories  

Malcolm Hulke                                         10 stories  

Mark Wright                                             10 stories  

Simon Guerrier                                        8 stories    

Dennis Hooper                                         8 stories    

Justin Richards                                         8 stories    

Eddie Robson                                            8 stories    

1971 Annual crew                                   8 stories    

1973 Annual crew                                   8 stories             

Roger Noel Cook                                      7 stories    

Guy Adams                                               6 stories=            

Robert Holmes                                         6 stories=

David A McIntee                                      6 stories=

John Peel                                                  6 stories=

Cody Schell                                               6 stories=

David Whitaker                                        6 stories=  

1974 Annual crew                                   6 stories=

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