Who Killed Kennedy

Originally published by Virgin Publishing Ltd in 1996, Who Killed Kennedy has long been out-of-print and consequently has become much sought-after by Doctor Who book collectors. You can download it from the New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club (NZDWFC), who have permission from the author to make it available online, here.

Missing Target Novelisations

The five original classic Who TV stories not novelised as part of the Target range, The Pirate Planet, City of Death, Shada, Resurrection of the Daleks and Revelation of the Daleks, are available online as fan-made novelisations, in the Target style. You can download the ebooks from the New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club (NZDWFC) website here.

Frederick Muller

Frederick Muller was a British publishing house. In 1964 and 1965, the company commissioned and published three novelisations based upon serials in Doctor Who: Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks, Doctor Who and the Zarbi and Doctor Who and the Crusaders.

Here's the covers.


The Dalek cover was also reprinted in grey.




In 1973, Target Books acquired the reprint rights to these three novels and used them to launch its own series of novelisations - a series that would continue to 1994.

Dalek Omnibus (1976)

Doctor Who and the Daleks Omnibus, edited by Dalek creator Terry Nation, was published by St. Martins Press in 1976 especially for Marks and Spencer. It featured a collection of articles and photographs related to the Daleks as they had appeared in Doctor Who, as well as abridged and illustrated reprints of the novelisations 'Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks' and 'Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks' by Terrance Dicks.

Though the novelisations do take up the majority of the book, the Omnibus is interesting for what else is included. A piece called "The Seventh Galaxy" provided some details about the Dalek's home galaxy. Another called "On Camera" provided photography and script extracts from Genesis of the Daleks. "The Forbidden Planet" described Skaro's two moons, Omega Mysterium and Falkus. A behind-the-scenes feature called "Doctor Who and the Daleks Media History" provided what would have been, at the time of publication, one of the first complete overviews of the various serials, stage plays and films in which the Daleks had appeared. "Invasion - the enemy within", a comic strip, was the lone piece of original fiction. The volume's new material was rounded off with a few diagrams of the anatomy of a Dalek and blueprints of a so-called "Dalek Deep Space Cruiser".


Altered Vistas, on their 'In The Comics' site, suggest the comic strip might be written by Terry Nation. It tells of a Dalek attack on an inhabited planet and the installation there of a huge Dalek army. As the book also contains an abridged version of the novelisation of Planet of the Daleks, this planet may well be Spiridon.

I've got my copy packed away somewhere, and as yet I haven't found scans of this avaiable online.

Worth it just for the cover (artist unknown), but lavishly illustrated throughout, including some quite good stuff. Not to be confused with the other, later, Dalek Omnibus, which contained three stories by Terrance Dicks... I'll do a post on that another time...

Another Dalek ´first´...

Published on 12 November 1964, just in time for the second arrival of the Daleks in the TV series ´The Dalek Invaision of Earth´, was the first ever Who book. A novelisation of their first appearance almost a year earlier, Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks, was written by David Whitaker and published in hardback by Frederick Muller. The first edition of 20,000 copies, with pink dustjacket, soon sold out and was quickly reprinted in December (the second, and later third, editions have grey covers).


Twelve internal black and white illustrations were by Arnold Schwartzman (a detail from one was reused on the cover).


A paperback edition was issued on 4th October 1965 by May Fair Books Ltd, under the Armada Paperbacks imprint. This version did not use Schwartzman's artwork, instead having a colour cover and 6 line illustrations by Peter Archer. This was the first Doctor Who novel to be published in paperback.


On 2 May 1973 it was the first Who title published under the Target Books range, renaming it as ´Doctor Who and the Daleks´, although the full title was still given on the inside frontpage, and with the subtitle "Based on the popular BBC television serial". From 1977 onwards reprinted editions, now complete with the arched Who logo, dropped the full title completly. All of the Target editions included the 12 illustrations by Schwartzman.

The now classic cover illustration was by Chris Achilleos, who has acknowledged the influence of Ron Turner's artwork for The Dalek Chronicles comic published in TV Century 21 (more about that soon!), in particular the two Daleks were modelled from Issue 60 (The Rogue Planet, part 2) and the title graphic from Issue 76 (Legacy of Yesteryear) onwards.


In January 1992 it was republished by Virgin, retitled ´Doctor Who - The Daleks´ and released with a new cover by Bruce Pearson.

BBC Audio used the Achilleos artwork on the cover of their 2005 audio CD release as part of the ´Doctor Who: Travels in Time and Space´ collectors tin, with actor William Russell (Ian) reading the novelisation.

Probably one of the best Who related websites, On Target, has jacket details and cover examples, including a section on foreign editions, complete with scans of inside illustrations by varying artists. Definately a site to booknmark!