Story: In what appears to be the final entry in the excellent Handbook series of Doctor Who non-fiction books, the all-too-brief era of Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor Who is covered in great detail.
Review: I’ve always been a fan of the Handbooks, but I eagerly awaited this particular volume since – as opposed to the earlier years of the show, which have been covered extensively – I have found information on the McCoy era very hard to come by. “Doctor Who: The Eighties”, by the same authors, was an excellent book in that department, as is this one. However, I would’ve liked more information on the planned 27th season of Doctor Who, some of which was covered in “The Eighties”. As the “Sixth Doctor Handbook” examined an unfulfilled long-term plan for the character of Colin Baker’s Doctor, further investigation of what could have been would’ve been very welcome in the “Seventh Doctor Handbook” – including the evolution from “Lungbarrow” to Ghost Light and back again.
However, almost making up for that gap is the extensive coverage of the 1996 Fox/Universal/BBC Worldwide television movie with Paul McGann, almost making this book a Seventh-and-Eighth Doctor Handbook. Numerous insightful interviews with producer Philip Segal are included, and in many ways, this portion of the book is a must-read for anyone who managed to get through Jean-Marc Lofficier’s “The Nth Doctor”. Perhaps surprisingly, the New Adventures novels, all but one of which featured the seventh Doctor, are given a brief overview, with a slightly greater focus on some of the better and more popular books (i.e. most of Paul Cornell’s books and “Lungbarrow”). Many of these sections are written by other authors entirely, who perhaps should’ve gotten a cover credit too, as they seem to have penned quite a bit of the book’s chapters on merchandising and the original fiction.
Despite some gaps, it’s a worthwhile read. And even though it seems to be the thickest of the Doctor Who Handbooks, I felt that the “Seventh Doctor Handbook” was scarcely long enough.
Year: 1998
Authors: David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker
Publisher: Virgin
Pages: 310