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Virgin Missing Adventures

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The Virgin Missing Adventures were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which had been cancelled in 1989, featuring stories set between televised episodes of the programme. The novels were published from 1994 to 1997, and featured the First through Sixth Doctors. (The Seventh Doctor also appeared in one novel.) The Missing Adventures complemented the Virgin New Adventures range, which had proved successful.[citation needed]

Publication history

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Virgin had purchased the successful children's imprint Target Books in 1989, with Virgin's new fiction editor Peter Darvill-Evans taking over the range. Target's major output was novelisations of televised Doctor Who stories, and Darvill-Evans realised that there were few stories left to be novelised. He approached the BBC for permission to commission original stories written directly for print, but such a licence was initially refused. However, after the television series was cancelled at the end of 1989, Virgin were granted the licence to produce full-length original novels continuing the story from the point at which the series had concluded.[1]

The first range covered only the continuing adventures of the Seventh Doctor, but when that proved successful, Virgin also created this range covering the previous Doctors, with new stories that fit in between the televised serials.[2]

In addition to original novels, the Missing Adventures series also incorporated two novelisations: The Ghosts of N-Space, based upon a mid-1990s BBC audio play, and Downtime, which was based upon an independent video production featuring several characters from the Doctor Who series (the novelisation is one of the few Doctor Who novels in which the Doctor does not appear as a central character).

When the BBC decided in 1996 to do their own line of novels with the Eighth Doctor, they withdrew the license from Virgin to publish the Eighth Doctor Adventures. The adventures of the previous Doctors were taken up by the BBC in the Past Doctor Adventures line of books.

Reprints

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In 2014, both The Scales of Injustice and The Sands of Time were reprinted as part of BBC Books' The Monster Collection. These were followed with The English Way of Death, a part of The History Collection (2015).

List of Virgin Missing Adventures

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Including books featuring two of the Doctors, the total tallies are: First Doctor, 5 books; Second, 4 books; Third, 6 books; Fourth, 8 books; Fifth, 5 books; Sixth, 5 books; and Seventh, 1 book.

# Title Author Doctor Featuring Published
1 Goth Opera Paul Cornell Fifth Tegan, Nyssa, Romana July 1994
2 Evolution John Peel Fourth Sarah Jane September 1994
3 Venusian Lullaby Paul Leonard First Ian, Barbara October 1994
4 The Crystal Bucephalus Craig Hinton Fifth Tegan, Turlough, Kamelion, Dorothy November 1994
5 State of Change Christopher Bulis Sixth Peri December 1994
6 The Romance of Crime Gareth Roberts Fourth Romana II, K-9 January 1995
7 The Ghosts of N-Space Barry Letts Third Sarah Jane, the Brigadier February 1995
8 Time of Your Life Steve Lyons Sixth Grant Markham March 1995
9 Dancing the Code Paul Leonard Third Jo, UNIT April 1995
10 The Menagerie Martin Day Second Jamie, Zoe May 1995
11 System Shock Justin Richards Fourth Sarah, Harry June 1995
12 The Sorcerer's Apprentice Christopher Bulis First Ian, Barbara, Susan July 1995
13 Invasion of the Cat-People Gary Russell Second Ben, Polly August 1995
14 Managra Stephen Marley Fourth Sarah Jane September 1995
15 Millennial Rites Craig Hinton Sixth Mel October 1995
16 The Empire of Glass Andy Lane First Steven, Vicki; plus Irving Braxiatel November 1995
17 Lords of the Storm David A. McIntee Fifth Turlough December 1995
18 Downtime Marc Platt none The Brigadier, Sarah Jane, Victoria January 1996
19 The Man in the Velvet Mask Daniel O'Mahony First Dodo February 1996
20 The English Way of Death Gareth Roberts Fourth Romana II, K-9 March 1996
21 The Eye of the Giant Christopher Bulis Third Liz Shaw, UNIT April 1996
22 The Sands of Time Justin Richards Fifth Tegan, Nyssa May 1996
23 Killing Ground Steve Lyons Sixth Grant Markham June 1996
24 The Scales of Injustice Gary Russell Third Liz Shaw, UNIT July 1996
25 The Shadow of Weng-Chiang David A. McIntee Fourth Romana I, K-9 August 1996
26 Twilight of the Gods Christopher Bulis Second Jamie, Victoria September 1996
27 Speed of Flight Paul Leonard Third Jo, Mike Yates October 1996
28 The Plotters Gareth Roberts First Ian, Barbara, Vicki November 1996
29 Cold Fusion Lance Parkin Fifth and Seventh Adric, Nyssa, Tegan; Roz, Chris December 1996
30 Burning Heart Dave Stone Sixth Peri January 1997
31 A Device of Death Christopher Bulis Fourth Sarah Jane, Harry February 1997
32 The Dark Path David A. McIntee Second Jamie, Victoria March 1997
33 The Well-Mannered War Gareth Roberts Fourth Romana II, K-9 April 1997

Continuity

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Three of the Missing Adventures were sequels to televised serials, they were:

Two of the Missing Adventures were novelisations:

Many Missing Adventures featured old foes, including:

Speed of Flight is the only novel in the series that is a prequel; to Timelash.

Who Killed Kennedy

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In 1996, Virgin Books published Who Killed Kennedy, a Doctor Who novel by David Bishop. Although set during the time of the Third Doctor, Virgin published this book as a standalone work and not as part of the Missing Adventures series.

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References

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  1. ^ Wilson, Anthony; Smith?, Robert (2019). Bookwyrm: An Unauthorized & Unconventional Guide to the Doctor Who Novels. Maryland: ATB Publishing. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-9882210-6-2.
  2. ^ https://doctorwho.org.nz/archive/tsv39/missingadventures.html