Inferno (novelisation)

Inferno
Based on:	Inferno
Doctor:	Third Doctor
Companion(s):	Liz
Featuring:	The Brig, Benton
Main enemy:	Primords
Main setting:	Earth, late 20th century, Parallel Earth
Key crew
Publisher:	Target Books, W.H. Allen
Writer:	Terrance Dicks
Read by:	Caroline John
Cover by:	Nick Spender
Release details
Release number:	89
Release date:	18 October 1984
Format:	Hardcover and paperback editions; 15 Chapters, 126 Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0-426-19617-1
Publication Order
← Previous	The Aztecs
Next →	The Highlanders
TV series order
← Previous	The Ambassadors of Death
Next →	Doctor Who and the Terror of the Autons

Inferno was a novelisation based on the 1970 television serial Inferno.

Publisher's summary

Inferno is the name of a top-secret drilling project to penetrate the Earth's crust and release a major new energy source.

A crisis develops when a noxious liquid leaks out as drilling progresses – the green poison has a grotesquely debilitating effect on human beings.

As the Earth's plight worsens, the Doctor is trapped in a parallel world, unable to rescue the planet and its inhabitants from the destructive force of Inferno...

Chapter titles

1. Project Inferno
2. The Beast
3. Mutant
4. The Slime
5. Dimension of Terror
6. The Nightmare
7. Death Sentence
8. Countdown to Doom
9. Penetration-Zero
10. The Monsters
11. Escape Plan
12. Doomsday
13. Return to Danger
14. The Last Mutation
15. The Doctor Takes a Trip

Deviations from televised story

• The "door handle" is confirmed to be the sonic screwdriver.
• The Doctor deduces how the parallel Earth became a dictatorship.
• Stahlman's motivation is explored in more detail.
• Stahlman is said to have grown up in the ruins of post-war Germany (so he's either younger in the novelisation or the story is set circa 1990, unless he is describing the First World War).
• The Doctor is traumatised by the destruction of the other Earth.
• Stahlman is described as burly and Liz as having reddish-brown hair, neither of which entirely reflects their on screen appearance.
• Stahlman's first name is given as Eric.
• It is explained that the Doctor plans to use a power surge from the project's reactor to overload the blocks placed on the TARDIS.
• Benton refers to Bromley by name: In the televised version, his surname is only given in the credits.
• The character of Latimer is unnamed.
• The scene between Sir Keith Gold and Patterson prior to the car crash is removed. Sir Keith states he was unconscious for several hours, explaining his disappearance.

Writing and publishing notes

• One of several titles commissioned by outgoing range editor Christine Donohoe and edited by Nigel Robinson.
• This novelisation was later released as part of The UNIT Collection.

Additional cover images

• 

  1984 Hardback edition

British publication history

• Hardback

W.H. Allen & Co. Ltd. UK

• Paperback

Target

 Audiobook

This Target Book was released on 7 April 2011 complete and unabridged by BBC Audio and read by Caroline John.

The cover blurb and thumbnail illustrations were retained in the accompanying booklet with sleevenotes by David J. Howe. Music and sound effects by Simon Power.

• 

  Audiobook cover

External links

to be added