Doctor Who reference books: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:01, 18 August 2024

Doctor Who reference books are any books that contain reference material concerning Doctor Who and/or the Doctor Who universe. These cover a range of reference material both fictional and nonfictional, such as programme guides, "Making Of" books that cover behind the scenes information, in-universe books detailing information that was not covered within the narrative and purely illustrated books that showcase a particular artist's work.

During the 1970s these books were almost entirely published by Target Books, who also published the novelisations of Doctor Who. These publications were a combination of behind the scenes or "Making Of" books and themed books, concentrating on "Monsters" or particular aliens such as Terry Nation's Dalek Special and The Adventures of K9 and Other Mechanical Creatures.

The 1980s can be seen as the real beginning of Doctor Who non-fiction publications, with several large format books being published during this time. Many of these were written by Peter Haining, who contributed five lengthy books concerning the production and history of Doctor Who.

1983 saw the debut of the first book providing analysis of Doctor Who; Doctor Who: The Unfolding Text was a media text for teachers and students, discussing the narrative structure of Doctor Who and the production techniques at work.

The following years saw the publication of somewhat odder publications aimed at the growing fan-base for Doctor Who, namely The Doctor Who Pattern Book in 1984 and The Doctor Who Cookbook in 1985.

During the 1990s, the books analysing Doctor Who began to be more frequently published. With the range and availability of Doctor Who on video tape and DVD, this was a period when most of the stories could be re-watched with ease. The popular Doctor Who Handbook range published by Virgin Books covered each Doctor's era in great detail and remain highly regarded as reference works to this day.

In the early 2000s books such as Mad Norwegian Press's I, Who range of were published breaking down and analysing all of Virgin Books' and BBC Books' novel ranges and most of Big Finish Productions' prose and audio ranges.

During this time there were a few non-fiction books published by BBC Books, such as Doctor Who: Regeneration which contained detailed information surrounding the attempt to bring Doctor Who back in in the 1990s, and the subsequent production of the 1996 TV movie.

In 2005, the production of the first new series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales saw a surge in the publication of reference material.

There both fictional, though non-narrative, works, such as Doctor Who: Monsters and Villains, and also nonfiction books like Doctor Who: The Inside Story and for the first time since 1996's publication of Doctor Who: The Script of the Film, Doctor Who: The Shooting Scripts was published which contained all the scripts from the series that had aired that year.

During the latter part of the 2000s it continued to be a mix of reference books that were fictional and nonfictional, though the fiction-based books outweighed the non-fiction works.

Lore guidebooks

Official Guide

Main article: Official Guide

Dorling Kindersley

Main article: The Visual Dictionary (series)

The Visual Dictionary (2007)
The Visual Dictionary (2009 edition)
The Visual Dictionary (2010 edition)
Doctor Who Character Encyclopedia (2013)
Doctor Who Character Encyclopedia: Updated Edition
The Visual Dictionary: Updated and Expanded (2014 edition)
The Visual Dictionary (2015 Edition)
The Complete Visual Collection

Mad Norwegian Press

AHistory 1st edition (2006)
AHistory 2nd edition (2007)
AHistory 3rd edition (2012)
AHistory 2012-2013 update (2014, digital)
Unhistory (2017, digital)
AHistory 4th edition, volume 1 (2018)
AHistory 4th edition, volume 2 (2018)
AHistory 4th edition, volume 3 (2019)
AHistory 2018 update (2023, digital)

Other

Timelink (2000)
The Discontinuity Guide (2004)
The Completely Unofficial Encyclopedia (2006)
What Is the Story of Doctor Who? (2019)
1001 Completely Random Doctor Who Facts (2015)
The Essential Book of K9 (2015)
The Brigadier: Declassified (2019)

Media guidebooks

Television

The Doctor Who Programme Guide Volume 1 (1981)
The Doctor Who Programme Guide Volume 2 (1981)
The Official Doctor Who & the Daleks Book (1988)
The Doctor Who Programme Guide (1989)
The Nth Doctor (1997)
The Television Companion (1998)
The Nth Doctor (2003 edition)
The Brilliant Book 2011 (2010)
The Brilliant Book 2012 (2011)
Lost in Time and Space: An Unofficial Guide to the Uncharted Journeys of Doctor Who (2014)

Pocket Essentials

Telos Publishing

Back to the Vortex (2005)
Back to the Vortex: Second Flight (2006)
Third Dimension (2007)
Monsters Within (2008)
End of Ten (2012)
River's Run (2013)
Time of the Doctor (2016)

ECW Press

Who is the Doctor (2012)
Who's 50: The 50 Doctor Who Stories to Watch Before You Die (2013)
The Doctors Are In: The Essential and Unofficial Guide to Doctor Who's Greatest Time Lord (2015)
Who is the Doctor 2 (2020)

Books & comics

I, Who (1999)
I, Who 2 (2001)
I, Who 3 (2003)
The Target Book (2007)
Bernice Summerfield: The Inside Story (2009)
Novel Who: Classic Doctor Who Novelization Guide (2009)
The Comic Strip Companion: 1964 – 1979 (2012)
Countdown to TV Action (2014)
Bookwyrm: Volume 1: The New Adventures 1991-1997 (2019)

Audio dramas

The New Audio Adventures: The Inside Story (2004)
Bernice Summerfield: The Inside Story (2009)
Memoirs of an Edwardian Adventurer (2011)
The Big Finish Companion: Volume 1 (2011)
The Big Finish Companion: Volume 2 (2013)

Merchandise

Howe's Transcendental Toybox (2000 edition)
Howe's Transcendental Toybox (2003 edition)
Howe's Transcendental Toybox (2004 edition)
Howe's Transcendental Toybox (2006 edition)

Other

Licence Denied (1997)
Downtime – The Lost Years of Doctor Who (2017)

Production history guidebooks

Target Books

The Making of Doctor Who (1976)
Travel Without the TARDIS (1986)

BBC Books

The BBC Radiophonic Workshop - The First 25 Years (1983)
The Book of Lists (1997)
The Legend (2003)
The Legend Continues (2005)
Doctor Who: The Inside Story (2006)
The Writer's Tale (2008)
The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter (2010)
The Vault: Treasures from the First 50 Years (2013)

WH Allen

A Celebration: Two Decades Through Time and Space (1983)
The Key to Time: A Year by Year Record (1984)
The Early Years (1986)
The Doctor Who File (1986)

Hutchinson

The TARDIS Inside Out (1985)
Doctor Who Special Effects (1986)

Virgin Books

Ace! The Inside Story of the End of an Era (1996)

Decade books

The Sixties (1992)
The Seventies (1994)
The Eighties (1996)

Doctor Who The Handbook

Main article: Doctor Who The Handbook

Doctor Who The Handbook: The Fourth Doctor (1992)
Doctor Who The Handbook: The Sixth Doctor (1993)
Doctor Who The Handbook: The First Doctor (1994)
Doctor Who The Handbook: The Fifth Doctor (1995)
Doctor Who The Handbook: The Third Doctor (1996)
Doctor Who The Handbook: The Second Doctor (1997)
Doctor Who The Handbook: The Seventh Doctor (1998)
The Handbook (2005)

Boxtree

The Doctors- 30 Years of Time Travel.jpg

The Doctors - 30 Years of Time Travel (1994)
Classic Who: The Hinchcliffe Years (1996)
Classic Who: The Harper Classics (1996)

Reynolds & Hearn

Script Doctor: The Inside Story of Doctor Who 1986-89 (2005 edition)
Doctor Who On Location (2001)

Panini

Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition (2002-present)
Doctor Who 50 Years (2013)
The Essential Doctor Who (2014-18)
The Complete History (2015-19)
The Story of Doctor Who (2018)
The Doctor Who Companion (2019-20)
Doctor Who Chronicles (2021-present)
60 Moments in Time (2023)

Talkback

Talkback Volume 1 The Sixties (2006)
Talkback Volume 2 The Seventies (2006)
Talkback Volume 3 The Eighties (2007)

Other

The Making of Doctor Who (1972)
A Day With a TV Producer (1980)
The Making of a Television Series (1982)
Doctor Who: Regeneration (2000)
The Doctors: The Archive (2013)
Who Beyond 50: Celebrating Five Decades of Doctor Who (2015)
Red White and Who: The Story of Doctor Who in America (2017)
Dr. Who and the Daleks: The Official Story of the Films (2022)

Commentary guidebooks

The Unfolding Text (1983)
Time Travellers Guide 1sted.jpg

The Time-Travellers' Guide (1987)
25 Glorious Years (1988)
Doctor Who From A to Z (1998)
Impossible Worlds, Impossible Things: Cultural Perspectives on Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures (2010)
Army of Ghosts: Essays on Doctor Who's Sometimes Forgotten Stories (2020)

About Time

About Time 3 (2004)
About Time 4 (2004)
About Time 5 (2005)
About Time 1 (2006)
About Time 2 (2006)
About Time 6 (2007)
About Time 8 (2017)
About Time 9 (2019)