The Mark of the Rani was a novelisation based on the 1985 television serial The Mark of the Rani.
Publisher's summary
En route to Kew Gardens, the Doctor and Peri are more than a little surprised when they land in the middle of a slag heap in England at the time of the Luddite uprisings.
Unknown to the Doctor, his TARDIS has been dragged off course by the Master who plans to destroy his arch enemy once and for all, and pervert the course of history.
But also present is the Rani, another exile from Gallifrey, who is conducting her own evil experiments on the humans of the nineteenth century. Soon the Doctor discovers that the female of the species is far, far deadlier than the male...
Chapter titles
- Prologue
- House Of Evil
- The Scarecrow
- The Old Crone
- Death Fall
- Enter The Rani
- Miasimia Goria
- A Deadly Signature
- Face To Face
- Triumph Of The Master
- A Change Of Loyalty
- Fools Rush In
- An Unpleasant Surprise
- Taken For A Ride
- The Bait
- Metamorphosis
- Life In The Balance
- More Macabre Memorials
- Cave-In
- Birth Of A Carnivore
- The Final Question
- Epilogue
Deviations from televised story
- A deleted scene of the Doctor and Peri in the TARDIS on the way to Kew Gardens is included.
- The miners are immersed in the bath water before being gassed.
- The second guard killed by the Master is named as Harry while the rioter captured with Ward is called Dobbs.
- It is made clear that when the Rani activates the mark on people's necks it strangles them.
- The Rani's rule of Miasimia Goria has been kept secret from the Time Lords.
- Ward and the others steal a tinker's cart in order to transport the TARDIS.
- The Master assures the Rani he will bring Peri back after they have seen the TARDIS thrown down the mineshaft.
- There is a sequence of Luke treating the wounded after rioting at the pit.
- Ward tries to kill the Doctor by dumping the contents of a coal truck on him from an overhanging rail, replacing the sequence where he throws a suspended log at him.
- The Doctor musing being nice to the Rani so she will show him how to remote control a TARDIS is omitted.
- It is explained that the Master instructed Luke to lure Peri and Stephenson to the dell as bait for the Doctor.
- After leaving the mine, the Master tells the Rani to set her TARDIS for the pit office, intending to give one of the maggots to Ravensworth and set a trap for the Doctor.
- An epilogue has the Doctor and Peri making it to Kew Gardens and Peri pondering whether the flowers there are really people.
Writing and publishing notes
- Because of the reasons relating to the use of the likenesses of certain actors on covers without their permission, approval and renumeration, actress Kate O'Mara's character, the Rani, was illustrated on the cover as a generic "old crone".
- Cover artist Andrew Skilleter was unhappy about not being able to use Kate O'Mara's likeness on the cover, a cover which although unused was the one he received the largest payment for.
- This was Andrew Skilleter's last cover commissioned for Target Books which suffered a delay in its delivery as a result of his increased workload, having recently set up a his new company, Who Dares Publishing. He provided new cover artwork for the BBC video releases, which were also used on the late reprinted Target books.
- Jane Baker becomes only the second woman to be credited with authoring (or in this case, co-authoring) an official Doctor Who novel. She is the only female writer to be involved in more than one novelisation.
- Although numbered #107 in the Doctor Who library, the book was actually the 106th to be released; this was because Vengeance on Varos was delayed by over two years and its number #106 was not reassigned. All the books from numbers 107 until 128 are thus one number out from publication order.
Cover Gallery
1986 Hardback edition
British publication history
First publication:
- Hardback
- W.H. Allen & Co. Ltd. UK
- Paperback
- Target
Audiobook
This Target Book was released as an audiobook on 12 April 2018 complete and unabridged by BBC Audio and read by Nicola Bryant.
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
