Strange England (novel)
Strange England was the twenty-ninth New Adventures novel. It features the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Bernice Summerfield. This was Simon Messingham's first novel, and his only contribution to the Virgin Books range. His next Doctor Who novel was the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures novel The Face-Eater in 1999.
Publisher's summary
"The more the Doctor dreams," the Quack said, "the more real I become. He has not yet dreamed me fully, but he will."
When the TARDIS lands in the idyllic gardens of a Victorian country house, Ace knows that something terrible is bound to happen. The Doctor disagrees. Sometimes things really are as perfect as they seem.
Then they discover a young girl whose body has been possessed by a beautiful but lethal insect. And they meet the people of the House: innocents who have never known age, pain, or death — until now.
Now their rural paradise is turning into a world of nightmare. A world in which the familiar is being twisted into something evil and strange. A world ruled by the Quack, whose patent medicines are deadly poisons and whose aim is the total destruction of the Doctor.
Plot
to be added
Characters
- Seventh Doctor
- Ace
- Bernice Summerfield
- Galah
- The Quack
- Dr Patrick Rix
- Stephen Rix
- Charlotte Aickland
- Richard Aickland
- Garvey
- Victoria
- Mrs Irving
- Archie Lewis
- Thos Lewis
- Arthur
- Bert Robbins
- Billy
- Frankie
- Gray
- Ted
- Tillie
- Edith
- Marleen
- Alleyn
- Chamberlain
- Madge Robbins
- Stan Lewis
- Joanna Lewis
- Old Skinner
- Mary
- Jane
- Peter
- Cameron
- Kathy
- MacKendrick
Worldbuilding
Foods and beverages
- The Doctor cooks scrambled eggs for Benny and the others.
- Bernice enjoys light German wine on summer days. She drinks tea with the Quack, which reminds her of the tea that the Doctor brews in the TARDIS.
- Cucumber sandwiches are often served at cricket matches.
Art
Music
- The Doctor has a moment of spoon playing.
TARDIS
- A TARDIS Protyon Unit is the reason why some TARDISes have independent thought.
Notes
- A prelude to this story was published in DWM 215.
- Author Simon Messingham has commented on more than one occasion that he was unhappy with this novel.[1]
Continuity
- The Doctor, Ace, and Benny would visit another house of horrors that would be destroyed in a changing environment. (PROSE: Falls the Shadow)
- He tells Bernice he has always believed evil to be an actual force. (AUDIO: The Guardians of Prophecy)
- Bernice mentions being inside a TARDIS (PROSE: Birthright) while Ace mentions being in an inside-out TARDIS. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible) She implies this occurred relatively soon after she and the Doctor defeated the Timewyrm. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation)
- Reference is made to the Matrix within a TARDIS. (TV: The Doctor's Wife)
- Being in the white void reminds Bernice of the Land of Fiction. (PROSE: Conundrum) She tries to deny the reality, but it doesn't work. (TV: The Deadly Assassin)
- Ace calls Arthur an angel, and has had enough of Victorian England. (TV: Ghost Light)
- She's aware that some components of a TARDIS are organic. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible)
- Galah connects herself to the Architectural Configuration Programme. (TV: Castrovalva)
- The Doctor's former companion Sarah Jane Smith would encounter an entity that first appears in nightmares and then in reality. (TV: The Nightmare Man)
Footnotes
External links
- Strange England at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- The Discontinuity Guide to: Strange England at The Whoniverse
- The Cloister Library: Strange England
- Beyond the Book: Strange England by Paul Scoones (Article) - TSV 43
