The Clockwise Man was the first novel in the BBC New Series Adventures series. It was written by Justin Richards and featured the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler.
Publisher's summary
In 1920s London, the Doctor and Rose find themselves caught up in the hunt for a mysterious murderer. But not everything is what it seems. Secrets lie behind locked doors and inhuman killers roam the streets.
Who is the Painted Lady and why is she so interested in the Doctor? How can a cat return from the dead? Can anyone be trusted to tell — or even to know — the truth?
With the faceless killers closing in, the Doctor and Rose must solve the mystery of the Clockwise Man before London itself is destroyed...
Plot
Peter Dickson, a footman taking a smoking break, sees a black cat with a triangle of white fur under it's chin just before he is attacked by some sort of clockwork machine, which interrogates him. He is saved by the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler, who are visiting to see The Great Exhibition.
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Characters
- Ninth Doctor
- Rose Tyler
- Shade Vassily
- Sir George Harding
- Peter Dickson
- Lady Anna
- Freddie
- Edward Repple
- Aske
- Melissa Heart
- Crowther
- Colonel Oblonsky
- Beth
- Matty Black
- Ronald Cheshunt
- Count Alexander Koznyshev
- Countess Nadia Koznyshev
- Lord Chitterington
- Wensleydale
- Ranskill
- Coleridge
- Dilys
References
- The Doctor and Rose are accused of turning up "like a Bad Wolf".
- Wagner and Tchaikovsky are mentioned.
- Shakespearean characters Hamlet, Horatio, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are mentioned.
Story notes
- As Book 1 of the BBC New Series Adventures line, this book ushered in a new publication format for BBC Books. It released exclusively this and all future New Series Adventures featuring the Ninth and Tenth Doctors, as well as BBC Torchwood novels in hardcover format. The Quick Reads novellas were paperback releases and some limited-edition promotional paperback issues of Ninth and Tenth Doctor books would occur outside the UK. The Clockwise Man is the first Doctor Who novel to be released in hardcover since Target Books discontinued hardcover editions of its novelisations in the 1980s. It is the first original Doctor Who novel ever issued in the format.
- Later reprints of this book removed the image of Billie Piper from the cover.
- This story was also released as an ebook available from the Amazon Kindle store.
Audio release
- The story was released as a DAISY Digital Talking Book in November 2007, read by Glen McCready.
- An audiobook was produced by AudioGo in August 2011 on six CDs, and read by Nicholas Briggs. The audiobook was exclusive to the AudioGo website before the company went into administration.
Continuity
- Clockwork men also appear with the Tenth Doctor in TV: The Girl in the Fireplace, the Eighth Doctor in PROSE: Anachrophobia and AUDIO: Time Works, the Second Doctor in TV: The Mind Robber, and the Twelfth Doctor in TV: Deep Breath.
- There is a mention of Rose "dressing up" while the Doctor only has a "new shirt". (TV: The Unquiet Dead)
- Rose has a conversation with one of the servants in the Imperial Club, who makes her think of Gwyneth in TV: The Unquiet Dead.
- In the club, the Doctor looks at a painting of the French Revolution and says, "That's not right." In the first episode of Doctor Who, An Unearthly Child, the Doctor's granddaughter, Susan Foreman, reads a book about the French Revolution and says the same words.
- The Doctor mentions to Rose at the end of the Season 2 episode TV: Tooth and Claw that Queen Victoria's descendants suffered from a condition called Haemophilia. This was also mentioned when the Doctor and Rose visit the British Empire Exhibition.
- The Doctor mentions his second regeneration and his exile to Earth. (TV: The War Games, Spearhead from Space)
- Both the Doctor and Rose note the absence of the London Eye in 1924 and recall their adventure in the area. (TV: Rose)