The Shadow in the Glass (novel)
The Shadow in the Glass was the forty-first novel in the BBC Past Doctor Adventures series. It was written by Justin Richards and Stephen Cole, released 2 April 2001 and featured the Sixth Doctor and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.
The story was built around the conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Adolf Hitler. It references a number genuine historical records and incorporates real-world events and historical figures into its narrative, although it naturally takes some liberties, as well as adding its own Doctor Who spin on things. (INFO: The Shadow in the Glass)
In some ways, the novel almost acts as a companion piece to Timewyrm: Exodus. While that story followed the rise of Hitler and the beginning of the Second World War, The Shadow in the Glass looks into his downfall at the war's end.
This novel is a rarity in that it only features the Doctor and the Brigadier with no other companions alongside the Doctor, although journalist Claire Aldwych serves in a companion-esque role. It also featured a cameo from Winston Churchill in a follow-up to his previous appearance in Players, before he went on to enjoy secondary-companion status in the revived series.
Publisher's summary
2001 BBC Books edition
May 17th 1944: A squadron of Hurricanes shoots down an unidentified aircraft over the Dorset village of Turelhampton. A routine operation. So why is the village immediately evacuated?
2001: Troops still occupy Turelhampton, guarding the village's dark secret. When a television documentary crew break through the cordon looking for a story, they find they've recorded more than they'd bargained for.
Meanwhile, in Cornwall, a journalist is witness to a terrifying ceremony: agents of the worst evil in history plan to unleash a new, unthinkable horror on the world.
Caught up in both a deadly conspiracy and historical mystery, retired Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart calls upon his old friend the Doctor. Half-glimpsed demons watch from the shadows as the Doctor and the Brigadier discover the last, and deadliest, secret of the Second World War.
2015 BBC Books edition
When a squadron of RAF Hurricanes shoots down an unidentified aircraft over Turelhampton, the village is immediately evacuated. But why is the village still guarded by troops in 2001? When a television documentary crew break through the cordon looking for a story, they find they've recorded more than they'd bargained for.
Caught up in both a deadly conspiracy and a historical mystery, retired Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart calls upon his old friend the Doctor. Half-glimpsed demons watch from the shadows as the Doctor and the Brigadier travel back in time to discover the last, and deadliest, secret of the Second World War.
An adventure set partly in the Second World War, featuring the Sixth Doctor as played by Colin Baker and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.
Plot
to be added
Characters
- Sixth Doctor
- Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
- Claire Aldwych
- Adolf Hitler
- Heinrich Himmler
- Eva Braun
- Otto Gunsche
- Adolf Hitler, Jr.
- Captain Palmer
- Tom Osgood
- Alan Watson
- Brian Goldman
- George Henderson
- Gerrard Lassiter
- Hanne Neumann
- Irina Kobulov
- Klaus Venkel
- Peter Spinney
- Renchan
- Simon
- Carl Smithson
- Voss
- Winston Churchill
References
Individuals
- Lethbridge-Stewart has contacts in the USSR.
- Doris is away for a week of sunshine and sangria with her niece.
Science
Notes
- The novel was reprinted as part of The History Collection in February 2015, with a new cover and introduction by Richards and Cole.
- In a historical note supplementing the novel, Cole and Richards note that certain parts of history were omitted where they contradicted the theories here, but also add that the changes are minor. For people interested in the true history, they recommend Hugh Trevor-Roper's The Last Days of Hitler (the text and the author are both mentioned in the novel) or The Death of Hitler by Ada Petrova and Peter Watson, published in 1995. The fictional changes made by Cole and Richards include the following:
- Hans Baur was never reported as an American POW before the Russians took him. His testimony is the only historical document referenced in the novel that was made up. In the real world, the Russians found him "unreliable" anyway.
- Hitler's body double found in the water tower was likely Gustav Weler.
- Martin Bormann died escaping Berlin; the remains of his body were found in West Berlin in 1972.
- Hitler was pronounced dead by Dr. Ludwig Stumpfegger, who also died trying to escape Berlin.
- Turelhampton is entirely fictional, although the village of Tyneham (also in Dorset) was evacuated at for D-Day training manoeuvres in November 1943. As of the novel's release, it remains a 'ghost village' owned by the National Trust. (The village of Ember in Sphinx Lightning was similarly commandeered.)
- In the 2015 re-release, Cole and Richards acknowledge that, in 2008, it was discovered the skull fragments that were believed to belong to Hitler in fact belonged to an unidentified woman.
- When contemplating changing history by stealing the ocular celluprime in 1944 before the Nazis can take it, the Doctor reflects that 'the tall one with the teeth and the dark mass of curly hair' would have done it while 'the ruffle-shirted toff with the big nose' would have strongly objected to just the idea of changing history like that, although the matter becomes academic when he finds that the object has already been stolen.
Continuity
- When reunited with the Brigadier, the Doctor mentions Sarah Jane Smith when convincing him to trust Claire. (TV: The Time Warrior)
- The Brigadier compares the Vvormak familiars to Bok. (TV: The Dæmons)
- Lethbridge-Stewart doesn't trust the Sixth Doctor because he's the one whom he's met the least and thinks he's unpredictable. (PROSE: Business Unusual, AUDIO: The Spectre of Lanyon Moor)
- Earlier in his personal timeline, Winston Churchill met the Sixth Doctor in South Africa in November 1899, the Second Doctor in France in November 1915, the Sixth Doctor once again in London in December 1936, (PROSE: Players) the Ninth Doctor in London in 1939, (AUDIO: The Oncoming Storm) the Eighth Doctor in London in August 1940, (AUDIO: Their Finest Hour) and the Eleventh Doctor in London in 1941. (TV: Victory of the Daleks)
- Adolf Hitler has previously met the Seventh Doctor in 1923, (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus) the Eleventh Doctor in 1938 (TV: Let's Kill Hitler) and the Seventh Doctor again in 1939 and 1940. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus)
- Lethbridge-Stewart is living in a country estate. (TV: Battlefield)
- Palmer was seconded to UNIT during "that time-bending business" with the Master. (TV: The Time Monster)
Additional cover images
2015 edition. Cover by Two Associates.
Audiobook
- This novel was released as an audiobook on 3 March 2016 complete and unabridged by BBC Audio and read by India Fisher.
Audiobook cover
External links
- Official The Shadow in the Glass page at Penguin Books
- The Shadow in the Glass at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- The Discontinuity Guide to: The Shadow in the Glass at The Whoniverse
- The Cloister Library: The Shadow in the Glass
