Doctor Who reference books
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[[edit] | [edit source]]
Souvenir & Panther[[edit] | [edit source]]
Target Books[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Doctor Who Monster Book (1975)
The Doctor Who Dinosaur Book (1976)
Terry Nation's Dalek Special (1979)
The Terrestrial Index (1991)
The Universal Databank (1992)
Severn House[[edit] | [edit source]]
Piccadilly Press[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Companions (1986)
Virgin Books[[edit] | [edit source]]
Doctor Who: Cybermen (1988)
The Gallifrey Chronicles (1991)
The Monsters (1992)
The Discontinuity Guide (1995)
Companions (1995)
A History of the Universe (1996)
BBC Books[[edit] | [edit source]]
A Book of Monsters (1997)
Monsters and Villains (2005)
Aliens and Enemies (2006)
Creatures and Demons (2007)
Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia (2007)
Starships and Spacestations (2008)
The Torchwood Archives (2008)
The Time Traveller's Almanac (2008)
Companions and Allies (2009)
The Ultimate Monster Guide (2009)
Torchwood: The Encyclopedia (2009)
Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia (2011)
The TARDIS Handbook (2010)
The Brilliant Book 2011 (2010)
The Dalek Handbook (2011)
The Brilliant Book 2012 (2011)
The Secret Lives of Monsters (2014)
The Time Lord Letters (2015)
The Whoniverse (2016)
The Women Who Lived (2018)
The Monster Vault (2020)
Dalek Combat Training Manual (2021)
BBC Children's Books[[edit] | [edit source]]
Time Travels (2007)
Space Travels (2008)
The Secrets of the TARDIS (2010)
Companion Compendium (2010)
100 Scariest Monsters (2011)
The Official Doctionary (2012)
Time Traveller's Diary (2020)
Doctor Who Atlas (2021)
Official Guide[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Main article: Official Guide
How to be a Time Lord (2014)
A History of Humankind (2016)
The Companion's Companion (2017)
A Short History of Everyone (2022)
Dorling Kindersley[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Main article: The Visual Dictionary (series)
The Visual Dictionary (2007)
The Visual Dictionary (2009 edition)
The Visual Dictionary (2010 edition)
The Visual Dictionary: Updated and Expanded (2014 edition)
The Visual Dictionary (2015 Edition)
Mad Norwegian Press[[edit] | [edit source]]
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[[edit] | [edit source]]
Timelink (2000)
The Discontinuity Guide (2004)
The Essential Book of K9 (2015)
The Brigadier: Declassified (2019)
Media guidebooks[[edit] | [edit source]]
Television[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Nth Doctor (1997)
The Television Companion (1998)
The Nth Doctor (2003 edition)
The Brilliant Book 2011 (2010)
The Brilliant Book 2012 (2011)
Pocket Essentials[[edit] | [edit source]]
Telos Publishing[[edit] | [edit source]]
Back to the Vortex (2005)
Third Dimension (2007)
Monsters Within (2008)
End of Ten (2012)
River's Run (2013)
Time of the Doctor (2016)
ECW Press[[edit] | [edit source]]
Who is the Doctor (2012)
Who is the Doctor 2 (2020)
Books & comics[[edit] | [edit source]]
I, Who (1999)
I, Who 2 (2001)
I, Who 3 (2003)
The Target Book (2007)
Countdown to TV Action (2014)
Audio dramas[[edit] | [edit source]]
Merchandise[[edit] | [edit source]]
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[[edit] | [edit source]]
Licence Denied (1997)
Production history guidebooks[[edit] | [edit source]]
Target Books[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Making of Doctor Who (1976)
Travel Without the TARDIS (1986)
BBC Books[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Book of Lists (1997)
The Legend (2003)
The Legend Continues (2005)
Doctor Who: The Inside Story (2006)
The Writer's Tale (2008)
WH Allen[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Early Years (1986)
The Doctor Who File (1986)
Hutchinson[[edit] | [edit source]]
The TARDIS Inside Out (1985)
Doctor Who Special Effects (1986)
Virgin Books[[edit] | [edit source]]
Decade books[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Sixties (1992)
The Seventies (1994)
The Eighties (1996)
Doctor Who The Handbook[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Main article: Doctor Who The Handbook
The Handbook (2005)
Boxtree[[edit] | [edit source]]
Reynolds & Hearn[[edit] | [edit source]]
Script Doctor: The Inside Story of Doctor Who 1986-89 (2005 edition)
Doctor Who On Location (2001)
Panini[[edit] | [edit source]]
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[[edit] | [edit source]]
Other[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Making of Doctor Who (1972)
A Day With a TV Producer (1980)
Doctor Who: Regeneration (2000)
The Doctors: The Archive (2013)
Commentary guidebooks[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Unfolding Text (1983)
The Time-Travellers' Guide (1987)
25 Glorious Years (1988)
Doctor Who From A to Z (1998)
About Time[[edit] | [edit source]]
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)
Mad Norwegian Press[[edit] | [edit source]]
Running Through Corridors (2010-16)
Queers Dig Time Lords (2013)
TARDIS Eruditorum[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Main article: TARDIS Eruditorum
Arcbeatle Press[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Black Archive[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Main article: The Black Archive
Biographies[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Nine Lives of Doctor Who (1999)
- The Doctors Who's Who-The Story Behind Every Face of the Iconic Time Lord.jpg
Artbooks[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Art of Doctor Who (2005)
Impossible Worlds (2015)
100 Illustrated Adventures (2017)
The Who Adventures (2021)
The Art of Phil Bevan (2022)