Virgin New Adventures

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The New Adventures was a novel series published by the eponymous imprint of Virgin Books.

The first book, published in 1991, continued the adventures of the Seventh Doctor and Ace where the television story Survival left off; later instalments introduced new companions like Bernice Summerfield, who became the range's main protagonist in 1997 when Virgin lost the licence for Doctor Who fiction. As the New Adventures were geared for an older audience than the TV show, they included mature themes, strong language, violence, and sexual elements.

Virgin Books launched two spin-off lines following the initial success of the New Adventures: the Decalogs, a series of short story collections; and the Missing Adventures, a novel range that told new stories with the first six Doctors.

The New Adventures concluded with Twilight of the Gods in December 1999, but Big Finish Productions obtained the licence for the later New Adventures characters and continued telling stories with Bernice Summerfield, Jason Kane, and Irving Braxiatel in their own line of audios, novels, and short stories.

From 1999 onward, Big Finish adapted several novels for audio, either directly or altered to omit the Doctor and focus on Summerfield. In 2007, the New Adventures novel Human Nature was adapted into the television episodes Human Nature and The Family of Blood.

Although several authors initially attempted to separate the Virgin Books and BBC Books continuities, the separation was eventually relaxed, and references to New and Missing Adventures began to appear in the Eighth Doctor and Past Doctor Adventures. In DWM 482, Steven Moffat said that he considered the New Adventures to be "a separate (and equally valid) continuity" to the BBC Wales television series.

Stories[[edit] | [edit source]]

# Title Author Doctor Featuring Published
1 Timewyrm: Genesys John Peel 7th Ace, Third Doctor, Timewyrm, Gilgamesh 20 June 1991
2 Timewyrm: Exodus Terrance Dicks Ace, the War Chief, Timewyrm, Hitler 15 August 1991
3 Timewyrm: Apocalypse Nigel Robinson Ace, Second Doctor, Ben, Polly, Timewyrm 17 October 1991
4 Timewyrm: Revelation Paul Cornell Ace, Timewyrm, First Doctor, Third Doctor, Fourth Doctor, Fifth Doctor, Death, the Hermit, Adric, Katarina, Sara, Daleks 5 December 1991
5 Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible Marc Platt Ace, Rassilon 20 February 1992
6 Cat's Cradle: Warhead Andrew Cartmel Ace, Justine, Vincent 16 April 1992
7 Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark Andrew Hunt Ace 18 June 1992
8 Nightshade Mark Gatiss 20 August 1992
9 Love and War Paul Cornell Ace, Benny, Paul Magrs, Death 15 October 1992
10 Transit Ben Aaronovitch Benny, Kadiatu, the Brig 3 December 1992
11 The Highest Science Gareth Roberts Benny, Chelonians 18 February 1993
12 The Pit Neil Penswick Benny 18 March 1993
13 Deceit Peter Darvill-Evans Ace, Benny 15 April 1993
14 Lucifer Rising Jim Mortimore, Andy Lane 20 May 1993
15 White Darkness David A. McIntee 17 June 1993
16 Shadowmind Christopher Bulis 15 July 1993
17 Birthright Nigel Robinson 19 August 1993
18 Iceberg David Banks Cybermen, Cyber-Controller 16 September 1993
19 Blood Heat Jim Mortimore Ace, Benny, Silurians, Sea Devils 21 October 1993
20 The Dimension Riders Daniel Blythe Ace, Benny 18 November 1993
21 The Left-Handed Hummingbird Kate Orman 2 December 1993
22 Conundrum Steve Lyons 20 January 1994
23 No Future Paul Cornell Ace, Benny, the Monk, Vardans 17 February 1994
24 Tragedy Day Gareth Roberts Ace, Benny 17 March 1994
25 Legacy Gary Russell 21 April 1994
26 Theatre of War Justin Richards 19 May 1994
27 All-Consuming Fire Andy Lane 16 June 1994
28 Blood Harvest Terrance Dicks Ace, Benny, Great Vampires 21 July 1994
29 Strange England Simon Messingham Ace, Benny 18 August 1994
30 First Frontier David A. McIntee Ace, Benny, the Master 15 September 1994
31 St Anthony's Fire Mark Gatiss Ace, Benny 20 October 1994
32 Falls the Shadow Daniel O'Mahony 17 November 1994
33 Parasite Jim Mortimore 1 December 1994
34 Warlock Andrew Cartmel 19 January 1995
35 Set Piece Kate Orman Ace, Benny, Death 16 February 1995
36 Infinite Requiem Daniel Blythe Benny 16 March 1995
37 Sanctuary David A. McIntee 20 April 1995
38 Human Nature Paul Cornell 18 May 1995
39 Original Sin Andy Lane Benny, Chris, Roz, Tobias Vaughn 15 June 1995
40 Sky Pirates! Dave Stone Benny, Chris, Roz 20 July 1995
41 Zamper Gareth Roberts Benny, Chris, Roz, Chelonians 17 August 1995
42 Toy Soldiers Paul Leonard Benny, Chris, Roz, Ogrons 21 September 1995
43 Head Games Steve Lyons Benny, Chris, Roz 19 October 1995
44 The Also People Ben Aaronovitch 16 November 1995
45 Shakedown Terrance Dicks Benny, Chris, Roz, Sontarans, Rutans 7 December 1995
46 Just War Lance Parkin Benny, Chris, Roz 18 January 1996
47 Warchild Andrew Cartmel 16 February 1996
48 SLEEPY Kate Orman 21 March 1996
49 Death and Diplomacy Dave Stone Benny, Chris, Roz, Jason 18 April 1996
50 Happy Endings Paul Cornell Benny, Chris, Roz, Jason 16 May 1996
51 GodEngine Craig Hinton Chris, Roz, Daleks 20 June 1996
52 Christmas on a Rational Planet Lawrence Miles Chris, Roz 18 July 1996
53 Return of the Living Dad Kate Orman Benny, Chris, Roz, Jason 15 August 1996
54 The Death of Art Simon Bucher-Jones Chris, Roz 19 September 1996
55 Damaged Goods Russell T Davies 24 October 1996
56 So Vile a Sin Ben Aaronovitch, Kate Orman May 1997
57 Bad Therapy Matthew Jones Chris, Peri 5 December 1996
58 Eternity Weeps Jim Mortimore Benny, Chris, Jason 16 January 1997
59 The Room With No Doors Kate Orman Chris 20 February 1997
60 Lungbarrow Marc Platt Chris, Romana II, Leela, Ace, K9 Mark I, K9 Mark II 20 March 1997
61 The Dying Days Lance Parkin 8th Benny, the Brigadier, UNIT, Ice Warriors 18 April 1997

The Dying Days was the final New Adventures novel to feature the Doctor, although So Vile a Sin was released out-of-order and published last. The Dying Days reintroduced Bernice Summerfield and the settings that would predominate the later New Adventures; its afterword specified that the following novels belonged to a series of "new New Adventures", although they were published under the same imprint, logo, and name.

# Title Author Main character Featuring Published
1 Oh No It Isn't! Paul Cornell Benny Wolsey, Grel 1 May 1997
2 Dragons' Wrath Justin Richards Braxiatel 2 June 1997
3 Beyond the Sun Matthew Jones Jason, Emile 3 July 1997
4 Ship of Fools Dave Stone Braxiatel 21 August 1997
5 Down Lawrence Miles God 2 September 1997
6 Deadfall Gary Russell Jason Benny, Chris, Braxiatel, Emile 2 October 1997
7 Ghost Devices Simon Bucher-Jones Benny Clarence 3 November 1997
8 Mean Streets Terrance Dicks Chris 1 December 1997
9 Tempest Christopher Bulis 2 January 1998
10 Walking to Babylon Kate Orman Clarence, God 3 February 1998
11 Oblivion Dave Stone Jason, Chris, Roz 2 March 1998
12 The Medusa Effect Justin Richards Braxiatel 2 April 1998
13 Dry Pilgrimage Paul Leonard, Nick Walters 3 May 1998
14 The Sword of Forever Jim Mortimore 2 June 1998
15 Another Girl, Another Planet Martin Day, Len Beech Jason, Saldaamir 20 August 1998
16 Beige Planet Mars Lance Parkin, Mark Clapham 15 October 1998
17 Where Angels Fear Rebecca Levene, Simon Winstone Braxiatel, Emile, Clarence, God 2 December 1998
18 The Mary-Sue Extrusion Dave Stone Stratum Seven Agent Benny, Jason, Emile, Mira 1 February 1999
19 Dead Romance Lawrence Miles Christine Chris 1 March 1999
20 Tears of the Oracle Justin Richards Benny Jason, Braxiatel, Clarence, God 2 June 1999
21 Return to the Fractured Planet Dave Stone Stratum Seven Agent Benny, Chris, Braxiatel, Mira 2 August 1999
22 The Joy Device Justin Richards Benny Jason, Chris, Braxiatel, Clarence, God 1 October 1999
23 Twilight of the Gods Mark Clapham, Jon de Burgh Miller Jason, Chris, Braxiatel, Emile, Clarence 2 December 1999

Unproduced stories[[edit] | [edit source]]

Title Author Main character Featuring
Bizarre Love Triangle Matthew Jones Emile Mars-Smith
The Spectacular Afterlife of Bernice Summerfield Lawrence Miles Benny

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

Adaptations[[edit] | [edit source]]

Production notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • While no novel in particular served as an anniversary special, the 30th anniversary logo was included on the back cover of Lucifer Rising, Birthright, Iceberg, Blood Heat, The Dimension Riders, The Left-Handed Hummingbird, Conundrum, and No Future.
  • So Vile a Sin was the final New Adventures novel to be published featuring the Doctor, but it was published out of narrative sequence due to delays preventing its completion. The death of a major character in that book was meant to be a surprise, but because of the production delay this was no longer possible, and the novel was adapted accordingly: its prologue began with the funeral for the character, and the event was made an intrinsic part of the narrative, rather than a shock conclusion.
  • Following the broadcast of the 1996 TV movie, BBC Books took over the license for publishing original Doctor Who fiction, but there was an overlap of more than a year to allow Virgin to publish its contracted novels. As a result, the book line changed its branding, the Doctor Who logo on the front cover and spine removed beginning with the publication of Eternity Weeps.
  • The cover design changed again with Another Girl, Another Planet, which removed the "New Adventures" identifier from the front cover and introduced a new title-lettering style.

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]