LAST years’ republication of half a dozen novelisations of classic Doctor Who adventures was so successful that they are releasing another six titles.

Back in the days before video recorders – and in some cases since – the only way that fans could relive their favourite Dr Who adventures was to buy the novelisations as published by Target.

These books have since passed into fan legend and the reissue news last year was received ecstatically – especially as some of these original books change hands for stupid money nowadays.

All six of these new additions to the collection have stunning covers designed by Chris Achilleos and some of them also have the original text illustrations (a practice that was common in books aimed at children, but was dropped in the 1970’s).

The six books, all modestly priced at £4.99 each, are the following: Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet by Gerry Davis.

This story was the final adventure of the First Doctor and introduced us to the Cybermen.

Author Davis also co-wrote the original TV script.

Doctor Who and the Ice Warriors by Brian Hayles (who also wrote the TV script), features the Second Doctor and the first appearance of the Ice Warriors – often voted as one of the greatest Who enemies.

Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks was novelised by long-standing script editor Terrance Dicks (who has written the majority of the Target novels) and features the Third Doctor.

The Third Doctor, as well as the first two, feature in The Three Doctors, the adventure that was broadcast to celebrate the shows’ tenth anniversary in 1973.

This Dicks novel tells us of the story that brought together the first three Doctors in order to pool their resources to battle against the legendary Time Lord Omega.

Ian Marter, who played Harry Sullivan – a companion of the Fourth Doctor – turned his hand to writing, and he novelised Doctor Who and the Ark in Space in which his character features alongside Sarah Jane Smith.

He was to adapt eight more stories and also wrote original Who novels.

Completing this batch of re-issues is Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster, again written by Terrance Dicks.

When broadcast, this adventure was called Terror of the Zygons and is another Fourth Doctor story.

What is excellent about these books, apart of course from the stories, are the ‘extras’ that come with them.

They all have introductions by someone involved with the present Who TV and book series, and in this half dozen we have intros by the likes of Gary Russell, Mark Gatiss, Michael Moorcock and the ‘bossman’ himself, Steven Moffat.

We also get information about the writers of the books, the original script writers, plus the Doctor and his companions.

And even then they haven’t finished, because a feature called ‘Between The Lines’ tells us the history of that particular book; when it was originally published and what Who story was on TV at the time, as well as a detailed view of how the novelisation differs from the broadcast story.

I fervently hope that BBC Books continue this re-issue campaign alongside the publication of brand new novels.

On a final note regarding the titles. These novels didn’t always use the same title as the TV version. So that the name/brand could be prominently displayed on the cover, they were nearly always entitled ‘Doctor Who and the …’, the only exception here being The Three Doctors.

Catalogue Numbers: Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet: ISBN – 978 – 1 – 90474 – 2.

Doctor Who and the Ice Warriors: ISBN – 978 – 1 – 90477 – 3.

Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks: ISBN – 978 – 1 – 904734 – 5.

Doctor Who - The Three Doctors: ISBN – 978 – 1 – 90478 – 0.

Doctor Who and the Ark in Space: ISBN – 978 – 1 – 90476 – 6.

Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster: ISBN – 978 – 1 – 90475 – 9.