K9 and Company (novelisation)

K9 and Company was Terence Dudley's novelisation of the pilot episode of K9 and Company, A Girl's Best Friend, also written by Dudley. This was the first novelisation based upon a Doctor Who spin-off production, and the last until novelisations based upon The Sarah Jane Adventures (itself a followup to K9 and Company) began to appear in 2007.

Publisher's summary
In the sleepy village of Hazelbury Abbas, the Winter Solstice is fast drawing near. It is a time of deep mystery and ancient evil.

Sarah Jane Smith, journalist and former companion to the Doctor, comes to Hazelbury Abbas to start work on her new book. While there she meets Brendan, the young ward of her Aunt Lavinia.

Suddenly Brendan disappears. Has he been kidnapped by the practitioners of Black Magic who are said to live in the village? Is he to be sacrificed to the goddess Hecate on the Winter Solstice?

But Sarah is not alone in her search for Brendan. Across the unimaginable gulfs of time and space, the Doctor has sent her a very special companion: a robotic dog by the name of K9...

Book Chapters

 * Prologue
 * Chapter 1 - Exit Aunt Lavinia
 * Chapter 2 - Enter Sarah Jane
 * Chapter 3 - An Invitation
 * Chapter 4 - A Gift from the Doctor
 * Chapter 5 - The Black Art
 * Chapter 6 - A Warning
 * Chapter 7 - K9 Blunders
 * Chapter 8 - A Confrontation
 * Chapter 9 - Brendan is Taken
 * Chapter 10 - K9 Goes Undercover
 * Chapter 11 - Human Sacrifice
 * Chapter 12 - Halstock
 * Chapter 13 - Evil Under the Moon
 * Epilogue

Deviations from televised story

 * The story takes place in the village of Hazelbury Abbas while the television story is set in Moreton Harwood.
 * Sarah is far more antagonistic towards and impatient with Brendan than in the television story.
 * Brendan is said to be fourteen years old. His age was never stated in dialogue in A Girl's Best Friend.
 * The setting is moved from Cambridgeshire to Dorset, with geographical details changed accordingly.
 * K9 corrects Brendan's grammar.
 * George Tracey insists on moving Sarah's car, resulting in her doing a lot more walking than on screen.
 * Juno and Tobias draw Sarah's attention to a ceremonial witch's knife which Lavinia gave Juno.
 * It is mentioned that Lavinia inherited the manor from "Uncle Nicholas".
 * Tracey's hostility towards Sarah and Brendan is because he considers the land his.
 * The Traceys abduct Brendan by choloroforming him in his bedroom and lowering him out of the window.
 * There are other named members of the coven: poet Byron Weekes, midwife Rosemary Creach, nurse Michael Barnett and publican Stanley Shields.
 * Sarah speculates Brendan could be at Tracey's mother's or the Bakers' farm.
 * Pollock stalls Sarah by claiming he has contacted the Chief Constable.
 * Sarah encounters Howard Baker outside the police station after speaking with Sergeant Mideway.
 * Wilson's death is presented in a more supernatural manner than on screen with it stated that Tracey's wife died in the same way when her faith wavered.
 * There are extra scenes of Peter guarding Brendan.
 * Brendan says he will put a word in for Peter and that the cult were planning to use his body as fertiliser.
 * Sarah phones the police before disrupting the ceremony, delaying it until K9 gets there.
 * The short scene of a tractor blocking Sarah's path is replaced with a lengthy sequence of a sports car trying to force her off the road and crashing.

Writing and publishing notes

 * to be added

British publication history

 * This title did not appear in hardback and had a single printing of 20,000 copies.
 * It was released priced £1.95 (UK) under the short-lived The Companions of Doctor Who series.

Audiobook
This Target Book was released on 3 December 2015 complete and unabridged by BBC Physical Audio and read by John Leeson.

The cover blurb and thumbnail illustrations were retained in the accompanying booklet with sleevenotes by David J. Howe. Music and sound effects by Simon Power.