BBC Past Doctor Adventures

The BBC Past Doctor Adventures was a series of paperback novel releases by BBC Books, launched in 1997 in conjunction with its Eighth Doctor Adventures line. The line featured new adventures of the first seven Doctors, with the exception of four releases: Scream of the Shalka, which was a novelisation of a webcast story featuring the Alternative Ninth Doctor; The Infinity Doctors, featuring an unspecified Doctor; and The Face of the Enemy, featuring the Master. One of the last novels, Fear Itself, was the only PDA featuring the Eighth Doctor, acknowledging the coming of the Ninth Doctor on television.

The series ended in late 2005 (along with the EDA line) when BBC Books decided to focus its publishing ventures on books related to the revived TV series. Although there was speculation regarding the PDA line resuming with novels featuring the Eighth Doctor and even the Ninth Doctor, as of 2012 the line has yet to resume in its original paperback format. From 2006 to March 2009 the baton of past Doctor adventures was carried by the Short Trips series of short-story collections published by Big Finish Productions (a company best known for its Doctor Who audio dramas). Featuring the first eight Doctors — and many writers from the PDA range — the series continued until the spring of 2009 when the BBC did not renew its license.

Original novels featuring past Doctors returned in 2012 with The Wheel of Ice by Stephen Baxter. Also announced is Harvest of Time (Third Doctor) by Alastair Reynolds, scheduled for release in 2013; a third book, a novelisation of the unfinished TV story Shada by Gareth Roberts, was published in March 2012.