Doctor Who annual

A number of Doctor Who Annuals and Yearbooks have been published from 1965 onwards. The print fiction, comics and features based on Doctor Who in the form of a slim hardback volume. A K-9 Annual and several Dalek Annuals have also appeared.

Under World Distributors
The Annuals were hardbound book priced at pocket money prices and released around Autumn, in time for the Christmas market. Usually a mix of prose and comic strip stories intended for children, they also contained puzzles, quizzes, games and a varying amount of filler material usually having little connection with Doctor Who. From the late 1960's through to the late 1980s (with the exception of 1972), World Distributors, Ltd published Doctor Who Annual. The often notoriously bizarre stories and comics sometimes went in very strange directions and companions portrayed in the illustrations (and prose descriptions) of regular characters sometimes bore little resemblance to the actors.

When John Nathan-Turner became Producer of Doctor Who, he exerted a greater influence over all merchandising and tie-in product releases (including the Annuals),which under his watchful eye saw an increase in standards as well as featuring more television series related features. (It is perhaps worth noting that with an autumn of the year release time, the date on all annuals is for the following year. For example, the K-9 Annual, dated 1983, has a print date of 1982. Some annuals/yearbooks failed to include a year date on the cover so where applicable that reference is bracketed and assumed. World Distributors Ltd stopped producing the regular annuals in 1986, a bumper volume followed featuring the best of previous editions and was the last title to be released.

Under Marvel
There was a lapse in publication for a few years of the annuals before Marvel Comics secured the license to produce a Doctor Who Yearbook, which followed the same mix of prose, comic strip stories and features, this time all Who-related and directed at a more sophisticated audience. The Yearbooks ran from 1992-1996.

Revival of the Annuals
In recent years, since Doctor Who was revived with a new Series 1, the Annual format has been redesigned with fiction being given its own title The Doctor Who Storybook and the Annual assuming a hardback activity book for younger viewers.

TV Comic Annuals
Worthy of note because previous to Doctor Who Magazine running a regular comic strip story, TV Comic (and various related titles) ran a regular strip. It was customary for popular comics at the time to produce, as well as a regular bumper-issue Holiday special(released in the summer months), an annual hardback (in time for Christmas). As Doctor Who was a major long-running feature of the comic it followed that it should be represented in the Annual.