The Taking of Chelsea 426 (novel)

Published in September 2009, The Taking of Chelsea 426 was one of the last set of three original novels published featuring the Tenth Doctor in the standard BBC New Series Adventures line.

Publisher's Summary
The Chelsea Flower Show – Hardly the most exciting or dangerous event in the calendar, or so the Doctor thinks. But this is Chelsea 426, a city-sized future colony floating on the clouds of Saturn, and the flowers are much more than they seem.

As the Doctor investigates, he becomes more and more worried. Why is shopkeeper Mr Pemberton acting so strangely? And what is Professor Wilberforce’s terrible secret?

They are close to finding the answers when a familiar foe arrives, and the stakes suddenly get much higher. The Sontarans have plans of their own, and they’re not here to arrange flowers...

Characters

 * The Doctor
 * Vienna Carstairs
 * Jake Carstairs
 * Wallace Fitch
 * Bess Carstairs
 * Brian Carstairs
 * Mr Pemberton
 * Professor Wilberforce
 * Alice Wendell
 * Zack
 * Jenny
 * Field Marshal Henry Whittington Smythe
 * Mr Smalls
 * Mr Sedgefield
 * General Kade
 * Colonel Sarg
 * Commander Strom

Story notes

 * This book continues the theme set by the BBC Tenth Doctor Adventures line for 2009 in featuring returning monsters from the TV series. It also continues a series of novels in which the Doctor travels without a companion.
 * David Llewellyn also wrote the Torchwood novel Trace Memory.
 * The title is a reference to the novel and film The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. The number is also reminiscent of The 456, an alien race introduced a few months prior to the book's release in TW: Children of Earth.
 * The Doctor cannot stand pears (Page 21), a fact which was also revealed in a deleted scene for DW: Human Nature.

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors
Why does The Doctor disable the Sontarans before dealing with the Rutan? Surely he could have enlisted the Sontarans' help instead?

Continuity

 * The Sontarans last appeared on screen in DW: The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky and SJA: Enemy of the Bane. They last appeared in print in NDA: The Sontaran Games.
 * The events of DW: The Two Doctors and The Time Warrior are mentioned.
 * Chelsea 426 was founded by the Interplanetary Mining Corporation (DW:Colony in Space.)
 * The Doctor mentions a Krynoid (p. 84)

Timeline

 * The Taking of Chelsea 426 occurs after: DW: Dreamland
 * The Taking of Chelsea 426 occurs before: NSA: The Krillitane Storm
 * According to The Doctor (on page 54) it is early in the 26th Century ("...about due for the Third Renaissance...").