Doctor Who and the Face of Evil (novelisation)

 was a novelisation based on the 1977 television serial The Face of Evil.

1978 edition
Setting the controls for Earth, the Fourth Doctor is surprised when the Tardis lands in a primeval forest. Has the Tracer gone wrong or has some impulse deep in the unconscious mind directed him to this alien planet? In investigating the forest, the Doctor meets and assists Leela, a warrior banished from her tribe, the Sevateem. Through Leela, it gradually becomes apparent that the constant war between the Sevateem and the Tesh has been instigated by the god they both worship, Xoanon.

Xoanon, an all-powerful computer, is possessed by a desperate madness – a madness that is directly related to Doctor Who, that causes Xoanon to assume the voice and form of the Doctor, a madness that is partly caused by the Doctor and that only the Doctor himself can rectify!

The Doctor must not only do battle with Xoanon, but also must escape from the savage practices of the Sevateem, and the technically mind-controlling destructive impulses of the Tesh.

Chapter titles

 * 1) The Outcast
 * 2) The Invisible Terror
 * 3) Captured
 * 4) The Face of the Mountain
 * 5) Attack
 * 6) Danger for Leela
 * 7) The Test of the Horda
 * 8) Beyond the Wall
 * 9) The Tesh
 * 10) The Summons
 * 11) Xoanon
 * 12) The Trap
 * 13) The Last Battle
 * 14) Recovery
 * 15) Departure

Deviations from televised story

 * The backstory of how and when the Fourth Doctor met Xoanon is discussed.
 * The Doctor believes he was destined to return to the planet rather than return to join Sarah.
 * The two assassins Neeva sends after Leela are said to be warrior priests.
 * The character of Lugo is unnamed, and it is not said that the leader of the patrol that captures the Doctor and the guard killed by Leela in the inner sanctum are the same person.
 * Leela tells the Doctor that the face on the mountainside was done by the Tesh; the Doctor speculates that it was done by laser.
 * There are several minor dialogue changes, such as Calib wondering if the Sevateem are the Survey Team's "descendants" rather than "children".
 * The sequence of events is changed at the end of Part Two, in order to end a chapter on the Doctor and Leela glimpsing a Tesh rather than Tomas being attacked by the invisible creatures.
 * It is mentioned that the invisible creatures have destroyed the Sevateem village.

Writing and publishing notes

 * to be added

British publication history
First publication:
 * Hardback
 * W.H. Allen & Co. Ltd. UK


 * Paperback
 * Target

Re-issues:

Editions published outside Britain

 * Published in the USA by Nelson Doubleday in 1986 as a combined Hardback edition, it comprised this story, Doctor Who and the Deadly Assassin and Doctor Who and the Robots of Death.

Audiobook

 * An unabridged audiobook of the story was recorded by Louise Jameson for the RNIB in January 2011. It was only available to the registered blind.