The Dying Days (novel)

Publisher's Summary
6 May 1997 The Dying Days of the Twentieth Century

On the Mare Sirenum, British astronauts are walking on the surface of Mars for the first time in over twenty years. The National Space Museum in London is the venue for a spectacular event where the great and the good celebrate a unique British achievement.

In Adisham, Kent, the most dangerous man in Britain has escaped from custody while being transported by helicopter. In Whitehall, the new Home Secretary is convinced that there is a plot brewing to overthrow the government. In west London, MI5 agents shut down a publishing company that got too close to the top secret organisation known as UNIT. And, on a state visit to Washington, the Prime Minister prepares to make a crucial speech, totally unaware that dark forces are working against him.

As the eighth Doctor and Professor Bernice Summerfield discover, all these events are connected. However, soon all will be overshadowed.

This time, the Doctor is already too late.

Characters
The Doctor
 * Refers to himself as the Eighth Man Bound.

Bernice Summerfield
 * Benny excavated Mare Sirenum, Mars when she was 24, this established her reputation as an archaeologist.
 * Benny's 20th century knowledge speciality actually ranges from 1963 to 1989
 * Can speak Martian.
 * Knows how to isolate electrics from the fuel supply of a 20th century helicopter.

Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
 * Is made General by the end of this story.

Alexander Christian
 * Knew Jo Grant when she was studying her A levels.

Winifred Bambera

Edward Greyhaven

David Staines
 * Home secretary.

Xznaal

Eve Waugh
 * An American news reporter.

Cultural References

 * The whole Martian invasion is viewed as a hoax by the pubic as a distraction to enable the Provisional Government to keep control of the country.
 * Benny looks at a John Smith and the Common Men album when she and the Doctor are searching Todd's flat.

Gallifrey

 * Benny notices the Seal of Rassilon inside the TARDIS.
 * The Doctor left Chris Cwej on Gallifrey.

Individuals

 * Lord Greyhaven makes a deal with the Ice Warriors which leads them to invade the United Kingdom.
 * Bernice is staying at The Doctor's House in Kent after getting a lift there with Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart and aM!xitsa.
 * The Brigadier mentions debriefing Jo Grant after her 'adventures' with the Doctor, one involving the Ice Warriors and Peladon.
 * At the Queen's re-coronation the Brigadier points out the Fourth Doctor, Romana and K-9 to Doris.

Organizations

 * UNIT is much better funded than it had been in the 1970s.
 * UNIT has a branch in Paris (called NUIT).
 * UNIT in the past has dealt with the Bandril and Drahvin attempted invasions (without the Doctor's help).
 * Veronica Halliwell is Director General of MI5.

Planets

 * Mars has a perfectly breathable (though a bit chilly) atmosphere, but the soil is almost completely infertile.
 * Water is a source of great wealth on Mars.
 * The Arturan Treaty of 2085 is the 'official' date of peaceful first contact with aliens.
 * The Sword of Tuburr is mentioned.

Technology

 * The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to reflect a Ice Warrior sonic blast.

Timeline

 * Benny receives a letter (from 2593) offering her the Edward Watkins chair of archaeology at St Oscar's University, Dellah.
 * The Brigaider met the Eighth Doctor in Hong Kong in 1998 when the discovered the secret of the Embodiment of Gris.

Continuity

 * The Doctor regenerated in DW: Doctor Who: The TV Movie.
 * The Doctor delivers Benny to Dellah for the start of the Virgin Bernice Summerfield New Adventures Oh No It Isn't!.
 * The Brigadier refers to debriefing Jo Grant after the events of DW: The Curse of Peladon.
 * Kadiatu and aM!xitsa last appeared in Happy Endings.
 * Benny asks how Martians can invade Britian now, but she also has Martians at her wedding. (Happy Endings).
 * In DW: The Christmas Invasion there is question of whether or not aliens are Martians and confirmed not to be the case.
 * Benny previously met the Brigadier in No Future and he attened her wedding in Happy Endings (which is subjectively in the future for the Brigadier).
 * The previous Mars missions are mentioned including the meeting of the Ambassadors (DW: The Ambassadors of Death).
 * The Doctor left Chris on Gallifrey in Lungbarrow.
 * Chris Cwej returns in BNA: Deadfall.
 * Bambera first met the (Seventh) Doctor in DW: Battlefield.
 * MA: Who Killed Kennedy is mentioned, as is co-author James Stephens, (which supposedly UNIT altered the dates within to change them from the actual dates).
 * In DW: Aliens of London/World War Three the public are (again) given practically unquestionable knowledge of aliens existing and (again) it is seen as a hoax.
 * The Doctor's House first appeared in Cat's Cradle: Warhead.
 * Veronica Halliwell originally appeared (and died) in MA: System Shock.
 * Susan was listening to John Smith and the Common Men in DW: An Unearthly Child.
 * Christmas on a Rational Planet is the first novel to mention a re-coronation of the Queen. But this was actually Lawrence Miles explaining a continuity problem in DW: Battlefield (a throwaway line of their being a King).