The Dying Days (novel)

The Dying Days was the final release of the Virgin New Adventures line of Doctor Who novels and the only one featuring the Eighth Doctor. After this novel was published, Virgin Books forfeited the rights to produce novels featuring the Doctor to BBC Books. This marked a transition to a new series of novels featuring Bernice Summerfield as the main character while BBC Books made their own series of novels featuring the Eighth Doctor.

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 British 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.

Chapter Titles

 * 1) What We Saw From the Ruined House
 * 2) Foreign Soil
 * 3) Return to Mars
 * 4) Gratuitous Violets
 * 5) The World At One
 * 6) Close Encounters
 * 7) Work, Rest and Play
 * 8) Death and Diplomacy
 * 9) Our Friends From Mars
 * 10) An Englishman's Home
 * 11) That Which Does Not Kill Us ...
 * 12) The No Doctors
 * 13) Earth Attacks!
 * 14) Look! - Up In the Sky!
 * 15) Going Down in History
 * Epilogue

Plot
to be added

Characters

 * Eighth Doctor
 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
 * Alexander Christian
 * Winifred Bambera
 * Edward Greyhaven
 * David Staines
 * Xznaal
 * Eve Waugh
 * Alan
 * Oswald
 * Raymond Heath
 * Timothy Todd
 * Vrgnur

The Doctor

 * The Doctor refers to himself as the Eighth Man Bound, the champion of Life and Time, the Bringer of Darkness to the Daleks and the Oncoming Storm to the Draconians, and the guy with two hearts.
 * The Doctor is calm about dying after blowing up the Martian War Rocket.

Individuals

 * Lord Greyhaven makes a deal with the Ice Warriors which enables 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.
 * Alexander Christian knew Jo Grant when she was studying her A levels.
 * Winifred Bambera is married to Ancelyn, who has gone with the Crown into exile, as befits a Knight of the Realm.
 * The Brigadier reminds Bambera that he is still technically retired, despite being the figurehead of the anti-Martian/Greyhaven rebellion.
 * At the Queen's re-coronation, the Brigadier points out the Fourth Doctor, Romana and K9 to Doris.
 * Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart is promoted to General.
 * The Doctor tells Benny that she is his longest-serving companion as of that time.
 * Xznaal, despite being an Ice Lord, doesn't wear the traditional armour, instead wearing the shell of a Warrior. According to Benny, this implies his eccentricity and is an insight into his mindset: militaristic and close-minded.
 * Bernice knows how to isolate electrics from the fuel supply of a 20th century helicopter.
 * Bernice excavated Mare Sirenum on Mars when she was twenty-four. This established her reputation as an archaeologist.
 * Bernice stole parts of her diary describing events around the UNIT/Rebel assault on Martian held London from a "tattered old paperback with a creepy eye on the cover".
 * Benny receives a letter (from 2593) offering her the Edward Watkins chair of archaeology at St. Oscar's University, Dellah.
 * The Brigadier met the Eighth Doctor in Hong Kong in 1988 when they discovered the secret of the Embodiment of Gris.
 * The Brigadier spent time waiting for the Doctor in the UNIT parking bays with Bessie.
 * David Staines is Home Secretary of the United Kingdom government.
 * Bernice's 20th century knowledge speciality ranges from 1963 to 1989.
 * Veronica Halliwell is Director General of MI5.
 * Bernice can speak Martian.
 * Eve Waugh an American news reporter.

Organisations

 * UNIT is much better funded than it was in the 1970s.
 * UNIT has a branch in Paris called NUIT.
 * UNIT in the past has dealt with attempted invasions by the Bandrils and Drahvins without the Doctor's help.
 * The Martian Communicators Guild is an Ice Warrior organisation.

Planets

 * Mars has a perfectly breathable atmosphere, if a bit chilly, but its soil is almost completely infertile.
 * Water is a source of great wealth on Mars.

Objects

 * The Sword of Tuburr is mentioned.
 * Benny notices the Seal of Rassilon inside the TARDIS.

Technology

 * The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to reflect an Ice Warrior's sonic blast.
 * After being blown out of the Ice Warrior's War Rocket, the Doctor creates several balloons to slow his descent out of bin bags, curtain rings and a cannister of helium.

Timeline

 * The Arcturan Treaty of 2085 is the official date of peaceful first contact with aliens.

Vehicles

 * The Brigadier kept Bessie in mothballs for the Doctor.

Cultural references from the real world

 * Benny looks at a John Smith and the Common Men album when she and the Doctor are searching Todd's flat.
 * Bruce Springsteen is the American President.

Continuity

 * The Doctor regenerated in TV: Doctor Who.
 * The Doctor delivers Benny to Dellah, setting up the events of PROSE Oh No It Isn't!.
 * The Brigadier refers to debriefing Jo Grant after the events of TV: The Curse of Peladon.
 * Kadiatu and aM!xitsa last appeared in PROSE: Happy Endings.
 * Benny asks how Martians can invade Britain now while she also has Martians at her wedding. (PROSE: Happy Endings).
 * In TV: 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 PROSE: No Future, and, from his perspective, would later attend her wedding in Happy Endings.
 * Previous Mars missions are mentioned, including the meeting of the Ambassadors. (TV: The Ambassadors of Death)
 * The Doctor states that he left Chris on Gallifrey. (PROSE: Lungbarrow)
 * Chris Cwej returns in PROSE: Deadfall.
 * Bambera first met the Doctor in TV: Battlefield.
 * The fictional book-within-a-book Who Killed Kennedy is mentioned, as are its authors James Stevens and David Bishop. Supposedly, UNIT altered the dates within the book to change them from the actual dates. Stevens is said to have "gone to ground", referring to his disappearance in January 1996. On that occasion, he travelled back in time to Dallas, Texas on 22 November 1963. (PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy) On the other hand, Bishop is mentioned as still being in London.
 * In TV: 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 PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Warhead.
 * Veronica Halliwell originally appeared (and died) in PROSE: System Shock.
 * Susan was listening to John Smith and the Common Men in TV: An Unearthly Child.
 * The Master previously stole the Nestene energy unit from the National Space Museum. (TV: Terror of the Autons)
 * Ashley Chapel Logistics (PROSE: Millennial Rites) and I2 (PROSE: System Shock) are amongst the companies that supplied parts for the Mars Probe.
 * Christian attempted to get in touch with the Brigadier via his daughter, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart. (HOMEVID: Downtime, TV: The Power of Three)
 * PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet is the first novel to mention a re-coronation of the Queen. However, this was actually a reference to the presence of a King in TV: Battlefield and the Golden Jubilee of a Queen in PROSE: Head Games.