Doctor Who and the Visitation (novelisation)

Novelisation

 * This novelisation is based on the original television serial (DW):  The Visitation  which was shown from 15th February 1982 and written by Eric Saward
 * The cover and information shown on the right is for the original Target novel and featured a photographic cover. (See below for information on other UK and international editions which published with a different cover).
 * This was the first Fifth Doctor novelisation to be published.

1982 edition
Tegan, the young air hostess who quite unintentionally became a member of the TARDIS’s crew, wants to return to her own time, but when the Doctor tries to take her back to Heathrow Airport in the twentieth century the TARDIS lands instead on the outskirts of seventeenth-century London.

1992 edition
"Call yourself a Time Lord?" Tegan shouted. "A broken clock keeps better time than you!" The Doctor tries to return Tegan to the Heathrow she left in 1981, but instead the TARDIS lands just outside London in 1666 - the year of the Great Plague. The Doctor and his companions receive a decidedly cool welcome - and it soon becomes clear that the sinister activities of other visitors from space and time have made the villagers extremely sensitive of outsiders. And as a result of the aliens' evil schemes, the Doctor finds himself on the point of playing a key role in a gruesome historical event. This is a novelization by Eric Saward of his own television story, first broadcast in 1982.

Illustrations

 * None

Deviations from televised story

 * To be added

Author, Writing and Publishing Notes

 * The first book in the range to feature the use of a photographic cover.
 * There are two rumours around the reason for this; Firstly that Peter Davison’s agent rejected the proposed artwork by (David McAllister) on the grounds of it showing a poor likeness to his client, and secondly, that in an attempt to tie the range of novelisations more closely with a new season and a new Doctor on television, photographs were a way of revamping the range. The latter seems more likely, as a deliberate change of policy, bearing in mind that the decision to use photographs was extended to subsequent releases for a short time.
 * Publishing wise, this was the first title to be referred to in the Target library as book number 74. The number appeared on the cover on a subsequent reprint.
 * Dedication: `For Paula, with fondest love’
 * Cover Flash reads`A BBC TV PROGRAMME WITH PETER DAVISON AS THE DOCTOR’

Publishing History (UK)
To be added

First Publication:
 * Hardback
 * W.H. Allen & Co. Ltd. UK


 * Paperback
 * Target

Re-issues:

International Editions
To be added

External Sources

 * The Target Book by David J Howe (Telos Publishing 2007)
 * On Target a comprehensive guide to the Target novelisations by Tim Neal