An asteroid in the furthest reaches of space — the most secure prison for the most dangerous of criminals. The Governor is responsible for the worst fraudsters and the cruellest murderers. So he's certainly not impressed by the arrival of the man they're calling the most dangerous criminal in the quadrant. Or, as he prefers to be known, the Doctor.
What does impress the Governor is the way the new prisoner immediately sets about trying to escape. And keeps trying. Finally, he sends for the Doctor and asks him why? But the answer surprises even the Governor. And then there's the threat — unless the Governor listens to the Doctor, a lot of people will die.
Who is the Doctor and what's he really doing here? Why does he want to help the Governor? And who is the young woman who comes every day to visit him, only to be turned away by the guards?
When the killing finally starts, the Governor begins to get his answers...
The Doctor mentions the show Call the Midwife, which was apparently about babies and bicycles.
The Doctor mentions that he's in his early 1000s. Clara says that he is over 2000 years old. (See: the Doctor's age)
The Doctor once made balloon animals for Clara's class.
Clara's class, 2B, created protest signs saying "Save the Doctor", however one of the children wrote "Save Dot Cotton" by mistake. Clara calls her a "Cockney chimney".
The Doctor says that the walls were painted pink in Alcatraz.
An audio reading by Colin McFarlane was released by BBC Physical Audio on 13 November2014. This was the first new series audio to be released since AudioGo went into administration in 2013.
This novel is written entirely in the first-person from the perspective of the unnamed Governor.
Clara makes limited appearances in the novel, making it a "companion-lite" story.
The Doctor has previously been imprisoned (a fact he alludes to himself by suggesting he should write a book on the subject). (TV: Frontier in Spaceet al.)
The Governor suspects Clara may be infatuated with the Doctor or his wife. She had flirted with him in his eleventh incarnation and considered him her "boyfriend", (TV: The Time of the Doctoret al.) something the Doctor also believed (TV: Deep Breath). Clara also considered travelling with the Doctor be "an addiction" (TV: Mummy on the Orient Express).
Clara mentions that Danny is a fellow teacher in her school. The Governor suspects he is her boyfriend. (TV: Into the Dalek et al.)
The Doctor compares The Judge to the Clockwork Droids (TV: The Girl in the Fireplace/Deep Breath) and the Cybermen. It would appear the Doctor has regained his memory of the Clockwork Droids after previously suggesting he couldn't remember them (Deep Breath).
Clara says that her nan is in a mobility scooter. However, she was still mobile over the Christmas of 2013, which occurs prior to this story (though mobility scooters are not exclusively used by people who cannot walk at all). (TV: The Time of the Doctor)
The Doctor scoffs at Clara's notion of him regenerating, or using regeneration energy, to mend his broken toe. However, he previously did expend some regeneration energy to heal River Song's broken wrist. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan)
Clara is still not totally used to the Doctor's older appearance and strongly implies the Doctor could use the mending of his broken toe as an excuse to regenerate and perhaps become younger-looking again. (TV: Deep Breath)
