The Nightmare of Black Island was the tenth novel in the BBC New Series Adventures series. It was written by Mike Tucker and featured the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler.
Publisher's summary[]
On a lonely stretch of Welsh coastline a fisherman is killed by a hideous creature from beneath the waves. When the Doctor and Rose arrive, they discover a village where the children are plagued by nightmares, and the nights are ruled by monsters.
The villagers suspect that ancient industrialist Nathanial Morton is to blame, but the Doctor has suspicions of his own.
Who are the ancient figures that sleep in the old priory? What are the monsters that prowl the woods after sunset? What is the light that glows in the disused lighthouse on Black Island?
As the children's nightmares get worse, The Doctor and Rose discover an alien plot to resurrect an ancient evil...
Plot[]
The TARDIS picks up strange readings that coincide with Rose's nightmare about a four-armed sea monster killing a fisherman at a lighthouse. They land in Ynys Du, Wales, the setting of her dream. The village is plagued by monsters appearing at night, seemingly linked to the nightmares of the local children. The villagers are fearful and suspicious of Nathaniel Morton, a wealthy, reclusive industrialist who has returned to the village after many years and converted the old rectory into a private nursing home for six elderly, comatose patients.
The Doctor and Rose investigate. Rose befriends Ali Hardy, the local publican's daughter, and her gang, who have seen mysterious masked figures in white coats at the rectory. The Doctor learns from Bronwyn Ceredig, an elderly local woman, about a spacecraft that crashed near Ynys Du in 1935 when she and Morton were children. Morton and six other children witnessed the crash and the death of its alien pilot, Balor. The experience psychically linked them to Balor, fragments of whose consciousness became lodged in their minds.
The Cynrog, Balor's militaristic followers led by Priest Commander Peyne, have tracked him to Earth. They are using Morton (who believes they will free him from Balor's influence and restore his youth) and the other six elderly survivors (now the "patients" in the rectory) to resurrect Balor. An alien machine in the lighthouse is tapping into the children's nightmares to generate physical monster forms, while also acting as a psychic transmitter/receiver. In the rectory's cellar, another machine is being used to construct a new, powerful body for Balor, drawing on the children's imaginative fears.
Rose infiltrates the rectory and discovers the Cynrog (who wear human disguises) and their plan. She is captured and Morton intends to use her connection to the Doctor (a Time Lord) to enhance Balor's new form. The Doctor, with Bronwyn's help, investigates the lighthouse and finds a Cynrog spacecraft hidden in a cave on Black Island. He realises the lighthouse machine is the key.
Ali, guided by Rose, uses the Doctor's sonic screwdriver to recalibrate the lighthouse transmitter. This disrupts the Cynrog's control, causing the Balor creature (now a composite of various nightmares) to become unstable. Instead of drawing on children's nightmares, it begins to manifest the mundane anxieties of the local adults, weakening it. The Doctor confronts Morton and Peyne at the rectory. Morton, horrified to learn the Cynrog plan to sacrifice the village children to restore his youth (a lie by Peyne), has a psychic showdown with the Balor-creature, which is now infused with his own consciousness. The creature, overwhelmed by conflicting memories and emotions, self-destructs. The Cynrog, their god lost and their machinery destroyed in the rectory fire, are sent back to their own time by the Doctor, via a "scenic route" that will give them "a few bad dreams." Bronwyn, who also carried a fragment of Balor, is psychically rejuvenated by the feedback. The children's nightmares cease.
Characters[]
- Tenth Doctor
- Rose Tyler
- Balor
- Nathaniel Morton
- Beth Hardy
- Mervyn Hardy
- Ali Hardy
- Peyne
- Billy Palmer
- Bronwyn Ceredig
- Jimmy
- Carl Jenkins
- Bob Perry
- Reverend Hall
- Dai Barraclough
- Baz Morgan
- Sian Evans
- Jane Evans
- Hadron
- Butch
Worldbuilding[]
- The Doctor mentions using everlasting matches.
- The apple grass from New Earth is mentioned by Rose.
- It is stated that Time Lords are meant to be extinct, a consequence of the Last Great Time War.
- The Doctor quotes from Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" while walking through the tulgy wood for the first time ("whiffling", "galumphing", "burbled").
- The Doctor mentions Moxx in Socks as a favourite story.
TARDIS[]
- The TARDIS's telepathic circuits pick up signals from the Cynrog psychic transmitter in the lighthouse, which influenced Rose's dream of the monster while she was asleep inside the TARDIS at the start of the story.
Food and beverages[]
- The Doctor eats a "gargantuan" cooked breakfast and then toast in the Red Lion pub.
- Rose drinks hot chocolate and coffee in the pub.
- The Doctor eats an ice-cream cone while observing the lighthouse from the harbour.
- Bronwyn Ceredig makes Welsh cakes and offers the Doctor some, along with possibly bara brith.
- The villagers in the pub drink pints and whisky (single malt).
- Ali's gang have sweet wrappers and drinks cans in their den.
Notes[]
- This story was also released as an ebook available from the Amazon Kindle store.
- Balor's fractured consciousness residing in multiple individuals is similar to the condition of Scaroth, last of the Jagaroth.
- The cover design is by Henry Steadman. The copyright page mentions "Format ©BBC 1963", referring to the original series format.
Continuity[]
- The Doctor sees psychic projections (generated from Rose's memory by Balor/Morton) of the Nestene Consciousness, (TV: Rose) a Raxacoricofallapatorian (TV: Aliens of London) and a Dalek . (TV: The Parting of the Ways)
- The Doctor jokes about "monsters in the Assembly in Cardiff". (TV: Boom Town)
Audiobook[]
- This novel was released as an audiobook on 2 October 2006 by BBC Audio and read by Anthony Head.
External links[]
- Official The Nightmare of Black Island page at Penguin Books
- The Nightmare of Black Island at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- The Discontinuity Guide to: The Nightmare of Black Island at The Whoniverse
- The Cloister Library: The Nightmare of Black Island
