The Taking of Chelsea 426
Doctor:	Tenth Doctor
Companion(s):	Jake Carstairs Vienna Carstairs Wallace Fitch
Main enemy:	Sontarans Rutans
Main setting:	26th century
Key crew
Publisher:	BBC Books
Writer:	David Llewellyn
Release details
Release number:	34
Release date:	3 September, 2009
Format:	Hardcover, 241 Pages
ISBN 978-1-84607-758-6
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Published in September 2009, The Taking of Chelsea 426 was one of the last set of three original novels published featuring the Tenth Doctor in the standard BBC New Series Adventures line.

Publisher's summary

The Chelsea Flower Show - hardly the most exciting or dangerous event in the calendar, or so the Doctor thinks. But this is Chelsea 426, a city-sized future colony floating on the clouds of Saturn, and the flowers are much more than they seem.

As the Doctor investigates, he becomes more and more worried. Who is shopkeeper Mr Pemberton acting so strangely? And what is Professor Wilberforce's terrible secret?

They are close to finding the answers when a familiar foe arrives, and the stakes suddenly get much higher. The Sontarans have plans of their own, they're not here to arrange flowers..

Characters

• The Doctor
• Vienna Carstairs
• Jake Carstairs
• Wallace Fitch
• Bess Carstairs
• Brian Carstairs
• Mr Pemberton
• Professor Wilberforce
• Alice Wendell
• Zack
• Jenny
• Field Marshal Henry Whittington Smythe
• Mr Smalls
• Mr Sedgefield
• General Kade
• Colonel Sarg
• Commander Strom

References

• The Rutans and the Sontarans are present. The Doctor says that they have been at war for around fifty thousand years.
• According to The Doctor (on page 54) it is early in the 26th Century ("...about due for the Third Renaissance...").
• The Doctor cannot stand pears (Page 21), which was also revealed in a deleted scene in TV: Human Nature.

Notes

• This book continues the theme set by the BBC Tenth Doctor Adventures line for 2009, featuring returning monsters from the TV series. It also continues a series of novels in which the Doctor travels without a companion.
• David Llewellyn also wrote the Torchwood novel PROSE: Trace Memory.
• The title is a reference to the novel and film The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. The number is also reminiscent of The 456, an alien race introduced a few months prior to the book's release in TV: Children of Earth.
• The Doctor asks Vienna "The city or the song". The song may be a referrence to the Owl City song Dear Vienna, or the 80's song by Ultravox.
• This story was also released as an ebook available from the Amazon Kindle store.

Continuity

• The Sontarans last appeared on screen in TV: The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky and TV: Enemy of the Bane. They last appeared in print in PROSE: The Sontaran Games.
• The Rutans last appeared on screen in TV: Horror of Fang Rock. To date, this is their only on-screen appearance.
• The events of TV: The Two Doctors and The Time Warrior are mentioned.
• Chelsea 426 was founded by the Interplanetary Mining Corporation (TV:Colony in Space.)
• The Doctor mentions a Krynoid (p. 84)
• While in the TARDIS Jake plays with the crate of items beginning with C, last seen in TV: The Unicorn and the Wasp. Its contents include an Agatha Christie novel, the Carrionite globe and a Cyberman's chest plate.
• At the end of the novel, The Doctor looks around the empty TARDIS. he also did this before his second meeting with Donna Noble (TV: Partners in Crime)

Audio release

• The story was released as an audiobook on 4x CD read by Christopher Ryan.
• The audiobook is also available as a download from the AudioGo website.

External links

• Detailed synopsis of The Taking of Chelsea 426 at the Doctor Who Reference Guide