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Time and Relative was the first Telos Doctor Who novella. It featured the First Doctor and Susan. This is author Kim Newman's only contribution to prose-based Doctor Who. This novella is one of several stories set prior to An Unearthly Child.

Publisher's summary[]

The harsh British winter of 1963 brings a big freeze that extends into April with no sign of letting up. And with it comes a new, far greater menace: terrifying icy creatures are stalking the streets, bringing death and destruction.

The First Doctor and Susan, trapped on Earth until the faulty TARDIS can be repaired, are caught up in the crisis. The Doctor seems to know what is going on, but is uncharacteristically detached and furtive, almost as if he is losing his memory...

Susan, isolated from her grandfather and finding it hard to fit in with the human teenagers at Coal Hill School, tries to cope by recording her thoughts in a diary. But she too feels her memory slipping away and her past unravelling. Is she even sure who she is any more...?

Plot[]

to be added

Characters[]

Worldbuilding[]

Coal Hill School[]

Food and beverages[]

Culture[]

Literature[]

Magazines[]

Comics[]

Television series[]

The Doctor's items[]

Individuals[]

Notes[]

  • The characters John Brent and Gillian Roberts are named after John and Gillian Who, who accompanied the First and Second Doctors in early comic strip stories in which they were his grandchildren.
  • The illustration from the deluxe edition is by Bryan Talbot.
  • The book was published on the thirty-eighth anniversary of Doctor Who, which coincided with the death of the series' long time critic Mary Whitehouse.
  • The Doctor and Susan actually act very uncharacteristically in this novella, even for a story set prior to TV: An Unearthly Child. It is discussed how breaking the Time Lords' "conditioning" actually results in memory loss and entire shutdowns of an individual's personality.
  • It was a notably rare story in that it depicted the lives of Ian and Barbara - albeit very briefly - several months before the events of An Unearthly Child.
Time and Relative illustration

Deluxe Edition illustration

Continuity[]

External links[]

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