David Whitaker - Doctor Who and the Crusaders

I admire bravery, sir. And bravery and courage are clearly in you in full measure. Unfortunately, you have no brains at all. I despise fools.

Arriving in the Holy Land in the middle of the Third Crusade, the Doctor and his companions run straight into trouble. The Doctor and Vicki befriend Richard the Lionheart, but must survive the cut-throat politics of the English court. Even with the king on their side, they find they have made powerful enemies.

Looking for Barbara, Ian is ambushed staked out in the sand and daubed with honey so that the ants will eat him. With Ian unable to help, Barbara is captured by the cruel warlord El Akir. Even if Ian escapes and rescues her, will they ever see the Doctor, Vicki and the TARDIS again?

This novel is based on a Doctor Who story which was originally broadcast from 27 Mar 17 April 1965.

Featuring the First Doctor as played by William Hartnell, and his companions Ian, Barbara and Vicki

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Version 1.0

Epub ISBN 9781446417041

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Published in 2011 by BBC Books, an imprint of Ebury Publishing
A Random House Group Company
First published in 1966 by Frederick Muller Ltd

Novelisation copyright David Whitaker 1966
Original script David Whitaker 1965
Illustrations Henry Fox 1966
Introduction Charlie Higson 2011
The Changing Face of Doctor Who and About the Author Justin Richards 2011
Between the Lines Steve Tribe 2011

BBC, DOCTOR WHO, TARDIS and DALEK (word marks, logos and devices) are trademarks of the British Broadcasting Corporation and are used under licence.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 849 90190 1

Commissioning editor: Albert DePetrillo
Editorial manager: Nicholas Payne
Series consultant: Justin Richards
Project editor: Steve Tribe
Cover design: Lee Binding Woodlands Books Ltd, 2011
Cover illustration: Chris Achilleos
Production: Rebecca Jones

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I have a confession to make. This is the first Doctor Who book I have ever read. Dont get me wrong, Ive always been a huge fan of Doctor Who, but just not quite enough of one to have ever been tempted to read any of the books. I guess that probably makes you, as someone whos actually bought a book, a bigger fan than me (next time write your own introduction!). So youll know the story of how writers like Russell T Davies, Mark Gatiss, Gareth Roberts and Paul Cornell kept the Who flame burning all those years when the Doctor wasnt on our screens by writing new adventures, and how under the leadership of Russell they went on to relaunch the TV series so spectacularly.

And its really down to the literary efforts of those guys that Doctor Who is still here, that these books are being published once more, and that I have been given the privilege of writing this introduction.

I got my first glimpse into the alternative universe of Who novels via Mark Gatiss when I was making Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) with Vic and Bob. I was a big fan of the League of Gentlemen and knew Mark was into all the same brilliant old 1960s fantasy series like The Prisoner and Adam Adamant Lives! and The Avengers that I loved. I asked him if hed like to be in an episode and have a go at writing one as well. Id already nailed my Doctor Who colours to the mast by specially writing a part for Tom Baker in my series. Hes still one of my favourite actors of all time, and will never be replaced as my ultimate Doctor. Anyway, Mark suggested I talk to Gareth Roberts. The two of them, it seemed, had been writing these Doctor Who books, and were part of this sort of little uber-fan club. I was intrigued by Gareth, who not only loved sci-fi but also wrote for soap operas. It was just the combination of fantasy and reality that I was looking for. Sci-fi with human qualities. And it is exactly what Russell T Davies pulled off so well with his reboot of the Doctor. With, it must be said, a lot more success than I managed with Randall and Hopkirk (though with quite a lot of the same personnel, Im pleased to say).

It was great to see Gareth, and of course Mark, go on to be such an important part of the new series. They are Doctor Who fans in a way that I will never be, so Im very pleased for them. And me? All right, so Im a fraud. Im not a complete Whovian. It was fascinating for me to read this book, however, and through writing this introduction find out more about the history of the novelisations. Because, unlike the new adventures penned by Gareth, Mark and co in the 1990s, thats what this is, a novelisation, not a new story. This book is in many ways a mini-TARDIS. A time machine that can take us back, not only to the time of the Crusades, but also to the early days of Doctor Who. We all know about how the BBC systematically destroyed its legacy by taping over, or simply wiping, old series as a (disastrously short-sighted) way of saving money, so not very much of the original Doctor Who still exists. I remember watching the very first series and being hooked on the Doctor along with every other kid in the country, but back then once a show had been on air that was it, you never expected to see it again. Things werent automatically repeated, and of course there were no videos or DVDs. Now every new Doctor Who episode will be followed up by a making of on BBC Three, and will then have a very long afterlife being repeated across the various different BBC channels until the end of time itself. There will also be a DVD in the shops even before the series has finished airing.

In the early days of TV, programmes sort of wiped themselves out as they went along, so back then if you wanted to enjoy more of