The Virgin Missing Adventures were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which had been cancelled in 1989, featuring stories set between televised episodes of the programme. The novels were published from 1994 to 1997, and featured the First through Sixth Doctors. (The Seventh Doctor also appeared in one novel.) The Missing Adventures complemented the Virgin New Adventures range, which had proved successful.

Publication history Virgin had purchased the successful children's imprint Target Books in 1989, with Virgin's new fiction editor Peter Darvill-Evans taking over the range. Target's major output was novelisations of televised Doctor Who stories, and Darvill-Evans realised that there were few stories left to be novelised. He approached the BBC for permission to commission original stories written directly for print, but such a licence was initially refused. However, after the television series was cancelled at the end of 1989, Virgin were granted the licence to produce full-length original novels continuing the story from the point at which the series had concluded.

The first range covered only the continuing adventures of the Seventh Doctor, but when that proved successful, Virgin also created this range covering the previous Doctors, with new stories that fit in between the televised serials. https://doctorwho.org.nz/archive/tsv39/missingadventures.html

In addition to original novels, the Missing Adventures series also incorporated two novelisations: The Ghosts of N-Space, based upon a mid-1990s BBC audio play, and Downtime, which was based upon an independent video production featuring several characters from the Doctor Who series (the novelisation is one of the few Doctor Who novels in which the Doctor does not appear as a central character).

When the BBC decided in 1996 to do their own line of novels with the Eighth Doctor, they withdrew the license from Virgin to publish the Eighth Doctor Adventures. The adventures of the previous Doctors were taken up by the BBC in the Past Doctor Adventures line of books.

Reprints In 2014, both The Scales of Injustice and The Sands of Time were reprinted as part of BBC Books' The Monster Collection. These were followed with The English Way of Death, a part of The History Collection (2015).

List Including books featuring two of the Doctors, the total tallies are: First Doctor, 5 books; Second, 4 books; Third, 6 books; Fourth, 8 books; Fifth, 5 books; Sixth, 5 books; and Seventh, 1 book. # Title Author Doctor Featuring Published1 Goth OperaPaul CornellFifthTegan, Nyssa, RomanaJuly 19942 EvolutionJohn PeelFourthSarah JaneSeptember 19943 Venusian LullabyPaul LeonardFirstIan, BarbaraOctober 19944 The Crystal BucephalusCraig HintonFifthTegan, Turlough, Kamelion, DorothyNovember 19945 State of ChangeChristopher BulisSixthPeriDecember 19946 The Romance of CrimeGareth RobertsFourthRomana II, K-9January 19957 The Ghosts of N-SpaceBarry LettsThirdSarah Jane, the BrigadierFebruary 19958 Time of Your LifeSteve LyonsSixthGrant MarkhamMarch 19959 Dancing the CodePaul LeonardThirdJo, UNITApril 199510 The MenagerieMartin DaySecondJamie, ZoeMay 199511 System ShockJustin RichardsFourthSarah, HarryJune 199512 The Sorcerer's ApprenticeChristopher BulisFirstIan, Barbara, SusanJuly 199513 Invasion of the Cat-PeopleGary RussellSecondBen, PollyAugust 199514 ManagraStephen MarleyFourthSarah JaneSeptember 199515 Millennial RitesCraig HintonSixthMelOctober 199516 The Empire of GlassAndy LaneFirstSteven, Vicki; plus Irving BraxiatelNovember 199517 Lords of the StormDavid A. McInteeFifthTurloughDecember 199518 DowntimeMarc PlattnoneThe Brigadier, Sarah Jane, VictoriaJanuary 199619 The Man in the Velvet MaskDaniel O'MahonyFirstDodoFebruary 199620 The English Way of DeathGareth RobertsFourthRomana II, K-9March 199621 The Eye of the GiantChristopher BulisThirdLiz Shaw, UNITApril 199622 The Sands of TimeJustin RichardsFifthTegan, NyssaMay 199623 Killing GroundSteve LyonsSixthGrant MarkhamJune 199624 The Scales of InjusticeGary RussellThirdLiz Shaw, UNITJuly 199625 The Shadow of Weng-ChiangDavid A. McInteeFourthRomana I, K-9August 199626 Twilight of the GodsChristopher BulisSecondJamie, VictoriaSeptember 199627 Speed of FlightPaul LeonardThirdJo, Mike YatesOctober 199628 The PlottersGareth RobertsFirstIan, Barbara, VickiNovember 199629 Cold FusionLance ParkinFifth and SeventhAdric, Nyssa, Tegan; Roz, ChrisDecember 199630 Burning HeartDave StoneSixthPeriJanuary 199731 A Device of DeathChristopher BulisFourthSarah Jane, HarryFebruary 199732 The Dark PathDavid A. McInteeSecondJamie, VictoriaMarch 199733 The Well-Mannered WarGareth RobertsFourthRomana II, K-9April 1997

Continuity Three of the Missing Adventures were sequels to televised serials, they were: The Sands of Time — Pyramids of Mars The Shadow of Weng-Chiang — The Talons of Weng-Chiang Twilight of the Gods — The Web Planet

Two of the Missing Adventures were novelisations: The Ghosts of N-Space — the BBC Radio audio drama The Ghosts of N-Space Downtime — the Reeltime Pictures direct-to-video spin-off Downtime, featuring the Great Intelligence and forming a sequel to The Abominable Snowmen (1967) and The Web of Fear (1968).

Many Missing Adventures featured old foes, including: Killing Ground — The Cybermen The Dark Path — The Master The Scales of Injustice — The Silurians Lords of the Storm — The Sontarans State of Change — The Rani Millennial Rites — The Valeyard The Well-Mannered War — The Black Guardian The Romance of Crime — The Ogrons

Speed of Flight is the only novel in the series that is a prequel; to Timelash.

Burning Heart

Burning Heart was originally planned to feature Judge Dredd and was going to be set in Mega-City One. Virgin Books held the rights to the Judge Dredd novels at the time, and author Dave Stone had already written Judge Dredd novels for Virgin. This plan was scrapped after the release of the 1995 film based on that character.Doctor Who Ratings Guide The book was re-written, and the character of Dredd was replaced by one Adjudicator Joseph Craator.

Who Killed Kennedy

In 1996, Virgin Books published Who Killed Kennedy, a Doctor Who novel by David Bishop. Although set during the time of the Third Doctor, Virgin published this book as a standalone work and not as part of the Missing Adventures series.

External links The Doctor Who Bewildering Reference Guide – a guide to continuity references in selected Doctor Who original novels. The Cloister Library – commentaries on selected Doctor Who original novels, named and modeled after The Discontinuity Guide by Cornell, Day and Topping – a guide to Doctor Who original novels. The TARDIS Library's listing of Missing Adventures

References