Doctor Who is a Britishscience fiction television programme produced by theBBC since 1963. Hundreds ofnovelisations of the series have been published by various publishers, the majority based on the original 1963–1989 run of the series.

Frederick Muller Ltd. commissioned David Whitaker to novelise thefirst Dalek serial under the titleDoctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks, which was published November 1964 in hardcover just in time for the second Dalek serial,The Dalek Invasion of Earth to be transmitted. The success of this book warranted two reprintings by 1965 and led Frederick Muller to commission two further novelisations,Doctor Who and the Zarbi andDoctor Who and the Crusaders, which were published in 1965 and 1966 respectively. Sales of these books did not live up to the first and so the short range was brought to an end.^[1]

Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks was reissued in paperback October 1965 byArmada Books, an imprint of May Fair Books, with new illustrations.^[2]Doctor Who and the Crusaders was reissued in paperback in 1967 by Green Dragon, an imprint of Atlantic Books, again with new illustrations.^[3] All three books with reissued in hardcover in 1975 by White Lion, all featuring Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor on the cover while retaining the First Doctor illustrations inside.^[3]

In 1972Universal-Tandem Publishing was looking to create a children's book imprint,Target Books. In a visit to Frederick Muller's offices, the three 1960sDoctor Who books were optioned, and then the BBC was contacted with a view to publish new books. This call to the BBC met with enthusiastic support from the current script editor,Terrance Dicks.^[4] TheDoctor Who novelisations quickly became a backbone of the imprint, surviving corporate acquisitions and novelising almost everyDoctor Who television story. New novelisations under the Target imprint came to an end in 1991 (although three more were published under their parent company's new Doctor Who Books imprint). Reprints under the Target imprint continued through 1994.

A short series entitledThe Companions of Doctor Who comprised the novelisation ofK-9 and Company along with the original worksTurlough and the Earthlink Dilemma andHarry Sullivan's War. In addition to the television serials, three scripts from the cancelled Season 23—The Nightmare Fair,The Ultimate Evil andMission to Magnus—were novelised. The former sold less well than the usual novelisations, while the latter sold as well.^[5] Target also novelised two additional non-televised stories: the radio playSlipback and the audio storyThe Pescatons.

Virgin Books created a new imprint, Doctor Who Books, for theirDoctor Who novels and non-fiction books. This imprint published the last three books in theDoctor Who Library established by Target. (The Power of the Daleks,The Evil of the Daleks, and the radio playThe Paradise of Death.

Further novelisations were published as part of their monthly novel lines.Barry Letts's radio drama,The Ghosts of N-Space was published as part of theVirgin Missing Adventures range in 1995, as was the novelisation of the independent spin-offDowntime in 1996. TheVirgin New Adventures range published a novelisation ofShakedown: The Return of the Sontarans in 1995.

In 1996 the BBC chose not to renew Virgin's license for publishingDoctor Who fiction, preferring to bring the novels back in house.BBC Books published a novelisation of the1996Doctor Who television movie. They also published a novelisation of the webcastScream of the Shalka as part of thePast Doctor Adventures range in 2004. From 2012 to 2019, BBC Books published novelisations of the 1970s and 1980s serials Target was unable to publish (The Pirate Planet,City of Death,Shada,Resurrection of the Daleks, andRevelation of the Daleks). Novelisations of the unproduced scriptsDoctor Who and the Krikkitmen andDoctor Who Meets Scratchman were published in 2018 and 2019 respectively. A new adaptation ofThe Evil of the Daleks written byFrazer Hines was released in 2023.^[6]

BBC Books began reprinting selected Target novelisations starting in July 2011.^[7]

Starting in 2018, BBC Books published novelisations of selected episodes of the revived series as part of a range dubbedThe Target Collection featuring the Target logo.^[8] Paperback editions ofCity of Death,The Pirate Planet,Resurrection of the Daleks,Revelation of the Daleks, and the 1996 television movie were also added to the revived Target range. (City of Death andThe Pirate Planet were abridged from their previous BBC Books editions.) In 2022, print versions of the previously audiobook-only adaptations by David Fisher ofThe Stones of Blood andThe Androids of Tara were also added to the range, as was a print edition of the expanded audiobook version ofWarriors Gate in 2023.The Target Collection was subsequently divided into two series: theClassic Era, comprising books based on stories from the original television series and the revived series through 2022,^[9] and theNew Era, comprising books based on television stories broadcast since 2023, starting with the three 2023 specials.^[10]

In 2005, BBC Audio released unabridgedaudiobook versions of the first three Frederick Muller novelisations, read by actorWilliam Russell (who playedIan Chesterton). Beginning in September 2007, they began releasing further unabridged audiobooks of the Target novelisations at a regular rate.

An Unearthly Child was set to receive a new novelisation exclusive to audio, read by William Russell, written by Nigel Robinson, and released byAudioGo.^[11] The audiobook was originally scheduled to be released November 2013, but the release was cancelled due to AudioGo's bankruptcy in the same month.^[12] Rights issues are currently preventing its release.^[13]

Pearson Education published adaptations of fourEleventh Doctor stories in 2011 (two of which werephotonovelisations) and sixTwelfth Doctor stories in 2018 for use in schools.

Although Target endeavoured to commission the original scriptwriters to novelise their own stories, this was not always possible. As a result, many books in the Target line were written byTerrance Dicks.^[14] During the late 1970s to early 1980s, Target, which classified the novelisations as children's fiction, imposed a page limit of 128 pages. Some books (particularly several by Dicks) even fell short of this limit. By the late 1980s, however, the page cap had been lifted, although John Peel was still required to split his novelisation of the epic 12-episodeThe Daleks' Master Plan into two volumes because the manuscript was too long.

For the first few years of the Target line, it was common practice for the novels to have titles that differed from the adapted serials: for example,Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion, which was based upon the serialSpearhead from Space. This practice was dropped in the mid-1970s. Another tradition established by the books was to prepend the words "Doctor Who and ..." to the titles, except in a few cases where impractical. This practice continued until the early 1980s. From 1990 onwards reprints of the books generally dropped "Doctor Who and..." from the title and changed titles back to the original television story, although some of the reprints merely rejacketed earlier stock.

The first of the Target reissues featured new cover artwork byChris Achilleos, who went on to illustrate over 30 of the novelisations throughout the 1970s.^[15]British artist Andrew Skilleter created much of the cover art from 1979 to 1994, along with video covers and other merchandise.^[16][17] His work onDoctor Who was showcased in his 1995 volumeBlacklight: The Art of Andrew Skilleter.^[17][18]

Target began numbering its novelisations from 1983, with almost all of the first seventy-three books being numbered as reprints came out. The first new book to be numbered wasTime-Flight. Target's numbering did not initially reflect original publication order (which would have placed David Whitaker'sDoctor Who and the Daleks book first) or the production or broadcast order of the original stories, but rather was conducted in alphabetical order, so that the novelisation ofThe Abominable Snowmen was numbered "1". Due to print delays and last-minute reordering of publication schedules, some of the later books were released out of numeric order. The revived "Target Collection" from BBC Books is not numbered on the covers. However, the Penguin website lists the books based on stories prior to 2023 asDoctor Who Target Novels – Classic Era and numbers them 1-20, but this list omits "Twice Upon a Time" and theDoctor Who Magazine exclusive Target of Frazer Hines'sThe Evil of the Daleks.^[19] The website also groups the books based on stories since 2023 asDoctor Who Target Novels – New Era, but does not number them.^[20]

FeaturingWilliam Hartnell'sFirst Doctor

FeaturingPatrick Troughton'sSecond Doctor

FeaturingJon Pertwee'sThird Doctor.

FeaturingTom Baker'sFourth Doctor.

FeaturingPeter Davison'sFifth Doctor.

FeaturingColin Baker'sSixth Doctor.

FeaturingSylvester McCoy'sSeventh Doctor.

FeaturingPaul McGann'sEighth Doctor.

FeaturingChristopher Eccleston'sNinth Doctor.

FeaturingDavid Tennant'sTenth Doctor.

FeaturingMatt Smith'sEleventh Doctor.

FeaturingPeter Capaldi'sTwelfth Doctor.

FeaturingJodie Whittaker'sThirteenth Doctor.

FeaturingDavid Tennant'sFourteenth Doctor.

FeaturingNcuti Gatwa'sFifteenth Doctor.

Novelisations of audio dramas broadcast on radio or released on home audio.

Novelisations of stories written, but not produced, for television or film.

Novelisations of stories released via the web.

A number of fan-run publications have published unofficial novelisations of stories Target was not able to secure rights to.Obverse Books has also published unofficial novelisations to raise money for charity. As well as novelisations of the two 1960s Dalek films, Obverse also published original novels presented as novelisations of further films based on other television stories featuringPeter Cushing's portrayal ofDr. Who and short story collections presented as novelisations of hypothetical episodes of the proposed 1960s radio adaptions, also featuring Cushing's Dr. Who.^[168]

A number of novelisations were released in omnibus editions, mostly by book clubs.

In 1988–1989, W. H. Allen's Star imprint published a number of the Target novelisations in a format of two novelisations in one book in a range titledDoctor Who Classics. These were produced by fixing together two Target books with a new front page and outer cover. The pairings were:

The Companions of Doctor Who was a series of original full-length novels, the first original novels based onDoctor Who. The books were based on characters who had appeared in the television series as the Doctor'scompanions, and explored their lives after leaving the Doctor's company.

The first two books wereTurlough and the Earthlink Dilemma byTony Attwood, based upon the character played byMark Strickson in the early 1980s, andHarry Sullivan's War, written byIan Marter, who had playedHarry Sullivan in the series a decade earlier. These books sold well, but after a third attempt (a novelisation of the 1981Doctor Who spin-off,K-9 and Company) the series ended due sale not matching the same level asDoctor Who novelisations.^[177] Other novels would have featuredTegan,Sarah Jane Smith,Victoria,Jamie McCrimmon,UNIT, and a sequel toHarry Sullivan's War.^[177]

Beginning in 2007,Penguin Books under its Penguin Character Books imprint began publishing novelisations based upon the spinoff seriesThe Sarah Jane Adventures.

Novelisations of spin off productions that were releaseddirect to video.

Generally,Doctor Who stories that have been broadcast will be adapted into print, rather than vice versa. There have been three occasions where print media has been adapted for the screen or formed inspiration for television episodes.

The 1995New Adventures novelHuman Nature, written byPaul Cornell and featuring theSeventh Doctor, was adapted by the same author for the2007 series ofDoctor Who as a two part story with the episode titles "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood", withDavid Tennant as theTenth Doctor.

Steven Moffat based his 2007 episode "Blink" upon his 2005 short story, "What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow", originally published inDoctor Who Annual 2006.

Gareth Roberts reused his concept from a 2006Doctor Who Magazine comic strip story as the basis for an episode of the same name "The Lodger", which was transmitted as part of Series 5 (2010), featuringMatt Smith.

• List ofTorchwood novels and audio books
• List of television series made into books