The Vampire Mutation

The Lost Classic

Format:

Pre-order:

Apple Books Bookshop.org ebooks.com Hive Kobo

Terrance Dicks’s The Vampire Mutation was intended to open Doctor Who’s 15^th season in 1977. Cancelled at the last moment, its secrets were believed lost forever. Now, working from never-before seen scripts and synopses, Steve Cole’s novelisation brings this ‘lost’ adventure from a much-loved writer into the light.

‘The conjunctions of the stars at last permit the awakening of the Dead One…’

Summoned by the White Guardian to a domain outside time and space, the Doctor learns that the lynchpin of the cosmos – the Time Key – has been stolen. He must recover its six components before a great darkness smothers the universe.

The first fragment draws the TARDIS to a remote, mist-choked planet. Captured by terrified locals, Leela hears tell of night-creatures that drink the blood of their victims… while the Doctor falls prey to the sinister Council of Seven.

Who are the Witch Lords? What is the terrible significance of the Thousand Year Sabbath? With the world on the brink of catastrophe, will the vampire mutation thwart the Doctor’s quest for the Time Key before it’s even begun?

About Terrance Dicks

Terrance Dicks became Script Editor of Doctor Who in 1968, co-writing Patrick Troughton’s classic final serial, The War Games, and editing the show throughout the entire Jon Pertwee era to 1974. He wrote many iconic episodes and serials for the show after, including Tom Baker's first episode as the Fourth Doctor, Robot; Horror at Fang Rock in 1977; State of Decay in 1980; and the 20th anniversary special, The Five Doctors in 1983. Terrance novelised over sixty of the original Doctor Who stories for Target books, including classics like Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowmen and Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion, inspiring a generation of children to become readers and writers. He died in August 2019, only weeks before the publication of his final Doctor Who short story, ‘Save Yourself’, in The Target Storybook.

Learn more