'Origin Stories'

The early lives of friends and foes as they've never been told before.

We all change, when you think about it. We're all different people all through our lives.

Amy Pond looks for her Raggedy Man; Jo Grant remembers her childhood; the Master hunts the past; and a young girl discovers a love for explosives.

Eleven incredible stories from the world of Doctor Who - from a time before.


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'Chemistry' by Sophie Aldred

While waiting to see the school headmaster about her latest misdemeanour, a homemade explosive that blew-up the art room, young Dorothy reflects on her passion for chemistry, which was fuelled by an encouraging science teacher. Called in by the headmaster, Dorothy looks on in disbelief as he transforms into a monster and unleashes a localised hurricane. Luckily for Dorothy, she is saved by the timely arrival of her science teacher; the woman quickly puts paid to the fake headmaster and his time storm trap, and then erases Dorothy’s memory of the events. Dorothy departs with her mates, blissfully unaware that she will meet her teacher again one day, in the unlikeliest of circumstances…

Notes:
*Featuring Ace and the Thirteenth Doctor


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'My Daddy Fights Monsters' by Dave Rudden

Separated from her husband Alistair, Fiona Stewart now lives in her late uncle Reggie’s house. She keeps the state of her marriage a secret from her young daughter Kate, attributing Alistair’s absence to his top-secret work for the military - although Kate has managed to learn about her father’s encounters with aliens by herself. When an alien spy named Crinix B-Theta arrives at the house posing as Kate’s teacher, hoping to glean information on UNIT and the Doctor, Fiona is immediately suspicious. After the creature accidentally reveals itself as a giant scorpion-monster in a body-suit, Fiona sees it off with the aid of Reggie’s old service revolver and some help from Kate. The incident brings mother and daughter together, and the truth about the family separation finally emerges.

Notes:
*Featuring Kate Stewart


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'The Myriapod Mutiny' by Emma Norry

On a school trip to the Natural History Museum, Ryan Sinclair and Yaz Kahn become separated from their groups. Finding each other, they check out the museum’s collection of minerals and meteorites; however, Ryan drops a strange electronic device that he found earlier onto one of the display cabinets, causing the meteorite within to break the glass, then split into pieces. Suddenly under attack by a huge swarm of centipedes and millipedes, the two pupils encounter the owner of the device, an old man called the Doctor. He explains that the mass of creepy-crawlies has been summoned out of the earth by alien insects that were lying dormant inside the meteorite; the insects comprise of two opposing races: one that has since become part of the planet’s ecosystem, and one that wants to rule it. After the Doctor takes the would-be conquers to live on another planet out of harm’s way, Ryan and Yaz forget all about their adventure, and they rejoin their classmates for the rest of the day out.

Notes:
*Featuring Ryan Sinclair, Yaz Kahn and the Second Doctor

*Time-placing: The Second Doctor is old and travelling alone, so I’m placing this story in Season 6B, when he is working for the Time Lords


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'The Last of the Dals' by Temi Oh

Ever since he was saved from hand mines by a mysterious man in a blue box, young Davros has been plagued by night terrors. While in the woods, Davros encounters a young boy named Elwyn, who claims to be one of the last of the Dal race; the boy also prophecies that Davros will end the war between the Kaleds and Thals, and offers to take him to see his future. The boys journey through the wilderness, braving mutated horrors caused by radiation from the terrible war, before finally arriving at an ancient city; here they meet a wizened old Dal woman, who shows Davros a vision of his future: of cruelty, evil robots and death. Shaken by the vision, the boys begin their arduous journey home home. When Elwyn loses his footing and slips over a precipice, Davros grabs his hand… buy somehow the boy falls to his death. Davros returns home - his future a secret, his mistaken belief that his destiny is his own…

Notes:
*Featuring Davros

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'Murmuration' by Mark Griffiths

Slipping out of school for a break, young Sarah-Jane Smith hangs out at the local allotments. Here she witnesses a flock of starlings transform into a huge skull-like formation and kill a passer-by. When the murmuration turns its attention to her, Sarah runs into the safety of a nearby police box - only to find herself in a gleaming-white control room, in the company of friendly alien called the Doctor. He explains that the starlings have been possessed by a Tononite, an alien force that has travelled to Earth through a rift in space. Using Sarah’s pocket radio, the Doctor sends out a white noise signal that disrupts the Tononite’s hold on the starlings; the alien is sent back through the rift, erasing recent events from the timeline. Sarah returns to school, blissfully unaware of the person she just met, and will meet again one day…
*Featuring Sarah-Jane Smith and the Fourth Doctor

*Time-placing: The Doctor is not upset at seeing Sarah again, so I’m choosing to place this between Seasons 15 and 16


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'The Big Sleep' by Dave Rudden

Madama Vastra recounts a story from her past to hr wife, Jenny: with a giant asteroid on a collision course with Earth, the Silurian race prepares to hibernate in safety underground. Seeker Va’stra disobeys the instructions of High Judge Acrocan to enter stasis, and instead investigates a series of recent murders. She soon uncovers a plot to kill members of a gang called the Redcrests, using Deinonychuses, savage dinosaur killers influenced by remote-controlled implants. Va’stra discovers that the murders are orchestrated by her own boss, as part of a misguided attempt to create a better world. Acrocan is arrested before he can hide in the hibernation chambers.

Notes:
*Featuring Madama Vastra and Jenny

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'Doctor Jones' by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

After her mum cuts her finger cutting carrots, Marth Jones goes to the corner shop for a first aid kit. To Martha’s amazement, the creepy shopkeeper vomits up a swarm of bugs, and then the shop is transported to Seventeenth-Century Salem, Massachusetts. Before Martha can question a strange man nearby, a group of villagers brand her a witch and carry her off to the local jail. Martha shares her cell with a young girl, Abigail, and treats her arm for a bad cut. The stranger appears, introduces himself as the Doctor, and explains how the big bug he has captured in a jar is an evil time termite that disguised itself as the shopkeeper. Having stopped the bug from wreaking havoc in time, the Doctor promises to take Martha home; regretfully he cannot save Abigail from her fate, as she is a fixed point in time. Freeing Martha from her cell, the Doctor uses some of the bug’s swarm to erase her recent memories, along with those of Abigail and two guards… A while later, Martha awakes at home, just as her mother cuts her finger - but this time Martha finds a first aid kit in the bathroom. Martha also now has a strong sense of purpose: she will become a doctor…

Notes:
*Featuring Martha Jones and the Ninth Doctor

*Time-placing: the Doctor is travelling alone; he would usually be inseparable from Rose, so I’m choosing to place this before he meets her, prior to the story ‘Rose’


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'The Girl Who Tore Through the Universe' by Nikita Gill

With continual dreams of losing her mother to a crack in space, and of a raggedy man in a police box, sixteen-year-old Amy Pond becomes infatuated with science and weirdness. When her friend Rory finds an old account of strange happenings at Isaac Newton’s house, Amy persuades him to skip off school and drive her to Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire. Amy hopes to find Newton’s lost papers, believing they will help her open a tear in space and find her mother and the raggedy man; unfortunately, a thorough search of the house reveals absolutely nothing. Visiting the famous apple tree in the garden, Amy gets an idea to dig amongst its roots, where she uncovers a small tin box filled with Newton’s missing manuscripts… After a few weeks trying to unlock the papers’ secrets, Amy successfully opens a portal in space and time, enabling her to reach her mother in the past. However, once Amy brings her mother into the present, the woman falls into a zombie-like state; meanwhile, the world outside Amy’s aunt’s house falls into chaos. Realising she is to blame, and with Rory’s help, Amy reopens the portal and leads her mother back to her rightful place. Heartbroken at losing her mother for the second time, Amy is consoled by Rory, and together they watch the world outside return to normal…

Notes:
*Featuring Amy Pond and Rory Williams

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'Clara Oswald and the Enchanted Forest' by Jasbinder Bilan

When fifteen-year-old Clara Oswald is banned from sleeping over at a Halloween party, she gets into an argument with her mother, and throws her mum’s lucky leaf out of a window. Clara sneaks out later anyway, and together with her best friend Ashari she joins the party in an old barn on the edge of town. Taking part in a game of hide-and-seek in the dark woods, Clara becomes separated from her friends, and soon gets lost in the dark. When the trees come alive and try to grab her, Clara climbs up one to its very top – where she discovers a blue police box hovering in the air. Jumping inside, Clara meets a young man called the Doctor, who explains that the trees are from another planet. The box transports Clara to another wood, this one full of snow and magic; here Clara meets a white wolf, who shows her another leaf the exact likeness of her mother’s one. The Doctor appears in his police box, and after wiping Clara’s memory, he returns her to the woods where her friends are waiting for her.

Notes:
*Featuring Clara Oswald and the Eleventh Doctor


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'Velvet Hugs' by Katy Manning

After a party with her every-growing family, Jo Jones reflects on her life. She recalls her time living with her parents, the with her military Uncle Giles; attending a nearby boarding school; and an encounter with a strange woman called ‘Aunty Iris’, who foretold her travelling to other planets. After her nineteenth birthday, Jo’s uncle got her a job with a top-secret organisation called the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, led by Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart. Jo threw herself into her training, and a year later she was assigned to assist the Doctor. It was a time she thinks of fondly, of a best friend whom she loved dearly…

Notes:
*Featuring Jo Jones


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Epilogue: 'Tempered' by Dave Rudden

Driven mad by the Untempered Schism when she was a child on Gallifrey, Missy takes revenge on the three Time Lords who led her there. Foyo Vedrasimeen is killed by deadly insects while watching a moon explode from the supposed safety of his TARDIS. Caratessi Thochoser is murdered by a host of her own clones in the Death Zone. Hendor Soto has his identity changed to that of a bakery owner on the planet Codubo, before being restored and murdered by the woman posing as his wife Ella. The Untempered Schism.

Notes:
*Featuring Missy


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Publication Date:
Septembr 2022

*Published by Puffin for BBC Books