THE iconic BBC TV series Doctor Who is celebrating it’s 50th anniversary this year and many events are being planned and the first salvo in the merchandising bonanza we can expect comes in March with the publication of eleven – yes eleven novels.

Culled from across the BBC Books range, all eleven books have been previously issued, but this time they are branded as a collectable set, with 50th Anniversary branding, bold covers and brand new introductions by the authors.

Eleven books and eleven Doctors, and all written by established writers of Who books and television episodes including Dan Abnett, Gareth Roberts, Mark Gatiss and Terrance Dicks.

Ten Little Aliens by Stephen Cole owes much to Agatha Christie – and not just for the title.

The First Doctor, along with companions Polly and Ben come across ten alien corpses and a team of crack troops in a hollowed out moon.

The Second Doctor, accompanied by Jamie and Victoria arrive at a fortress prison on a barren asteroid in Dreams of Empire by Justin Richards.

Influenced by the Roman Empire, it is no wonder that the main protagonist is named Kesar.

The Third Doctor returns to earth to team up with Jo Grant and UNIT in Mark Gatiss’ Last of the Gaderene.

Aided by an old Spitfire pilot and the Brigadier, The Doctor has to stop the Gadererne from taking over the planet earth, but he also has an old friend to contend with.

A theme-park where the customers die and are resurrected forms the basis for the Fourth Doctors’ story, Festival of Death by Jonathan Morris.

Quite a convoluted tale with a spaceship caught in a temporal distortion and with two Doctors, two Romanas and K-9s running around.

The Fifth Doctor is forced to confront his own worst fears when he joins a team of archaeologists on the planet Akoshemon in Fear of the Dark by Trevor Baxendale.

The Doctor must fight these fears and needs the help of his companions, Tegan and Nyssa.

Players by Who stalwart Terrance Dicks takes us to the Boer War with the Sixth Doctor and Peri.

Here they meet up with a war correspondent called Winston Churchill, whose destiny appears to be being tampered with.

The publishers are also acknowledging the importance of the novelisations of the TV episodes with the Seventh Doctor’s book, Remembrance of the Daleks by Ben Aaronovitch.

In this story, The Seventh Doctor, along with Ace, returns to where it all began in 1963 – at Coal Hill School.

The Doctor left something behind and there are two rival Dalek factions trying to get it.

Jacqueline Rayner’s Earthworld features the Eighth Doctor with Fitz and Anji, two companions we didn’t see on TV.

The Ninth Doctor, with Rose Tyler in tow investigates a time disturbance in modern-day London in Only Human by Gareth Roberts.

After discovering a Neanderthal Man the Time Lord has to travel back to the dawn of humanity to solve the riddle.

Doctor number ten, with Donna Noble feature in Beautiful Chaos by Gary Russell.

Whilst being happy about discovering a new star, Donna’s grandfather takes The Doctor to the naming ceremony, but things soon go wrong.

An ancient force from the Dark Times is heading for earth – and it is very angry.

Right up to date with the Eleventh Doctor travelling with Amy and Rory in Dan Abnett’s The Silent Stars Go By.

The hardy Morphans are preparing for their winter festival, but these are not happy times for the tribe as life gets harder and harder with each passing year.

Can the mysterious stranger called The Doctor save them?

The over-riding impression I get with all these novels is the care that has gone into them.

The characterisations areal spot on and it doesn’t take much imagination to visualise Hartnell, Troughton, both Bakers etc as they battle their enemies.

There is humour,and special mention must be made of Eric the computer in Festival of Death. In the introduction. Author Jonathan Morris says he was inspired by Douglas Adams and this computer is part Eddie and part Marvin from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Having watched the show from the very beginning, it was also a nice touch seeing the Doctors of my childhood, Hartnell, Troughton and Pertwee, involved in ‘adult’ stories with death and horror.

New and old fans alike will rejoice in seeing these books again – some of which are hard to get hold of in their original format.

And the special covers, which also feature the relevany Doctors on the spines, will form part of a great collection.

All books are published by BBC Books and will be £7.99 rrp