November 23rd, 2018
30 comments
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Doctor Who Scratchman Hardcover by Tom Baker
Available to order from www.amazon.co.uk
The Audio CD is also available to order from www.amazon.co.uk
FROM TOM BAKER…
“I love the improbability of Doctor Who. Reason plays no part at all. As in religion, the overriding thing is faith. It may be improbable, but just believe in it and it’ll all come right.”
“When I was approached about the book, I thought, ‘Why not?’ I’m always on the lookout for a novelty. I’m very enthusiastic as I get close to darkness.”
• Doctor Who Meets Scratchman began out of boredom somewhere in the 1970s, an idea for a story formed by Tom Baker and Ian Marter between set takes and pauses in filming during the Fourth Doctor era.
• Despite great enthusiasm and valiant attempts, funding Scratchman proved difficult (Baker accidentally made a newspaper appeal to the British public for help, and found himself deluged with children’s pocket money – which he had to return.)
• For a long time, Scratchman was forgotten, until a script was found in 2006. It was donated to the British Film Institute by former Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner before his death in 2002.
In his first-ever Doctor Who novel, Tom Baker’s incredible imagination is given free rein. A story so epic it was originally intended for the big screen, Scratchman is a gripping, white-knuckle thriller almost forty years in the making.
The Doctor, Harry and Sarah Jane Smith arrive at a remote Scottish island, when their holiday is cut short by the appearance of strange creatures – hideous scarecrows, who are preying on the local population. The islanders are living in fear, and the Doctor vows to save them all. But it doesn’t go to plan – the time travellers have fallen into a trap, and Scratchman is coming for them.
With the fate of the universe hanging in the balance, the Doctor must battle an ancient force from another dimension, one who claims to be the Devil. Scratchman wants to know what the Doctor is most afraid of. And the Doctor’s worst nightmares are coming out to play…
Categorised under: Books, Featured, Story books
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MJS
February 6th, 2020 - 9:15pmIf anyone hasn’t got it, the Kindle version of this is currently 99p on amazon
Osi13
June 10th, 2019 - 9:05pmGreat!
I loved evrything!
Osi13
June 10th, 2019 - 9:04pmI thought the scarecrows were very creepy. I really liked it.
Anonymous
June 10th, 2019 - 9:03pmI thought the scarecrow s were very creepy. I really liked it. I’m happy the story was written by the doctor himself
toptimelord
December 12th, 2018 - 5:19amThis is epic news! When I met Tom Baker many years ago he signed my poster of Scratchman, the Doctor Who movie that never happened! Tom laughed when he saw it and told me all about why his movie never happened but he hoped that one day it would become a reality!
Anonymous
November 24th, 2018 - 1:03pmHow could JNT give the script away in 2006 if he died in 2002?
Anonymous
November 24th, 2018 - 2:52pmNo, he donated it before his death in 2002, but wasn’t discovered until the documents were looked through sometime between the donation and 2006
Anonymous
November 24th, 2018 - 6:57pmIt says above he donated it before his death
Anonymous
November 23rd, 2018 - 11:37pmI hope Tom’s reading the audio version.
Anonymous
November 24th, 2018 - 1:29amHe is in fact!
Anonymous
November 23rd, 2018 - 1:39pmWhat a horrible cover. Why no credit for Ian Marter either?
Anonymous
November 23rd, 2018 - 4:04pmBecause they are marketing it as a book by tom baker. There’s no mention of James Goss either but as far as I know he’s co-writer on the book. Besides all original contributors will no doubt be mentioned inside. There’s bound to be a notes section like in the previous James Goss books. I’m really looking forward to this
Sean Bassett
November 23rd, 2018 - 4:26pmBecause Ian Marter couldn’t have lent a hand in novelising the unused script given that he has passed away, and he isn’t a big name that could attract casual readers like Douglas Adams.
Anonymous
November 24th, 2018 - 1:31amActually it should be mentioned that James Goss Isn’t a co-writer. He pretended to be for misdirection, but he mentioned on Twitter that Tom Baker fully wrote the book himself. (I mean, I suspect Goss probably acted as an editor of sorts, but certainly the majority of the prose, story etc is pure Tom, as opposed to Tom giving him his concepts and notes and Goss adapting those). So Tom Baker is the writer because Tom Baker wrote the full book, even if the initial synopsis was conceived by him and Marter.
Luke Leo Ryan
November 24th, 2018 - 1:33amJames Goss has said on twitter he was only playing along with the marketing team about writing the book as to keep the true author a secret – he has had no involvement otherwise. This is purely by Tom Baker, and I’m sure Ian Marter will get a well deserved credit within the book.
Anonymous
November 24th, 2018 - 1:33amhttps://twitter.com/gossjam/status/1065945274827198465
Anonymous
November 24th, 2018 - 10:32amDon’t do social media so didn’t know about Goss. Ian marter is well know to who fans, especially those of a certain age, but he’s not a big enough name like Adams to put on the cover. In a way if someone else did Eric saward’s dalek stories i doubt if sawards name would be prominent on the cover for the same reason.
Anonymous
November 23rd, 2018 - 1:05pmOne of the better covers, not brilliant but at the doctor is there!
Anonymous
November 23rd, 2018 - 11:06amSo pleased it’s Harry and Sarah!
WFK DVD Collector 18
May 13th, 2018 - 9:06amSo happy that this is on the way! For the next potential release, let’s hope that someone can convince Eric Saward to let Resurrection & Revelation of the Daleks be novelised so that we can have all classic TV stories in book form!
Whorules
May 12th, 2018 - 9:55amWonder which version this will be? I’d like it to be sarah and harry, but suspect it will be romana one or two with k9. Whichever it is, i’m just pleased it’s coming out…
Anonymous
May 10th, 2018 - 9:26pmIf they are adapting more unused movie scripts
Please lost in the dark dimension
The Outcast
May 12th, 2018 - 10:36amI’d love for an adaption of Dark Dimension.
The Myrka
November 23rd, 2018 - 4:47pmOH YEAH YES PLEASE
Other good ones would be the Final Game (maybe without regeneration so it fits into continuity), a short story collection for a Paul McGaun series and four Season 27 books.
TARDISGuy
May 10th, 2018 - 9:14amVery excited for this. Love what James Goss has done thus far so should be pretty great. Now I’m just hoping for Resurrection and Revelation to get novels of some kind.
Anonymous
May 9th, 2018 - 11:03pmThe Scratchman screenplay is actually credited to James Hill, from a story by Tom Baker and Ian Marter. Hill took incorporated their ideas, but undoubtedly it’s him that deserves the lion’s share of the credit creatively.
Doctor Mysterio
May 9th, 2018 - 10:04pmCan’t wait for this. Should be really good fun.
Whorules
May 9th, 2018 - 7:50pmOrdered! Was hoping for this one…
MJS
May 9th, 2018 - 7:47pmOMG the plot for this was published years ago and sounded bonkers!! Should be a right laugh
Alex
May 9th, 2018 - 6:35pmOh hell yeah. I really enjoyed Krikkitmen, so I’m totally down to see more. Though I’m wondering if James Goss will try a different writing approach for this one, considering he’s not writing an Douglas Adams-era Four/Romana story, and rather a Season 10 era story.
I also wonder if Tom Baker actually has much input in this draft. He’s co-credited on the page but that could be simply honorary and based on his original notes.