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Doctor Who Target Books (Numerical Order) #76
Doctor Who: Castrovalva
Still weak and confused after his fourth regeneration, the Doctor retreats to Castrovalva to recuperate.
But Castrovalva is not the haven of peace and tranquility the Doctor and his companions are seeking. Far from being able to rest quietly, the unsuspecting time-travellers are caught up once again in the evil machinations of the Master.
Only an act of supreme self-sacrifice will enable them to escape the maniacal lunacy of the renegade Time Lord.
But Castrovalva is not the haven of peace and tranquility the Doctor and his companions are seeking. Far from being able to rest quietly, the unsuspecting time-travellers are caught up once again in the evil machinations of the Master.
Only an act of supreme self-sacrifice will enable them to escape the maniacal lunacy of the renegade Time Lord.
118 pages, Paperback
First published June 16, 1983
3 people are currently reading
506 people want to read
About the author
Christopher H. Bidmead
13 books11 followersChristopher Hamilton Bidmead is a British writer and journalist who wrote several Doctor Who TV serials, all of which he also novelised. He was also script editor for Season 18.
He was attached (agreed, but without a contract) to write several serials that were ultimatelly cancelled. They were In the Hollows of Time, a two-part (forty-five minute) story for the cancelled season 23[1], and a four parter, Pinacotheca (a.k.a. The Last Adventure), which would have been the third part of the The Trial of a Time Lord arc[2].
He was attached (agreed, but without a contract) to write several serials that were ultimatelly cancelled. They were In the Hollows of Time, a two-part (forty-five minute) story for the cancelled season 23[1], and a four parter, Pinacotheca (a.k.a. The Last Adventure), which would have been the third part of the The Trial of a Time Lord arc[2].
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
July 18, 2021
Castrovalva (which is a reference to a lithograph by M.C. Escher) is a novelization of the first script of the nineteenth season of Doctor Who, and was the first adventure for the fifth iteration of The Doctor. Christopher H. Bidmead adapted his own script for the book, which follows the televised version pretty closely. The newly regenerated Doctor is weak and disoriented from his recent regeneration, and is going to "The Zero Room" for some R&R, but The Master (his evil nemesis), has set a trap and they set off for Event One (The Big Bang) instead. There are three companions on hand in the story, which may be one too many: Adric is frequently missing, and Tegan and Nyssa manage to get The Doctor back to the control room in time to save most of the ship, but the healing technology in The Zero Room is lost, so they go to Castrovalva, which is supposed to be a place of healing. Tegan and Nyssa lose The Doctor along the way, we learn that Adric has been captured by The Master in order to further his nefarious plans, but luckily a librarian is there to save the day. This is one of the stories where the special effects weren't very good on screen, but Bidmead's descriptions were quite effective, particularly on how Adric was fused to the Master's machine, and his details of the mathematical geometries Adric produces in Castrovlava.
February 16, 2011
Fifth Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa, Adric. The fifth Doctor's first story. What someone thinks of the book is purely a matter of why that person might want a novelisation. The author's style is a sort of commentary employing quite a lot of wordplay. Takes until the third page to get moving. One of the rare novelisations that has the dialogue and actions just about as they were in the episode; but I think the show plays better, thanks to camera direction, incidental music, and the liveliness of the actors.
August 23, 2011
My favourite Christopher Bidmead novelization...which isn't surprising, as (1) it's my favourite Bidmead "Doctor Who" story, and (2) it's one of the best Target novelizations, especially of the early 1980s -- a time when the books were on the cusp of transitioning into a new, deeper phase of quality writing. Keeping to the small-ish word count of the time, Bidmead manages to fill the book with so much character development & so much evocative description that it verges on alchemy. Wonderful stuff!
December 30, 2025
3.5 (rounded up)
Castrovalva is a fantastic novelisation, combining the Target series’ best inclination towards added characterisation with Bidmead’s own priorities as a writer. The story itself is still a little uneven as far as the actual plan by the Master goes, but in sticking to the televised story we get a host of added benefits in prose.
For one, it feels altogether more epic than the version which reached screen, showing an eye for excellent conclusions of chapters as if creating a series of mini cliffhangers to tease the reader:
“Whether it was the residual effects of the stun ray or some extraordinary trick of acoustics was hard to say, but the unmistakable chuckle of the Master seemed to echo on around the Pharos enclosure long after the throbbing of the time motors had drained away into the morning sky.” (p. 7)
Examples approaching the literary anecdote are peppered throughout the novel, with a kind of narratorial voice that feels very Bidmedian. Consider the bit towards the end, where “[f]or the first time in his life Shardovan now managed to convey to a fellow human being this haunting perception of a dreadful hollowness at the heart of the world” (p. 104), or the earlier escape from Event One (“In their inverted time scale the stars drew closer and closer, until they were packed like pebbles on a beach, like grains of sand, like molecules in granite and like the atoms of a diamond. And then it was Event One, the beginning of everything: a sharp white nothing that blotted out the worlds to come” - p. 41). These alchemical sequences make the story so much better when experienced by prose, and also make the city itself into a frightening place in ways not quite managed by the TV budget. The story, especially the Master’s role in it, is still so-so, but these bits make it come alive.
In mechanical terms, the description of the Doctor’s mania is very well done and contrasts nicely with the more rounded characterisation of Tegan and Nyssa in this novelisation, which fits their enhanced role in parts one and two of the TV story. Nyssa gets slightly more on the consequences of the Master taking her father’s face than in the TV story, while Tegan’s practical determination comes across well (“she thought that theory was all very well, but she wanted to get on to the doing part of it” - p. 37). Adric is, of course, Adric but he is afforded some characterisation in the escape from the Pharos Institute opening. It all makes for a more enjoyable way to experience the story, if you can put up with the technobabble. It’s even funny, in places (Tegan especially - “If the Laws of Nature were unfair they should subject to appeal in some higher court”, p. 12). Hard recommend.
(There is another predilection of Bidmead’s here - explaining Time Lord thinking, especially in this little nugget: “the Gallifreyan temperament tends to see the world from the other person's point of view: the Castrovalvans were looking forward to their feast, as well they might after all the hard work they had put into it, but the Doctor's natural sympathies lay with the pig, which was not coming out of this at all well” - p. 69).
Castrovalva is a fantastic novelisation, combining the Target series’ best inclination towards added characterisation with Bidmead’s own priorities as a writer. The story itself is still a little uneven as far as the actual plan by the Master goes, but in sticking to the televised story we get a host of added benefits in prose.
For one, it feels altogether more epic than the version which reached screen, showing an eye for excellent conclusions of chapters as if creating a series of mini cliffhangers to tease the reader:
“Whether it was the residual effects of the stun ray or some extraordinary trick of acoustics was hard to say, but the unmistakable chuckle of the Master seemed to echo on around the Pharos enclosure long after the throbbing of the time motors had drained away into the morning sky.” (p. 7)
Examples approaching the literary anecdote are peppered throughout the novel, with a kind of narratorial voice that feels very Bidmedian. Consider the bit towards the end, where “[f]or the first time in his life Shardovan now managed to convey to a fellow human being this haunting perception of a dreadful hollowness at the heart of the world” (p. 104), or the earlier escape from Event One (“In their inverted time scale the stars drew closer and closer, until they were packed like pebbles on a beach, like grains of sand, like molecules in granite and like the atoms of a diamond. And then it was Event One, the beginning of everything: a sharp white nothing that blotted out the worlds to come” - p. 41). These alchemical sequences make the story so much better when experienced by prose, and also make the city itself into a frightening place in ways not quite managed by the TV budget. The story, especially the Master’s role in it, is still so-so, but these bits make it come alive.
In mechanical terms, the description of the Doctor’s mania is very well done and contrasts nicely with the more rounded characterisation of Tegan and Nyssa in this novelisation, which fits their enhanced role in parts one and two of the TV story. Nyssa gets slightly more on the consequences of the Master taking her father’s face than in the TV story, while Tegan’s practical determination comes across well (“she thought that theory was all very well, but she wanted to get on to the doing part of it” - p. 37). Adric is, of course, Adric but he is afforded some characterisation in the escape from the Pharos Institute opening. It all makes for a more enjoyable way to experience the story, if you can put up with the technobabble. It’s even funny, in places (Tegan especially - “If the Laws of Nature were unfair they should subject to appeal in some higher court”, p. 12). Hard recommend.
(There is another predilection of Bidmead’s here - explaining Time Lord thinking, especially in this little nugget: “the Gallifreyan temperament tends to see the world from the other person's point of view: the Castrovalvans were looking forward to their feast, as well they might after all the hard work they had put into it, but the Doctor's natural sympathies lay with the pig, which was not coming out of this at all well” - p. 69).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 2, 2022
Now the last novelization I wrote a review for was Logopolis and like the two television stories in pair, they are like night and day in terms of quality and presentation. I don’t necessarily hate Castrovalva on television, but it is a very slow story and lacks the atmosphere of Logopolis that really made that serial and novelization work. You may find this review of the novelization of Castrovalva just a bit short is because this is a novelization where it feels as if nothing is changed. This is perhaps the platonic ideal of translating the script into a novel literally, something that makes it difficult to really take any time to discuss. The only change is again a bringing to the forefront of the major themes, this time the themes of recursion, with quite a lot of time given to the early TARDIS scenes to actually explain recursion between Tegan and Nyssa.
The relationship between Nyssa and Tegan is something people apparently ship and it might just be this novelization that gave rise to that. This is at least apparent since this is the story where they are together on the page the most and have this very deep friendship despite not actually really knowing each other. Bidmead does a lot to explore this relationship through the first three-quarters of the novel, especially since the Doctor doesn’t actually get to do much. There’s an almost interesting attempt to lean into the absurdity of some of the plot, with some interesting little additions referencing Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass which while not dealing with recursion have, I guess, some of the contradictory elements that Bidmead was going for. The big problem here is that the pacing is poor, it’s a book from a serial that really didn’t have enough plot to fill all four episodes and that translates back here in the novelization which is a shame, the other Bidmead novelizations I genuinely liked.
Overall, Castrovalva is kind of just a big pile of meh. The prose is a bit bland and the pacing is completely off from an already slow paced television serial and there isn’t anything to make the tension of tense scenes work. It’s perfectly fine and does the job I guess, but isn’t one I’m going to be revisiting anytime soon. 5/10.
The relationship between Nyssa and Tegan is something people apparently ship and it might just be this novelization that gave rise to that. This is at least apparent since this is the story where they are together on the page the most and have this very deep friendship despite not actually really knowing each other. Bidmead does a lot to explore this relationship through the first three-quarters of the novel, especially since the Doctor doesn’t actually get to do much. There’s an almost interesting attempt to lean into the absurdity of some of the plot, with some interesting little additions referencing Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass which while not dealing with recursion have, I guess, some of the contradictory elements that Bidmead was going for. The big problem here is that the pacing is poor, it’s a book from a serial that really didn’t have enough plot to fill all four episodes and that translates back here in the novelization which is a shame, the other Bidmead novelizations I genuinely liked.
Overall, Castrovalva is kind of just a big pile of meh. The prose is a bit bland and the pacing is completely off from an already slow paced television serial and there isn’t anything to make the tension of tense scenes work. It’s perfectly fine and does the job I guess, but isn’t one I’m going to be revisiting anytime soon. 5/10.
June 5, 2023
Castrovalva isn't exactly the most exciting story, but it does contain a lot of trippy imagery. During the last time I watched it, I remember thinking that some of the ideas present would be so much more effective in novel form - especially the Episode Three cliffhanger. I guess I'm right, but the rest of the novel is just a little dull. When Bidmead is describing the landscape of Castrovalva folding into itself, you can physically feel him get more excited, with the prose becoming much richer, with more eloquent flair - it's a shame that the energy isn't kept up beyond these brief moments.
Having Davison be so proudly shown on the cover makes sense from marketing point of view, and seeing as it is his first story, but he features very rarely. The only time his Doctor is fully Doctorin' is exclusively in the final chapter, and so the novel feels like a build up to a conclusion that isn't particularly satisfying. I can imagine this story working better had the reader not seen the televised story yet - the mystery of what Castrovalva really is would then be an actual interesting revelation, rather than what feels like padding until the Doctor is better and the Master finally takes off his disguise. (I do recommend having Google Images open so you get what each character looks like, because without it they quickly became confused in my head - lots of strange names like Mergrave and Shardovan all mixing together).
After finishing Timewyrm: Genesys, I wanted a Doctor Who story that was a nice casual read, and I got exactly that. Inoffensive and slowly paced, exactly what I expected.
Having Davison be so proudly shown on the cover makes sense from marketing point of view, and seeing as it is his first story, but he features very rarely. The only time his Doctor is fully Doctorin' is exclusively in the final chapter, and so the novel feels like a build up to a conclusion that isn't particularly satisfying. I can imagine this story working better had the reader not seen the televised story yet - the mystery of what Castrovalva really is would then be an actual interesting revelation, rather than what feels like padding until the Doctor is better and the Master finally takes off his disguise. (I do recommend having Google Images open so you get what each character looks like, because without it they quickly became confused in my head - lots of strange names like Mergrave and Shardovan all mixing together).
After finishing Timewyrm: Genesys, I wanted a Doctor Who story that was a nice casual read, and I got exactly that. Inoffensive and slowly paced, exactly what I expected.
May 26, 2021
While better than Logopolis, so more a solid 3, still more an average /reasonable read, with some of the same flaws as the prior entry, with dialogue skipped, more foreshadowing / giving away of surprise plot points etc.
Also I think while quite an interesting story idea, and many cool scenes, it is unfortunate to be the first Fifth Doctor story, as compared to the other Doctors to this point at least, it doesn't give us a chance to really see how the Doctor is, as he is sick / forgetful / weak most of this story, which one hopes isn't what he would normally be like :) The Third Doctor started off similarly, but improved during his first story, and was able to show what he would be like going forward.
I think we also start seeing the issues with three companions with the Fifth Doctor, where they have difficulty giving them all stuff to do, with Adric being mostly absent here. The First Doctor at least didn't tend to have these issues, though the Second Doctor did start to, so I feel that possibilities are there, but the stories just didn't seem to support it well.
Tegan and Nyssa at least had lots of good scenes in here, and Adric had some good scenes at points when not absent.
So all in all a decent story, but not the best of the Target novelisations by any means, or first stories for a new Doctor.
Also I think while quite an interesting story idea, and many cool scenes, it is unfortunate to be the first Fifth Doctor story, as compared to the other Doctors to this point at least, it doesn't give us a chance to really see how the Doctor is, as he is sick / forgetful / weak most of this story, which one hopes isn't what he would normally be like :) The Third Doctor started off similarly, but improved during his first story, and was able to show what he would be like going forward.
I think we also start seeing the issues with three companions with the Fifth Doctor, where they have difficulty giving them all stuff to do, with Adric being mostly absent here. The First Doctor at least didn't tend to have these issues, though the Second Doctor did start to, so I feel that possibilities are there, but the stories just didn't seem to support it well.
Tegan and Nyssa at least had lots of good scenes in here, and Adric had some good scenes at points when not absent.
So all in all a decent story, but not the best of the Target novelisations by any means, or first stories for a new Doctor.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 5, 2023
Doctor Who : Castrovalva (1983) by Christopher Bidmead is the novelisation of the first episode of season nineteen and the first full episode with Peter Davison as the fifth Doctor.
The Doctor, Adric, Tegan and Nyssa have to handle the Doctor’s regeneration which is not proceeding properly. The Doctor searches through the TARDIS for the ‘Zero Room’ that will enable him to more smoothly regenerate. Meanwhile for some reason Adric has set coordinates on the TARDIS. Then the Doctor and the assistants travel to Castrovalva which is meant to be a good place to recover.
Castrovalva is a bit of a mess as a story. Three assistants is also at least one too many. But as the first Fifth Doctor serial it is of some note. But it’s more for fans of Doctor Who.
The Doctor, Adric, Tegan and Nyssa have to handle the Doctor’s regeneration which is not proceeding properly. The Doctor searches through the TARDIS for the ‘Zero Room’ that will enable him to more smoothly regenerate. Meanwhile for some reason Adric has set coordinates on the TARDIS. Then the Doctor and the assistants travel to Castrovalva which is meant to be a good place to recover.
Castrovalva is a bit of a mess as a story. Three assistants is also at least one too many. But as the first Fifth Doctor serial it is of some note. But it’s more for fans of Doctor Who.
August 17, 2025
Book 345 - Christopher H. Bidmead - Castrovalva
A new beginning… a new group of companions… and a new Doctor… young…vulnerable and utterly brilliant. The final part of a trilogy starring the Master with both parts two and three written by the amazing Bidmead.
When the Doctor’s regeneration goes wrong… and Adric kidnapped … it is trap within trap… all so that the Master can have his ultimate victory. Bidmead is amazing at giving us strong character developments for the three young companions and this new ‘old’ Doctor.
The history of Castrovalva and its creation is so clever… so real…so deep… with fantastically characterised people but in the heartbreaking ending shows us how far the Master will really go. An incredible way to start a new era …and suddenly ‘Everything old is new again.’
A new beginning… a new group of companions… and a new Doctor… young…vulnerable and utterly brilliant. The final part of a trilogy starring the Master with both parts two and three written by the amazing Bidmead.
When the Doctor’s regeneration goes wrong… and Adric kidnapped … it is trap within trap… all so that the Master can have his ultimate victory. Bidmead is amazing at giving us strong character developments for the three young companions and this new ‘old’ Doctor.
The history of Castrovalva and its creation is so clever… so real…so deep… with fantastically characterised people but in the heartbreaking ending shows us how far the Master will really go. An incredible way to start a new era …and suddenly ‘Everything old is new again.’
July 29, 2019
pdf, 139 pages
A clear (mostly) retelling of the script - though as usual the Master's plot is overly complex so it's hardly surprising that once again it fails. Unusually he seems to have needed the assistance of Adric's mathematical excellence skills - and it's not compltely clear if the '500 year' history of Castrovalva has been lived through by either Adric or the Master. Alongside this we have the new Doctor struggling to stabilise his regeneration and learn something about the TARDIS functions. Nyssa and Tegan have rather mor than usual to do - and Adric is sidelined by being enmeshed in the Master's plot.
Somewhat better than the run-of-the-mill retreads - and the 'visual' complexities of the decaying Castrovalva are better described than realised on screen...
A clear (mostly) retelling of the script - though as usual the Master's plot is overly complex so it's hardly surprising that once again it fails. Unusually he seems to have needed the assistance of Adric's mathematical excellence skills - and it's not compltely clear if the '500 year' history of Castrovalva has been lived through by either Adric or the Master. Alongside this we have the new Doctor struggling to stabilise his regeneration and learn something about the TARDIS functions. Nyssa and Tegan have rather mor than usual to do - and Adric is sidelined by being enmeshed in the Master's plot.
Somewhat better than the run-of-the-mill retreads - and the 'visual' complexities of the decaying Castrovalva are better described than realised on screen...
January 19, 2026
This is a good adaptation of a pretty average Davison story. In print form, it probably doesn't stand up to scrutiny as much as the visual version does. I'm still not entirely sure how "block transfer computation" is able to create an entire place, and populate it, and that's never explained or explored in any great detail within the novel, presumably because there isn't a rational explanation for it!
April 30, 2024
A very well-written adaptation, despite a few errors. Pg 12 has an entire paragraph repeated. I'm reading these in order, so the prolific Terrance Dicks doesn't many from here on ( 8, inc the next one). Must say, it's nice to get books by other authors/ script-writers.
March 16, 2025
A highly literate, if not literary, retelling of the Fifth Doctor’s first story. Cleve and filled with t,wrists and turns this is a deceptively slow and steady story that builds to an exciting climax that deals more heavily with the S in SF than usual.
February 10, 2020
decent beginning to Davison era, the masters plan was completely bonkers, tegan and nyssa fumbled through much of the story, things got better once they had got to castrovalva
August 14, 2022
Hello number 5 👋
October 2, 2023
A good book easier to follow than the TV story the tapestry reads better than it looks as well.
Not the best 5h doctor book also not the worst.
Not the best 5h doctor book also not the worst.
April 19, 2010
Another fairly straight-forward novelization of the television story by writer Christopher H. Bidmead, though he does try to explain a few things in a bit more detail.
In the end, it's simply a retelling of the script though unlike the audio version of "Logopolis," "Castrovalva" is helped immensely better. A lot of that comes from the fact that it's Peter Davison reading the book and his impressions of various characters is a bit more on the money than that of Christopher H. Bidmead.
As with most good "Doctor Who" novelizations, I found myself wanting to go back to the source material and view them again.
In the end, it's simply a retelling of the script though unlike the audio version of "Logopolis," "Castrovalva" is helped immensely better. A lot of that comes from the fact that it's Peter Davison reading the book and his impressions of various characters is a bit more on the money than that of Christopher H. Bidmead.
As with most good "Doctor Who" novelizations, I found myself wanting to go back to the source material and view them again.
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April 8, 2009http://nhw.livejournal.com/1054675.html#cutid1[return][return]This is rather good: Bidmead has a convincing intensity as he takes us through the narrative, and while it would be going too far to say that it all makes sense, it does at least hang together: there is a feeling that this is the beginning of a new era. The story is very much about the Doctor's regeneration, and somehow this comes over better on the printed page. An impressive start for the Fifth Doctor novelisations.
June 24, 2011
A very lightweight novelisation of the Fifth Doctor's first story. Sometimes these novelisations can add some depth to a TV story but this was a fairly slight reproduction that added little. A fun enough way to while away a train journey though.
August 8, 2016
This book is really good, far superior to the television representation of the series "Castrovalva" though the television series was worth seeing, the plotline intricacies were better explored and explained in this book, which is relatively easy to follow.
December 10, 2010
the book was great - but i missed the visual effects of the episodes.
Good quality writing though.
Good quality writing though.
June 23, 2012
thoroughly enjoyed this one, especially as it's read by Five himself.
November 1, 2015
I thought that the fifth doctor showed very good acting good and I love the story every time I see it hear it or read it I LOVE THIS STORY 5/5
June 9, 2017
I have always enjoyed the fifth Doctor. It seemed so much more at ease than the overbearing nature of the fourth
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August 23, 2008isbn,original
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