Doctor Who: The Crusade

by David Whitaker

History must take its course... The TARDIS materialises in the middle of a holy war between King Richard the Lionheart and the Saracen leader, Saladin, in 12th Century Palestine. As the Doctor, Vicki, Ian and Barbara explore their surroundings, they are suddenly caught up in a Saracen ambush - and Barbara is kidnapped. For the time travellers, intrigue and espionage ensue as they once again become involved in living history. A newly-knighted 'Sir Ian of Jaffa' makes haste to find and rescue Barbara, whilst the Doctor finds it difficult to stay out of trouble in the court of the King... This classic adventure, only two episodes of which survive in the BBC film archive, stars William Hartnell as the Doctor, William Russell as Ian, Jacqueline Hill as Barbara, and Maureen O'Brien as Vicki. Amongst the guest cast are Julian Glover as Richard, with Jean Marsh as his sister Joanna.

Genres: Science Fiction

Audiobook

First published April 17, 1965

About the author

David Whitaker was an English screenwriter and novelist best known for his work in the early days of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He served as the series' first story editor working on the programme's first fifty one episodes in this capacity.

Reviews

[David Sutton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I applaud the BBC for preserving archival audio and presenting it to the public as an audiobook. It is my optimizm that new artistic reconstructions using animation and advances in generative AI video will fill the gaps in Doctor Who continuity from the lost episodes. This particular episode (included in The Lost TV Episodes 1964-1965 by BBC Audio) is average for the period. As expected, the British bias from the 1960's didn't do enough to condem the atrocities performed by Europeans during The Crusades. Use this audiobook to fill in the gap while watching the classic Doctor Who Season 2 streaming FREE on tubi (USA) or BBC iPlayer (UK).

[Duncan Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Dr Who book where the author made an effort to write well and add something to the original story. Unlike some of Terrance Dicks' phoned-in efforts which felt like he tossed them off in a weekend.

I wish all Dr Who books were this good.

[George Nash · Rating 4 out of 5]

A retelling of one of the lost episodes from the Classic Doc Who. I thought it was fun. I picked this up from Audible and it was followed by an interview with the actor that played Steven. I felt that the interview was more interesting than the story itself. I enjoyed this.

[Sidney McKidney · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is just a really dull serial. I started out watching it but after trying five different times to finish the first episode switched to the soundtrack so that I could multitask.