Target Books was a British

publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

, established in 1973 by

Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd was a United Kingdom paperback publishing company established in the early 1960s as Tandem Books. History The company's principal imprint was Tandem. The hyphenated name Universal-Tandem was adopted as a corpo ...

, a paperback

publishing company Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult

Tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

imprint, and became well known for their highly successful range of

novelisation A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...

s and other assorted books based on the popular

science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...

series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

''. Their first publications based on the serial were reprints in paperback of three novels which had been previously published as hardbacks: ''Doctor Who and the Daleks'' and ''Doctor Who and the Crusaders'' by David Whitaker, and ''Doctor Who and the Zarbi'' by

Bill Strutton William Harold Strutton (23 February 1918 – 23 November 2003) was an Australian screenwriter and novelist. He worked on television shows such as '' Ivanhoe'', '' The Saint'', '' The Avengers'', ''Riptide'' and '' Doctor Who''. Early lif ...

. As these sold well further novelisations of the show were commissioned. In 1975 Universal-Tandem was sold by its American owners, the Universal-Award group, to the British conglomerate

Howard and Wyndham Howard & Wyndham Ltd was a theatre owning, production and management company named after John B. Howard and Frederick W. P. Wyndham, founded in Glasgow in 1895, and which became the largest of its type in Britain. The company continued well into the ...

. The company was renamed Tandem Publishing Ltd before being merged with the paperback imprints of Howard and Wyndham's general publishing house W. H. Allen Ltd to become Wyndham Publications Ltd in 1976. However, during 1977 and 1978 the Wyndham identity was phased out and, until 1990, Target books were published by 'the paperback division of WH Allen & Co'. The most prolific writer in the ''Doctor Who'' range was

Terrance Dicks Terrance William Dicks (14 April 1935 – 29 August 2019) was an English people, English author and television screenwriter, script editor and Television producer, producer. In television, he had a long association with the BBC science-fictio ...

, while actor turned writer

Ian Marter Ian Don Marter (28 October 194428 October 1986) was an English actor and writer, known for his role as Harry Sullivan in the BBC science-fiction television series '' Doctor Who'' from December 1974 to September 1975, with a non-regular, one-s ...

Malcolm Hulke Malcolm Ainsworth Hulke (21 November 1924 – 6 July 1979) was a British television writer and author of the industry "bible" ''Writing for Television in the 70s''. He is remembered chiefly for his work on the science fiction series ''Doctor Wh ...

Philip Hinchcliffe Philip Michael Hinchcliffe (born October 1944) is a retired English television producer, screenwriter and script editor. After graduating from Cambridge University, he began his career as a writer and script editor at Associated Television befo ...

and

Nigel Robinson Nigel Robinson is an English author, known for such works as the ''First Contact'' series. Nigel was born in Preston, Lancashire and attended St Thomas More school. Robinson's first published book was ''The Tolkien Quiz Book'' in 1981, co-writte ...

(who was for a time the editor of the range) were also contributors. The company also produced novelisations of various other

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

s and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

series, again aimed mostly at the child and teenage markets. They also published a number of original children's and teenage novels. In 1973, the company produced a successful paperback edition of

Tim Dinsdale Timothy Kay Dinsdale (27 September 1924 – 14 December 1987) was a British cryptozoologist who attempted to prove the existence of the Loch Ness Monster. Life Dinsdale was born in Aberystwyth, Wales, the son of Felix and Dorys (Smith) Dinsdal ...

's book, ''The Story of the

Loch Ness Monster The Loch Ness Monster ( gd, Uilebheist Loch Nis), affectionately known as Nessie, is a creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or mor ...

''. In 1977, Target published the novelisation of the

Ray Harryhausen Raymond Frederick Harryhausen (June 29, 1920 – May 7, 2013) was an American-British animator and special effects creator who created a form of stop motion model animation known as "Dynamation". His works include the animation for '' Might ...

film, ''

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger ''Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger'' is a 1977 fantasy film directed by Sam Wanamaker and featuring stop-motion effects by Ray Harryhausen. The film stars Patrick Wayne, Taryn Power, Jane Seymour and Patrick Troughton. The third and final ''Sin ...

''. W. H. Allen was acquired by

Virgin Books Virgin Books is a British book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Group, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company. History Virgin established its book publishing arm ...

in a process that spanned late 1986 to late 1987. In 1994 the Target imprint was closed down and the last three novelisation published by Virgin were under the Doctor Who Books imprint. They did, however, feature the Target logo inside and were numbered in Target's "Doctor Who Library" on inside pages.

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, through its United Kingdom division, acquired a 90% stake in Virgin Books (including Target) in March 2007.Joel Rickett
Random House UK buys Virgin Books
''

The Bookseller ''The Bookseller'' is a British magazine reporting news on the publishing industry. Philip Jones is editor-in-chief of the weekly print edition of the magazine and the website. The magazine is home to the ''Bookseller''/Diagram Prize for Oddest ...

'', 5 March 2007 (via archive.org) In November 2009, Virgin became an independent imprint within

Ebury Publishing Ebury Publishing is a division of Penguin Random House, and is a publisher of general non-fiction books in the UK. Ebury was founded in 1961 as a division of Nat Mags and was originally located on Ebury Street in London. It was sold to Century ...

, a division of the Random House Group. Beginning in 2011

BBC Books BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasti ...

published reprints of several of the Target Doctor Who novelisations. In 2018 BBC Books published four novelisations of post-2005 ''Doctor Who'' stories and a new abridged version of ''City of Death'' using the Target logo, Ebury Publishing having acquired a majority shareholding of BBC Books in 2006. Seven further books were published in the Doctor Who "Target Collection" 11 March 2021, including the

Eleventh Doctor The Eleventh Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. He is played by Matt Smith in three series as well as five specials. As with previous incarnations of the Docto ...

TV story ''

The Crimson Horror "The Crimson Horror" is the eleventh episode of the seventh series of the British science-fiction drama ''Doctor Who''. It was written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Saul Metzstein, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 4 May 2013. It marks th ...

'' and the

Thirteenth Doctor The Thirteenth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the fictional protagonist of the BBC science fiction television programme, ''Doctor Who''. She is portrayed by English actress Jodie Whittaker, the first woman to portray the character, sta ...

TV story ''

The Witchfinders "The Witchfinders" is the eighth episode of the eleventh series of the British science fiction television programme '' Doctor Who''. It was written by Joy Wilkinson and directed by Sallie Aprahamian, and was first broadcast on BBC One BBC ...

''.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom Publishers of Doctor Who books Publishing companies established in 1973 1973 establishments in England Publishing companies disestablished in 1994 1994 disestablishments in England 1976 mergers and acquisitions

See also

References

External links