''World Game'' is a

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 ...

original novel written by

Terrance Dicks Terrance William Dicks (14 April 1935 – 29 August 2019) was an English author and television screenwriter, script editor and producer. In television, he had a long association with the BBC science-fiction series ''Doctor Who'', working a ...

and based on the long-running British

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''. It features the

Second Doctor The Second Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He was portrayed by actor Patrick Troughton. While the Troughton era of ''Doctor Who'' is well-remembered by fans an ...

(

Patrick Troughton Patrick George Troughton (; 25 March 1920 – 28 March 1987) was an English actor who was classically trained for the stage but became known for his roles in television and film. His work included appearances in several fantasy, science fiction ...

) and the Lady Serena and is set during "

Season 6B ''The Discontinuity Guide'' is a 1995 guidebook to the serials of the original run (1963–1989) of the BBC science fiction series ''Doctor Who''. The book was written by Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping and was first published as ''Do ...

". It is also a partial

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

to another Dicks' Past Doctor Adventure, '' Players'' and documents the return of the Countess.

Plot

Under threat of execution after his conviction by the Time Lords at the end of ''

The War Games ''The War Games'' is the seventh and final serial of the sixth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which originally aired in ten weekly parts from 19 April to 21 June 1969. In the serial, an unnamed alien r ...

'', the Doctor is granted a reprieve if he agrees to undertake missions for the Celestial Intervention Agency. Accompanied and supervised by the ambitious Lady Serena, their first mission is to halt attacks upon three key figures in Earth's past:

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

The Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister of ...

, and

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

. The

Doctor Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

re-encounters the Player known as the Countess and struggles to end her Grand Plan to allow Napoleon to win his various European campaigns. Her plan to set the City States of Europe against each other is stopped by the Doctor, despite her setting a

Raston Warrior Robot The long-running British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'' has featured many robots. The Daleks and Cybermen are not listed as they are depicted as organic beings that become cyborgs as opposed to true robots. A Anne Droi ...

and a

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deat ...

on him and Serena. In preventing the Countess's assassination scheme on Wellington, Serena is killed. The Countess has many back up plans, and at the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

, her plan to prevent the Prussians coming to the English army's relief is thwarted when the Doctor imitates Napoleon himself to get through the French lines and deliver new orders to the Prussian commander

Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Fürst von Wahlstatt (; 21 December 1742 – 12 September 1819), ''Graf'' (count), later elevated to ''Fürst'' (sovereign prince) von Wahlstatt, was a Prussian '' Generalfeldmarschall'' (field marshal). He earne ...

. After returning to Gallifrey and discovering a traitor in the CIA who had been using the time scoop to assist the Countess, the Doctor is sent on a mission to investigate the time travel experiments of Kartz and Reimer.

Continuity

*The events of the book lead directly into ''

The Two Doctors ''The Two Doctors'' is the fourth serial of the 22nd season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in three weekly parts on BBC1 from 16 February to 2 March 1985. The serial is set on an alien ...

'' for the Second Doctor. He is also given the Stattenheim Remote Control. *

Psychic paper This is a list of notable or recurring items from the BBC television series '' Doctor Who''. C Celery The Fifth Doctor wears a sprig of celery in his lapel. He claims that he is allergic to certain gases in the praxis range; if those gases ...

, introduced by

Russell T Davies Stephen Russell Davies (born 27 April 1963), better known as Russell T Davies, is a Welsh screenwriter and television producer whose works include ''Queer as Folk'', '' The Second Coming'', ''Casanova'', the 2005 revival of the BBC One scien ...

in the 2005 series of ''Doctor Who'', is used here by the Second Doctor and Lady Serena, as a "new CIA invention". The text implies that the card in question is the same one later used by the Ninth, Tenth,

Eleventh In music or music theory, an eleventh is the note eleven scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the eleventh. The interval can be also described as a compound fourth, spanning an octave plus a ...

, Twelfth,

Thirteenth In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octa ...

and

War Doctor The War Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television programme '' Doctor Who''. He was portrayed by the English actor John Hurt. Although he precedes Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor in the ...

s, though the connection is never explicitly stated. *The

Sixth Doctor The Sixth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Colin Baker. Although his televisual time on the series was comparatively brief and turbulent, Ba ...

also participates in the Battle of Waterloo in the audio ''

The Curse of Davros ''The Curse of Davros'' is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. It was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra from 25 June to 2 July 2016. Plot Davros has ...

'' when he has to prevent

Davros Davros () is a character from the long-running British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He was created by screenwriter Terry Nation, originally for the 1975 serial ''Genesis of the Daleks''. Davros is a major enemy of the se ...

and the

Dalek The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrials in fiction, extraterrestrial race of mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction on television, science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by write ...

s from altering the outcome of the battle (although the two perspectives can be reconciled as the Sixth Doctor spends more time interacting with Napoleon in the battle while the Second was helping the Duke of Wellington).

Notes

*Due to a printing error, the Doctor Who logo is missing from the spine of the book.

Outside references

*The novel makes reference to the events of ''

Sharpe's Triumph ''Sharpe's Triumph'' is the second historical novel in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, first published in 1998. Sharpe is a sergeant in the army who attracts the attention of General Arthur Wellesley at Ahmednagar. Plot summar ...

'' by

Bernard Cornwell Bernard Cornwell (born 23 February 1944) is an English-American author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo Campaign. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe. He has also written ''The Saxon ...

References

External links

The Cloister Library - ''World Game''
{{Gallifrey stories 2005 British novels 2005 science fiction novels Past Doctor Adventures Second Doctor novels Novels by Terrance Dicks Cultural depictions of Napoleon Cultural depictions of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Cultural depictions of Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher Cultural depictions of Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord Works about the Battle of Waterloo Novels set during the Napoleonic Wars