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New episodes of Doctor Who may not be hitting screens for another couple of years but there are still new products and adventures being released from the venerable franchise.  Recently, Edsel/Demon has released a new 4-CD boxset in their continuing series focusing on audiobook versions of episode novelizations.  Following collections starring Third Doctor Jon Pertwee and Fourth Doctor Tom Baker, the new set focuses on the Fifth Doctor.

Peter Davison made his debut as the Fifth Doctor in the first episode of Season 19 which aired in early January 1982.  The youngest actor to be cast as the Gallifreyan Time Lord to that point – Matt Smith would eventually displace him! – Davison filled the large shoes of the long-running Tom Baker.  Then best-known for his role as a young veterinarian in All Creatures Great and Small, Davison was also appearing in the sitcoms Sink or Swim for the BBC and Holding the Fort for ITV.  His tenure as The Doctor would continue until the second-to-last story of Season 21, airing in March 1984.  Ultimately, Davison starred in 20 stories across 69 episodes.

The first story in the set is Kinda, which originally aired over four parts from February 1 to February 9, 1982.  It was Davison’s third serial and he was joined by companions Adric (Matthew Waterhouse), Nyssa (Sarah Sutton), and Tegan (Janet Fielding).  Written by Christopher Baily and directed by Peter Grimwade, the plot finds the Doctor and his companions facing off against Mara, a being from another plane who is telepathically controlling the native Kinda on the planet Deva Loka and having them attack the Earth colonists in order to find passage into our dimension.

The second story in the set jumps ahead to Davison’s final season.  Warriors of the Deep kicked off Season 21, airing across 4 episodes from January 5 to January 13, 1984.  The companions featured are Tegan and Turlough (Mark Strickson).  In this adventure, written by Johnny Byrne and directed by Pennant Roberts, the TARDIS lands on Earth in the year 2084 where a cold war is simmering between two of Earth’s most powerful nations.  The Doctor’s old enemies, the Sea Devils and the Silurians, attempt to lead the two superpowers into a war which will wipe out humanity and return control of the planet to them.  Though the victory comes with a cost, the Doctor is able to defeat his foes and prevent the war.

Beginning in 1973, Target Books in the UK began releasing a series of novelizations of Doctor Who serials. These would continue until 1994, covering nearly every episode of the program.  These two serials were no exception with Kinda becoming an abridged novel in 1983, followed by Warriors of the Deep in 1984, not even a year after it aired.  Both novels were written by the prolific Terrance Dicks.  In 1995, BBC Worldwide released an audiobook version of Warriors, followed by Kinda in 1997. Both were on cassette and read by Davison.  Those adaptations are collected on this new set from Edsel.  Each audiobook features theme and incidental music from the show.

Four bonus tracks round out the 7-inch package.  All are taken from several BBC radio programs which aired from 1983-2013 and are drawn from the collection Doctor Who at the BBC: The Collection – The First Nine Volumes.  Davison is featured on every bonus track, joined on the first from The Ed Stewart Show from April 4, 1983 by Janet Fielding and John Nathan-Turner.

If you would like to experience these classic pieces of Doctor Who history for yourself, we’ve got the full tracklisting and ordering links below.

Various Artists, Doctor Who: Peter Davison Collection (Demon/Edsel Records, 2026) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Disc 1

1. Doctor Who: Kinda, Parts 1 & 2
2. Extract from The Ed Stewart Show (4/4/83)

Disc 2

1. Doctor Who: Kinda Parts 3 & 4
2. Extract from 30 Years (11/20/93)

Disc 3

1. Doctor Who: Warriors of the Deep Parts 1 & 2
2. Extract from View from the Boundary (8/20/94)

Disc 4

1. Doctor Who: Warriors of the Deep Parts 3 & 4
2. Extract from Graham Norton (11/23/13)