DOCTOR WHO IN DETAIL

'There's no such thing as magic,' the Doctor said.

But the land of Elybon might just prove him to be wrong. It is a place populated by creatures of fantasy, where myth and legend rule. Elves and dwarves live in harmony with mankind, wizards wield arcane powers and armoured knights battle monstrous dragons.

Yet is seems that Elybon has secrets to hide. The TARDIS crew find a relic from the thirtieth century hidden in the woods. Whose sinister manipulations are threatening the stability of a once peaceful land? And what part does the planet play in a conflict that may save an Empire, yet doom a galaxy?

To solve these puzzles, and save his companions, the Doctor must learn to use the sorcery whose very existemce he doubts.

Venus is dying. When the Doctor, Barbara and Ian arrive they find an ancient and utterly alien civilisation on the verge of oblivion. War is brewing between those who are determined to accept death, and those desperate for salvation whatever the cost.

Then a spacefaring race arrives, offering to rescue the Venusians by moving them all to Earth - three billion years before mankind is due to evolve. Are the newcomers' motives are pure as they appear? And will the Doctor allow them to save his oldest friends by sacrificing the future of humanity?

London, November 1605. The TARDIS materialises at a crucial moment in British history. While Ian and Barbara set off for the Globe Theatre Vicki accompanies the Doctor on a mysterious mission to the court of King James.

What connects the King's advisor Robert Cecil with the sinister hooded figure known only as 'the Spaniard'? Why is the Doctor so anxious to observe the translation of the Bible? And could there be some dastardly plot brewing in the cellars of the Houses of Parliament?

As a history teacher Barbara thinks she knows what to expect when she encounters a man called Guy Fawkes. But she is in for a very unpleasant surprise.

A strange invitation brings the Doctor, Steven and Vicki to Venice in the year of our Lord 1609: a place of politics and poison, science and superstition, telescopes and terror. Galileo Galilei is there demonstrating his new invention to the Doge, and William Shakespeare is working as a spy for King James I. And there are other visitors too: inhuman ones that lurk in the shadows, watching - and killing.

Vicki is abducted to a flying island. Steven is accused of murder and challenged to a duel. The Doctor, meanwhile, finds himself at the centre of what looks like an attempted invasion. But who are the invaders? And why can't they proceed without his help?

24 Messidor, XXII: The TARDIS has landed in a post-revolutionary France, or so it appears. But the futuristic structure of the New Bastille towers over a twisted version of Paris. And First Deputy Minski, adopted son of the infamous Marquis De Sade, presides over a reign of terror that has yet to end.

Revolutionary soldiers arrest an ailing Doctor as a curfew breaker. Dodo is recruited by a band of wandering players whose intentions are less than pure. Deep in the dungeons of the Bastille, Prisoner 6 tries desperately to remember who he is. And outside time and space a gathering of aliens watch in horror as their greatest experiment goes catasprophically wrong.