The Television Companion: The Unauthorized and Unofficial Guide to Doctor Who by David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker

Most fans of Doctor Who know that the Doctor has a very long history, and that this history goes back to the first episode, An Unearthly Child, in which Susan Foreman, a girl enrolled in an English School, is followed back to her home by two curious teachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, where they discover that she is not human, and neither is her only guardian, her Grandfather, known as the Doctor.

When they don't believe that the Doctor and Susan are time-travellers, the Doctor takes them back to the year 100,000 BC, and into an adventure from which they won't soon be going home. Nor, soon, will they wish to any longer.

This book covers each season and each story in detail, from the staff who worked on the story, to a recap of each story and cliffhanger ending to the episode, to which cast members were in each episode. For instance, in some of the earlier episodes, characters didn't appear because the actors who played them were on vacation (or as the book terms it 'holiday' for the week that episode was filmed. It gives things you might not have known about the episode, myths concerned the episode in question (if there are any), and debunks them. After everything, it reports on the kind of reception audiences gave the story. And also, before the introduction of the episodes of a new Doctor, talks about how the actor percieved the character and how they came to play him.

Make no mistake, this book is HUGE, 751 pages, and small type at that. Even so, it only covers everything up to and including the movie starring Paul McGann, so this version wasn't complete by any means. But it was nice to read all about the older Doctors, who I remember so fondly from my childhood (I started watching in the 70's with Tom Baker, Doctor #4, on some of the UHF channels in New York). It helped me remember my favorite episodes and moments from the episodes. "Eldrad must live!" and my favorite companions (Turlough, Leela, Jo Grant).

Anyone who wants to remember, or know about the Doctor Who episodes they might have remembered, misremembered or seen will find this book invaluable. Even if you are more familliar with the new Era of Doctor Who, and the Chris Eccleston/David Tennant Doctors, this shows how the Doctor came to be, and is an invaluable edition to any Who fan's library. I do hope they come out with an updated edition someday, perhaps in a separate book, as this one is coming into a rather unwieldy size, being as large as it is.