''The Ultimate Evil'' is the second in a series 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 ...

s, based on a number of cancelled scripts from the 1986 season of the television series '' Doctor Who''. It was written by Wally K. Daly. It was first published by

Target Books Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became wel ...

in 1989 as the second volume of its '' Missing Episodes'' series.

Synopsis

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 ...

TARDIS The TARDIS (; acronym for "Time And Relative Dimension In Space") is a fictional hybrid of the time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and its various spin-offs. Its exterior a ...

is working perfectly, leaving him with nothing to do. When Peri suggests a holiday, the Doctor decides to visit the peaceful country of Tranquela. But an evil arms dealer, the Dwarf Mordant has been busy fomenting hatred there, so they will break a truce with their enemy,''Doctor Who-The Lost Season(dvd extra feature in Terror of the Vervoids) 2008'' the people of the continent of Ameliora. But when even the Doctor becomes affected, can anything stop Mordant's plans?

Background

It was announced in 1985 that

Michael Grade Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth, (born 8 March 1943) is an English television executive and businessman. He has held a number of senior roles in television, including controller of BBC1 (1984–1986), chief executive of Channel 4 (1 ...

, controller of BBC1, had cancelled a number of long-running programmes in order to help fund the launch of a new soap opera named '' EastEnders''. Of the many programmes that were cancelled, ''Doctor Who'' was the most high-profile. A campaign was quickly launched by the national press to see about its return and Grade very quickly confirmed that ''Doctor Who'' would be returning in 1986. Several stories had already been in the planning stages for Season 23 of ''Doctor Who'', three of which were in the middle of being scripted when the announcement was made. ''The Ultimate Evil'' was to be directed by

Fiona Cumming Fiona Cumming (9 October 1937 – 1 January 2015) was a Scottish television director, noted for her work on the BBC television series, '' Doctor Who'', during the show's Fifth Doctor era. Her credits included the 1982 episode, '' Castrovalva'' ...

. In 1988,

, which had been successfully publishing novelisations of ''Doctor Who'' stories for many years, saw itself quickly running out of available televised material (although a number of serials remained unadapted, most of these were off-limits due to licensing problems). While negotiations went forward with the BBC for the publication of all new adventures, the decision was made to resurrect three of the cancelled scripts and publish them in book form. The writers of all three were approached, and all were signed on to write the novels.

Intended Transmission

''The Ultimate Evil'' Part One was to be transmitted on 18 January 1986. Part Two was to have been broadcast on 25 January 1986.

Audio adaptation

In 2009 Daly was approached by Big Finish Productions to write an audio adaptation for their ''

Lost Stories ''The Lost Stories'' is the eleventh and penultimate book in the series ''Ranger's Apprentice'' by Australian author John Flanagan. It is a collection of "lost" tales that fill in the gaps between novels. The book was released in Australia ...

'' range. However, they were unable to come to a suitable agreement. Daly had already recorded an audiobook for a fund-raising exercise between the RNIB and Rotary International. Big Finish eventually did come to terms with Daly and his audio adaptation was released in November 2019.

References

Sources

The Cloister Library - ''The Ultimate Evil'''Dr Who joins Rotary's fight to end polio' on the Rotary International website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ultimate Evil 1989 British novels 1989 science fiction novels Sixth Doctor novels Sixth Doctor audio plays Novels set on fictional planets