''The Blood Cell'' is a

BBC Books BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Consumer Publishing and 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 subsidia ...

original novel written by James Goss 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 ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

''. It features the

Twelfth Doctor The Twelfth Doctor is an incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor, the protagonist of the British Science fiction on television, science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Scottish actor Peter Capaldi in three ...

and

Clara Oswald Clara Oswald is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. She was created by series producer Steven Moffat and portrayed by Jenna Coleman. Clara was introduced in the seventh series as a new travel ...

. The book was released on 11 September 2014 along with ''

Silhouette A silhouette (, ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhouett ...

'' and '' The Crawling Terror''.

Reviews

''The Blood Cell'' gained generally positive reviews, calling it an "effective chiller". Most of them commented the unusual way of narration from the first-person perspective of the administrator of the prison in which the book is set known as the Governor. More grim and darker tone is also noted. The interaction between the Doctor and the Governor is described as "a good mix and an interesting double act". Goss nailed the bantering love/hate relationship of the Doctor and Clara, capturing the bickering between the pair. Peter Capaldi's Doctor is pretty recognisable, the author captures his "ornery portrayal extremely well", and the Twelfth Doctor's intellect as well as his sarcastic side with the "lashings of the amusing fish-out-of-water Time Lord" is portrayed accurately. As for Clara, Goss "captured her quiet determination well" and was praised for "an absolute hold on the character, really getting inside her head and nailing her characterisation perfectly".

Audiobook

The audio addition to the book was released on 13 November 2014, read by

Colin McFarlane Colin Andrew Ignatius Peter McFarlane (born 15 September 1961) is a British actor, narrator and voice actor. He is known for his roles in film and television including Gillian B. Loeb in two films of Christopher Nolan's '' The Dark Knight Tril ...

who played General Austin Pierce in '' Torchwood: Children of Earth'' and guest starred in the ''Doctor Who'' episodes " Under the Lake" and " Before the Flood" as Moran. This was the first new series audio to be released since

AudioGo AudioGO (formerly BBC Audiobooks) was a British publisher of audiobooks and a range of spoken word and large-print titles. It was majority owned by AudioGO Ltd, and minority owned by BBC Worldwide. It was formed in 2010, when AudioGO purchased ...

went into administration in 2013.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blood Cell 2014 British novels 2014 science fiction novels New Series Adventures Twelfth Doctor novels Novels set in prison British crime novels