Doctor Who and the Deadly Assassin cover art

Doctor Who and the Deadly Assassin

A 4th Doctor novelisation

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Doctor Who and the Deadly Assassin

By: Terrance Dicks
Narrated by: Geoffrey Beevers
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About this listen

Geoffrey Beevers reads this exciting novelisation of a classic TV adventure for the Fourth Doctor.

The Doctor is suddenly summoned to Gallifrey, the home of the Time Lords, where his ghastly hallucinations of the President’s assassination seem to turn into reality. When the Doctor is arrested for the murder, a hideous, dark, cowled figure is gleefully watching in the shadows.

In a battle of minds, the Doctor faces renegade Time Lord the Master, inside a nightmare world created by his old enemy’s imagination. But the Master’s evil intentions go much further - he has a Doomsday Plan. It is up to the Doctor to prevent him from destroying Gallifrey and taking over the Universe!

Geoffrey Beevers, who played an incarnation of the Master in the BBC TV series, reads Terrance Dicks’s complete and unabridged novelisation, first published by Target Books in 1977.

 Fantasy Science Fiction Time Travel Fiction Assassin

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Critic reviews

The Deadly Assassin marks another hit from a range that continues to reward the listener. These audiobooks are often like revisiting an old friend you've lost touch with, and are reminded of all the great qualities they possess. (Mark Wright)
All stars
Most relevant
This is one of my favourite Doctor Who stories, the Doctor returns to Gallifrey and is framed for the murder of the president and must prove his innocence and do battle in the matrix.
Brilliantly read by another master. Great stuff

Return to Gallifrey

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The Deadly Assassin is one of my all time favourite Doctor Who adventures. I loved it on the TV and have read my cherished copy of Terrance Dicks’ taught adaptation many times over the years. Geoffrey Beevors - who played an incarnation of the Master in the classic show - infuses Dicks’ prose with a wonderful energy, bringing the characters to marvelous life, capturing everything that made the original programme so enjoyable and taking it to the next level. The sound design and general production is great - what a cracker of a Doctor Who audionovel this is. Top marks!

Excellent audio of a classic story

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I can remember my grandfather complaining about me watching Doctor Who on his television, as he thought it was a load of utter rubbish (he was more into the miserablist realism of Emmerdale Farm and Coronation Street). I’ll admit at the time I struggled somewhat with this particular Doctor Who story, as the Timelords looked like a gaggle of tedious, bickering archbishops in their absurd costumes - I was more into the stories with that involved the Doctor fighting with monsters and a bit more action. 45 years later, here I am giving this story another go - this time in audio format - and it works much better. There’s the intrigue of a murder plot, but the special effects sounds and music work wonderfully well with the narrative. Well worth a listen.

Much better, 45 years later …

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The Doctor foresees the assassination of the president of his home planet, Gallifrey, and returns to warn him. There he discovers that his old enemy the Master is behind a plot to regenerate his weakening power and destroy Gallifrey. The title is a tautology - aren’t all assassins deadly? (well, the good ones anyway). But it does sound good… Tom Baker played the Doctor in the 1976 episode and the brilliant Terrance Dicks wrote the novelisation, published by Target the following year. This is the audio version, very ably narrated by Geoffrey Beevers. It’s well-produced, with convincing sound effects - and fairly brief. The relative simplicity of the plot is an asset - sometimes Who tales can be too convoluted. It’s great fun - listen now!

Tense, tautological treat

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