Exterminate/Regenerate cover art

Exterminate/Regenerate

The Story of Doctor Who

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Exterminate/Regenerate

By: John Higgs
Narrated by: John Higgs
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

 AN INDEPENDENT BEST BOOK OF 2025

'Absolutely wonderful. The book I've been waiting to read since I was ten years old. Full of surprising and piercing insights . . . The first thing I've come across that absolutely nails the extraordinary nature of the cultural phenomenon that is Doctor Who' JEREMY DYSON

On screen, Doctor Who is a story of monsters, imagination and mind-expanding adventure. But the off-screen story is equally extraordinary - a tale of failed monks, war heroes, 1960s polyamory and self-sabotaging broadcasting executives. From the politics of fandom to the inner struggles of the BBC, thousands of people have given part of themselves - and sometimes, too much of themselves - to bring this unlikeliest of folk heroes to life.

This is a story of change, mystery and the importance of imaginary characters in our lives. Able to evolve and adapt more radically than any other fiction, Doctor Who has acted as a mirror to more than six decades of social, technological and cultural change while always remaining a central fixture of the British imagination. In Exterminate / Regenerate, John Higgs invites us into his TARDIS on a journey to discover how ideas emerge and survive despite the odds, why we are so addicted to fiction, and why this wonderful wandering time traveller means so much to so many.©2025 John Higgs Entertainment & Performing Arts Europe Film & TV Great Britain History & Criticism Fiction

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Doctor Who: Ten Days of Christmas cover art
The Story of Film cover art
The Doctor Who Annual Compendium One cover art
Doctor Who: Myths and Legends cover art
Doctor Who: The Adventures After cover art
Doctor Who: The Adventures Before cover art
Rip It up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984 cover art
Doctor Who: Pull to Open cover art
My My! cover art
Doctor Who: Caught in the Web & Other Stories cover art Doctor Who: Icons 1 cover art
Doctor Who: The Vampire Plants & Other Stories cover art
Doctor Who: Caged cover art
Thatcher Stole My Trousers cover art
Doctor Who: The Robot Revolution cover art
Be Pure! Be Vigilant! Behave! cover art

Critic reviews

Rich with trivia . . . Higgs is an engaging, entertaining guide. Exterminate/Regenerate captures much of the warmth, wit and worthiness of this thoroughly British institution
Crammed with fascinating nuggets . . . Surprisingly candid . . . Exterminate/Regenerate is a cracking read
Engrossing . . . anyone interested in television or cultural history will find it fascinating (Neil Armstrong)
Higgs does a meticulous job . . . The sort of capsule study that uses this genuinely odd and enduring show as a means to probe the travails of TV land and British society itself over the past 60 years (Travis Elborough)
A cultural history of one of the most enduring creations of the 1960s . . . Unmissable
A TARDIS of a book. On the outside it's about a TV show, but open it up and you're plunged into the space-time continuum. John Higgs is your man for seeing eternity in a grain of sand (FRANK COTTRELL-BOYCE)
Absolutely wonderful. The book I've been waiting to read since I was ten years old. Full of surprising and piercing insights, and fascinating meditations on the nature of mystery. The first thing I've come across that absolutely nails the extraordinary nature of the cultural phenomenon that is Doctor Who. Like its subject, it's about so much more than it appears to be (JEREMY DYSON)
With his usual mix of cultural savvy and sharp philosophical insight, John Higgs frees Doctor Who from the rubber tendrils of fandom to reveal an unkillable British myth which millions of us helped create together (JOEL MORRIS)
Full of interesting tidbits and perfect for the Doctor Who fan in your life (JENNY COLGAN)
Epic, pacey and blisteringly insightful. Higgs is a masterful guide to one of the weirdest elements in British pop culture. This is an adventure in time and space which manages to be thrilling, laugh-out-loud funny and oddly melancholic, often on a single page. He gives us the full authoritative story of Doctor Who. And along the way, we learn a great deal about modern Britain, our weird relationship with change, and the haunted corridors of our own childhood (IAN DUNT)
Wonderful! You do not need to be a Whovian to delight at John Higgs's journey through Doctor Who, but you may well be one by the end of the book (ROBIN INCE)
One of the greatest books on a cultural phenomenon ever written . . . I found myself giggling and chortling throughout, heard myself make little gasps of recognition and at certain points, there were even tears. It is brilliantly insightful [and] absolutely essential reading for anyone interested in pop culture and modern storytelling. Read this book (NICK ABADZIS)
Astute . . . there are engaging new theories to share and fascinating connections to trace. A fitting biography
All stars
Most relevant
And this one is no different . Well researched and very detailed , I’m sure there’s something in there that even a die hard fan may not know . It covers all aspects of Who and is great book for someone that only recently got in to Doctor Who. He’s also great to listen to which does not happen with all audiobooks . I would highly recommend. Very interesting as yesterday , Ncutis reign as the Doctor ended , giving this review a time stamp . The future eh . Who knows ….

John Higgs books are always good !

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The best nonfiction audiobooks are generally read by their authors, but John is the absolute master of bringing his deeply researched, charmingly psycho-sociological take on the oddness and wonder of our nation, it's artists and scoundrels to vivid and fascinating life. Splendid stuff, as always. Highly recommended, even if you don't particularly like the subject matter, it offers a genuine and considered insight into the environment that created Dr Who, in all their many guises.

John Higgs is a fantastic aural companion

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I have little interest in Dr Who beyond loving the Pertwee era as a child and yet, as usual, John Higgs makes it all fascinating.

The longevity of the character is an extraordinary tale complete with ups, downs, heroes, villains, and cliff hangers.

I highly recommend this wonderful exploration into the world of the shapeshifting Doctor

Higgs does it again

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Some wonderful anecdotes and a deep knowledge of the creative talents that slowly created and morphed this legendary character over more than sixty years make this a truly special insight into the behind the scenes machinations of this ever changing franchise. A warts and all look back with many quotes from those who were there but always with an eye to the future of the show.

John Higgs’ calm and clear narration is perfectly suited to the material and his prose follows a strangely linear path considering the timey-wimey subject matter, giving equal time and space (see what I did there?) to both off and on screen moments.

I would love to hear a more detailed and in depth history if Higgs has more material for a future follow on (l would guess with the sheer volume of source material that he does) and would be the first to put my money down to enjoy it.

Now going back to listen again…thanks John

A great overview of the history of Doctor Who

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved how this story starts and end and everything in the middle! Narrated beautifully and perfect chapters that make sense to put down and pick up

Fantastic and Fascinating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews