2) Who’s Next: An Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Doctor Who, by Mark Clapham, Eddie Robson and Jim Smith

Published by Virgin in 2005 just before New Who started. Includes very brief summaries and extended critiques of all the classic series, plus the two Pertwee audios, Slipback, the BBC webcasts, and the Children in Need specials. (Why no Pescatons?) Rates Peter Davison much higher than Tom Baker, and fiercely critical of some of the most popular Hinchcliffe/Holmes stories. It’s a while since I last looked at Clapham’s Pocket Essentials: Doctor Who which is much shorter but it seemed to have much the same material. [See ‘s correction.] The authors acknowledge Cornell, Day and Topping’s Discontinuity Guide which seems eminently fair, as it’s much the better book.