‘We’re heroes,’ Dr Who proclaimed loftily. ‘We have come to arrest you, you evil miscreant.’

Next in the sequence of New Adventures, this is the only spinoff novel (as far as I know) which unites Mel with the Seventh Doctor (and Ace as well, along with current regulars, Benny, Chris and Roz), in a slightly surreal tale where the Doctor must deal with his alter ego, Dr Who, emanating somehow from the Land of Fiction and threatening the universe, or at least the planet Earth and another world. It’s a sequel to Lyons’ earlier Conundrum, and I confess I had forgotten many of the salient plot points so found it a bit confusing in places. But it’s interesting to see Lyons’ style developing; he is now one of the better Who spinoff writers, and this was published almost two decades ago.