Imaginary Friends (novel)

Imaginary Friends was the first novel published in The Decades Collection on 26 October 2023 by Puffin Books to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who. 
The novel was written by Jacqueline Rayner and covered the 1960s and featured the First Doctor and Ian Chesterton.
== Publisher's summary ==
It's Christmas, 1963, when nine-year-old Gerald starts dreaming of strange worlds and monsters
His parents think it's harmless at first. But Gerald is convinced it's real - his dreams of Daleks and cavemen and insects as big as a person.
Desperate for help, what Gerald's family really need, right now, is a Doctor.
== Plot ==
A young boy called Gerry Billing begins to have dreams of the First Doctor with Daleks, cavemen and massive insects. Since he is just a child, when he tells his parents of these dreams he is dismissed, although the knowledge of science and history he acquires from these dreams suprises his mother, Claire.
During the Christmas period, Claire passes a toyshop whilst doing her shopping and sees a teddy bear in its window. She buys it for Gerry as a present for both Christmas and his birthday, which the family celebrate at the same time in order to save money. Gerry names him "Doctor Bear" because of his resemblance to the Doctor and tells him about his dreams, which he also begins to write down in a book which his mother sometimes reads.
Claire tells the wrong person of some of the things in the book, leading to the Billing house being broken into and the book stolen because it had information on an insecticide that could potentially made Gerry's father's company bankrupt. Gerry has a dream of the Doctor in London and convinces his mother to take him to see him, so they go to his father's place of work where Mr Meadows, who stole the book, threatens him.
Remembering what happened in his favourite book, Winnie the Pooh, Gerry ties Doctor Bear to a balloon and sends him off with a note asking for help, which leads his mother to call the police and the two of them being reunited. Doctor Bear is destroyed in the process, however, and Gerry's father has to look for a new job. Gerry receives a note with something the Doctor said in one of his dreams but which he had not told anyone as well as an address which Claire takes him to. There, they meet the Third Doctor.
The Doctor explains that Gerry is having these dreams because he has accidentally become connected to the TARDIS, so he updates Gerry on the rest of his adventures in order to sever it. Before leaving, he gives Gerry a teddy bear identical to Doctor Bear but wearing clothing resembling the Third Doctor rather than the first and promises to check up on the family. When the Doctor visits the family, he gives Gerry, his children and his grandchildren a new costume for Doctor Bear resembling that of his most recent incarnation.
== Characters ==
* Gerry Billing
* Claire Billing
* Anne Billing
* Francis Billing
* Ray Billing
* Howard Grey
* Lillian Grey
* Kenneth Meadows
* Virginia Meadows
* Miss Bertrand
* Mr Hall
* First Doctor
* Tribe of Gum
* Grandma Campbell
* Grandad Campbell
* Mark Forester
* Arnold Farrow
* Smithers
* Hilda Rowse
* Pamela
* PC Vernon
* Chief Inspector Weston
* Third Doctor
* Ian Chesterton
* Peter
* Paul
* Tony
* Wendy Billing
* Susan Billing
* Vicki Billing
* Daisy
* Steven
== Worldbuilding ==
* Claire buys Gerry a large toy bear dressed up like the Doctor which he calls Doctor Bear.
== Notes ==
* While depicting a silhouette of the First Doctor on the cover, Imaginary Friends is centred around the life of a boy called Gerry Billing, who became psychically linked to the Doctor's TARDIS upon his departure from Totter's Lane in November 1963. The events he describes experiencing in his dreams include those of both the First and Second Doctors.
* There are two appearances of Doctors in this book.
** In Chapter Two, a man in a shop in London exclaims "My word, he's a magnificent specimen" in reference to Doctor Bear. While his identity is only hinted at in prose, Jacob Dudman's performance in the audiobook makes it clear that he is the First Doctor.
** Additionally, at the story's climax, the Third Doctor in 1968 meets Gerry to help disconnect him from the TARDIS telepathic circuits.
== Continuity ==
* In his dreams, Gerry sees visions of the First Doctor with the Tribe of Gum. (TV: )
== External links ==
* 
Category:The Decades Collection
Category:Third Doctor novels
Category:Stories set in Essex
Category:Stories set in London
Category:Stories set at Christmas
Category:Stories set on 23 November
category:Stories set in 1963
Category:Stories set in 1964
Category:Stories set in 1965
Category:Stories set in 1966
Category:Stories set in 1967
Category:Stories set in 1968
Category:Stories set in 1969
Category:Stories set in the 1970s
Category:Stories set in the 1980s
Category:Stories set in the 1990s
Category:Stories set in the 2000s
Category:Stories set in the 2010s
Category:Stories set in the 2020s