Lance Parkin

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**Lance Parkin** is an author who has written professional *Doctor Who* fiction since the 1990s. He is one of the few authors to write for both the 1963 and 2005 version of the programme — though much of his fiction has actually been based on the 1996 iteration. Indeed, he was notably the first author to write original prose for the Eighth Doctor in *The Dying Days*. He was also the author chosen to deliver the nominal 35th anniversary story, *The Infinity Doctors*, and the final volume in the Eighth Doctor Adventures range, *The Gallifrey Chronicles*. More recently, he has written for the Tenth Doctor in *The Eyeless*.

He is further notable for his work with Big Finish Productions, where he is arguably most known for writing the Sixth Doctor adventure, *Davros*. He has also written most of the non-fiction book AHistory that attempts to make a consistent and linear timeline for all Doctor Who stories.

Outside of *Doctor Who*, he has written things like (with Mark Jones) *Dark Matter*, a guide to the author Template:W.

## Writing novels

Parkin's shortest ever pitch for a novel was, "I'll set it on Mars!", when Virgin editor Rebecca Levene said that she needed a Bernice Summerfield book in six weeks.

His final pitch to Levene was for *The Dying Days* and went (something like), "Twenty years ago Dan Dare discovered the truth about Mars, and Francis Urquart (the Prime Minister from the Template:Wi series) put him in prison. Now he's escaped."

Parkin has noted that *Just War* was a reaction to *Timewyrm: Exodus*.

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In the three years between writing *The Infinity Doctors* and *Father Time*, Parkin worked as a storyline editor for *Emmerdale*. He also wrote a synopsis for a book that was to have been published in the slot that *Parallel 59* occupies, known as *Enemy of the Daleks*.

Parkin has said that he "relies on 'continuity references' in my books, and I still do to an extent – but references to the spirit, not the letter. It's good to be looking forward, not back. It's good to have the Doctor centre stage, as the protagonist." In particular following events of *The Ancestor Cell*/*The Burning*.

On the EDAs as a whole; "I think that particularly from The Burning to, say, Time Zero, they're just about all as good as the NAs, which is about the highest praise I have for *Doctor Who*."

When writing *The Gallifrey Chronicles* he noted, "It seems absolutely bizarre to say it at this point but the BBC were keeping their options open. If Doctor Who had bombed on telly, it would have been over and done in thirteen weeks. So part of the brief was to leave things open just in case the EDAs needed to pick up just where they'd left off!"
However Parkin has noted concerning *The Gallifrey Chronicles* and its relation to the new series

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## Bibliography

### Novels

#### Virgin New Adventures

* *Just War*
* *The Dying Days*

#### Virgin Bernice Summerfield New Adventures

* *Beige Planet Mars* (with Mark Clapham)

#### BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures

* *Father Time*
* *Trading Futures*
* *The Gallifrey Chronicles*

### Short stories

#### Virgin Decalogs

* *Decalog 4: Re:Generations - Secret of the Black Planet*

#### Short Trips

* *Short Trips and Side Steps - A Town Called Eternity* (with Mark Clapham)
* *Short Trips: A Universe of Terrors - The Exiles*
* *Short Trips: Steel Skies - Doing Time*
* *Short Trips: Life Science - Echo*
* *Short Trips: 2040 - Observer Effect*

#### Big Finish Bernice Summerfield series

* *A Life of Surprises - Paydirt*
* *Collected Works - Anightintheninthage*
* *Secret Histories - A Game of Soldiers*
* *Present Danger - Winging It*

#### Iris Wildthyme

* *Wildthyme on Top - The Mancunian Candidate*
* *Iris Wildthyme of Mars - Lilac Mars* (with Mark Clapham)

### Audio

#### Big Finish Bernice Summerfield series

* *Just War* (adapted by Jacqueline Rayner)
* *The Extinction Event*
* *Venus Mantrap* (with Mark Clapham)

#### Big Finish main range

* *Primeval*
* *Davros*
* *Benny's Story*

#### BBV Productions

* *The Root of All Evil*
* *I Scream*

### Comics

Writer / Letterer

* *Miranda*

### Reference books

* *A History of the Universe*
* *AHistory*

### Cancelled books

* *Enemy of the Daleks*
* *Horror of Det-Sen*

## External links

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* Doctor Who and Mythology, by Lance Parkin
* Lance Parkin by Paul Scoones (Interview) - TSV 48
* Throwback Interview: Lance Parkin (2006)
* INTERVIEW: FTN interviews Doctor Who writer Lance Parkin
* Doc Oho's Reviews: Lance Parkin Q & A Part One
* Doc Oho's Reviews: Lance Parkin Q & A Part Two
* Unreality SF Lance Parkin interview Part 1
* Unreality SF Lance Parkin interview Part 2
* A Sci-Fi Worlds Interview with Lance Parkin
* From Books to Bernice: An Interview with Lance Parkin
* BBC.co.uk website interview with Lance Parkin, 01 January 2004
* Outpost Gallifrey - Interview: **Lance Parkin** (archived)

## Footnotes

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fr:Lance Parkin

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Interview with Lance Parkin Interview by Graeme Burk (Originally published in *Enlightenment*, republished on Outpost Gallifrey via Internet Archive: Wayback Machine
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 BBC Website Interview with Lance Parkin 01 January 2004 via Internet Archive: Wayback Machine
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Unreality SF Lance Parkin interview Part 1