Mad Dogs and Englishmen (novel)

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***Mad Dogs and Englishmen*** was the fifty-second novel in the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures series. It was written by Paul Magrs. It featured the Eighth Doctor, Fitz Kreiner and Anji Kapoor.

## Publisher’s summary

*"Grrrrr."*

The greatest book ever written.

Professor Reginald Tyler's *The True History of Planets* was a twentieth-century classic; an epic of dwarves and swords and wizardry. And definitely no poodles. Or at least there weren't when the Doctor read it.

Now it tells the true tale of how the Queen of the poodles was overthrown; it’s been made into a hit movie, and it’s going to cause a bloodbath on the Dog World — unless the Doctor, Fitz and Anji (and assorted friends) can sort it all out.

The Doctor infiltrates the Smudgelings, Tyler’s elite Cambridge writing set of the early twentieth century; Fitz falls for flamboyant torch singer Brenda Soobie in sixties Las Vegas, and Anji experiences some very special effects in seventies Hollywood. Their intention is to prevent the movie from ever being made. But there is a shadowy figure present in all three time zones who is just as determined to see it completed... so the poodle revolution can begin.

## Characters

* Eighth Doctor
* Fitz Kreiner
* Anji Kapoor
* Iris Wildthyme (alias Brenda Soobie)
* Reginald Tyler
* Fritter
* Char
* Professor Alid Jag
* Martha
* Flossie
* Noel Coward
* William Freer
* John Fuchas
* Ron Von Arnim
* Princess Margaret
* Mida Slike
* Brewster
* Cleavis
* Enid Tyler
* John Fuchas

## References

### Books

* *The True History of Planets* was a book about elves and magic, until it was rewritten as a text to support a revolution on Dog World.

### The Doctor

* The Doctor tells Enid Tyler that he is from somewhere in the south of Ireland beginning with the letter G.

### Earth mammals

* The Doctor was responsible for the repopulation of Britain by the wild boar in 1987.

### Individuals

* Fritter and Char are poodle archivists from the Dog World.
* John Fuchas starves to death, forgotten.
* Ron Von Arnim is just a bit unstable.
* Princess Margaret is a poodle (royal Poodle) from the Dog World.
* Martha has been Brenda Soobie’s (Iris Wildthyme) companion for over sixty years.
* Upon arriving on the Dog Station, the Doctor, Anji and Fitz are regarded by the poodles as pets and stripped naked, put in collars and made to crawl around. Anji is the only one mortified.
* Everyone is a little bit disgusted when it is revealed that novelist William Freer and Princess Margaret had been lovers since 1932.

### Organisations

* Mida Slike is an agent of Ministry for Incursions and Ontological Wonders.
* Professor Alid Jag is of an aphid-like species and also an agent of MIAOW. He faked his own death by pretending to be squashed by the materialising TARDIS.

### Planets

* Karim is a planet inhabited by lobster-people.

### Species

* The Doctor accidently created the Tusken race.

### Time travel

* Noel Coward has a set of Pinking Shears that allow him to time travel.

### Colleges and universities

* Mida Slike holds a Chair of Bastardisation at the University of Outer Angila.

## Notes

* This is the hundredth BBC Books Novel (EDA & PDA combined). The cover's *Doctor Who* logo was printed in reflective gold foil in celebration.
* The novel contains a spoof of J. R. R. Tolkien's experiences writing *The Lord of the Rings*. The character representing C. S. Lewis in this also appears in Magrs's non-Doctor Who novel *To the Devil* — a Diva! and the Smudgelings reappear in his novel *Something Borrowed*.

## Continuity

* The Doctor still has a beard. (PROSE: *The Adventuress of Henrietta Street*)
* The Doctor's earliest memory is of waking up on a train. (PROSE: *The Ancestor Cell*)
* Iris mentions coming to visit the Doctor in the nineteen-eighties, but the Doctor couldn't remember it. (PROSE: *Father Time*)

## External links

* ***Mad Dogs and Englishmen*** at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
* The Discontinuity Guide to: **Mad Dogs and Englishmen** at The Whoniverse