‘Doctor Who: The Witchfinders’ – Joy Wilkinson (BBC Books/Target)


Page Count: 178 Pages

I was poring through my Doctor Who books, last night, and it occurred to me that I’ve managed to read at least one ‘Doctor Who; book (often more) for almost all of the Doctor’s regenerations. It was the ‘almost’ that really bugged me… :o) I’ve watched a few of the stories, featuring the Thirteenth Doctor, but never picked up any of the books. Luckily for me, I’d found a copy of ‘The Witchfinders’ fairly recently (Greenwich Market, always good for Doctor Who books) and that filled in the gap nicely.

‘I am an expert on witchcraft, Doctor, but I wish to learn more. Before you die, I want answers.’

The TARDIS lands in the Lancashire village of Bilehurst Cragg in the 17th century, and the Doctor, Ryan, Graham and Yaz soon become embroiled in a witch trial run by the local landowner. Fear stalks the land, and the arrival of King James I only serves to intensify the witch hunt.

But the Doctor soon realises there is something more sinister than paranoia and superstition at work. Tendrils of living mud stir in the ground and the dead lurch back to horrifying life as an evil alien presence begins to revive. The Doctor and her friends must save not only the people of Bilehurst Cragg from the wakening forces, but the entire world…

Like I said at the top of this post, I’ve only seen a few ‘Thirteenth Doctor’ stories (I stopped when you suddenly needed a TV license to use iPlayer) and ‘The Witchfinders’ was the first book that I’ve picked up. I can’t help but wonder then if I’d have got more out of ‘The Witchfinders’ if I’d seen/read a little more first. Maybe…

To be fair, there’s a lot to recommend this story with living mud, undead witches and dark secrets all coming together to form a tale that knows what is needed from it and promptly gets on with delivering it. Namely, an alien threat hiding in plain sight (more or less) and ‘volunteering’ the Doctor for a race against time with predictably high stakes at, erm… stake ;o) The end result is my favourite kind of Doctor Who, a sci-fi mystery served up with a side helping of horror that really adds to the atmosphere. That’s what we get here and it was very easy to get caught up and carried along. Will I remember much about ‘The Witchfinders’ in a weeks time? Possibly not, this wasn’t an adventure that stands out for me. The atmosphere was spot on and horror gives the plot a burst of energy; there weren’t really any surprises here though

What I actually struggled with was trying to get my head round the dynamic of the Doctor and her companions, something that’s normally very well defined in a Doctor Who tale. Now to be fair, this may well have been intentional as the Doctor finds herself in a fairly novel position (for her), having to get the job done as a woman in a very patriarchal setting. This throws everything out of sync and this is actually good for the plot. The actual relationships between the Doctor, Yaz, Graham and Ryan didn’t settle though and while that may be fine for you, it didn’t work for me. From where I’m sat, the relationship between the Doctor and his companion(s) doesn’t have to be the same every time but you always get a clear sense of what it is. Oh well, it’s more of a ‘niggling thing’ here rather than a massive deal breaker. Like I said, if I’d come to this book with a little more knowledge about the Thirteenth Doctor, that might have made all the difference. I will say though that I enjoyed how the slightly chaotic nature of the prose reflected the chaos of the group :o)

There is plenty going on in ‘The Witchfinders’ and that’s what ultimately dragged me through those rough patches. Ask me what I thought in a weeks time though and I’d probably have to dig this post out, just to tell you. I’ve read worse but I’d have to say that I’ve read better ‘Doctor Who’ stories as well. I’ll take that though :o)

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