BBC Doctor Who: At Childhood’s End (Dr. Who)

Around a year after a Fourth Doctor novel comes from Tom Baker himself, it is the turn of Sophie Aldred to provide a novel that focusses upon her onscreen character of Ace.Set in the current year of 2020, this is an Ace thirty years after she has parted ways with the Doctor. This then means that Ace’s intervening life is basically in real time. During this period she has dropped the moniker of Ace and is going under her real name of Dorothy and has setup and run the organisation A Charitable Earth, echoing the ideas Russell T. Davies potentially had for the character but which ultimately only received a brief mention in ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’.Intriguingly this also seems like it could tie in the Bluray commercial for the twenty-sixth series where Sophie Aldred reprised her role of Ace and was seen waiting in the offices of A Charitable Earth for the Doctor. It may have been that filming that was the inspiration for writing this novel.Much like Rose, Martha and the aforementioned Sarah Jane, Ace has continued her involvement with aliens, obtaining her own stash of artefacts and keeping tabs on UNIT and Torchwood. It is her investigation into the appearance of a strange vessel in the vicinity of the moon that results in her crossing paths with the Doctor once more.There’s a decent storyline which links nicely as to how and why Ace ended up being whisked off to Iceworld, expanding upon the loose Fenric connection. However, although it’s an entertaining enough tale the novel’s main strength lies in how well Aldred knows the character she played onscreen and how successfully and realistically she portrays a version thirty years on.Of course, this is also a Thirteenth Doctor novel, which is a bonus considering that there doesn’t seem to be the usual output of BBC novels to accompany the current series. The novel exhibits a Good grasp of the Thirteenth Doctor and her companions.Yaz, in particular, benefits from some good characterisation. She is suspicious of Ace and somewhat jealous of her prior relationship with the Doctor. This encourages her to be a little antagonistic towards Ace in their interactions and shows a side/element to her that isn’t seen onscreen.The novel offers a new explanation as to why Ace leaves the Doctor. It works into the events of this novel and includes some flashback sequences that allow for Ace and the Seventh Doctor to appear together again. It doesn’t particularly correspond to any previous ideas that the programme may have progressed with if it stayed on air or that have come up in other media. However, it is still based around the issues that arose in the twenty sixth series concerned with her manipulation by the Doctor.Even though the Doctor and Ace meeting again is enjoyable, there could have been a little more to it perhaps. It is also a shame that there isn’t as much interaction between them as there could have been as they spend much of the story apart.

That one-word heading is about all I can say without risking spoilers. There are many good Doctor Who novels (& some not so good). This is among the best: good story, all characters done really well (not just Ace, whom the author played). It helps, of course, that Ace is still my all-time favourite of the Doctor's companions.

The Seventh Doctor and Ace remain my favourite Doctor and companion pairing. So of course I wanted to read a book featuring written by, well, Ace! (Or at least the actor who portrayed her on the TV series and has continued to do so on 'Big Finish' audio adventures.)The story races along quite well, but also has some great character moments. These aren't only from Ace. Intriguingly enough, the book manages to differentiate and give more complexity to the Thirteenth Doctor's companions than the TV series seems able to do. Yaz, in particular, really shines.Recommended for any 'Doctor Who' fans, classic or current series.

Ever wondered what became of Ace (aka Dorothy McShane) after the original "Doctor Who" series ended in 1989?Serious fans will know there's no definitive answer. Rather like Peri, there have been several contradictory accounts of their post-TV lives. According to a "Doctor Who Magazine" comic strip, Ace died tragically in action, while the Big Finish audios have her continuing in the TARDIS for some considerable time, the Doctor eventually taking her to Gallifrey. Another alternative was the Virgin "New Adventures" series of novels, which churned out literally dozens of Ace's exploits with the Doctor, ending up with her somehow settled in fin-de-siecle Paris.In the course of those NA tales she evolved from a stroppy teenager, briefly left the TARDIS and become a starship trooper, returned to continue her travels with the Seventh Doctor and archaeologist Bernice Summerfield, and even spent time in Ancient Egypt.When Big Finish lost its franchise, BBC Books took over producing "new" stories about the various Doctors and their companions, including the superb "Illegal Aliens", featuring The Seventh Doctor and Ace encountering Cybermen during the Blitz.This is the only tale specifically mentioned in "At Childhood's End", Sophie Aldred's attempt to throw light on what Ace would be up to now.Alded also mentions in passing these contradictory alternatives, suggesting they are parallel timelines or other possible futures for Ace, but her take is that not that long after "Survival", a situation arose in which the Doctor's manipulative nature and Ace's self-obsessed touchiness clashed beyond resolution, and they went their separate ways.In 2020 Ace, now calling herself Dorothea McShane, is 50 and a multi-millionaire philanthropist, with an astronaut ex-boyfriend, the ultimate "green" car, and a private collection of alien artefacts. This includes "Squidget", a semi-organic lifeform that can power and navigate any device. It does rather come across as being like the cute little creature that HAS to accompany the heroes & heroines in American cartoons.(The account of how Ace BECAME so wealthy is amusing, though it was a thing the Doctor himself had done in an early New Adventures called 'Birthright', so why the latest Doctor is so disapproving is a mystery.)The storyline of "At Childhood's End" is too involved to go into here. Suffice to say it starts with a mystery object orbiting the Moon and Ace getting up there so ridiculously quickly (a matter of moments!) that the first 50 pages of the book seem more like an episode of "Supercar" or "Thunderbirds".Come to that, why is the space centre in England slap bang next to a picturesque village? I can't imagine the villagers tolerating the noise and potential danger of rockets being launched from their doorsteps!Inside the mystery satellite, Dorothea and her tame astronaut come face to face with the current (female) Doctor and her "fam"......I have to say that for a first-time novelist, Aldred masters the intricacies of plotting extremely well, and her large cast of characters, which includes some highly original aliens, is vividly portrayed.She writes well, capturing the speech patterns of the established TV characters perfectly. Ryan even comes out with his "Sick!" expletive, which I imagine is the 21st century equivalent of "Wicked!"I do wish she wouldn't use the American word "gotten"......I know it started as an English word, but we really don't say it over here.The story does become complex and disturbing, and is not resolved TOO tritely.But there's something rather childish & naive about much of it. The fantasy story is a long drawn-out nightmare involving goblins, status and centaurs, but the earthbound chapters are thin and unconvincing. Dorothy (Ace) comes across as a fifty year-old little girl with an impossibly affluent lifestyle. She makes big claims about how "green" and environmentally involved she is, yet she lives alone in a purpose-built skyscraper in the City of London that has air conditioning throughout. Her carbon footprint can't be that light!The door seems to have been left open for further "Ace" takes, but I for one hope everyone involved realises the time has come to let her be. I see Big Finish is about to team up Ian Chesterton & Susan Foreman with the Eighth Doctor, and I've just bought a BF audio that has the First and Second Doctors meeting up.....along with poor dead Katarina!Please......remember the fable of the Golden Goose! I'll need TARDIS bookshelves at this rate!

While Ace has always been a popular companion, this last year or so the character seems to have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. There have been multiple contradictory accounts of what happened to Ace after leaving the Doctor, but we seem to have settled on the one depicted in Sophie Aldred's novel - that Ace established a successful charity back on Earth.Besides Sophie Aldred penning the character she's played for over thirty years, the appeal of At Childhood's End lies in seeing Ace reunite with the Doctor's latest incarnation. While I found Series 11 of the show to be refreshing in the way it distanced itself from references to the past, when it comes to the wider Whoniverse, you have room to do a lot more, and I imagine those who may have been disappointed by the show's approach enjoying this a lot more.It is wonderful getting to read about Ace meeting the 13th Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz, and I'd welcome seeing this novel adapted for the actual show. Aldred does a great job characterizing the current TARDIS team and they're prominent for the bulk of the story. The story itself maybe isn't as memorable or interesting as just seeing this team-up happen, and generally I wouldn't say it's the novel's strongest aspect. It does engage with some big ideas and even link back to events from The Curse Of Fenric, but I think it was inevitable that the rest of the story does feel somewhat less attention-grabbing than the promise of Ace and the 13th Doctor meeting.At Childhood's End is very enjoyable nonetheless, and I hope that we get to see some kind of follow-up to it, whether it be through further extended universe material or with a bit of luck in the show itself. Definitely recommended!