Publication Information
Author: Philip Hinchcliffe
Cover artist: David McAllister
Publishing date: 21st August 1980 Episode Information
TV serial: The Keys of Marinus
Writer: Terry Nation
Transmission dates: 11th April - 16th May 1964 (6 episodes) Fact and Findings
Hinchcliffe’s last novelisation and the only one not based on one of the shows he produced. He continued to produce TV and films, rather than focus on his writing, and returned to the Doctor Who fold in 2000 and 2001 when he provided audio commentaries for the DVD releases of The Robots of Death and The Ark in Space.
Interestingly, only the third original First Doctor novelisation in the series' run, after the three reprints that started the whole thing off, and the first in over three years.
Classic chapter title - oh, so many to choose from! How about... The Snows of Terror !
First edition cover price – 85p
Later editions were numbered 38 in the Doctor Who library.
The novelisation was included in an unnumbered Doctor Who Gift Set, released in the mid-1980's. The other novels in the boxed set were The Mind of Evil, Meglos and The Keeper of Traken.
The original Target edition was published by W. H. Allen, ISBN 0 426 20125 6. It was reprinted in 1984, priced £1.35. The novelisation was scheduled to be re-released on the 21st of July 1994, but was cancelled when Target called an end to their novelisation series and focussed instead on the New Adventures.
The novelisation was scheduled to be re-released on the 21st of July 1994, but was cancelled when Target called an end to their novelisation series and focussed instead on the New Adventures. Cover Data
"The artist who produced The Power of Kroll cover was recently landed with the task of doing the cover for the summer release The Keys of Marinus by Philip Hinchcliffe [This is actually untrue as the former was painted by Andrew Skilleter]. Because it is such an old serial (the fifth ever transmitted) the BBC was unable to supply any colour photographs for reference purposes – and even the stock black-and-white stills showed too little background and detail to be of much use… However, with the help of some off-monitor photographs from the original BBC episodes, Target are able to produce a cover for The Keys of Marinus faithful to the 1964 serial. Look out for this great new story from Target!" from ‘Gallifrey Guardian: New Cover’, Doctor Who Weekly, 28th May 1980
David McAllister's first cover for the series, it was his only commission until the mid-eighties. The sunrise around the edge of a planet became almost a trademark of many of his covers.
Doctor Who and The Keys of Marinus marked the return of the coloured spines and back covers on the Target novels (in this particular case it was an orangey red). There hadn't been a coloured spine on a new novelisation since Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius in 1977 (which was yellow!). Colour stayed until 1989.
Newly-appointed producer John Nathan-Turner was unhappy with the quality of Target covers and cited The Keys of Marinus as a particular example - pointing out that the TARDIS is not grey nor does it have a red flashing light! Ultimately this unhappiness would manifest itself in the insistence on photographic covers during the Davison era.
The cover was originally painted for a David Whitaker penned version of The Edge of Destruction.
A larger version of McAllister's artwork appears in David J. Howe's book Timeframe (Virgin Publishing Ltd, 1993). Reviews
"Target books by authors other than the prolific Terry Dicks normally come as a breath of fresh air in the stale target stable, I say normally because Philip Hinchcliffe has sadly copied Terry's script-to-book style, and has left us with a very skimpy retelling of the story, consisting mainly of lines spoken by the characters."
- Tony Worrall, 'Factor 5' (number 2), March 1981
"Nothing is included here which was unknown to the Doctor Who viewer of 1964 - and this I feel is one of the book's definite plusses... On the negative side, however, there is not the character development that one remembered from the Hartnell period... However, Keys of Marinus is an excellent rendition of the original serial on which it is based."
- Ian K. McLachlan, 'The Doctor Who Review' (number 7), 1980
"The journey from Paddington to Maidenhead takes 41 minutes. I could have read The Keys of Marinus through twice in that time, and I'm not a speed reader. Quite honestly I put this diabolical waste of money fractionally above Destiny of the Daleks."
- 'Shada' (number 3), 1980
"While The Keys of Marinus is not one of the great Doctor Who stories, this novel effectively captures the spirit of the show's early days."
- Patrick Daniel O'Neill, 'Doctor Who' (Vol. 1, No. 7), April 1985UK Editions
The Target editions were published as follows:
1980, 21st August (first edition, W. H. Allen, McAllister cover, dark orange curve logo, dark orange spine, colour Target, ISBN 0 426 20125 6, 85p)*
1980 (W. H. Allen, McAllister cover, dark orange curve logo, dark orange spine, colour Target, no ISBN, £1.25)*
1984 (W. H. Allen, McAllister cover, orange curve logo, orange numbered spine, colour Target, ISBN 0 426 20125 6, £1.35)*
1987 (uses the 1984 contents, W. H. Allen, McAllister cover, orange curve logo, orange numbered spine, outline Target, ISBN 0 426 20125 6, £1.95)*
* copy in site owner's personal collectionMiscellaneous
Author
PHILIP HINCHCLIFFE
Philip Hinchcliffe was born in 1944, and educated at Slough Grammar School and Pembroke College, Cambridge.
After a short spell of teaching, the author entered television in 1968. There he worked in ITV as script editor, story editor and producer on a variety of programmes. Since 1974 he has been with the BBC, as a producer.
Philip Hinchcliffe is married with two young children and lives near Windsor.
Hinchcliffe produced seasons 12, 13 and 14 of Doctor Who, between 1974 and 1977 before moving on to Target, starring Patrick Mower. His three Doctor Who books were his only foray into the world of literature.
Doctor Who and the Seeds of Doom
Doctor Who and the Masque of Mandragora
Doctor Who and the Keys of Marinus
He continued to oversee TV productions (Private Schultz, Strangers and Brothers, The Charmer, Bust, Downwardly Mobile) and produced the films An Awfully Big Adventure, starring Hugh Grant, and Total Eclipse, starring Leonardo Di Caprio. Recently he has acted as executive producer on a number of productions, including Taggart.
Hinchcliffe returned to the Doctor Who fold in 2000, since when he has provided audio commentaries for a number of Who DVD releases.
Gift Set
The novel was included in an unnumbered Doctor Who Gift Set, released in 1986. This was the final set in a run of gift sets comprising four recently released (or re-released) novelisations in a cardboard slip case. The novels in the boxed set were The Keys of Marinus, Meglos, The Keeper of Traken and The Mind of Evil or Terror of the Autons (depending on stock). The box featured a photo of Colin Baker(!) on both sides (identical to the fifth set), and had ISBN 0 426 32410 8. In all there were nine gift sets released between 1982 and 1986 (the first eight were numbered).