Riha's Blog

and sometimes you look her in the eyes and see guilt, and sometimes grief, and love, and anger, and sometimes you can't look her in the eyes, and sometimes you look her in the eyes and all you can see is terror. she survived, but she'll never be what she was, and you weren't there. she's changed. you haven't. you're always changing. she won't change.

Fans with more knowledge will have to chime in but I don’t know if we’ve ever had one of the Doctors write a full novel before, and the writing of Dr Who (both for the show itself and for extended universe material) has been so dominated by writers who are white men, so it’s incredibly exciting to have a writer come from a different demographic. Black fans - and Ncuti Gatwa too - have been saying for years that we need more diverse storytellers, not just to combat racism but for the sake of the art itself!

It’s coming out 3 September!

When memories lie, the truth can be fatal.

In the aftermath of an improbable mission, the Fugitive Doctor and Martha realise that something is interfering with their minds. Something that doesn’t want to be found.

Their investigation leads to a curious artefact in the British Museum: an apparently medieval toy known as the Kaleidoscope. But the object refuses to stay in one place, one time – or one identity. And when the Doctor is repeatedly mistaken for someone she’s never met, fragments of unfamiliar memories begin to surface.

Across the Earth, a hidden pattern emerges; evidence of a secret that someone has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal. As ancient enemies close in and innocent lives are put at risk, the Doctor learns the hard way that some truths were buried for a reason…

A key instalment of the Doctor Who transmedia event Circuit Breaker, this novel is written by the Fugitive Doctor herself, Jo Martin – and also features Martha Jones (as played by Freema Agyeman) together with the Unified Intelligence Taskforce, or UNIT.

From https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/481708/doctor-who-the-kaleidoscope-circuit-breaker-by-martin-jo/9781911743101

You can also go to this Cultbox article to see pictures of the sonic screwdriver they gave Fugitive Doctor.

There’s also this really wonderful interview with Jo Martin where you can find out more about the premise. She talks about what it was like to be cast and how her son is a huge Whovian who helped give her pointers while writing the book. And this lovely bit:

I really did grow up with Doctor Who; I used to dress up my cousins in tin foil – they had to be the Daleks! And I would fashion some kind of costume for myself and play the Doctor. And they’d be like, “Okay, now it’s my turn to be the Doctor. You have to be a Dalek.” And I’d always say, “Nah, nah, nah! I want to be the Doctor.” And they’d be like, “You can’t be a doctor, you’re a girl.”

Back then, the show had a long tradition of white males in that role, so it really was wonderful that we got Jodie. But, as you can imagine, I never saw myself represented – and to be seen is so important. So to be standing on set the day when I had to say, “Hello, I’m the Doctor…” Well. I mean, we had to retake that a few times because I’d get really choked up… I could see that little girl in me.

But now it is – and, of course, the fans have always been very inclusive. So to have that acknowledgment from Brazil to America, from France to Australia – from Aboriginal girls sending me a message – means a lot. It’s great to be able to cosplay as someone without anyone look being able to look at them and say, “Well, you can’t be wearing that.” You know? The girls can dress up as Jodie or anybody else; they can be who they like. And then, as a Black child, you can look on me and go, “You know what? I could do this.” Because Doctor Who is for everyone.

The thing I’m probably most excited about is that it sounds like the Fugitive Doctor being Black isn’t just ignored, there is some cultural diversity there or touching on how being Black might shape her experiences - and we are going to that written BY someone who is actually Black, which was one of the things I loved so much about The Storyteller and the Engine.

So we lean into a bit of the Fugitive Doctor’s heritage; the fact that she’s a Black woman. We’ve gone into what happened when she left Gallifrey – we’ve also gone to Jamdown, my dear! So we’re in Jamaica in some of the story.