Back in 1981 it seemed like centuries since the last Doctor Who reference book had come out (it was three years since the second edition of The Making of Doctor Who). We fans grasped eagerly at the two rather slim volumes produced in the break between the Fourth and Fifth Doctors. The first volume is a recapitulation of cast, crew and plot from the first eighteen seasons of Who; the second an A-Z of characters, creatures and concepts in the Whoniverse up to that point in time.

They are pretty thin by even the standards of the day. Characters and events from the less fashionable end of the Hartnell and Troughton eras get pretty short shrift (eg the entry in volume 2 for Ping-Cho, whch reads, in its entirety, 'Chinese girl').

The two volumes are a good model for how to do a comprehensive guide for Who, but not a brilliant example of the execution. (Numerous misprintls - poor John Abineri!) ( )