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Exterminate/Regenerate

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What to expect

'Absolutely wonderful. The book I've been waiting to read since I was ten years old. Full of surprising and piercing insights . . . The first thing I've come across that absolutely nails the extraordinary nature of the cultural phenomenon that is Doctor Who' JEREMY DYSON

On screen, Doctor Who is a story of monsters, imagination and mind-expanding adventure. But the off-screen story is equally extraordinary - a tale of failed monks, war heroes, 1960s polyamory and self-sabotaging broadcasting executives. From the politics of fandom to the inner struggles of the BBC, thousands of people have given part of themselves - and sometimes, too much of themselves - to bring this unlikeliest of folk heroes to life.

This is a story of change, mystery and the importance of imaginary characters in our lives. Able to evolve and adapt more radically than any other fiction, Doctor Who has acted as a mirror to more than six decades of social, technological and cultural change while always remaining a central fixture of the British imagination. In Exterminate / Regenerate, John Higgs invites us into his TARDIS on a journey to discover how ideas emerge and survive despite the odds, why we are so addicted to fiction, and why this wonderful wandering time traveller means so much to so many.

Critics Review

A TARDIS of a book. On the outside it’s about a TV show, but open it up and you’re plunged into the space-time continuum. John Higgs is your man for seeing eternity in a grain of sand

FRANK COTTRELL-BOYCE

Absolutely wonderful. The book I’ve been waiting to read since I was ten years old. Full of surprising and piercing insights, and fascinating meditations on the nature of mystery. The first thing I’ve come across that absolutely nails the extraordinary nature of the cultural phenomenon that is Doctor Who. Like its subject, it’s about so much more than it appears to be

JEREMY DYSON

With his usual mix of cultural savvy and sharp philosophical insight, John Higgs frees Doctor Who from the rubber tendrils of fandom to reveal an unkillable British myth which millions of us helped create together

JOEL MORRIS

Full of interesting tidbits and perfect for the Doctor Who fan in your life

JENNY COLGAN

Epic, pacey and blisteringly insightful. Higgs is a masterful guide to one of the weirdest elements in British pop culture. This is an adventure in time and space which manages to be thrilling, laugh-out-loud funny and oddly melancholic, often on a single page. He gives us the full authoritative story of Doctor Who. And along the way, we learn a great deal about modern Britain, our weird relationship with change, and the haunted corridors of our own childhood

IAN DUNT

Wonderful! You do not need to be a Whovian to delight at John Higgs’s journey through Doctor Who, but you may well be one by the end of the book

ROBIN INCE

An absorbing, engaging and gossipy history of Doctor Who, full of new insight and detail – both comprehensive and breezy, and so bigger on the inside. A joyous celebration of a British institution

SIMON GUERRIER, author of DAVID WHITAKER IN AN EXCITING ADVENTURE WITH TELEVISION

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