Doctor Who: Ghosts Of India (BBC Books)

I once had this idea to submit a historical story to the BBC in which the Doctor would meet Jesus Christ. I was going to be absolutely fair about it, and portray him as a wonderfully nice and gentle person, but not make a statement one way or the other as to whether he was the son of God or not. Ultimately I realised two things - a) it was a pretty dodgy topic and I should leave well enough alone, and b) I couldn't really write very well. Hopefully I have overcome b), but a) still prevents me to this day of realising my story.

Mark Morris, rather better known in Doctor Who circles for his more horror based stories, has thrown my hesitance to the wind, and written Ghosts Of India which features Mahatma Gandhi. I think that the best thing about this book is that I am learning things about Gandhi that I never knew before - not least the fact that Mahatma isn't actually his first name. Morris writes Gandhi in the way that most people imagine he would be, a gentle soul with a passionate belief and a firm will. That said, though, even though I don't have a problem with this book and Gandhi's depiction, I imagine that there are some people out there who would feel that Morris has crossed a line he shouldn't have.

The other thing of note, of course, is that this is the first novel adventure of Donna Noble. Donna's actually a character that's pretty easy to nail as she has a very distinctive vocal mannerism that's easy to write for. However, it's easy to write Donna as a brash, mouthy woman - in fact the character that we see in The Runaway Bride - rather than the character that develops in the fourth series. I suppose that Morris has the advantage of saying that the book actually takes place wherever we feel that the version of Donna should fit, but this is a bit of a copout. Morris' Donna is mouthy and loud, but hasn't really developed terribly much, so one can only hope he was planning this for an early series placement.

The rest of the characters play out nicely, but most are just cyphers - the bluff old English army chap, his daughter who is more in tune with the natives, etc etc. It's a good story, not too taxing and worth a read.

"B"