Why I won't be buying any more Lethbridge-Stewart novels from Candy Jar
I adore Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. He was my fave Dr Who character when I was 12, a teenage crush when I was 14, and a welcome (albeit brief) returnee to the series when I was at college. Loved him then, love him now.
When Candy Jar announced they were going to publish a series of books about his adventures post-Web of Fear, I was thrilled. I ordered the first four books right off the bat, and unwrapped that first package with eager anticipation.
So why, eight books later, am I so disillusioned with the series that I wonāt be buying any more?
In a nutshell, Candy Jar blew it.
Ask pretty much any classic Dr Who fan where the Brig hails from, and chances are they will tell you heās Scottish. Heās in the Scots Guards, he proudly wears a kilt ā and thereās a line in the radio play āThe ghosts of N-spaceā (written by Barry Letts, played by Nick Courtney) where he states: āIām one-eighth Italian and seven-eighths Scottish.ā Seems clear enough, yes?
But not clear enough for Andy Frankham-Allen at Candy Jar. Which is unfortunate, because he wrote the very first book in the series, where he decided to make the Brigadier āer ā Cornish. Why FFS???
Candy Jar seem almost to have gone out of their way to ignore the few clues and hints we do have about the Brigās life. āGhosts of N-Spaceā, āLiberty Hallā, āTerror of the Zygonsā, the Big Finish audio āOld Soldiersā (which was read by Nick) might as well not exist so far as Candy Jar are concerned.
The authors have done nothing to develop the Brig as a character. Whereās his interest in classic cars (one of the few things we know about him from the TV)? What other hobbies and interests does he have? Well, none, it seems. Weāre told that he ādoesnāt like musicā (what, no music at all? Not classical, not jazz, not Elvis, not the Beatles, nothing?). He doesnāt read fiction. He doesnāt go to the cinema and takes no interest in the TV. He has a fiancĆ©e, but I have no idea what he sees in her, or (in terms of what the books tell us) what she sees in him. They appear to have nothing in common but -Ā like Clara and Danny in NuWho ā we are constantly told that they have feelings for each other. Itās plot-driven stuff, not character-driven ā because the only character given a spark of personality is not ALS, but Ann Travers.
Which brings me to point (4). The recent books have featured more of Ms Travers than they have of the titular hero. Whatās more, sheās the one who saved the day in the last two novels. Bored now.
The quality of the writing from book to book is... variable. Spelling and grammar is dodgy, twenty-first century phrasing and attitudes find their way into the late sixties. Sheer carelessness.
Some of these authors have no idea how the army works, and Candy Jar havenāt helped. Guys, if you donāt know, ask someone who does, yeah?
In one of these books, ALS is portrayed as a man who makes war on children. Now, if thereās one thing thatās consistent about the Brig, itās his integrity, yet here he is in āMoon Blinkā saying āitās an alien babyā [and therefore it doesnāt matter if it dies]. Replace the word āalienā with āenemyā and see if you can honestly hear Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart mouthing those words. Nope, me neither.
The result of all this is that the Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart in Candy Jarās books is a character I struggle to recognize as the guy from Dr Who, the guy played with such aplomb by the gorgeous Nick Courtney. The Brig deserves a long-running series of his own, he truly does.
2087
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