The Doctor leant back from the table, immensely satisfied. He had been regaling the Noble family with tales of his adventures for a full seven hours and the afternoon sun was now low in the summer sky. The Doctor was pleased to see that Donna, no doubt to limit the interference from extraneous stimuli and listen more fully, was resting her head on her hands and staring fixedly at the tablecloth. Sylvia – surely aware of alcohol as a sauce to any good story – had started on her sixth glass of wine, while Shaun, surely moved into inarticulacy by the Doctor’s tale, had his eyes closed and was breathing regularly and deeply. Poor Rose had retired to her room, pleading a headache, and Mel had gone to search for paracetamol. Strangely, this simple task had taken her over an hour. The Doctor jumped up and suggested a game: how would they all like a quiz about his adventures?

The Noble clan was immediately enthusiastic: they urged the Doctor to go into the TARDIS and make a start at once. They impressed upon him the need to take his time: if three or four hours’ writing and researching the quiz were required, then three or four hours it should be. Wouldn’t they miss him? the Doctor asked, concerned. The Nobles earnestly assured him that he shouldn’t give that another thought: he must set about his task at once. Emboldened, encouraged and pleased, the Doctor went into the TARDIS and did just that.

Shaun has kindly passed a copy of the quiz to The Doctor Who Companion, which we present to you, suitably edited, as…

THE DOCTOR WHO COMPANION 2023 CHRISTMAS QUIZ!

No prizes: as ever, this is just for fun. Note down your answers somewhere and keep the sheet to one side, as the answers will be published on Boxing Day…

1. The parallel world Pete Tyler marries Jackie Tyler from our world. But what happens to Jackie Tyler in the parallel world?

2. Which of the Doctor’s companions suffers the same fate?

3. What is a CADESCU – a Change and Dimensional Electronic Selector and Extender?

4. John Nathan-Turner wanted the sonic screwdriver written out on the grounds that it enabled the Doctor to get out of difficult situations too easily. But who destroyed the sonic screwdriver, and in which story?

5. And in which story did the sonic screwdriver next appear?

6. The Third Doctor’s Edwardian roadster was, of course, called Bessie. TV Comic, however, misnamed it, as…?

7. In which story does the relative continuum stabiliser of the TARDIS fail?

8. Who is allergic to certain gases in the praxis range of the spectrum?

9. How does this individual attempt to combat this allergy?

10. Who dances to a 1978 hit by Boney M?

11. How old is Romana in:

i. The Ribos Operation?

ii. City of Death?

12. What explanation is given on screen for the discrepancy between her ages?

13. Which alien is a leonine mesomorph?

14. What is the Meep’s preferred pronoun according to The Star Beast?

15. Dolls of which companions were shown by the Toymaker to the Doctor in The Giggle?

16. Which novel by H.G.Wells:

i. is the Doctor reading in The TV Movie?

ii. is the Master reading in Frontier in Space?

17. What is the title of the Brigadier’s counterpart in the parallel world in Inferno?

18. In the same story, what colour is Liz Shaw’s hair and how does this differ from her hair colour in our world?

19. What connects: a Yeti; a Cyberman; an IMC guard; one of Ashe’s colonists; a Thal soldier; a security guard at Think Tank; the Marshal’s pilot; and one of Count Scarlioni’s goons?

20. Which alien did Mark Gatiss want to include in An Adventure in Space and Time but couldn’t because he was told it would be too expensive?

21. Which technological device did Cassandra mistakenly call an iPod in The End of the World?

22. And which Doctor has such a device in the TARDIS control room?

23. There have been three characters called Rose since 2005. Rose Tyler was one; Donna’s daughter was another, but who was the third?

24. Name the two clowns who are Steven and Dodo’s opponents in the Celestial Toyroom.

25. In which story does Rose Tyler wish the Doctor to show more of the attributes of Star Trek’s Mr Spock?

26. Which word is forbidden by the rulers of Metebelis III?

27. What was the working title of the story which became City of Death and who wrote it?

28. Russell T Davies gave the name Judoon to his space police as a joke for David Tennant. But what exactly was the joke?

29. Which aliens are mistakenly named Ironsides or the Metaltron by humans?

30. Which Doctor Who story features the first appearance of Kate Lethbridge-Stewart?

31. The Kaleds are short of ammunition in Genesis of the Daleks. How does General Ravon propose to conserve ammunition when executing the Doctor and Harry?

32. The producers of the Peter Cushing movies considered using the optical effect of rays for the Daleks’ guns but opted, in the end, for a practical effect of the guns blasting carbon dioxide from fire extinguishers. Why did the producers decide against rays?

33. Identify the stories from their working titles:

i. The Enemy Within

ii. The Destructors

iii. The Day God Went Mad

iv. Storm over Avalon

v. Catflap

34. What is being described in the following extracts from novelisations of television stories and which novelisation does each description come from?

a. “The deep tear in the sleeve was filled with a greenish bubbling pus which, as he watched, seemed to be absorbed into his arm so that only the blackened gash in the sleeve remained.”

b. “The top-half turned its head to look up at her. The naked female bisected top-half. Three feet tall, punky black wig, lips painted scarlet. It looked at —-. It craned its head to one side as though considering her.”

c. “Facing her was a squat, powerful figure about the size of a small man. Orange-green in colour, it had small, claw-like hands and feet. There was no neck: the big high-domed head seemed to grow directly from the bulbous torso.”

d. “The Ambassador, dressed in black robes with high pointed shoulders, had the typical —- face, green scaly skin and tapering ears.”

e. “Then to her right the hideous sleek shape of a —- reared on its hind legs out of the gloom, glaring down, and with a slithering sound began to scramble towards her…The pass ahead of her and to her right was swarming with these loathsome creatures, and the chirruping sound they made…”

f. “Three lights were moving towards them through the murk…Again the radiophonic bubbling sound, now slightly raised in pitch, drifted across the frozen waste… The three lights were slowly changing into three tall, straight figures which were moving forward…with a slow deliberate step, and the perfect unison of guardsmen on parade.”

g. “—- looked at the reptile face in front of him. It was impossible to tell whether —- was angry or forgiving. It was the first time he had really looked closely into —-‘s scaly green face because the sight of it made him want to be sick.”

h. “Then, suddenly, a small doll-like creature seemed to swim up from the flames, its tiny white hand raised…The Doctor found his arms released, and the Primitives who had held him began backing away from the creature that had materialised…”

35. How many Nimon have you seen today?

Check back on the DWC on 26th December 2023 for all the answers!