During the 1990s Wilderness Years, the Seventh Doctor’s adventures were continuing in The New Adventures, a range of novels published by Virgin which told Doctor Who stories too broad and deep for the television series. Quite a lot happened in those novels: Ace left the Doctor in Love and War, only to return a few books later as a seasoned Dalek hunter. We met new companion Bernice Summerfield; faced villains like the Timewyrm, Ancient Vampires, and the Chelonians; and even got to experience the Doctor’s origins in Lungbarrow. But there were two other companions alongside Bernice Summerfield, Roz Forester and Chris Cwej. And it’s Chris Cwej who has been given a new life in an independently published series of short stories entitled Cwej: Down the Middle.
The Doctor first met Chris Cwej when he and Bernice Summerfield arrived on Earth in the 30th Century. Chris Cwej and Roz Forester worked as members of the Adjudicators who were the police force across the Earth Empire. They soon discover a conspiracy and that the Doctor and Bernice have been framed for a crime they didn’t commit by an old enemy of the Doctor’s.
Originally created by author Andy Lane in his novel, Original Sin, Chris would appear in all but the final book from that point and had quite a strange tenure as a companion, which was par for the course with The New Adventures! He would be the father to two children during his time in the TARDIS, as well as meeting previous companions, Melanie Bush, Peri Brown, and Liz Shaw. When Roz Forester dies at the end of the book, So Vile A Sin, he begins to question his place on the TARDIS and then later in Eternity Weeps, Liz Shaw begs him to kill her when she contracts a deadly alien disease which then wipes out thousands of people on Earth. Chris blames himself for this and, in Lungbarrow, is given a Time Ring from Romana and leaves the Doctor to become an agent of the Time Lords.
Since then, Chris Cwej has made appearances in various media over the years — including in Bernice Summerfield’s range of novels — and would play a big part in the Faction Paradox era of Doctor Who, which began in the Eighth Doctor novels before spinning off into their own universe. And he would later be in a number of novel adaptations from Big Finish played by Travis Oliver and he and Roz would then later appear in a series of four original audio adventures where he was again played by Oliver.
It’s Travis Oliver’s appearance as the character that’s on the cover for the new release of anthology adventures. Originally released in 2020, this is a re-release of those stories published by Arcbeatle Press. There are twenty-two stories on offer here, one of which, Flickering Flame, has been written by creator, Andy Lane. A further two stories are written by fellow New Adventures author Simon Butcher-Jones. Other stories see him travelling through Earth’s history, alien battlefields, and even meeting the eccentric time-lady Iris Wildthyme. He is still working for mysterious superiors sending him on missions to keep the peace across the universe, in keeping with how he left The New Adventures.
This arc is comprised of three books, all out now.
Not bad for a character who first appeared in 1995!
Living Memory, Dying to Forget, and Uprising are all available now.
