Author:Paul Magrs,Tom Baker,Richard Franklin,Full Cast
The circus has come to town - and so has the Doctor! Watching the parade pass by in 1832, he finds the people of Blandford strangely drawn towards the garish big top, and knows that something is terribly wrong. The only thing to do is pay a visit. Meanwhile Adam Farrow finds his sister caught up with the circus and its sinister ringmaster. What is behind Antonio’s almost hypnotic power, and how is it connected with an event in the Doctor’s future? Seized by clowns and forced into the centre of the ring, the Doctor encounters the fiercest of all circus acts. Yet something much more terrifying lurks in the wings - and the sound it makes is horribly familiar. Lives will be lost before the circus moves on - and the Doctor will face his own doom on the high wire. With Tom Baker as the Doctor, Richard Franklin as Mike Yates, Susie Riddell as Sally, Michael Maloney as Farrow, Jilly Bond as Francesca and Stephen Thorne as Antonio, The Circus of Doom is the third of five linked stories written by the acclaimed Paul Magrs. 'Baker delivers the drama and intensity that you recognise from the Fourth Doctor of old' - Doctor Who Magazine.
Laugh-out-loud funny.
—— Joan Bakewell, GuardianHilarious anecdotes aplenty . . . For many of his fans, this will be the first time they get to know the real, likeable, human Jonathan Ross, beneath all the banter and bluster.
—— Heat magazineFluent and entertaining . . . this is a very agreeable ramble through the lively thoughts of a non-smoking, now non-drinking family man with a talent to amuse and enthuse.
—— David Sexton, Evening StandardTaking us through his quirky view on life, including fashion, diets and, er, sweetshops this book is guaranteed to make you laugh out loud.
—— Woman magazineIn between the adolescent porn tales and the hilarious diarrhoea anecdotes, he is funny and acute and full of ideas.
—— Private EyeSnap it up, pwonto.
—— London LiteIt's impossible to deny he's the most entertaining interviewer.
—— Times Educational SupplementIrreverent and witty . . . hilarious . . . He explores everything - from diets to sweetshops and sex to pets, with all his customary lasciviousness and self-deprecatory humour.
—— Living EdgeSplendidly entertaining, reflecting on everything from eating a loaf to Shintoism and...sex.
—— Bournemouth Daily EchoThere are . . . completely honest admissions about his drinking, and laugh-out-loud accounts of his various fashion errors . . . Enjoy gleefully politically incorrect posturing and plain old-fashioned entertainment.
—— The ResidentA fabulous cavalcade of a book, written with infectious verve
—— John Carey , The Sunday TimesTo attempt the biography of even one of these giants of the 19th Century English stage would be a challenge to most, but the energetic Michael Holroyd tackles both...Amazingly he carried it off in a ripping yarn spiced with melodrama and tinged with pathos
—— Judith Rice , The GuardianHolroyd's charmingly modest intention is to "carry readers back in time and convey a sense of adventure and intimacy with the past". In this he triumphantly succeeds
—— Katie Owen , Sunday TelegraphA funny, gossipy epic
—— Christopher Hirst , IndependentSelf-depracating yet never self-pitying, irreverent yet never truly cynical, she comes across as a woman genuinely at ease with herself ... French is engaging company, and at her best she writes about heartbreak and elation with such grace that her book is impossible to dislike
—— Boston Standard