Having said that, this can join with the whole of the book as being quite a remarkable collection of info, perfect for a quiz setter or fan. You also get a timeline at the side of the page, detailing everything that applies to that date in the year that the essay doesn't cover, although when this devolves to the minutiae of which episode was shown on a different day in Wales, for instance, or repeatedly and pointedly points out Eric Saward as story editor, it's for the anal fact collector only. Sometimes there is really nothing to look at, especially in fallow summer seasons, and so the essay is irrelevant to that specific date, but surprisingly often it matches up. It's notable that not a lot would have been celebrated on March 26th, had not a certain northern-sounding incarnation popped on our screens, launching a whole new industrial-sized franchise. For every day you get a one-page essay about whatever could be deemed most relevant, based on what happened on that date throughout the on- and off-screen history of the programme. Beyond that it tries its damnedest to fulfil its own remit. Yes, being published in a leap year – and providing the 366th ingredient as a result – means the name is a bit off. It's not perfect, but the biggest flaw may be the title. It's a brick of a book, of course, given the depth of the subject, but well worth the time taken to read it. But if the human observer of Doctor Who would want a full year book, completely filled in and annotated with everything they would want to know about the Doctor in relation to the human calendar, then they have it at last with this lovely hardback. Is it any wonder that The Doctor's use of a diary is mentioned merely as a joke? Let alone the fact it would come in whatever time unit (if any) Time Lords actually use, there's the problem of it not ever being chronological, and the fact he would never seem to have the time to fill it in. Summary: Quite a specialist book for fandom, but a very good one in any case.

Doctor Who by Justin Richards