Episode 52: The Witch Hunters

The Doctor Who Book Club Podcast

This month we take another look at the work of Steve Lyons; specifically, The Witch Hunters, a BBC Past Doctor Adventure featuring the First Doctor, Susan, Ian, and Barbara. From the back cover:

The Reverend Samuel Parris, Minister of Salem, follows three strangers in the forest beyond the village - a forest which is traditionally believed to be the source of much evil. He hears movement through the trees, steps forward and makes a terrible discovery. It is one which will change life in Salem forever.

The TARDIS arrives in Salem Village, Massachusetts, 1692. The Doctor wishes to effect repairs to his ship in peace and privacy, and so his companions - Ian, Barbara and Susan - decide to 'live history' for a week or so. But the friendships they make are abruptly broken when the Doctor ushers them away, wary of being overtaken by the tragic events he knows will occur.

Upon learning the terrible truth of the Salem witch trials, Susan is desperate to return - at any price. Her actions lead the TARDIS crew into terrinle jeopardy, and her latent telepathy threatens to help the tragedy escalate way out of control...

The Witch Hunters is one of only two purely historical adventures that we know of in any of the ranges (The Roundheads by Mark Gatiss being the other). Although it was not his first published Doctor Who book, it was the first that Lyons wrote, and he kept it "on ice" until its publication in 1998.

Sit back with a nice pail of filthy prison drinking water and relax as we talk about The Witch Hunters!

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