Winter is Coming
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Doctor Who: New Thirteenth Doctor and Ace novel by Sophie Aldred out next year!

By James Aggas

Two more actors have been announced for Series 12 - including one actress who already has a major connection to the Doctor Who universe!(Photo Credit: Doctor Who/BBC America )
Two more actors have been announced for Series 12 - including one actress who already has a major connection to the Doctor Who universe!(Photo Credit: Doctor Who/BBC America ) /
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In February 2020, a brand new Doctor Who book will reunite the Thirteenth Doctor with a very old friend – written by Ace McShane herself, Sophie Aldred!

Well this is exciting! It’s just recently been announced that a new Doctor Who novel, At Childhood’s End, has been written by Sophie Aldred. Unsurprisingly, the new novel will be heavily focused on the character that she knows best: Dorothy McShane, better known as former Seventh Doctor companion Ace.

But this time, it’s not the Seventh Doctor that she’ll be meeting. Instead, it’ll be the Thirteenth Doctor, as currently played on television by Jodie Whittaker. Here’s the official synopsis.

"Past, present and future collide as the Thirteenth Doctor meets classic Doctor Who companion Ace – in the first epic novel from the woman who played her, Sophie Aldred.Once, a girl called Ace travelled the universe with the Doctor – until, in the wake of a terrible tragedy they parted company. Decades later, she is known as Dorothy McShane, the reclusive millionaire philanthropist who heads global organisation A Charitable Earth.And Dorothy is haunted by terrible nightmares, vivid dreams that begin just as scores of young runaways are vanishing from the dark alleyways of London. Could the disappearances be linked to sightings of sinister creatures lurking in the city shadows? Why has an alien satellite entered a secret orbit around the Moon?Investigating the satellite with Ryan, Graham and Yaz, the Doctor is thrown together with Ace once more. Together they must unravel a malevolent plot that will cost thousands of lives. But can the Doctor atone for her past incarnation’s behaviour – and how much must Ace sacrifice to win victory not only for herself, but for the Earth?"

Sophie Aldred (pictured here with Peter Davison and Colin Baker) has written her very own Doctor Who novel, in which former Seventh Doctor companion Ace meets the Thirteenth Doctor! (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for WIRED)

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A major reunion

This is a very exciting story to explore. For one thing, the story will be exploring Ace as she is now. The Sarah Jane Adventures story Death of the Doctor had established her running A Charitable Earth, although it didn’t go into much more detail than that. However, the Class audio story In Remembrance did give us a good idea on how her life is now, which featured a similar clash of eras.

Speaking of the audios, the series Gallifrey did explore Ace’s life on the Doctor’s home world, sometime after she had left her old friend. We even had a brief glimpse of her in the Time War, although the series quickly provided an explanation on how Ace was able to survive the conflict. It’ll be interesting to see if Aldred makes even subtle little references to the events of Gallifrey, or whether she’ll simply ignore it.

But of course, what’s most intriguing of all is the reunion between Ace and the Doctor. The description of Thirteen atoning for the actions of Seven is especially promising. For those of you less familiar with the Seventh Doctor, he didn’t always treat Ace well, especially in stories such as Ghost Light or The Curse of Fenric. He was a considerably darker Doctor, one who was always focused on the bigger picture.

So the idea of the considerably lighter Thirteen having to deal with the consequences of the actions of her past self is extremely exciting. It’s almost a pity that this kind of story isn’t being told on television, but quite honestly, I can’t imagine Chris Chibnall wanting to do something like this. He wants to focus on mainly new stories and a new era, and to be honest, that’s understandable.

Still, that doesn’t stop the idea of At Childhood’s End from being exciting. The new novel will be released on Feb 6th in the UK. Its date in North America is currently unknown.

Next. The Eighth Doctor and the Master – The story so far…. dark

Are you a fan of Ace McShane? Are you excited to read Sophie Aldred’s very own novel based on the character? Do you think Thirteen should meet Ace on television? Let us know in the comments below.

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