The Black Archive

The Black Archive

Editor	Philip Purser-Hallard
Categories	Media studies
Frequency	Bimonthly
Company	Obverse Books
Country	United Kingdom
Based in	Edinburgh, Scotland
Language	English
Website	www.obversebooks.co.uk/blackarchive/

The Black Archive is a series of critical monographs about selected individual Doctor Who stories, from the series' earliest history to the present day. Rather than focusing on behind-the-scenes production history as much Doctor Who fan scholarship has done, the series aims to analyse and explore the stories as broadcast. It has been described by Sci-Fi Bulletin as "a fascinating series of short books", and by Doctor Who Magazine as "a grandly ambitious thing to attempt with something as exhaustively detailed as Doctor Who. But they actually manage it."

The series is edited by Philip Purser-Hallard and published by Obverse Books. It showcases the criticism of prominent Doctor Who fan authors such as Simon Bucher-Jones, James Cooray Smith, Simon Guerrier, Kate Orman and Lance Parkin, as well as of lesser-known writers. It is named after the museum of alien artifacts seen in the Doctor Who stories The Day of the Doctor and The Zygon Inversion.

History

After an initial announcement of the titles due in 2016, the first four books (on Rose (2005), The Massacre (1966), The Ambassadors of Death (1970) and Dark Water / Death in Heaven (2014)) were launched in March of that year, to generally positive reviews. James Cooray Smith's book on The Massacre was singled out for particular praise for its placing the serial in its historical context, both that of its 1570s setting and that of its writing and production in the 1960s.

Subsequent titles are published every two months. Those due in 2017 were announced in May 2016.

Published titles

• The Black Archive #1: Rose by Jon Arnold (March 2016)
• The Black Archive #2: The Massacre by James Cooray Smith (March 2016)
• The Black Archive #3: The Ambassadors of Death by L M Myles (March 2016)
• The Black Archive #4: Dark Water / Death in Heaven by Philip Purser-Hallard (March 2016)
• The Black Archive #5: Image of the Fendahl by Simon Bucher-Jones (May 2016)

Publication schedule

• The Black Archive #6: Ghost Light by Jonathan Dennis (July 2016)
• The Black Archive #7: The Mind Robber by Andrew Hickey (September 2016)
• The Black Archive #8: The Pirate Planet by Lance Parkin (November 2016)
• The Black Archive #9: Black Orchid by Ian Millsted (January 2017)
• The Black Archive #10: The God Complex by Paul Driscoll (March 2017)
• The Black Archive #11: The Evil of the Daleks by Simon Guerrier (May 2017)
• The Black Archive #12: Pyramids of Mars by Kate Orman (July 2017)
• The Black Archive #13: Human Nature / The Family of Blood by Naomi Jacobs and Philip Purser-Hallard (September 2017)
• The Black Archive #14: The Daleks' Master Plan by Alan Stevens (November 2017)

External links

• Obverse Books Black Archive index