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Higg's 'profound' book on Doctor Who goes to W&N
John Higgs’ "playful and profound" exploration of the Doctor Who character, Exterminate/ Regenerate, has been signed by Orion.
Jenny Lord, executive publisher of Weidenfeld & Nicolson and Orion Literary, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Sarah Ballard at United Agents. It will be published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in hardback, audio and e-book in spring 2025.
The blurb reads: “Doctor Who behaves in a way quite unlike any other fictional character. For 60 years the Doctor has sat at the heart of British culture and rewired the imaginations of generations. Yet no one person invented this strange character, and no one person controls them. They emerged from the space between many minds, able to evolve and adapt to our fast-changing world more skilfully than any other fiction.”
The publisher said: “The story of Doctor Who is a story of change, mystery and the role of imaginary characters in our lives. It is also the story of the thousands of people who have given part of themselves – and sometimes, too much of themselves – in order to bring this folk hero to life.
"Ncuti Gatwa, Russell T Davies and Disney+ are currently placing this glorious, imaginative and perfectly ludicrous British character at the heart of global culture, so it is time to acknowledge that the life of Doctor Who is far stranger, profound and uncanny than we usually assume.”
Lord said: “Sixty years after the birth of Doctor Who, I can think of no better writer to tell us the full story of how this fictional character continues to endure so many decades on. Both playful and profound, grounded and uncanny, Exterminate/ Regenerate will be a delightful and fascinating biography for our age.”
Higgs said: “The question of how something as joyous, absurd and mythic as Doctor Who came to exist is an endlessly fascinating one. Real life is stranger than fiction, but the real-life events that came together to create this fiction are the strangest of all. Doctor Who is the unholy marriage of extraordinary people seduced by wild imagination, and it’s a great pleasure to celebrate its ever evolving story.”
The Brighton-based author has written various previous books about cultural phenomena including Love and Let Die, the KLF and William Blake vs the World (all published by Orion).
