The Black Archive is an award-winning monthly series of book-length looks at Doctor Who stories, described by Doctor Who Magazine as 'a treat for your bookshelf'.
Each title is a 20,000 to 40,000-word book length study of a single televised story, from 1963 to the present day.
The Black Archive has examined stories from all eras and most seasons of Doctor Who, by scriptwriters from John Lucarotti and Dennis Spooner in the 1960s to Toby Whithouse and Sarah Dollard in the 2010s. All television Doctor Who is fair game: edifying historical or neon action-adventure, gritty SF or fantastical fable, political satire or postmodern whimsy, across the gamut of the series’ history from David Whitaker to Jodie Whittaker.
Though story treatments, draft scripts and new interviews with scriptwriters and directors may all be of interest, the Black Archive’s focus is on the story’s themes and ideas, rather than the behind-the-scenes history catalogued in admirable depth by others. In exploring the vast wealth of genre, writing style and subject matter to be found in Doctor Who, the books range from 16th-century French history to the cosmology of black holes, from clinical psychology to Berthold Brecht’s theories of the theatre, from the myths surrounding the Egyptian god Set to the rules of cricket.
Launched by Obverse Books in March 2016, the Black Archive releases 6 titles a year, in simultaneous digital and print editions, with its 50th title published in December 2020.
Praise for the Black Archive
‘Shedding new light on an old subject… is a grandly ambitious thing to attempt with something as exhaustively detailed as Doctor Who. But they actually manage it. Treat your bookshelf.’ – Doctor Who Magazine
‘…a fascinating series of short books on different serials from Doctor Who’s long history’ – Sci-Fi Bulletin
‘…a brilliant idea; a perfectly considered level of granular focus that
has loads of room to find new things to say about tired old stories
without sacrificing readability or approachability’ – Eruditorum Press
‘This series of books, each focusing on a specific Doctor Who
story, manages to be both singular and incredibly diverse. Though each
release is united by the view that the program’s stories warrant serious
analysis rather than just a recitation of production notes, the line is
striking not just for the variety of stories featured but also the
range of approaches taken.’ – We Are Cult