INTERVIEW BY MARCUS HEARN
The paperback edition of William Emms’ novelisation was published by Target Books in April 1986. The cover illustration was by Andrew Skilleter.
One of the most evocative passages in William Emms’ Galaxy 4 novelisation occurs in chapter two, Trap of Steel, where the Doctor and Steven Taylor fall into a deep trap excavated by the Chumbley robots. I told the author that it was hard to imagine William Hartnell’s Doctor dangling over a pit, grasping the edge of a Chumbley. “He never did”, said Emms. “Only in the book. It would have been hilarious, but you couldn’t do that, especially with him. The impossible sod wouldn’t have done it.”