With the Civil War won, the Parliamentarians are struggling to hang on to power. But plans are being made to rescue the defeated King Charles from his prison… With Ben press-ganged and put on board a mysterious ship bound for Amsterdam, Polly becomes an unwitting accomplice in the plot to rescue the King. The Doctor can’t help because he and Jamie have been arrested and sent to the Tower of London, charged with conspiracy. Can the Doctor and Jamie escape, find Ben and rescue Polly – while making sure that history remains on its proper course?

The original 1997 cover.

Originally published in 1997 as one of the early BBC Past Doctor Adventures, The Roundheads stems from a time that Mark Gatiss was much less well known both as a writer and as a performer to the public at large, this being two years prior to the debut of The League of Gentlemen on the BBC. Yet Mark was already firmly established within fan circles, having had two novels published under the Virgin New Adventure’s range - the acclaimed Nightshade and St Anthony’s Fire, alongside being the writer of several unofficial Doctor Who spinoffs under the P.R.O.B.E banner (which he never wishes to be reminded off… sorry Mark!).

So how well does the early Gatiss stand-up to the Mark we know and love? surprisingly well.

As he would go on to display in his next novel Last of the Gaderene, Gatiss has a talent for capturing the regular character’s nuances down to a tee, this is quintessential Troughton, Jamie, Ben and Polly. With Troughton being notoriously hard to write for accurately, Gatiss does well here to bridge the gap between the early clown and Pat’s later performances in the role following the departure of Ben and Polly. Yet it is Ben and Polly who possibly shine most here, Ben given ample pages as he finds himself press-ganged aboard two ships and living his dream life as a pirate - cutlass and all!

Current 2015 reissue cover.

The “guest cast” aren’t over complicated in characterisation, as befit many of the earlier BBC novels, and while some maybe instantly forgettable, others such as peg-legged Captain Sally Winter and the smelly Nathaniel Scrope stand out amongst a crowded pack as colourful and particularly memorable. The King himself meanwhile is portrayed as nearly oozing arrogance, a perfect counterpoint to the more human, somber and cautious Cromwell, despite the boil on his bottom!

With an ethos and atmosphere that reminds the reader of The Smugglers in tone, successfully mixing the drama with the silly (look out for Every Boy’s Book of the English Civil Wars and the Doctor and Jamie posing as all seeing mystics… McCrimmon, powerful seer of Culloden!), this could easily place in the ravaged fourth season of the show. As our foursome become embroiled in a plot to save the doomed King, this straight historical tells of how things can go drastically wrong, even when you’re the Doctor, taking a somewhat unique angle (at least as far as the classic TV series is concerned) whereby the presence of the TARDIS crew itself creates the issue, history being altered with our leads having a duty to put history back on the right path.

With Cromwell, King Charles and pirates to boot, the novel promises something of a romp and is both well paced and excellently realised, Gatiss’ visualizations bringing real life to this dark period of British history. Encapsulating the sheer fun of the early Troughton adventures, The Roundheads at the same time manages to turn in an intelligent, politically intriguing and somewhat unique tale from one of Doctor Who‘s leading lights. A delightful classic and a heartily recommended read or listen from BBC Books and Audio.

The Roundheads is available now from the BBC Shop in both novel and audio formats, the audio book is unabridged and read by Anneke Wills.