Doctor Who: The Kaleidoscope: Circuit Breaker by Jo Martin, out now

By John Freeman on 5 September 2026 • ( 0 )

The Fugitive Doctor and Martha Jones embark on a thrilling new mystery in the latest instalment of this year’s Doctor Who event, Circuit Breaker, out now in hardback and ebook from BBC Books.

Doctor Who: The Kaleidoscope: Circuit Breaker by Jo Martin

In Doctor Who: The Kaleidoscope: Circuit Breaker, The Fugitive Doctor and companion Martha Jones discover that when memories lie, the truth can be fatal.

The new book is a key instalment of the Doctor Who transmedia event Circuit Breaker, this novel is written by the Fugitive Doctor herself, Jo Martin – and also features Martha Jones (as played by Freema Agyeman), together with the Unified Intelligence Taskforce, or UNIT.

In the aftermath of an improbable mission, the Fugitive Doctor and Martha realise that something is interfering with their minds. Something that doesn’t want to be found.

Their investigation leads to a curious artefact in the British Museum: an apparently medieval toy known as the Kaleidoscope. But the object refuses to stay in one place, one time – or one identity. And when the Doctor is repeatedly mistaken for someone she’s never met, fragments of unfamiliar memories begin to surface.

Across the Earth, a hidden pattern emerges; evidence of a secret that someone has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal. As ancient enemies close in and innocent lives are put at risk, the Doctor learns the hard way that some truths were buried for a reason…

Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker starring Jo Martin as The Fugitive Doctor

British actor Jo Martin should need no introduction to downthetubes readers. On television, she is known for her roles in the BBC series The Crouches (2003–2005) as Natalie Crouch, Back to Life (2019–2021) as Janice, Holby City (2019–2022) as Max McGerry, and Doctor Who (2020–2022, 2025) as the Fugitive Doctor, Dreaming Whilst Black (2023) as Grace and The Marlow Murder Club (2024 – present) as Suzy Harris.

• Doctor Who: The Kaleidoscope: Circuit Breaker is available here from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | ISBN: 9781911743101

• Check out the official Doctor Who Circuit Breaker website, as the event speeds to its epic conclusion…

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.