The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine – Issue 620 – heads back to the 1990s with its cover story, as a lost Seventh Doctor adventure, Alixion, by Robin Mukherjee, is revived as an audio drama.
The release, Sylvester McCoy again playing the mysterious Time Lord, is the final adaptation of stories that were being considered for Doctor Who’s “Season 27” back in 1989, before the show went on “hiatus”, effectively cancelled by the BBC without ever making any official announcement to that effect at the time.
Although new Doctor Who projects are in progress the irony that the future of the TV series is currently in the balance will not have escaped regular readers of the title.
The audio release of Alixion next month, originally intended as the Seventh Doctor’s final regular story, means all the adventures developed to some extent for Season 27 have now finally been released.
Bad Destination, by Ben Aaronovitch, has been released as Earth Aid; Thin Ice, by Marc Platt, has been released under its own title; as have Action at a Distance, released as Crime of the Century, and Blood and Iron as Animal, stories by Andrew Cartmel.
The Season 27 Big Finish audio dramas form part of the company’s long-running Doctor Who – The Lost Stories series, launched back in 2009.
Over the last twenty five years, Robin Mukherjee’s work has stretched from art house cinema – in the esoteric tradition of Satyajit Ray – to mainstream television. Along the way he has written for radio and theatre and directed for both theatre and television. He has also taught extensively, and has recently been appointed as a Lecturer in Scriptwriting at Bath Spa University.
While the magazine’s focus is the show itself, it’s great to see the comic strip – “His Mad Pranks” in full swing, a romp of a Fifteenth Doctor tale by Alan Barnes with art by Martin Geraghty, set during the most recent TV season. Events are about to come to a head as the Doctor discovers the true identity of a mysterious foe, only to find there is a much more dangerous one lurking in the wings. Martin is at the top of his game on this story’s art, and you’ll enjoy the reveal!
If you’re a fan of the strip, don’t forget the latest collection, The Monster Makers, is out soon, and a special variant cover limited edition by David Roach is available to preorder now exclusively from the publisher’s web store. Read our full story about that release here!
• Doctor Who Magazine Issue 620 is on sale now in all good newsagents, some run by Zygons, and comic shops, too – or if’s sold out, order direct from Panini UK here, don’t be blue!
• Check out Doctor Who: The Monster Makers Variant Cover Edition here on the Panini online store
• Doctor Who: The Monster Makers Regular Edition is available from 2nd September 2025 | ISBN: 978-1804913024 | Buy it from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
In Issue 620 of Doctor Who Magazine…
- Zygons! Sutekh! Kraals! Krynoids! An enjoyable exploration of Doctor Who: The Collection Season 13 Blu-ray box set. Including: details of a documentary on Ian Marter who played companion Harry Sullivan, producer Phillip Hinchcliffe visiting the locations from the series, and the creation of new monster effects
- Enter the Black Archive! Join Doctor Who’s brand manager James Page in San Diego as he takes fans behind the scenes at this year’s Doctor Who activation.
- Props art director Michael van Kesteven talks us through the creation of various gadgets for this year’s season, including: colour variants of the Doctor’s sonic, the “Polish! Polish!” robot Scoot, and the Rani’s time ring bracelet
- The Seventh Doctor in Ukraine! Dalek and Cyberman performer Mickey Lewis recounts how he joined Sylvester McCoy on a journey to entertain fans in war-torn Kyiv.
- A lost Seventh Doctor adventure! TV writer Robin Mukherjee talks to DWM about working on Doctor Who in the 1980s and how his story Alixion has finally been realised as an audio drama…
- An entertaining royal audience with Mary Reynolds, who made an enjoyable cameo as the late Queen Elizabeth in the 25th anniversary serial Silver Nemesis
- After Image: Simon Guerrier looks back at Lucky Day, The Story & the Engine, the Interstellar Song Contest and Wish World/The Reality War
- Find out how students across the UK’s universities are testing their Who knowledge with a challenging quiz league
- Back to 1975 (and 1963): Giving life to the Loch Ness Monster
- The Randomiser: Gary Gillatt offers a fascinating look into the war service of William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee, who played first three TV Doctors
- DWM examines the hidden depths of Dark Water, in the first part of a Fact of Fiction feature on the finale to the Twelfth Doctor’s first season.
Regular features
- Gallifrey Guardian: DWM’s news round-up including the announcement of a new range of adventures – across books, comics, audio and the web – that will reveal more about Jo Martin’s Fugitive Doctor
- Reviews – featuring the latest audio and book releases
- Other Worlds – the essential guide to new stories in Doctor Who’s expanded universe
- Prizes to be won – including the new Monster Makers Comic Collection from Panini!
• Doctor Who Magazine Issue 620 is on sale now for £7.99 in all good newsagents, some run by Zygons, and comic shops, too – or if’s sold out, order direct from Panini UK here, don’t be blue!
Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £6.99
• Check out Doctor Who: The Monster Makers Variant Cover Edition here on the Panini online store
• Doctor Who: The Monster Makers Regular Edition is available from 2nd September 2025 | ISBN: 978-1804913024 | Buy it from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
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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.
Categories: British Comics, Comics, Doctor Who, downthetubes Comics News, Features, Magazines, Other Worlds, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television