New Lethbridge-Stewart “Downtime: Children of the New World” cover revealed

Downtime: Children of the New World - Candy Jar Books - Hardback Cover by Martin Baines

Martin Baines dramatic cover for the limited edition hardback edition of the upcoming novel Downtime: Children of the New World by Andy Frankham-Allen, has been revealed by Candy Jar Books.

The first of Candy Jar’s standalone Lethbridge-Stewart novels, Downtime: Children of the New World, published in co-ordination with the award-winning Reeltime Pictures, is a sequel to their straight-to-video film, Downtime, which introduced the Doctor Who world to the Brigadier’s daughter, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart. Both are reunited in this new novel, appearing together in a full novel for the first time in over twenty years.

Martin’s cover features on the hardback edition, limited to just fifty copies, while Adrian Salmon provides the cover of the paperback edition.

A professional storyboard and concept artist living in London, Hardback cover artist Martin Baines has worked extensively in the field of storyboards for advertising agencies, for clients such as Hitachi, AA, Visa and Nescafe. Beside advertising he works with publishers on a regular basis, producing images in a variety of styles, from realistic painted book jackets, to drawing comic strips such as Thunderbirds are Go for DC Thomson and colouring the famous Garth comic strip in the Daily Mirror.

His portfolio also includes illustrating the life story of famous footballers for Match of the Day weekly, the Wallace & Gromit comic, Commando, Beano and illustrations in People’s Friend. He also recently provided a special anniversary Dan Dare cover for Comic Scene magazine.

Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, as played by Jemma Redgrave, became a semi-regular feature in Doctor Who following her appearance in 2012s The Power of Three by current-series showrunner, Chris Chibnall. She continued to appear throughout Peter Capaldi’s time as the Doctor, and currently enjoys her own series of UNIT adventures with Big Finish. But the character first appeared in Downtime in 1995, played by Beverley Cressman, which was produced under licence from Mervyn Haisman by Reeltime Pictures Ltd, written by Doctor Who luminary Marc Platt. Cressman returned to the role in 2003 for another Reeltime Pictures straight-to-video film, Dæmos Rising.

Kate went on to make a few minor cameo appearances in Doctor Who novels and short stories through the remainder of the 1990s. Downtime: Children of the New World will be only the second time the character has had a starring role in a novel, since Marc Platt’s own novelisation of Downtime in 1995.

It’s not only Kate who is returning. Downtime: Children of the New World also features the return of her son, Gordy, who was first introduced in Downtime. Along for the adventure are other alumni from both Downtime and Dæmos Rising, including ex-UNIT captain, Douglas Cavendish.

Picking up the story nine years after the defeat of the Great Intelligence in Downtime, Kate, Gordy and the Brigadier will be joined by further members of the Brigadier’s family, including his eldest grandson Conall Wilson, who first appeared in Candy Jar’s Lethbridge-Stewart series.

The new novel sets up events in the new Reeltime Pictures film Anomaly, now due for release later this year, a story whose announced cast also includes Sophie Aldred, set after the events of Dæmos Rising, described by Reeltime Pictures as, in part, a prequel to the Third Doctor adventure, The Time Monster.

Reeltime Pictures - Anomaly
Coming up later this year, presumably pandemic permitting: Anomaly, from Reeltime Pictures

Anomaly finds Gordon Gordy Lethbridge-Stewart thinking he has left the world of his grandfather behind him. As a research scientist, all he was interested in was developing new technologies.

Unfortunately, what he doesn’t know is that retired UNIT operative Captain Douglas Cavendish has given him alien technology to develop his ideas with … and that leads to a great deal of trouble indeed! Trouble that forces Kate Lethbridge-Stewart to make a life or death choice…

“When I first heard of Reeltime’s forthcoming film, Anomaly, which would see Beverley returning to the role of Kate, I contacted Keith Barnfather,” said range Editor Andy Frankham-Allen, and author of the book of the project’s origins last year. “Initially, it was simply to express my interest in Kate’s return, and how I’d be open to us working together to cross-pollinate our two ranges.

“Keith was very open to the idea, and before we knew it the conversation turned to prose and the idea of doing a sequel to Downtime. It took a while to work out when to set it, and after watching Dæmos Rising it became clear the book needed to be set after that film. The only proviso Keith gave me was that I needed to “set up” Anomaly.”

Set in September 2004, Downtime: Children of the New World picks up the story told in Downtime, which saw the Brigadier and his daughter join forces with Doctor Who companions Sarah Jane Smith and Victoria Waterfield to defeat the Great Intelligence’s plan of world domination through New World University.

Although a sequel, the novel is intentionally written to stand on its own.

“All background details from Downtime will be treated the same way one treats background detail in a normal standalone novel,” says Andy. “The reader will be told everything they need to know for the story to work.

“Of course, further insight can be gained by picking up Downtime, but it won’t be essential. Children of the New World is its own story. The basic idea came to me fairly quickly, but it wasn’t until I rewatched both films and had a chance to look through Marc Platt’s novelisation that the main plot point presented itself. I was determined to write a solid standalone tale, but one that was a logical continuation of Downtime, while at the same time bringing Kate and Gordy fully into the fold with the Brigadier’s extended family.

“The chance of having the Brigadier’s two grandsons together was too good to pass up, and that quickly became the crux of the plot.”

The cover art for the paperback edition is provided by Adrian Salmon, whose many illustration and strip credits include work for Doctor Who Magazine, Big Finish, the Doctor Who animated DVDs, and Candy Jar.

Downtime: Children of the New World - Candy Jar Books - Paperback Cover by Adrian Salmon

“Great to be asked to draw a cover for the new look Lethbridge-Stewart range,” says Adrian.

“Andy and I had a lot of fun with this cover; as soon as he told me what the book was about, I knew the kind of thing I wanted to do. He gave me an open brief to redesign the Yeti, to make it more of a simian creature, and less like the way they’ve previous been depicted in Doctor Who.

“I wanted to incorporate silver into the design, initially as a kind of harness, before we settled on a fearsome face mask, to suggest the controlling intelligence and to make it clear these are not the Yeti fans have previously seen.”

In Downtime: Children of the New World, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart joins her father, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, in a mission to save her son’s life.

For the last nine years Kate’s life has been a happy one. Other than a minor blip in 2003, she hasn’t had to worry about aliens bothering her or her son. Indeed, her biggest concern is Gordy’s first girlfriend. But it all changes when a face from her past appears, bringing with him a warning. Gordy and his cousin Conall are kidnapped by a radical group calling themselves the Followers of Maitreya…

The Brigadier and Kate join forces with Douglas Cavendish and Anne Travers on a mission to save Gordy and Conall, which leads them to the ruins of Det-Sen Monastery in Tibet where deadly Yeti roam, and a prophecy is about to fulfilled! What connects the Followers of Maitreya to a developing online school, Asteroid 4179 which is heading towards Earth, and the Brigadier’s family?

Candy Jar Books is an award-winning independent book publisher offering a wide variety of quality books, from non-fiction, general fiction and children’s, through to a range of cult TV books. Passionate about discovering and nurturing new authors and offering a fresh perspective on classic genres, the company was established in 2010, bringing together skills in book publishing, audio and video production

Downtime and Dæmos Rising are available directly from Reeltime Pictures Ltd. Anomaly is now scheduled for release in November 2020 and is available to pre-order from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) here

• Order Downtime: Children of the New World, both now available for pre-order: the Standard paperback edition (with cover by Adrian Salmon limited to 500 copies) for £10.00 (plus p&p); or the Limited hardback edition (fifty copies only, cover by Martin Baines) for £25 (plus p&p). This edition will be signed by Andy Frankham-Allen and feature an exclusive foreword by original Kate Lethbridge-Stewart actor, Beverley Cressman

Downtime: Children of the New World is not covered by any Candy Jar subscription offer

• More about the Lethbridge-Stewart books here: lethbridgestewartnovels.wordpress.com | Find the Lethbridge-Stewart project on Facebook



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