BASIC PLOT
The Doctor and Ace investigate a cursed village in the West Country at the beginning of the 21st century. There they discover that scarecrows stalk the countryside.

DOCTOR
Seventh.

COMPANIONS
Ace.

MATERIALISATION CIRCUIT
Pg 19 A field near Hexen Bridge in mid-June of the early 21st century.

PREPARATORY READING
The Awakening might help.

CONTINUITY REFERENCES
Pg 15 "It's difficult being exiled,' agreed the Doctor." He could be alluding to either his original predicament as the first Doctor or his exile on Earth in his third incarnation.

Pg 21 [Re: a milkfloat] "I've only been on one of these once before, and that was many years ago." The Green Death.

Pg 25 "And in this ase, beginnig came when the Doctor, then in his third incarnation, was exploring the area the Wiltshire village of Devil's End, after his defeat of the Daemon Azal." The Daemons.

Pg 26 "In fact, it wasn't until my exile on this planet came to an end that the place came to mind again." The Three Doctors.

"That probably explains why Ian and Barbara and I got on so well, doesn't it?" An Unearthly Child et al.

Pg 31 "Ace saw that the page was headed 'To Do List', and under items 25 ('Leave settee in Perivale') and 26 ('Return to Planet 14 to check up on provisional goverment), the Doctor added a note to remind him to book the table." Survival, The Invasion.

Pg 36 "And I hate fascists as much as I hate clowns." The Greatest Show In The Galaxy.

Pg 42 "Something similar had happened when she had walked into a pub in Willesden with Manisha" The novelisation of Remembrance of the Daleks, Ghost Light.

Pg 71 "She hated that side of her nature, and had spent months on Iceworld trying to pummel the sentimentality out of her." Dragonfire.

Pg 93 "The Yeti who had asked him, in halting Old Gallifreyan, if he had any cigarettes probably gave the game away." The Abominable Snowmen et al.

Pg118 "He remembered having been in the city one Christmas with Stephen and Sara. It seemed so long ago." The Dalek Masterplan: The Feast of Steven. But see Continuity Cock-Ups

He reached the wrought-iron railings and glanced over the edge, feeling a momentary sensation of vertigo as the ground, twenty storeys below, seemed to rush up towards him. The Doctor stepped back, almost tripping over his own feet. 'You've lost one life that way,' he muttered to himself." Logopolis.

Pg125 "He'd have been better off battling the Cybermen or the Daleks." The Tenth Planet et al; The Daleks et al.

Pg128 "Last time I did this I was being chased by vampires." The Curse of Fenric.

Pg129 "The Doctor watched as white-suited bouncers pushed through the crowds, their jaws jutting like Ogrons." Day of the Daleks et al.

Pg143 "I was once a scientific advisor at the United Nations intelligence Taskforce..." Spearhead from Space to The Three Doctors.

Pg175 "'I spent a short time in Grasmere many years ago,' said the Doctor, remembering a holiday with Jamie and Victoria." Uncertain reference. Jamie and Victoria were companions of the second Doctor.

Pg181 "'Naff off. Johnny bleedin' Chester. Wouldn't have him in the car.' 'He was alright until he married that Australian bird'" Johnny Chess was first mentioned in Timewyrm: Revelation and is a pop star son of Ian and Barbara Chesterton (first Doctor companions), married Tegan Jovanka (fifth Doctor companion).

Pg 186 "I visited the school with Nyssa." The Keeper of Traken et al.

Pg 215 "'Psychic energy is a very potent weapon' ' You talk as if you've seen this sort of thing before,' said Bevan. ' Oh, I have,' said the Doctor. 'Several times' The Daemons, The Awakening.

Pg 217 'Yes,,' said the Doctor. 'At a place called Little Hodcombe.' [...] 'We stayed for a few weeks, Tegan, Turlough and I.'" The Awakening.

Pg 218 "I first stumbled across the place in 1971 -" Following the events of The Daemons.

"- and when I discovered the Malus creature just a few miles down the road...' The Awakening.

Pg 221 "'Hakol,' he said slowly, 'is a place of nightmares.' 'Sorry?' 'It's in the star system Rifter.' In The Awakening, the Malus was a war machine created by the people of Hakol. Some sources spell it "Rifta", but this is consistent with the spelling in The Awakening novelisation.

Pg 237 'You know of the Malus?' ' Know it?' The Doctor's eyes narrowed. 'I destroyed it. As I shall destroy you.' The Awakening.

Pg 240 "Even the Terileptils turned against the Hakolians, aghast at their continual butchery." The Terileptils first appeared in The Visitation.

Pg 276 "I never did finish telling you about Little Hodcombe, did I? [...] Jane still makes an excellent cup of tea." The Awakening.

Pg 277 "Lethbridge-Stewart's successors will have thisone under wraps for a few weeks" The Brigadier (The Web of Fear et al).

Pg 280 "Perhaps he ought to move it, before it too became daubed with spray paint. After all, it wouldn't be the first time." The Happiness Patrol.

OLD FRIENDS AND OLD ENEMIES
Bob and Julia Franklin appeared in The Devil Goblins from Neptune

NEW FRIENDS AND NEW ENEMIES
Chief Constable Ian Denham, Steven Chen, Rebecca Baber, Joanna Matson, Bob Matson.

CONTINUITY COCK-UPS

• Pg118 "He remembered having been in the city one Christmas with Stephen and Sara. It seemed so long ago." I wonder if "Stephen" is any reation to Steven Taylor?

PLUGGING THE HOLES [Fan-wank theorizing of how to fix continuity cock-ups]

• The Doctor took on a pair of companions named Stephen and Sara, and went to London one Christmas with them. It got a little confusing.

FEATURED ALIEN RACES
Jerak is an inorganic war machine.

FEATURED LOCATIONS
West Country/Wessex, Liverpool, London.

IN SUMMARY - Tim Snelling
Your run-of-the-mill, alien-influenced countryside paganisms. The Doctor being sidetracked to Liverpool makes little sense, but then what does in the Whoniverse? The usage of scarecrows and Worzel namedrops is a nice nod to Jon Pertwee. Generally, a decently paced read.