Read A New Doctor Who Short Story, Houdini And The Space Cuckoos, For Free
This article is more than 2 years old
Part of the fun of Doctor Who is getting to see the Doctor and his companions cross paths with assorted notable figures from history. In the modern incarnation of the series, we’ve seen the Doctor share adventures with Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie, Vincent van Gogh, and others. In that spirit of fun, the BBC recently invited Who fans to vote for historic figures to star in a new short story with the Doctor. People the Doctor has already met on the show were disqualified, naturally. The votes included people such as Florence Nightingale and Nikola Tesla, but the final winner was Harry Houdini. Now you can download the resulting story, “Houdini and the Space Cuckoos,” for free below.
Quite frankly, they had me at “space cuckoos.” The story was written by Joseph Lidster, who has worked in the Who universe before on earlier stories and audio dramas. So what sort of devilry will the titular space cuckoos bring? I have no idea, because I haven’t read it yet. That being said, the story is said to involve the Eleventh Doctor teaming up with the legendary magician to foil the plans of some giant, alien birds who can take over other people’s bodies. Makes a very Doctor Who sort of sense; cuckoos are known for laying their eggs in the nests of other birds.
You can read “Houdini and the Space Cuckoos” in three parts as downloadable PDFs. Here they are: Part One, Part Two, Part Three.
