BBC Books (also formerly known as
BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority owned and managed by
Random House. The minority shareholder is
BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the
British Broadcasting Corporation. The imprint has been active since the 1980s.
Via its Ebury Publishing division, Random House publishes a range of books connected to BBC radio and television programming, including cookery, natural history, lifestyle, and behind the scenes "making-of" books. There are also some non-programme related biographies and autobiographies of various well-known personalities in its list.
Amongst BBC Books' best known titles are cookery books by former TV cook Delia Smith, wildlife titles by Sir David Attenborough and gardening titles by Alan Titchmarsh.
Unfortunately, in the BBC Publishing days, it turned down The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a book which has now sold over 14,000,000 copies worldwide.
Doctor Who
one of December 2008 novels]]
Since 1996, BBC Books has also produced a range of tie-in novels connected to the
television science-fiction series
Doctor Who, the only full-length fiction to be printed by the company. Their first release related to the series was a
novelisation of the
1996 Doctor Who telemovie published in the spring of 1996. Then, in 1997, BBC Books launched two concurrent series of books, the
Eighth Doctor Adventures (EDA) (featuring the
then-current incarnation of
the Doctor), and the
Past Doctor Adventures (PDA), featuring the seven previous incarnations. Between 1997 and 2005 approximately 150 original novels were published for both lines, combined. BBC Books also launched a short-lived line of
Doctor Who-related short story collections called
Short Trips;
Big Finish Productions later obtained the rights to publish these books and that series continues as of 2010.
In 2005, BBC Books began to phase out the EDA and PDA lines as it launched a new series of books (informally dubbed the New Series Adventures) based upon the newly-revived television series. Featuring the Ninth Doctor, the new books were published in hardback (as opposed to the EDA, PDA and Short Trips lines that were exclusively paperback releases). The Eighth Doctor line was discontinued during the summer of 2005, followed by the final Past Doctor Adventure in November. Beginning in 2006, BBC Books continued the New Series Adventures, now featuring the Tenth Doctor, with no word (as of September 2009) whether any more Past Doctor Adventures are planned. The books continue to be published in hardback, with the exception of four novellas, I Am a Dalek, Made of Steel,Revenge of the Judoon and Code Of The Krillitanes, which are paperback releases under a series called Quick Reads. The 4th novella still featured the tenth doctor David Tennant, even though the eleventh has made his tv appearance.
In January 2007, BBC Books launched a new line of original novels based upon the Doctor Who spin-off series, Torchwood. These books are also being published exclusively in hardcover and, like the TV series itself, are aimed at an older audience.
In May 2008, BBC Books issued its first original made-for-audio Doctor Who adventure, Pest Control, which was released as part of the Tenth Doctor Adventures line and read by David Tennant.
New ownership
In 2006, the
Ebury Publishing division of
Random House acquired a majority shareholding in BBC Books.
References
External links
About BBC Books
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Category:Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom
Category:Publishers of Doctor Who books
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