Upcoming retelling of his first Doctor Who story expands on the Doctor-through-time sequence.

In what seems to be a somewhat Mark Benton-centric news day, this little snippet from Radio Times amused us no end.

It would appear that Russell T Davies has been having more than a little fun with his novelisation of the now-classic new-Who opener, Rose, which is due in shops on April 5th as part of a new series from BBC Books, styled to recall the classic ‘Target’ novelisations of the Doctor Who 80s/90s ’wilderness years’.

Specifically, Davies has used the new novel to expand on this section of the original show, where Mark Benton’s Clive gives Rose Tyler a potted history of The Doctor through photographic history.

In the new novelisation, Radio Times notes that there are some extra pictures in Clive’s collection, quoting the scene thus:

“Rose saw a photo of a man with a fantastic jaw, dressed in a tweed jacket and bow tie. Then Clive kept the sequence going; an older, angry man in a brown caretaker’s coat, holding a mop; a blonde woman in braces running away from a giant frog in front of Buckingham Palace; a tall, bald black woman wielding a flaming sword; a young girl or boy in a hi-tech wheelchair with what looked like a robot dog at their side…”

That, as you’ve no doubt worked out, references Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, Jodie Whittaker and a couple of future Doctor’s we haven’t met yet.

Whether or not Davies has been tipped of about a giant frog plot line coming up in the eagerly awaited next run of the show is unclear – and, frankly, unlikely.

Who knows, though? Who knows?

Like Russell T’s new take on his original screenplay, that sounds like it could be a lot of fun.

You can buy Rose here.