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t Doctor had more doubles or copies than any other Doctor. He always seemed to be being mistaken for someone (although it was probably only once or twice). In true comedy style (and I always try and structure my books as comedies, but without jokes) the Doctor's double is installed by mistake as the Chairman of the Armageddon Convention. Hilarious consequences ensue!
Cardinal Bellarmine is, by the way, a real historical character (the third we have encountered so far in this book, after Galileo Galilei and Christopher Marlowe). Bellarmine was one of the Vatican's chief inquisitors, and used to travel around Europe seeking out religious heresy. Later he acted as chief prosecutor at the trial of Sir Walter Raleigh. Raleigh, interestingly enough, is a ghostly presence looking over the entire book. He was involved in setting up the Roanoake colony as seen in the Prologue, and gets a gratuitous mention in the epilogue in connection with Shakespeare's death (more on that later). I've become fascinated with Raleigh over the years, and during the writing of the book I was continually aware that he was around somewhere, just over the horizon, or just around the corner. The trouble was that I could never find a compelling enough reason to actually introduce him into the plot.
What I should have done, of course, is have Cardinal Bellarmine and the Doctor actually come face to face at some point, but that was just not achievable within the events that I was working with. Never mind.
LetÕs take a step back, and look at the book I thought I was going to write, instead of the book I did write.
Having written three Seventh Doctor novels for Virgin, I was pretty desperate not to have to write another one. I felt like IÕd done everything I wanted to with the Seventh Doctor, and I wanted to move onto new territory if only to stop myself getting bored. What I really wanted to do next was a Third Doctor novel for the Missing Adventures range Ð Pertwee always was my favourite. The trouble
