It is the first novel-length text featuring The Doctor not to be based upon a previously transmitted production, although being a novelisation it is not strictly speaking an "original" novel.

Adapted by John Ainsworth, it featured both Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant reprising their television roles of the Sixth Doctor and Peri respectively.

They discover their captor is the Toymaker, who has been stuck on Earth for several millennia, tricking a few unsuspecting humans into playing games with him and losing, becoming his perpetual servants.

Several stories were in the planning stages for the 23rd Season of Doctor Who, three of which were in the middle of being scripted when the (temporary) cancellation announcement was made.

Being the first slated for production, Williams script was by far the most advanced at the time of cancellation, with Matthew Robinson (who had helmed Resurrection of the Daleks and Attack of the Cybermen in the previous two seasons) pencilled in as director.

Location filming was also planned to take place in Blackpool at the Pleasure Beach, on the promenade and at south shore police station.

[2] The story however was never produced due to Doctor Who first being cancelled by the BBC, then this being revised to an 18-month break, with all planned storylines being junked and a new, shorter season being assembled for transmission in September 1986.

Doctor who's Audio Series producer David Richardson briefed all the Composers including Jamie Robertson to give the lost stories season an original but classic "80's Retro" feel.