The novel “I, Alastair” by Robert Mammone was published for the first time in 2020.

Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart faces attempts to overthrow the British Republic. The attacks by forces seeking to undermine the power of the Party and the Leader are becoming more violent and the response must be resolute.

Being the son of one of the Party’s big shots can be a privilege but it also brings burdens, such as the comparisons Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart has to endure with his older brother. He must prove himself worthy of his family, also contributing to his father’s power position, a crucial commitment at a time when the Leader’s health is declining.

The Lethbridge-Stewart series tells the adventures of the character who became famous in the “Doctor Who” TV show when he works without the Doctor. The stories start from the period immediately following the debut of Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart in the TV show and then extend the period covered. These stories include some characters that appeared in the TV show, some invented for other productions connected to it, and others that were created specifically for these novels.

In the television classic series serial “Inferno” one of the episodes took the Third Doctor to a parallel universe where what used to be the UK was ruled by a fascist regime. The situation found by the Doctor in the experimental installation existing in that universe was even more catastrophic than in his universe.

The Doctor had also found Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart there, Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart’s doppelganger who has a slightly differently spelled name and a conspicuous eyepatch. “I, Alastair” can be considered a sort of prequel set in that universe.

This novel includes various doppelgangers of characters who appeared in this series of novels and one of the important elements lies in the similarities and differences that exist between the different versions of these characters. It’s not always immediately clear that a character is a doppelganger, as this is sometimes revealed by something other than their name.

There’s also a connection with the classic serial “The Web of Fear” since among the doppelgangers there’s Captain Knight’s. In that parallel universe, he works alongside Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart and is an important character in certain plot developments.

Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart’s personal story is profoundly influenced by the transformation of the UK into a fascist regime and by the fact that his father is a big shot of that regime very close to the Leader. A good part of the plot concerns the clash with the movement of resistance to the regime, which is also used to delve into the complications of the Lethbridge-Stewart family and the power intrigues within the regime.

Despite this, the plot includes an external threat that is decidedly out of the ordinary. Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart finds himself fighting on different fronts in a situation that creates similarities with the adventures of his doppelganger readers of this series of novels know well.

In my opinion, the plots that mix the dystopia of that parallel universe with elements that are close to those typical of these novels are what make “I, Alastair” a great novel well connected with the television series and other literary works. It’s written as an independent work, which doesn’t require knowledge of other works to understand characters and events. The book also includes the short story “Ashes of the Inferno” by Andy Frankham-Allen, which instead requires knowing who James Gore is, a character who appeared in various works in this series of novels, to understand it. It’s available on Amazon USA, UK, and Canada.