A new Doctor Who tale of spaceships and smokies which brings the TV icon to Arbroath will be launched next month.
Flagship BBC programme Doctor Who is more popular now than when it first aired in 1963, and Dundee author AL Kennedy has brought its protagonist to visit Arbroath.
Kennedy previously lived in Arbroath and she wanted her stories to be set in a small town.
The author, whose 1993 debut Looking for the Possible Dance made her name as she was listed among Granta’s 20 best of young British novelists, set the novel in 1978 and opted to style her character after the contemporaneous version played by Tom Baker.
She will launch her new novel Doctor Who: The Drosten’s Curse at Hospitalfield House in Arbroath on Monday October 12 at 6.30pm.
The novel is set in Arbroath and surrounding areas with scenes also playing out at the historic St Vigeans site to the north of the town.
A huge Doctor Who fan, AL Kennedy previously contributed a short story to the Doctor Who: Time Trips collection, and was inspired to develop it into a full length novel.
She said: “I always loved tuning in to Doctor Who, although there were the usual tussles with my parents over whether it was too scary or not.
“I think the Doctor is actually quite a good way of introducing children to scary things in a safe way.
“And I’m sure that some of my outlook on humanity and the way we treat the world and each other comes straight out that lovely gift sci-fi generally offers the chance to get away from your own species and from assuming it’s necessarily the best idea around.”