Plot

The novel is set in Britain in 1987, and involves the Seventh Doctor and his companions Chris Cwej and Roz Forrester living on a working-class council estate while attempting to track down an infinitely powerful Gallifreyan weapon before it falls into the wrong hands. A young boy living on the estate, Gabriel Tyler, appears to be the focus of strange powers, and also for the attentions of Mrs Jericho, whose own grieviously ill young son seems to be linked to Gabriel in some way, through a secret Gabriel's mother has long tried to hide.

Background

Davies had already established himself as a successful writer of children's television by 1996, having penned well-received serials such as Dark Season (1991) and Century Falls (1993), and winning a BAFTA Children's Award for an episode of Children's Ward, a series he both wrote for and produced from 1992 to 1995. A staff scriptwriter at Granada Television, he was beginning to move into adult television, writing for soap operas such as Families and Revelations, the latter of which he created.

Themes

There are several aspects of Damaged Goods which contain elements present throughout much of Davies's other work. The inclusion of a family named Tyler, in particular, is a trademark of the writer — Tylers also appear in Revelations, Queer as Folk, The Second Coming and the 2005 re-launch of Doctor Who itself.

Reviews

Reviewing the novel in his Shelf Life column in Doctor Who Magazine, the magazine's resident book critic Dave Owen was extremely positive about Damaged Goods. "Author Russell T Davies is a welcome new addition to Doctor Who fiction, bringing a lucid, matter-of-fact style of storytelling that has more in common with Stephen Gallagher's modern horror novels than Irvine Welsh's stylised fables... Purists might argue that a book full of sex, drugs and squalor can't really be Doctor Who, but they would be forgetting that the essence of the series and those like it is in portraying ordinary people's reactions to the unprecedented. It's done so brilliantly here that, much as I abhor scores, rankings and superlatives, I'll admit that Damaged Goods is currently my favourite New Adventure."^[6]

1. ^ Richardson, David. The Man Who. "TV Zone: Doctor Who Special". Special 56, spring 2004, page 71.
2. ^ Cornell, Paul. Script Doctors: Paul Cornell. "Doctor Who Magazine". Issue 352, cover dated February 2, 2005, page 57.
3. ^ ^a b c Quoted by Howe, David J. Tales from the Fiction Factory: Chapter Five — From Cradle to Grave. "Doctor Who Magazine", issue 317, cover dated May 29, 2002, page 12.
4. ^ Davies, Russell T. Transmission was madness. Honestly. (Subscription link). "The Guardian". Monday September 15, 2003.
5. ^ Davies, Russell T. Audio commentary on the 2003 "Definitive Collector's Edition" DVD boxed set of Queer as Folk. (VCD0308).
6. ^ Owen, Dave. Shelf Life: Damaged Goods. "Doctor Who Magazine". Issue 243, cover dated September 25, 1996, pages 21–22.
7. ^ Owen, Dave. The best (and worst) of Virgin. "Doctor Who Magazine". Issue 265, cover dated June 3, 1998, page 35.