Fan fiction in the 1990s - Doctor Who style, with Virgin Books
By the late 1990's, a clear Who-vian sub-culture had appeared.
Even before Doctor Who went off-air in 1989, Virgin Publishing had applied to publish novelizations; the new line of books called The New Adventures, which featured the Seventh Doctor and Ace ran from 1991. From 1997, later novels featured other companions, notably Bernice Summerfield, who also appeared in a line of Audio CD's. Virgin Publishing also issued The Missing Adventures which featured past Doctors and their companions. These stories take place ‘between’ episodes of the television series.
Fan-fiction is nothing new -- many writers such as Amy Sissons have started as writers of fan-fiction, before gaining the confidence (or the credibility in editor’s eyes) to move onto their own work. Indeed, Star Trek had already shown that a franchise could be kept alive.
What is unusual is the extent of Doctor Who's decentralization ; unlike Star Trek, where Roddenberry retained control before handing over to an heir-designate, Doctor Who has long outlasted its original creators, while the very format -with the Doctor's ability to 'Regenerate' (and therefore change), and his near-immortality- means a much less centralized vision, and therefore both greater creativity, and a greater potential for anarchy.
The BBC finally realized the strength of the series by taking the spin-offs back in house in 1999. At that time, Big Finish Productions began running officially-sanctioned audio plays. The situation continued until 2003, when the BBC announced that it would relaunch Doctor Who on BBC1, in a prime-time Saturday night slot.
