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Fear Makes Companions of Us All

Critical Essays on Horror in Doctor Who

Fear Makes Companions of Us All cover

Fear Makes Companions of Us All

Critical Essays on Horror in Doctor Who

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Pre-order. Available Feb 05 2026
$126.36 RRP $157.95 Website price saving $31.59 (20%)

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Description

Fantastical, but also horrifying at times, this collection of eleven essays delves deep into the topics of Horror in the long-running and acclaimed series, Doctor Who.

Since the beginning of its first season, the long-running British series, Doctor Who, has had audiences “hiding behind the sofa.” While the widely acclaimed series stands as an icon of science fiction media, the show has also, since its beginning, engaged audiences in horror tropes, imagery, and narrative. Fear Makes Companions of Us All is the first book to take up a critical evaluation of horror in Doctor Who. This edited collection of eleven essays examines Doctor Who from multiple critical perspectives including youth horror, gothic horror, folk horror, and eco-horror. This book will be of interest to all Doctor Who fans and scholars of science fiction and horror studies. Its engaging and readable prose also mean this book will be a welcome addition to the bookshelves of devoted Doctor Who fans, enthusiasts of hauntology, and anyone who has ever “hid behind the sofa” watching the intrepid Doctor.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. “The Drowning Doctor: Spectatorial Experience of Fear Between Serialized Episodes”
Kelley Holley, Rochester Institute of Technology, US
2. “Teaching Through Terror: Gothic Children and the Narcissism of Fear”
Wade Newhouse, William Peace University, US
3. “The Anxiety of Gendered Creation in Doctor Who's Frankenstein Stories”
Robert Kilker, Kutztown University, US
4. “Doctor Who, Folk Horror, and the Contested Village”
Dawn Keetley, Lehigh University, US
5. “Nasty: The Depictions of Evil Presented through the Lens of Increased Violence and the Physically Abhorrent within Peter Davison's Tenure as the 5th Doctor (1982-1984)”
Robert McLaughlin, Arden University, UK
6. “The Unquiet Dead of Doctor Who
J. Christian Tatu, Independent Scholar
7. “The SS Madame de Pompadour; or The Future Prometheus”
Teresa Cutler Broyles, University of New Mexico, US
8. “Brand Shock: The Horrors of Corporate Afterlife in “Rise of the Cybermen” and “Age of Steel”
Erin Giannini, Independent Scholar
9. “The Silent, Sterile Planet: Ecosystem, Extinction, and Mutation in 'The Daleks' and 'The Mutants'”
Octavia Cade, University of Otago, New Zealand
10. “Furies from the Deep: The Monstrous Seas of Doctor Who”
Mark Fryers, Open University, UK
11. “Ecogothic Body Horror: Monstrous Hybridity and Gender in Doctor Who, Season 13, 'The Seeds of Doom' (1976)”
Teresa Fitzpatrick, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Index

Product details

Published Feb 05 2026
Format Ebook (PDF)
Edition 1st
Extent 1
ISBN 9781611465259
Imprint Lehigh University Press
Series Critical Conversations in Horror Studies
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Anthology Editor

Robert F. Kilker

Robert F. Kilker is associate professor of English…

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