Gareth Roberts no longer writing City of Death book

Author and scriptwriter Gareth Roberts, writer of several Doctor Who books and scripts over the past 20 years, has this evening announced on Twitter that he is no longer working on a novelisation of the 1979 Doctor Who serial City of Death, the most-watched story in the programme's history. Instead, the book will now be written by author and former BBC Doctor Who website editor James Goss. Goss's previous work includes the Torchwood novel Almost Perfect, the Tenth Doctor audio book Dead Air, and being one of the first authors to pen a novel for the Twelfth Doctor with the recent The Blood Cell. He also worked as producer of the animated Doctor Who serials Scream of the Shalka and The Infinite Quest.

City of Death was originally scripted by producer Graham Williams and script editor Douglas Adams, from a story idea by David Fisher. Transmitted under the pseudonym of "David Agnew", the story gained over 16 million viewers in the autumn of 1979, but like Adams's other scripts for Doctor Who, rights issues meant that - unlike the majority of classic series stories - a novelisation was never produced under the original Target Books run.

In October last year it was announced that Roberts would finally be penning a novelisation of City of Death, following the success of his novelisation of Adams' scripts for the unfinished serial Shada in 2012. Roberts had become particularly known for his affinity with the Season 17 era of Doctor Who during the mid-1990s, when he penned three well-received books set during that season for Virgin Publishing's Missing Adventures range of original Doctor Who novels. Two of Roberts's Missing Adventures for the Season 17 TARDIS team are currently being adapted into audio plays by Big Finish Productions.

Roberts's novelisation of City of Death had originally been expected to be released this year - there is currently no information on when Goss's eventual version of the book may be on the shelves.