Match of the Day (Doctor Who)
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| Author | Chris Boucher |
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| Series |
Doctor Who book: Past Doctor Adventures |
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Release number
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70 |
| Subject | Featuring: Fourth Doctor Leela |
| Publisher | BBC Books |
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Publication date
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January 2005 |
| Pages | 277 |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | The Indestructible Man |
| Followed by | Island of Death |
Match of the Day is a BBC Books original novel written by Chris Boucher and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Fourth Doctor and Leela.
An up-and-coming young duellist named Keefer spots a sniper waiting for him on the side of the R4 motorway. Fortunately, he has disengaged his runner from traffic control for the thrill of driving it himself, and he is thus able to catch the assassin off guard and run him down. Upset by the unprofessionalism of the undeclared challenge, Keefer nevertheless contacts his agent, Jerro Fanson, to find out if they can get coverage of the kill. Fanson promises to do what he can, but warns Keefer that the main story tonight is the death of a prime duellist, Starvil, who just lost to an anonymous spot challenge. While Keefer waits to hear back, Fanson contacts Michaelson, the sports editor of Zone Three, only to learn that Michaelson has already received word that Keefer accepted the challenge and was killed on the roadway. Before they can find out what’s going on, Michaelson turns up dead and Fanson is charged with his murder. Fanson chooses to face a computer interrogation, confident that it will prove his innocence, but is unaware that the computer is registering his claims of innocence as outright lies...
The Doctor detects a fault in the TARDIS as it tries to create a space for itself in a new time continuum. The discontinuities iron themselves out with difficulty, and when the Doctor emerges, he is somewhat disorientated, not yet settled into this particular time and space. Leela gets ahead of him as they explore their surroundings, and they emerge from a tunnel into an arena marked with bloodstains. As they examine the stains, they are confronted by a security guard named Jarvis, who accuses them of defiling the sacred arena and challenges the Doctor to a duel. The Senior Umpire observes the confrontation and orders them to remain still until he’s arrived to sort out the situation. Jarvis nevertheless prepares to draw his gun and shoot the Doctor, but Leela intervenes, overpowering Jarvis and breaking his arm. When the Senior Umpire arrives, he is shocked to see that Leela has fought Jarvis but allowed him to live. When Leela refuses to kill without a reason, the Senior Umpire declares the contest void, shoots Jarvis in the head, and places both Leela and the Doctor—whom he assumes to be her manager—under arrest.
While waiting for Fanson to get back to him, Keefer examines the body of his challenger—and discovers that it’s an android. This was not a spot challenge, but a deliberate murder attempt, and only two people in the settled planets are rich enough to send an android killer after him. Keefer plants an incendiary pellet in his runner and takes cover; as he’d expected, a jet-copter arrives to finish the job, but the pellet sinks into the gas tank and the runner explodes, taking out the copter. Keefer hides in the nearby woods until dark, but, also as expected, there are men with guns waiting for him when he tries to leave. Fortunately, they are not professional killers, and Keefer easily tricks them into shooting at each other and takes out the survivors. Their unprofessionalism indicates that they were just a squad of thugs sent in as backup in case the android and the copter failed to kill Keefer. Hoping that this was the last level of redundancy in his enemy’s plan, Keefer copies the thugs’ thumbprints, steals their wallets, burns their bodies and heads for the spaceport.
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