Matthew Sweet

We’re all stories in the end…In this exciting collection you’ll find all-new stories spinning off from some of your favourite Doctor Who moments across the history of the series. Learn what happened next, what went on before, and what occurred off-screen in an inventive selection of sequels, side-trips, foreshadowings and first-hand accounts – and look forward too, with a brand new adventure for the Thirteenth Doctor. Each story expands in thrilling ways upon aspects of Doctor Who’s enduring legend. With contributions from show luminaries past and present – including Colin Baker, Matthew Waterhouse, Vinay Patel, Joy Wilkinson and Terrance Dicks – The Target Storybook is a once-in-a-lifetime tour around the wonders of the Whoniverse.

Penniless virgins. Reckless dukes. Flappers. Airmen. Suffragettes. Barbara Cartland made them fall in love. She wrote 723 books without touching a typewriter: instead, she reclined on her sofa with a Pekinese on her lap - and romantic fiction billowed out of her. This dazzling biography reveals the woman behind the powder and mascara - a clever, socially precarious writer navigating a twentieth-century world of war-damaged men, class conflict and sexual peril. After 49 proposals, she chose the wrong one. What followed was a life stranger than any of her novels. From country house weekends to Fleet Street offices, from Mayfair bedrooms to the divorce court, Matthew Sweet traces Cartland's extraordinary journey through a century of upheaval. Here are terrorist plots, psychic seances, suppressed scandals, plagiarism battles in the cutthroat world of romance publishing - and a surprising turn as a campaigner for Romany rights. Drawing on unprecedented access to Cartland's vast archives and firsthand accounts from those who knew her, Sweet delivers a wonderfully entertaining study of class, fame, scandal and self-aggrandisement. Part satire, part biography, part social history, The Great Dictator reveals how a literary legend was made.

Based on Mark Gatiss's brand new TV series set in post-war London, Bookish follows an enigmatic independent bookshop owner who helps the local police solve crimes.

Adapted from the major series created by Mark Gatiss - out now! London, 1946. Gabriel Book is an erudite and unconventional London bookseller married to Trottie, the owner of the wallpaper shop next door. He is also a sleuth who uses the chaotic riches of his stock to crack the puzzling cases that come his way. He does not work alone. Book's shop is a magnet for waifs and strays - some of whom bring mysteries of their own to his door. There's Nora, sometime bookseller and true crime enthusiast; Dog, connoisseur of ginger biscuits and then Jack, whose arrival at the shop forces Book to confront a loose end from his own past. Clever, endearing and entertaining, Bookish is a warm-hearted and unexpected mystery, about books, murder and the secrets we all keep.

Adapted from the major series created by Mark Gatiss - out now London, 1946. Gabriel Book is an erudite and unconventional London bookseller married to Trottie, the owner of the wallpaper shop next door. He is also a sleuth who uses the chaotic riches of his stock to crack the puzzling cases that come his way. He does not work alone. Book's shop is a magnet for waifs and strays - some of whom bring mysteries of their own to his door. There's Nora, sometime bookseller and true crime enthusiast; Dog, connoisseur of ginger biscuits and then Jack, whose arrival at the shop forces Book to confront a loose end from his own past. Clever, endearing and entertaining, Bookish is a warm-hearted and unexpected mystery, about books, murder and the secrets we all keep.

‘[A] witty, unusual murder mystery’ Sunday TimesA compelling mystery for fans of Foyle's War. Summer 1944. The tide of war is turning. The Allies are at the gates of Paris. But the Nazis have one last chance of victory – and its success depends on a traitor in the quiet English village of Larkwhistle in the New Forest. When Jill Metcalfe receives the news of her brother Henry’s death from his friend, US Air Force officer Jack Strafford, she learns of more than just his loss – she is recruited to continue his mission. Jack has come to the village in the hope that Henry’s cryptic last words will reveal the identity of the traitor he is hunting. With Jill at his side, they begin to investigate. ? But someone doesn’t want them looking into what happened to Henry. And when a body is discovered, it seems like there might be more to this little village – and its inhabitants – than first meets the eye. ? Will they discover the traitor in their midst, or will the war claim more victims? ??

Adapted from the upcoming major U&alibi series created by Mark Gatiss Matthew Sweet's novelisation of Bookish is based on a brand new six-part TV series coming to U&alibi this summer, set in post-war London in 1946, about an enigmatic independent bookshop owner who helps the local police solve crimes. Gabriel Book is an erudite and unconventional London bookseller married to Trottie, the owner of the wallpaper shop next door. He is also a sleuth who uses the chaotic riches of his stock to crack the puzzling cases that come his way. He does not work alone. Book's shop is a magnet for waifs and strays - one of whom is an aspiring writer called Nora. Unlike the TV series, the novel will re-tell the crime stories from Nora's perspective. Clever, endearing and entertaining, Bookish is a warm-hearted and unexpected mystery, about books, murder and the secrets we all keep.

Adapted from the upcoming major U&alibi series created by Mark GatissGabriel Book is an erudite and unconventional London bookseller married to Trottie, the owner of the wallpaper shop next door. He is also a sleuth who uses the chaotic riches of his stock to crack the puzzling cases that come his way. He does not work alone. Book's shop is a magnet for waifs and strays - some of whom bring mysteries of their own to his door. There's Nora, sometime bookseller and true crime enthusiast; Dog, connoisseur of ginger biscuits and then Jack, whose arrival at the shop forces Book to confront a loose end from his own past. Clever, endearing and entertaining, Bookish is a warm-hearted and unexpected mystery, about books, murder and the secrets we all keep.

‘[A] witty, unusual murder mystery’ Sunday TimesA compelling mystery for fans of Foyle's War. Summer 1944. The tide of war is turning. The Allies are at the gates of Paris. But the Nazis have one last chance of victory – and its success depends on a traitor in the quiet English village of Larkwhistle in the New Forest. When Jill Metcalfe receives the news of her brother Henry’s death from his friend, US Air Force officer Jack Strafford, she learns of more than just his loss – she is recruited to continue his mission. Jack has come to the village in the hope that Henry’s cryptic last words will reveal the identity of the traitor he is hunting. With Jill at his side, they begin to investigate. ? But someone doesn’t want them looking into what happened to Henry. And when a body is discovered, it seems like there might be more to this little village – and its inhabitants – than first meets the eye. ? Will they discover the traitor in their midst, or will the war claim more victims? ??

Marine biologist Hebe Harrison has vanished from the timelines and the Doctor and Mel must find a way of getting their new friend back! But little do they realise what perils lie ahead - or who stands against them... 1. Broadway Belongs to Me! by Matthew Sweet. The Doctor and Mel begin their search for Hebe in 1930s New York, where history is taking a dark turn all of its own. On Broadway, they discover a genuine aberration of the timestreams: Behold America! - a hot shoe show set in a future Fascist United States. Starring Melanie Bush. Opening tonight... 2. Purification by Chris Chapman. The Doctor and Mel follow the trail to a port in New Zealand, 1910. A ship is being prepared for a journey to Antarctica and the Doctor realises that this is Captain Scott's Terra Nova expedition. But this is merely the beginning of an intricate scheme to rewrite the future of humanity. 3. Time-Burst by Ian Potter. Tracking the anomaly that erased Hebe from history, the Doctor and Mel find an instability in Sheffield, 1864. Who is Mrs Virtue, the mysterious owner of the new steelworks? And can the Doctor untwist history before a natural disaster washes them all away...? CAST: Colin Baker (The Doctor), Bonnie Langford (Melanie Bush), Ruth Madeley (Hebe Harrison), Imogen Stubbs (Patricia McBride/Time-Suit), Rosalie Craig (Frances Drouet), Sophie-Louise Dann (Lydia Putti), Graham Vick (Julian Arnstein), Nicholas Pegg (Karel Lombard / Chorus Boy), Sam Stafford (Stagehand (Billy) / Bystander), Leah Brotherhead (Elizabeth Rodden / Martha Curtis), Jonny Weldon (Thomas Rodden), Greig Johnson (Jasper Woodward / Harbour Master), Luke R Francis (Patrick), Billie Fulford-Brown (Mary), Connor Williams (Colton), George Bukhari (Security), Martin O'Neill (Arthur Lee). Other parts played by members of the cast.

Stockholm, 1968. Tusen amerikanska desertörer har tagit sig till den svenska huvudstaden för att undkomma Vietnamkrigets fasor. De är unga, de är radikala och de vill starta en revolution. Sverige välkomnar dem med öppna armar något som inte ses med blida ögon av CIA, som iscensätter Operation Kaos. Agenter skickas till Stockholm för att infiltrera de olika organisationerna och efter några månader har de lyckats vända sina landsmän emot varandra. När Matthew Sweet börjar undersöka Operation kaos upptäcker han snabbt att bakom kodnamnet döljer sig en intrikat labyrint av lögner. Ju fler desertörer han intervjuar, desto mer ifrågasätter han vem som egentligen bedrog vem och varför.

'A remarkable story of subterfuge and brainwashing that few Hollywood scriptwriters could have made up' Simon Heffer, author of The Age of DecadenceIn 1967, at the height of the Vietnam War, an exodus begins. A thousand American deserters and draft-resisters escape the brutal fighting for the calm shores of Stockholm. These defectors are young, radical and want to start a revolution. The Swedes treat their new guests like rock stars - but the CIA is going to put a stop to that. It's a job for the deep-cover men of Operation Chaos and their allies - agents who know how to invade radical organizations and crush them from the inside. And within a few months, the GIs have turned on each other - and the interrogations and recriminations begin. A gripping espionage story filled with a host of extraordinary and unbelievable plays, Operation Chaos is the incredible but true account of the men who left the war, how they betrayed each other and how they became lost in a world where anything seemed possible - even the idea that the CIA had secretly programmed them to kill their friends.

Set in Nebraska in the '90s Will a bit of a social outcast and Mike the popular football player figure out that there is more to life than what high school has taught them. Days after graduation they explore their relationship and begin to ask themselves where their lives begin. Based on the album by Matthew Sweet Girlfriendis a pop/rock musical for everyone who's lived in a small town and feels for their first love.

The Ritz, the Savoy, the Dorchester and Claridge's - during the Second World War they teemed with spies, con-artists, deposed royals and the exiled governments of Europe. And now, Matthew Sweet's West End Front is just as teeming with the incredible cast of characters from this unique period of London's history. Meet the girl from MI5 who had the gravy browning licked from her legs by Dylan Thomas; the barman who was appointed the keeper of Winston Churchill's private bottle of whisky; the East End Communist who marched with his comrades into the air-raid shelter of the Savoy; the throneless prince born in a suite at Claridge's declared Yugoslav territory for one night only. Matthew Sweet has interviewed them all for this account of the extraordinary events that unfolded under the reinforced ceilings of London's grand hotels. Using the memories of first-hand witnesses, the contents of newly declassified government files and a wealth of previously unpublished letters, memoirs and photographs, he has reconstructed a lost world of scandal, intrigue and fortitude.

This is a wonderful secret history of British movies that includes the scandals, the suicides, the immolations and the contract killings - the product of thousands of conversations with veteran film-makers. Here you'll meet, among many others, the 20s film idols snorting cocaine from an illuminated glass dance floor on the bank of the Thames, the model who escaped Soho's gangsters to become the queen of the nudie flicks and the genteel Scottish comedienne who, at the age of fifty-five, reinvented herself as a star of exploitation cinema, and fondly remembers 'the one where I drilled in people's heads and ate their brains'. Welcome to the lost worlds of British cinema.

This text is an attempt to re-imagine the Victorians: to suggest new ways of looking at received ideas about their culture; to distinguish myth from reality; to generate the possibility of a new relationship between them and people of the 21st century.