Candy Jar Unveils New Doctor Who and Lucy Wilson Books for Christmas

Morning News · Saturday 14 November 2026

Candy Jar Books has lined up a Christmas run of new Doctor Who spin-off books, from a festive Lucy Wilson double bill to a UNIT collection set on Good Friday 1974, with Big Finish favourite Erimem joining Lucy Wilson along the way. Also this morning: Marvel names the official Avengers team for Avengers: Doomsday, the Magic: The Gathering Star Trek set is out now, Disney unveils a full-size Grogu for Life Day, Joel Kinnaman mutates in creature thriller The Cell, Takashi Miike teams Jon Hamm and Andrew Koji for Bullfrog, and Netflix renews Virgin River for a record ninth season.

The News That Matters

Candy Jar lines up new Doctor Who and Lucy Wilson books for Christmas

• What’s new: Candy Jar Books, the Cardiff publisher behind the licensed Lucy Wilson and Lethbridge-Stewart ranges, has set out its next run of Whoniverse titles, Blogtor Who and The Doctor Who Companion report
• For Christmas: Chris Lynch’s The Lucy Wilson Mysteries: ’Tis the Season… brings two chaotic Christmas stories, with witches and monsters, to Ogmore-by-Sea. “Would it really be Christmas without a few monsters?” Lynch says
• Also on pre-order: Two more Lucy Wilson adventures: Christine Harris’s Eggs of Darkness, and Iain McLaughlin’s The Ark in Time, which brings in Erimem, the Fifth Doctor’s companion from Big Finish audio, for a story with dinosaurs, woolly mammoths and a broken timeship
• For UNIT fans: UNIT: Operation Good Friday and Other Stories collects nine new stories set on Good Friday 1974, featuring the Brigadier, Benton and Turner. Lethbridge-Stewart: The Havoc Files 1 and 4 are also going back to print in the next few weeks
• UK availability: Candy Jar is a UK publisher. ’Tis the Season… is listed by UK booksellers for 26 November (Candy Jar says December, in time for Christmas); the other titles are on pre-order now

Between Candy Jar and Big Finish, there is no shortage of Doctor Who stories to read or hear while the TV series is off air this Christmas. For the audio side, see our Doctor Who News on Big Finish’s Short Trips.

Marvel names the official Avengers line-up for Avengers: Doomsday

• What’s new: Speaking to Empire, Marvel confirmed the official Avengers team in Avengers: Doomsday: Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson as Captain America, Danny Ramirez’s Joaquin Torres as Falcon, Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi, as reported by Polygon and Variety
• The set-up: They are one of several teams of heroes facing Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom. “We’re coming out of years of seemingly no organised Avengers team, and that’s exactly when they face these incursions,” Kevin Feige told Empire
• Gambit: Feige also told Empire that Channing Tatum’s Gambit is a fully rounded character this time, and is not all for laughs
• UK availability: In UK cinemas from 16 December 2026 (US 18 December)

A proper, named Avengers team for the first time since Endgame is a bigger deal than it sounds. Our superhero round-up has the poster that first lined up the heroes beside Doom.

Update: Magic: The Gathering’s Star Trek set is out now

• What’s new: Magic: The Gathering | Star Trek went on general release on 13 November, following prerelease events and a launch party in Los Angeles on 6 November, Collider and Wizards of the Coast report. When we covered the Star Trek Secret Lair drops in October, the main set was still on the way
• What’s in it: The crossover set draws on ships, heroes and villains from 60 years of Star Trek on television and film, across Commander decks, boosters and bundles
• The design: Designers told Collider they built in ways to negotiate and trade with other players, to bring the choices that drive a Star Trek episode to the table. Quark, Humble Proprietor, for one, hands out Treasure on every player’s turn
• UK availability: Out now from 13 November 2026 through Wizards of the Coast’s stores and retailers, including in the UK

It is the first time the final frontier has been a full Magic set. Earlier coverage: the Secret Lair drops in our 28 October Morning News, and Netflix’s Planeswalker first look.

Star Wars Life Day range includes a full-size Grogu animatronic

• What’s new: Disney Store and Disney Parks have unveiled their Star Wars Life Day collection, named after the Wookiee holiday from the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special, Collider reports
• The headline piece: Ultimate Grogu, a full-size animatronic, goes on pre-order from the Disney Store from 17 November and comes to Disney Parks in spring 2027
• What else: The range also includes lightsabers and items tied to Andor and Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord. DisneyStore.com is revealing more products each day until 16 November, and Batuu Adventure Buddies arrive at Galaxy’s Edge’s Droid Depot from 17 November
• UK availability: UK availability not yet confirmed

Life Day began as one of the strangest moments in Star Wars history, so it is fitting that its biggest gift is now a Grogu you can take home.

Joel Kinnaman mutates in creature thriller The Cell

• What’s new: Joel Kinnaman will star in The Cell for Sleeping Dogs director Adam Cooper, The Hollywood Reporter reports, with Highland Film Group launching sales at the American Film Market
• The story: Kinnaman plays Ryan Weaver, an investigative journalist about to expose a powerful drug company, who wakes up locked inside a secret medical testing facility. As patients are drugged and experimented on and his own body begins to mutate, he finds that the people running the place are creating something far worse than the disease they claim to treat
• Who’s making it: Evan Turner (Dear David) and Ben Zazove wrote the script. Filming starts in February 2027
• UK availability: UK date not yet confirmed

A body-horror lead role in almost every frame is a big ask, and Kinnaman, from RoboCop to Altered Carbon, is no stranger to playing a man whose body is not quite his own.

Jon Hamm and Andrew Koji hunt a serial killer in Takashi Miike’s Bullfrog

• What’s new: Cult Japanese director Takashi Miike (Audition, 13 Assassins) will make Bullfrog, a psychological thriller set in a near-future Tokyo under lockdown, Variety reports
• The story: Andrew Koji plays a Japanese detective and Jon Hamm a former FBI profiler, tracking a mysterious serial killer in a dangerous game of cat and mouse
• Who’s making it: Eric Jordan Baker wrote the script. mk2 Films is selling the film at the American Film Market, with Tokyo’s OLM overseeing production in Japan. Filming is planned for summer 2027
• UK availability: UK date not yet confirmed

Miike has made more than 100 films, but pairing him with Don Draper is a new one. Koji, meanwhile, is next seen in Gangs of London series four.

Netflix renews Virgin River for a record ninth season

• What’s new: Netflix has renewed Virgin River for a ninth season, making it the streamer’s longest-running original scripted drama by number of seasons, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline report. Netflix says the series has passed half a billion views
• What’s next: Season eight premieres in 2027. The 10-episode ninth season takes the show to 94 episodes, with Patrick Sean Smith returning as showrunner
• Who’s in it: Alexandra Breckenridge and Martin Henderson return as Mel and Jack
• UK availability: All seasons so far stream on Netflix in the UK. Season eight is due in 2027; no date yet

Not every hit needs a spaceship. Mel and Jack’s small town keeps bringing viewers home, and Netflix is betting they will keep coming back.

Which of these Candy Jar books would you pick up first? Tell us below.

Back tonight at 6pm with the Evening News.