Sick Building is a BBC Books New Series Adventures Doctor Who novel written by Paul Magrs and based on the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones.
The TARDIS arrives on Tiermann's World. Professor Tiermann and his family live alone here in a futuristic, fully automated Dreamhome, protected by a supposedly impenetrable force shield. An enormous alien creature called the Voracious Craw is heading towards their home with the intent to devour everything.
- Ambiguous Time Period: The year is never specified but Iris Wildthyme stories contradict eachother as to when Barbra came from:
- The Dreadful Flap says Barbra comes from the 35th century.
- Enter Wildthyme says she hails from the 59th century but mentions a heavily Broad Strokes version of this story with The Doctor omitted for copyright reasons.
- Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: Barbra says that robots are programmed never to kill eachother.
- Book Ends: Starts and ends from the perspective of a big cativing in the forest near Tiermann's house.
- Character Overlap: Some of the robots appeared in other stories by Paul Magrs:
- Barbra the vending machine goes on to have adventures with Iris Wildthyme.
- Toaster and the robotic sunbed appear in the Lost On Mars trilogy. Thought that would have to be an Alternate Continuity because it's set on an early Mars colony.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Some of the robots functions, such as Amanda having a robot that eats her dinner for her and another offering Martha and Solin cigarettes and smoking them both itself when she says she doesn't smoke.
- Domed Hometown: Dreamhome and it's grounds are covered by a dome-shaped forcefield that keeps out the weather and local predators.
- Egopolis: Ernest Tiermann bought a planet and named it Tiermann's world.
- House Fey: Invoked with the A.I. that controls Dreamhome being named Domovoi after a household spirit from Slavic mythology.
- Job-Stealing Robot: Tiermann portrays the trope as a good thing, that he built his robots so humans don't have to work, though it's not clear how widespread they are off his planet.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: One of the animals that gets into Dreamhome is a bear with a unicorn horn.
- Planet Eater: The plot kicks off with The Doctor coming to Tiermann's World to warn them that an unstoppable creature called a Voracious Craw is coming to eat the planet.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The Servo-furnishing robots' eyes flash red when they attack.
- Robotic Reveal: Ernest Tiermann and Amanda are revealed to be a cyborgs.
- Smart House: Dreamhome is staffed by an army of robots who do everything, controlled by a genius A.I.
- Tap on the Head: Tiermann punches Solin unconscious when he won't board the escape ship without The Doctor and Martha.
- Tin-Can Robot: The Doctor describes Tiermann's robots as "all a bit Lost-In-Spacey".
- Turned Against Their Masters: Domovoi isn't happy with Tiermann intending to leave her and all the robots behind on a doomed planet.
