‘Doctor Who’ Collides With ‘Mr. Men’ In New Children’s Book Mash-Up Series

Now, I'm not too sure how popular Roger Hargreaves' series of Mr. Men children's' books are in the good ol' United States, but I grew up as a massive fan of the short, digestible and highly entertaining line of books featuring the likes of Mr. Tickle, Mr. Happy and Mr. Bump (my favorite).

Next year, Mr. Men will be mashed-up with another beloved British franchise as Puffin Books releases four Doctor Who-inspired children's books written and illustrated by Adam Hargreaves, who is both Roger Hargreaves' son and the original inspiration for the series!

There will eventually be twelve titles in the Mr. Men/Doctor Who series of children's books, but the first four will focus on William Hartnell's First Doctor, Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor, Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor, and Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor, who is the current on-screen incarnation.

The Mr. Men series launched in 1971 with Mr Tickle, created by Roger Hargreaves in response to his son Adam's question, "What does a tickle look like?" The franchise was acquired by Sanrio --- the company best known for Hello Kitty --- in 2011, and Sanrio has revitalized the line with new characters such as Mr. Mo, Mr. Marvelous and Mr. Adventure.

In a joint statement announcing the titles, Alastair McHarrie, licensing director of Sanrio Global Ltd, said, “There is a wealth of unofficial fan-created content online. We wanted to give something back to these supporters so we’ve created the first official Hargreaves mash-up. Who better to partner with than another classic British property, Doctor Who? We couldn’t be more excited.”

With more Mr. Men/Doctor Who titles due, we're sure to see cartoon versions of David Tennant, Peter Davison and even Paul McGann from his one off-appearance as the Eighth Doctor. It's a shame, however, that we probably won't get to see John Hurt's battle-scarred and weary War Doctor in the classic Mr. Men style any time soon.