Neil Penswick wrote the Doctor Who Virgin New Adventures novel The Pit. He was one of a number of writers who submitted scripts, including The Hostage, to Andrew Cartmel in the waning days of the Sylvester McCoy era of Doctor Who. Penswick later sent in the Hostage script to Peter Darvill-Evans, commissioning editor for the Virgin New Adventures line. This piqued Darvill-Evans' interest, and eventually led to a commissioning of the novel that became The Pit.
