Tom Baker is back as the Fourth Doctor in the finally completed ‘lost’ ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘Shada.
Back in 1979, the adventure was set to be the celebratory end to the seventeenth series of the BBC One sci-fi show, penned by acclaimed ‘Who’ writer Douglas Adams.
It was set in Cambridge and showed the Doctor, his robot dog K9 and his companion Romana team up with retired Time Lord Professor Chronotis to defeat the evil alien Skagra who is attempting to steal the secrets to the prison planet Shada.
However, the serial had to be scrapped when partway through filming when a strike at the BBC meant work had to be abandoned, making ‘Shada’ an almost mythical tale amongst fans of the programme.
BBC Worldwide has now announced that ‘Shada’ is being released as a digital download, and on DVD and Blu-ray, combining the original completed footage with new animated sequences to fill in the gaps.
Baker, 83, and Lalla Ward, 66, have reprised their roles as the Time Lord and companion Romana for the animations as well as other members as the original cast and the actor is delighted that he has finally got the chance to finish the story.
He said: "’Shada’ was one of my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ stories. I have many fond memories of shooting the location scenes in Cambridge, and it was disappointing not to finish the story in studio. I’m so glad that BBC Worldwide have found a way to bring fans a complete visual version."
‘Shada’ was previously recreated as an animated webcast in 2003, with Eighth Doctor actor Paul McGann taking the lead, and it was also novelised by writer Gareth Roberts in 2012.
It is being produced by the team behind the highly successful and critically acclaimed animation of lost ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Power of the Daleks’ and lost ‘Dad’s Army’ episode ‘A Stripe For Frazer’.
The team were granted access to nearly seven hours of raw footage from the original 1979 ‘Shada’ shoot from which they are editing the new production from scratch, with all the original film negatives re-scanned in full HD and digitally remastered.
‘Shada’ will be released as a digital download on Friday November 24, and on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday, December 4.
On Saturday, December 2 there will be a special screening of ‘Doctor Who: Shada’ at the BFI Southbank in London.
Further information will be available from bfi.org.uk from Monday October 23.
Tickets for BFI members will be available from Tuesday November 7, and for the public from Tuesday November 14.
Unfinished Doctor Who story Shada finally completed
