Shada (audio story)

Shada
Adapted from:	Shada
Doctor:	Eighth Doctor
Companion(s):	Romana II, K9 Mark II
Featuring:	Chronotis, Chris, Clare
Main enemy:	Skagra
Main setting:	St. Cedd's College, 1979 Skagra's Carrier Ship Shada
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writers:	Douglas Adams, Gary Russell
Director:	Nicholas Pegg
Producer:	Gary Russell and Jason Haigh-Ellery
Music:	Russell Stone
Sound:	Gareth Jenkins
Cover by:	Clayton Hickman
Release details
Release number:	II
Release date:	December 2003
Format:	2 CDs - 6 Episodes
Production code:	BFPDWBBCiCD02
ISBN:	ISBN 1-84435-039-8
Official trailer
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Bonus Releases
← Previous	Real Time
Next →	Her Final Flight

You may wish to consult Shada for other, similarly-named pages.

Shada was an audio release of an audio/webcast adaptation of the unaired Doctor Who story of the same name. It was adapted from Douglas Adams' original story and featured Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, Lalla Ward as Romana II and John Leeson as K9.

This story, like the previous story (Real Time), was co-produced with BBCi, and like Real Time it included extra scenes that did not feature in the webcast version.

For the adaptation of this story additional scenes were written by Gary Russell that were necessary to adapt the story for audio. This included changing the Doctor of this story from the Fourth to the Eighth Doctor. The added prologue partially explains the footage seen in 1983 television special The Five Doctors where the Fourth Doctor and Romana II are seen punting.

Publisher's summary

The Doctor has a spot of unfinished business. Reunited with his old friends Romana and K9, he answers a summons from Professor Chronotis, a retired Time Lord now living the academic life in a Cambridge college.

But the Doctor isn't the only visitor to Cambridge. Somewhere in the city is the sinister alien Skagra, who is intent on stealing an ancient and mysterious book brought to Earth by the Professor many years before.

What is Skagra's diabolical masterplan? And who or what is the mysterious Shada? To discover the truth, the Doctor and his friends must embark on a perilous journey that will take them from the cloisters of Cambridge to the farthest reaches of deep space, risking deadly encounters with a sentient spaceship, the monstrous Krargs, and an ancient Time Lord criminal called Salyavin. As the Doctor soon discovers, the fate of the universe hangs in the balance...

Written in 1979, the original production of Shada was halted by industrial action, and for many years the story remained unmade – until now. Featuring an all-star cast headed by Paul McGann, and boasting an unforgettable script by the great Douglas Adams, this legendary Doctor Who adventure is lost no more!

Plot

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - Paul McGann
• Romana - Lalla Ward
• K9 - John Leeson
• Professor Chronotis - James Fox
• Skagra - Andrew Sachs
• Chris Parsons - Sean Biggerstaff
• Clare Keightley - Susannah Harker
• Wilkin - Melvyn Hayes
• The Ship - Hannah Gordon
• Professor Caldera - Barnaby Edwards
• Constable - Stuart Crossman
• Think Tank Voice - Nicholas Pegg

References

Books

• The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey is the key to Shada.
• Professor Chronotis removed the book from the Panopticon Archives to prevent anyone from remembering him.

Foods and beverages

• Various characters drink tea, with or without milk and sugar.

Planets

• K9 states that Skagra's home planet was the planet Dronid.

Spacecraft

• Skagra's ship identifies the Doctor's TARDIS as "a Type 39, possibly Type 40."

Time Lords

• The College of Cardinals is an institution made up of Time Lords.

Notes

• This is an extended release of Shada containing some lengthened scenes.
• Gary Russell effected alterations to accommodate the new format and style. He wrote a prologue explaining why it is the Eighth Doctor instead of the Fourth and Romana in this story (and making sense of the footage seen in the television story The Five Doctors). He also changed small scenes which would not work for audio (such as the punting scene and the scene of Skagra stealing the motorist's mind).
• This audio drama was recorded on 12 November, 13 November and 14 November 2002 at The Moat Studios.
• This is the first Eighth Doctor audio drama not to feature Charley Pollard.

Continuity

• There is a reference in the prologue explaining the footage seen in TV: The Five Doctors of the Fourth Doctor and Romana II punting.
• The Doctor mentions to Romana about collecting the Key to Time (TV: The Ribos Operation et al.) and defacing Leonardo da Vinci's works of art. (TV: City of Death)
• When Skagra scans the Doctor's mind, audio clips are heard from AUDIO: Phantasmagoria, AUDIO: The Marian Conspiracy and AUDIO: The Fires of Vulcan, which feature the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors respectively.
• The Doctor recalls meeting Mary Shelley near Lake Geneva in Switzerland in June 1816. (AUDIO: Mary's Story)

External links

• Official Shada page at bigfinish.com
• Shada at the Doctor Who Reference Guide