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''Shada'' is a story from the British
science fiction television
Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...
series ''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
''. Written by the series' script editor
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' developed into a " ...
, it was intended as the final serial of the 1979–80 season (
season 17
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...
) but was never originally completed, owing to
strike action
Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to Labor (economics), work. A strike usually takes place in response to grievance (labour), employee grievance ...
at the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
during studio recording. Entering production as a six-part story (6 x 25-minute episodes) in 1979, plans were later revised for the story to be broadcast as a four-part story (4 x 25-minute episodes) in 1980. Ultimately however, the story would never be completed in either format.
The BBC released a completed version of ''Shada'' in 2017, with missing dialogue newly recorded by the original cast, using the same audio equipment employed in the initial shoot, and animated by the team that undertook the reconstruction of the 1966 serial ''
The Power of the Daleks
''The Power of the Daleks'' is the completely missing third serial of the fourth season of British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', and which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 5 November to 10 December 1966. It is ...
''.
This version was released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2017, and finally broadcast on television as a feature length
TV movie
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
which was titled ''The Lost Episode'' rather than ''Shada''in 2018.
A new version with enhanced animation was released on 20 December 2021, as part of a Season 17 Blu-ray boxset.
Previous attempts to present the story include a narrated reconstruction for
BBC Video
2 Entertain (stylized as 2 , entertain) is a British video and music publisher founded in September 2004 by the merger of BBC Video and Video Collection International in 2004. Under CEO Richard Green, the company operated as a joint venture b ...
; a re-imagined
audio play
Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...
by
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays (released straight to compact disc and for download in MP3 and m4b format) based, primarily, on cult science fiction properties. These include ''Doctor Who'', the ...
, also offered with basic
Flash
Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Fictional aliases
* Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed:
** Flash (Barry Allen)
** Flash (Jay Garrick)
** Wally West, the first Kid ...
imagery on
BBCi and the BBC's ''Doctor Who'' website; and a novelisation by
Gareth Roberts, based on the latest shooting scripts, with the author's own additions.
Synopsis
The
Fourth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Tom Baker.
Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the ...
answers a distress signal from Professor Chronotis, a
Time Lord
The Time Lords are a fictional ancient race of extraterrestrial life, extraterrestrial people in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', of which the series' main protagonist, The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor, is a memb ...
posing as a professor at St Cedd's College, Cambridge who loaned a Gallifreyan tome to his student Chris Parsons. The Doctor retrieves the book while Chronotis dies after his mind was extracted by the sphere of a mad scientist named Skagra, living long enough to warn
Romana,
K9 and Parsons of them and Shada. The Doctor locates Skagra's cloaked spacecraft, only for his companions to be captured while Skagra has his sphere extract the Doctor's mind to decode the book before taking Romana in the TARDIS to his carrier ship and Krarg creations. But the Doctor survived his ordeal with his mind intact and has the ship's computer release Chris and K9 and take them to a space station Skagra previously occupied. The group find Skagra's discarded colleagues and learn he is after a Time Lord named Salyavin.
Back on Earth, Clare Keightley accidentally revives Chronotis whose chambers are revealed as a TARDIS, the Professor explaining the book is a key to the prison planet Shada where Salyavin is held. Chronotis and Clare repair the TARDIS to reach Skagra's carrier, saving the Doctor and Chris after Skagra decoded the book and revealed his intent to absorb Salyavin's mind and use its telepathy to unite all life into a single Universal Mind.
The group reach Shada as Skagra releases the prisoners, and Chronotis is revealed as Salyavin with Skagra extracting his mind and turning the prisoners and Chris into his thralls. Reminded that the Universal Mind contains a copy of his brain, the Doctor builds a telepathy helmet to wrestle control from Skagra while the Krarg are destroyed. Skagra ends up a prisoner in his own ship while the Doctor returns the restored prisoners to Shada and parts ways with Chronotis, musing over Chronotis' exploits being exaggerated while expecting a similar treatment within two centuries.
Production
Originally, writer
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' developed into a " ...
presented a wholly different idea for the season's six-part finale, involving the Doctor's retirement from adventuring. Facing resistance from producer
Graham Williams, Adams chose to avoid work on a replacement, under the expectation that time pressures would eventually force the producer's hand and allow his idea to be used. Ultimately, however, Williams forced Adams to conceive a new story as a last-minute replacement, which became ''Shada''.
Under its original remit, Williams intended the story as a discussion about the death penalty, specifically how a civilisation like the Time Lords would deal with the issue and treat its prisoners.
As composed by Adams, the story was scheduled to span six 25-minute episodes. Location filming in
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
and the first of three studio sessions at
BBC Television Centre
Television Centre (TVC) is a building complex in White City, London, White City, West London, that was the headquarters of BBC Television between 1960 and 2013. After a refurbishment, the complex reopened in 2017 with three studios in use for ...
were completed as scheduled;
however, when the scheduled second studio block was due to start, it fell foul of a long-running technicians' dispute at the BBC.
The strike was over by the onset of rehearsals for the third recording session, but ultimately the studio time was redirected to other higher-priority Christmas programming, leaving the serial incomplete.
Following the departure of Williams from the role of producer, attempts were made by new producer
John Nathan-Turner
John Nathan-Turner (''né'' Turner; 12 August 1947 – 1 May 2002) was an English television producer. He was the ninth producer of the long-running BBC science fiction series ''Doctor Who''. He was also the final producer of the series' first ...
to remount the story; for various reasons, however, this never transpired. Consequently, in June 1980, the production was formally dropped. It is estimated that only 50% of the story was filmed.
After the production halt, Adams expressed a low opinion of the script and was content to let it remain obscure, turning down offers to adapt the story in various forms. He once claimed that when he had signed the contract allowing the script's 1992 release (accompanying the serial's
VHS reconstruction), it had been amongst a pile of papers sent over by his agent, and that he was unaware of what he was agreeing to.
In 1983, footage from ''Shada'' was used in ''
The Five Doctors
''The Five Doctors'' is a special feature-length episode of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', produced in celebration of the programme's 20th anniversary. It had its world premiere in the United States, on the Chicago ...
'', the 20th Anniversary special.
Tom Baker
Thomas Stewart Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and writer. He is well known for his portrayal of the Fourth Doctor, fourth incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Wh ...
, the fourth actor to play the Doctor, had declined to appear in the special, and the plot was reworked to explain the events in the scenes.
Cast notes
Denis Carey was subsequently cast as the
eponym
An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''.
Usage of the word
The term ''epon ...
ous Keeper in Tom Baker's penultimate story, ''
The Keeper of Traken
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' (1981), and also appeared as the Borad's
avatar
Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...
in ''
Timelash
''Timelash'' is the fifth serial of the 22nd season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in two weekly parts on BBC1 on 9 and 16 March 1985.
In the serial, the Borad (Robert Ashby), the mu ...
'' (1985).
Reconstruction
1992 VHS reconstruction
A decade after the serial's abandonment, John Nathan-Turner set out to complete the story, in a fashion, by commissioning new effects shots and a score, and having Tom Baker record linking material to cover the missing scenes. The resulting shortened episodes (of between 14 and 22 minutes each) received a 111-minute VHS release in 1992. In its UK edition, the VHS was accompanied by a facsimile of a version of Douglas Adams's script.
The release was discontinued in the UK in 1996.
This VHS reconstruction, the 2003
BBCi/Big Finish adaptation, and the 1994 documentary ''More Than Thirty Years in the TARDIS'', were re-released together on DVD on 7 January 2013 as ''The Legacy Collection'' (UK) or simply ''Shada'' (North America).
2017 animated restoration
On 24 November 2017, an effort to complete the serial officially, using newly recorded dialogue from the original cast (using the serial's original recording engineer and audio equipment), and new animated footage to complete the missing segments, was released as a digital download; DVD and Blu-ray releases followed on 4 December that year, in Region 2. The new sequences were animated by the same team that undertook the 2016 animated edition of the 1966 serial ''
The Power of the Daleks
''The Power of the Daleks'' is the completely missing third serial of the fourth season of British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', and which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 5 November to 10 December 1966. It is ...
'',
including director Charles Norton, with lead character art by Martin Geraghty, character shading by Adrian Salmon, props by Mike Collins, and background art by Daryl Joyce.
A two-disc Region 1 DVD release was originally set to be made available on 9 January 2018; this was later postponed in the US and Canada to 4 September that year. The serial was released on 10 January 2018 in Region 4.
The final completed version received its US debut broadcast on 19 July 2018, on
BBC America
BBC America is an American basic cable network that is jointly owned by BBC Studios and AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary ser ...
, with guide data giving the episode title as "The Lost Episode" rather than "Shada".
2021 animated restoration
Season 17 of ''Doctor Who'' was released on Blu-ray on 20 December 2021 as part of the Collection series, including a new version of Shada with enhanced animation. Whereas the 2017 version was only available in omnibus form, the new version was presented in the form of six separate episodes.
[
]
Other adaptations
Big Finish audio play and web animation (2003)
In 2003, the BBC commissioned Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays (released straight to compact disc and for download in MP3 and m4b format) based, primarily, on cult science fiction properties. These include ''Doctor Who'', the ...
to remake ''Shada'' as an audio play which was then webcastFlash
Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Fictional aliases
* Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed:
** Flash (Barry Allen)
** Flash (Jay Garrick)
** Wally West, the first Kid ...
animation, on the BBC website
BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, the children ...
using illustrations provided by comic strip artist Lee Sullivan (comics)
Lee Sullivan is a comic artist who lives and works in the UK.
Biography
Sullivan trained as a wildlife and technical illustrator at Barnfield College before working as a graphic illustrator for British Aerospace. .Paul McGann
Paul John McGann (; born 14 November 1959) is an English actor. He came to prominence for portraying Percy Toplis in the television serial ''The Monocled Mutineer'' (1986), then starred in the dark comedy ''Withnail and I'' (1987), which was a ...
as the Eighth Doctor
The Eighth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Paul McGann.
The character was introduced in the 1996 TV film ''Doctor Who'', a back-door pilo ...
and Lalla Ward
Sarah Jill "Lalla" Ward (born 28 June 1951) is an English actress, voice artist and author. She is best known for playing the role of Romana II in the BBC television series ''Doctor Who'' from 1979 to 1981.
Career
Early career
Ward's stage na ...
as Romana. The audio play was also broadcast on digital radio station BBC7, on 10 December 2005 (as a 2½-hour omnibus), and was repeated in six parts as the opening story to the Eighth Doctor's summer season, which began on 16 July 2006.
The webcast version (originally broadcast via BBCi's "Red Button") remains available from the BBC ''Doctor Who'' "classic series" website and an expanded audio-only version is available for purchase on CD from Big Finish. This expanded version was the one broadcast on BBC7.
Production
Tom Baker was originally approached to reprise the role of the Doctor, but declined. The Eighth Doctor was then substituted and the story reworked accordingly.
Portions of the Big Finish version were reworked by Gary Russell
Gary Russell (born 18 September 1963) is a British freelance writer, producer and former child actor. As a writer, he is best known for his work in connection with the television series ''Doctor Who'' and its spin-offs in other media. As an a ...
to make the story fit into ''Doctor Who'' continuity. This included a new introduction, and a new explanation for the Fourth Doctor and Romana being "taken out of time" during the events of ''The Five Doctors'': the Eighth Doctor
The Eighth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Paul McGann.
The character was introduced in the 1996 TV film ''Doctor Who'', a back-door pilo ...
has come to collect Romana and K9 because he has begun to have a feeling that there was something they should have done at that time.
When Skagra is investigating the Doctor, clips from three other Big Finish productions can be heard, exclusively on the CD version – ''The Fires of Vulcan
''The Fires of Vulcan'' is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''.
Plot
The Seventh Doctor and Mel visit ancient Pompeii just before the Vesuvius tragedy is du ...
'', ''The Marian Conspiracy
''The Marian Conspiracy'' is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''.
Plot
The Sixth Doctor meets Evelyn Smythe and attempts to find out why she is disappearing b ...
'' and ''Phantasmagoria
Phantasmagoria (, also fantasmagorie, fantasmagoria) was a form of horror theatre that (among other techniques) used one or more magic lanterns to project frightening images, such as skeletons, demons, and ghosts, onto walls, smoke, or semi- ...
''. The original serial was to have used clips from ''The Pirate Planet
''The Pirate Planet'' is the second serial of the Doctor Who (season 16), 16th season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC One, BBC1 from 30 September to 21 October ...
'' (1978), ''The Power of Kroll
''The Power of Kroll'' is the fifth serial of the 16th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 23 December 1978 to 13 January 1979.
The serial is set o ...
'' (1978–79), ''The Creature from the Pit
''The Creature from the Pit'' is the third serial of the 17th season of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 27 October to 17 November 1979. It was the first se ...
'' (1979), ''The Androids of Tara
''The Androids of Tara'' is the fourth serial of the 16th season of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 25 November to 16 December 1978.
The serial is set on ...
'' (1978), ''Destiny of the Daleks
''Destiny of the Daleks'' is the first serial of the 17th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 1 September to 22 September 1979. The story introduces ...
'' (1979), and ''City of Death
''City of Death'' is the second serial of the seventeenth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor. It was produced by the BBC ...
'' (1979).
Outside references
In Episode 2 of the webcast version, when Chris is in his lab showing Clare the book, a vending machine-like object in the background is labelled "Nutrimat", a reference to a similar device in Adams' ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comic science fiction, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally The Hitchhiker's Guide to th ...
''. Two other references are a sequence where Skagra steals a Ford Prefect
The Ford Prefect is a line of British cars which was produced by Ford UK between 1938 and 1961 as an upmarket version of the Ford Popular and Ford Anglia small family cars. It was introduced in October 1938 and remained in production until 19 ...
and when images of ''Hitchhiker's Guide'' characters appear as inmates on Shada itself.
Ian Levine animated version (2011)
In 2010, Ian Levine
Ian Geoffrey Levine (born 22 June 1953) is a British songwriter, producer, and DJ. A moderniser of Northern soul music in the UK, and a developer of the style of Hi-NRG, he has written and produced records with sales totalling over 40 million. ...
funded an unofficial project to complete the original ''Shada'' story using animation and the original voice actors, minus Tom Baker and David Brierley, to complete the parts of the story that were never filmed. John Leeson
John Francis Christopher Ducker (born 16 March 1943), known professionally as John Leeson, is an English actor, voice artist and freelance wine educator. He is known for portraying Bungle in ''Rainbow'' and voicing K9 in ''Doctor Who'' and s ...
would replace Brierley as the voice of K9, and Paul Jones (better known as a studio carpenter) would replace Tom Baker as the Doctor.
In print
Novelisation and audio book (2012)
Elements of the story were reused by Adams for his novel ''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' is a humorous detective novel by English writer Douglas Adams, published in 1987. It is described by the author on its cover as a "thumping good detective-ghost-horror-who dunnit-time travel-romantic- ...
'', in particular the character of Professor Chronotis who possesses a time machine. Adams did not allow ''Shada'', or any of his other ''Doctor Who'' stories, to be novelised by Target Books
Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became well ...
. It is, therefore, one of only five serials from the 1963–1989 series not to be novelised by Target – along with Adams' other stories ''The Pirate Planet
''The Pirate Planet'' is the second serial of the Doctor Who (season 16), 16th season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC One, BBC1 from 30 September to 21 October ...
'' and ''City of Death
''City of Death'' is the second serial of the seventeenth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor. It was produced by the BBC ...
'', plus Eric Saward
Eric Saward (; born 9 December 1944) is a British radio scriptwriter who worked for the BBC as a television script editor and screenwriter on the science fiction series ''Doctor Who'' from 1982 until 1986. He wrote the stories '' The Visitation' ...
's two Dalek
The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Nation and first appeared in the 1963 ''Doctor Who'' ...
stories (''Resurrection of the Daleks
''Resurrection of the Daleks'' is the fourth serial of the 21st season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in two weekly parts on BBC1 between 8 February and 15 February 1984. The serial ...
'' and ''Revelation of the Daleks
''Revelation of the Daleks'' is the sixth and final serial of the 22nd season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in two weekly parts on 23 and 30 March 1985. This was the final serial t ...
'').
A six-part adaptation of the story by Jonathan V. Way appeared in issues 13–18 of ''Cosmic Masque'', the Doctor Who Appreciation Society
The ''Doctor Who'' Appreciation Society (DWAS) is a society for fans of the television series '' Doctor Who''. It was founded in May 1976, emerging from the Westfield College ''Doctor Who'' Appreciation Society and the editors and readers of the ...
's fiction magazine. Adams granted permission for the adaptation on condition that it was never published in collected form.BBC Books
BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasti ...
published a novelisation of this serial on 15 March 2012, written by Gareth Roberts. Roberts drew on the latest versions of the scripts available, as well as adding new material of his own to "fix" what he viewed as various plotholes and unanswered questions.Nicholas Pegg
Nicholas Pegg is a British actor, writer and director. Educated at Nottingham High School and graduating with a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of Exeter, Pegg subsequently trained at the Guildford School of Acting.
Acti ...
, in his review of the book for ''Doctor Who Magazine
''Doctor Who Magazine'' (abbreviated as ''DWM'') is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Launched in 1979 as ''Doctor Who Weekly'', the magazine became a monthly publication the followi ...
'', heartily praised it, calling it a "successful duet".
Audio book
AudioGo
AudioGO (formerly BBC Audiobooks) was a publisher of audiobooks and a range of spoken word and large-print titles. It was majority owned by AudioGO Ltd, and minority owned by BBC Worldwide. It was formed in 2010, when AudioGO purchased a majori ...
released an unabridged audiobook of Roberts' novelization on 15 March 2012. Narrated by Lalla Ward, with John Leeson voicing K9, it runs 11 hours and 30 minutes. It was made available for download or on 10 CDs (CD , Download ). Vanessa Bishop reviewed it favourably for ''Doctor Who Magazine'', singling out Simon E. Power's sound design for special praise.
Reviews
Paul Cornell
Paul Douglas Cornell (born 18 July 1967) is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as ''Doctor Who'' fiction, and as the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield.
As well as ''Docto ...
, Martin Day, and Keith Topping
Keith Andrew Topping (born 26 October 1963 in Walker, Tyneside) is an author, journalist and broadcaster. He is most well known for his work relating to the BBC Television series ''Doctor Who'' and for writing numerous official and unofficial g ...
gave the serial (at the time in the form of the 1992 VHS reconstruction) a mixed review in ''The Discontinuity Guide
''The Discontinuity Guide'' is a 1995 guidebook to the serials of the original run (1963–1989) of the BBC science fiction series ''Doctor Who''. The book was written by Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping and was first published as ''Do ...
'' (1995), saying;
Patrick Mulkern reviewed the 2017 partially reconstructed version for ''Radio Times
''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...
'', and thought that despite "pockets of magic to enjoy", it was a "sprawling but far-from-epic serial". He felt that the humour was repetitive and fell flat, and that the action was pedestrian. Mulkern recommended the novelisation by Gareth Roberts as a superior alternative.
Notes
References
Bibliography
* Howe, David J; Stammers, Mark; Walker, Stephen James. ''Doctor Who: The Seventies'' (1994) (London: Doctor Who Books)
External links
*
Cambridge Time Traveller Group, Article on Shada
*
Fan novelisation
''Doctor Who and Shada''
ebook
*
Webcast
''Shada'' webcast on the BBC website
Big Finish Productions – ''Shada''
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