Shada (audio story)


 * For other uses of Shada, see here.

Shada was an audio adaptation of an unbroadcast Doctor Who story of the same name. Unlike the television version, it featured the Eighth Doctor, as opposed to the Fourth.

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!''

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
 * Caldera - Barnaby Edwards
 * Constable - Stuart Crossman
 * Think Tank Voice - Nicholas Pegg

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.
 * 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) In fact, he says that "Chronotis and I" spent a weekend with Mary Shelley and Lord Byron there; since Chronotis is not present in Mary's Story one must presume that the Doctor and Mary met Chronotis near Lake Geneva in another visit (perhaps when the Doctor returned her to her normal timeline).