Great Vampire

The Great Vampires were massive humanoids in Gallifreyan legend that lived during the Dark Times.

Biology
The Great Vampires were colossal humanoids with grey skin and wings. Like lesser vampires, Great Vampires needed blood to survive, but their large size dictated they needed considerably more. Great Vampires were extremely powerful and one individual could drain a whole planet dry. They could absorb energy in almost any form and survive numerous minor wounds. The only way to kill one was to stab them through the heart, usually with a steel bolt. More powerful Great Vampires needed to have their heart fully destroyed in order to kill them. (TV: State of Decay)

Reign
The Great Vampires suddenly appeared in the universe, causing mass destruction and chaos, (TV: State of Decay) having been accidentally released from their dimension into the universe by the Time Lords. (AUDIO: Project: Twilight)

According to a transmission which Samantha Jones received on Anathema (and which may have been influenced by Faction Paradox propaganda), the Great Vampires were originally native to another plane of existence, and gained entry into our universe when Rassilon first attempted to harness the power of a black hole, before Omega developed the stellar manipulator. They accidentally punched a hole through to the Great Vampires' plane, and the Great Vampires swarmed into our universe. (PROSE: Interference - Book One)

The Great Vampires rampaged through the cosmos during the Dark Times, (TV: The Infinite Quest) and eventually created the Vampires on Earth. (PROSE: Vampire Science)

War with the Time Lords
Eventually Time Lords hunted these creatures down in a long and bloody war, using bowships firing mighty bolts of steel to pierce their hearts. Though the Time Lords won, they took heavy losses. The leader of the Vampires escaped into the smaller universe of E-Space. Over time records of this war were lost and passed into legend. Rassilon wrote data about the vampires that was installed into every Type 40 time vessel. It said that one vampire, the King Vampire, had vanished and it was a Time Lord's solemn duty to lay down his life to kill it. This war was said to have sickened Time Lords of violence forever. (TV: State of Decay)

The King Vampire
The King Vampire fell into E-Space, using his great power to draw the ship Hydrax with him. He turned the people on this ship, three humans, into vampires. They fed and served him for a thousand years until the Time of Arising. As he rose from the ground the Fourth Doctor used a Scout ship from the Hydrax to pierce his heart, killing him. (TV: State of Decay)

An alternate perspective
During the events involving the Eighth Doctor's infection with Anti-Time, the TARDIS constructed a holographic projection of events from the Gallifreyan Time of Chaos.

In this projection, a group of Gallifreyans investigated Rassilon's work on regeneration, time travel, and other projects. The prime investigator was the head of the Arcalian Chapter Houses, Provost Lord Tepesh. In the projection, Tepesh revealed himself as a Great Vampire in disguise, even saying he was a direct descendant of the King Vampire.

Tepesh claimed the Great Vampires were a peaceful lot, content to drink the blood of non-sentient, genetically bred cattle, until Rassilon showed up and declared the Vampires should not be allowed to exist. The subsequent 500-year war was more one of extermination than titanic conflict. (AUDIO: Zagreus)

Alternate timeline
During one of Romana II's, Leela's and Narvin's trips to Alternative Gallifreys they visited one, where Rassilon, after completing the Transduction barrier, was killed by the great vampires. They then darkened the barrier letting no light through allowing them to live. Over the next couple of millennia gradually the vampires took over the True Lords, until the battle between the vampire Lord Prydon and the True Lady Magestrix Borusa, where with the help of Leela, with her sight now restored after drinking vampire blood, Narvin and Romana helped Borusa and recaptured the Transduction barrier and increased the light levels allowed to pass through them, and destroyed the vampires. However, this made Romana feel like she was becoming a destroyer of worlds, because according to her she had killed the Vampires and the Time Lords of her universe. (AUDIO: Annihilation)

Behind the scenes

 * According to Doctor Who: Creatures and Demons, the Plasmavores are believed to be descended from the Great Vampires.