Doctor Who: Shada

Chris Parsons is happily engrossed in studying post-graduate physics at Cambridge, when one day he finds an old book, sitting on a dusty shelf in an ageing professor's library. Written in a language nobody can read and made of a paper that can't be torn, this is no ordinary book. And when it enters his life, everything changes for young Chris Parsons. Soon finding himself aboard an invisible space-ship, chased by monsters made of molten rock; aboard an alien prison on a distant planet and attacked by a horde of mind-control zombies. Chris also meets a strange man with a very long scarf who claims he can travel through time and space... in a police box. It's going to be a busy day for Chris Parsons.

This is the Shada Announcement Trailer.

Cast and crew look back on the making of 'Shada'. With actors Tom Baker and Daniel Hill, director Pennant Roberts, production manager Ralph Wilton, production assistant Olivia Bazalgette and design assistant Les McCullum.

Although by far the most high profile victim, 'Shada' was by no means the only Doctor Who story to be affected by industrial action. BBC political correspondent Shaun Ley presents this 2012 documentary, featuring actress Nicola Bryant, director Paul Seed, Liberal Democrat peer Lord Addington, BECTU union president Tony Lennon and script editor and union rep Gary Russell.

A compilation of raw footage from the studio recording of Shada. Shot at BBC Television Centre in November 1979.

In June 2017, the original cast of Shada reassembled in the sound studio for two days dialogue recording for the animated sections of the story. This is a compilation of some of the material recorded over those days. Featuring Tom Baker.

Two short scenes, originally intended for animation, were cut during production, for reasons of pacing. They are presented here from the raw studio sessions.