McGann or Baker?

Big Finish Productions

Doctor Who: Shada

Written by: Douglas Adams

Adapted for audio by: Gary Russell

Released: December 2003

Characters: Paul McGann as the Doctor with Lalla Ward as Romana II and John Leeson as K9

Timeline: This story takes place between the TV Movie and Big Finish Productions Storm Warning

Summary according to Doctor Who: Thrilling Adventures in Time And Space

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…

Introduction: For those of you (meaning my compatriots) who have never had the opportunity to listen to any kind of dramas on radio in Croatian (not that there are any good ones), let alone the audio dramas produced by British companies, this review won’t mean anything. Or perhaps it could be some kind of a foray, or a mere introduction to the whole concept of audio drama. One thing I realized after getting my hands on a dozen of them, was that these dramas are not only entertaining but also very informative and educational.

I believe there is a small number of educated people who haven’t heard of a certain Mr Douglas Adams and his series of books, starting with the Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy but I think that not all of them know of Mr Adams’ involvement with the story of Doctor Who classic series, mainly the 17th season, featuring Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor.

That aside he wrote this particular story back in 1979, intended to be a season finale in the Tom Baker’s era but the production in its originality was stopped by an industrial action (the cameramen went on strike) and it remained unmade until now.

In the early 1990 a VHS edition was released but it contained a half-made original that involved Tom Baker as a narrator whose job was to fill the scenes that were missing. There was an opinion that narrative wasn’t enough and that more should be made.

Considering Adams’ affinity for language and wordplay and the fact that the script was very dialogue heavy, it was decided that an audio medium would be more appropriate than a visual one. Since those annoying gaps at the end needed to be filled, another writer was commisioned and he adapted it for audio. After Tom Baker declined to be involved in the remake, Paul McGann, who appeared in the 1996 TV Movie (The Enemy Within) was offered to repeat his performance of the Doctor’s 8th incarnation and so he was written in by Gary Russell. Before the audio, the BBCi broadcasted the story in the form of a webcast on the BBC’s Doctor Who Classic page. It was a six-parter story and visually appeared as a CGI-made episode, featuring the animated Doctor, Romana II and K9.

After the succesful webcast, the actors were called again to do the audio and the rest is, of course history.

In my opinion Paul McGann was a perfect replacement for Baker and I think that he had a major contribution to its success.

All in all a thoroughly entertaining drama, with Adams’ recognisable signature in the form of witty dialogue and style.

I would recommend this for a first-time listener of the Doctor Who audio dramas, as well as those already familiar with the medium.

Verdict: 10/10

You can buy it here.