'Scream of the Shalka' (6 Parts) by Paul Cornell

An unexplained meteor crashes into the side of a New Zealand volcano, unleashing the snake-like Shalka, an alien species with a deadly scream.

Thousands of miles away in a Lancashire town, the TARDIS materialises on a Saturday night. The streets are empty, the pubs are deserted and random, unexplained pools of lava keep appearing on the ground.

Time isn't on the Doctor's side and neither, it seems, are the town's inhabitants – with the possible exception of feisty barmaid Alison. When the TARDIS disappears in a pool of lava and the Doctor and Alison are confronted by the hunting Shalka, it seems that there's just no way out...

Richard E. Grant (The Doctor), Sophie Okonedo (Alison Cheney), Jim Norton (Major Thomas Kennet), Diana Quick (Prime), Craig Kelly (Joe), Anna Calder Marshall (Mathilda), Andrew Dunn (Max), Connor Moloney (Sergeant Graves), David Tennant, Ben Morrison (The Caretakers), Derek Jacobi (The Master)
Produced by Muirinn Land Kelly
Directed by Wilson Milann
Animated by Cosgrove Hall Films

TX:
Part 1 - 13th November 2003 (Parts one to four)
A deadly meteorite falls to Earth.

Part 2 - 20th November 2003 (Parts one to four)
The Doctor concocts a solution.

Part 3 - 27th November 2003 (Parts one to four)
A monstrous meeting for the Doctor.

Part 4 - 4th December 2003 (Parts one to four)
The Doctor's in a bit of a hole....

Part 5 - 11th December 2003 (Parts one to four)
Trouble is on the move.

Part 6 - 18th December 2003 (Parts one to four)
Can the Doctor hit the right note?


Notes:
*Introducing the Ninth Doctor and Alison Cheney

*Each episode of this animated story was webcast on the BBC's official 'Doctor Who' website

*After listening to audience feedback, the BBC included a 'Play All' option for Episode Two onwards, in addition to being able to watch the individual parts of an episode

*Posting on 'Outpost Gallifrey', Paul Cornell says: "This is the start of everything again, not the end. Don't be scared. The Ninth Doctor is Richard E. Grant, fully animated... fully animated, not Shada animated... Batmanlike rather than Shadalike. With a new companion, a new military liaison, new monsters, and a vastly starry cast! ...if the response is good enough, then there'll be more. (And listen: you *never know* where this could end up.) Traditional but original is what we're going for... Very Hinchcliffe/Dicks, but with no previously used elements and only a tiny smidge of continuity. This story starts after the Ninth Doctor's been in the job for several years. And quite a lot has happened to him. So there's room for all continuities to resolve themselves. And BBC Books has made a positive response, and are talking about stuff." Cornell says he is "honoured to have the chance to set the Doctor off on another forty years of adventures... Just wait until you hear Richard! He is the Doctor!" This story will completely disregard 'The Curse of Fatal Death', in which Richard E. Grant plays a parody of the Doctor. Speaking of the official Ninth Doctor, Grant describes his interpretation as "...something of a 'Sherlock Holmes in Space'", noting that "Oh, he's impatient and angry with humans; he's caring; he's passionate; he's bitingly witty; he's vulnerable; he's brittle and a little bit of a snob!"

*Novelisation by Paul Cornell released in February 2004 by BBC Books:



When the Doctor lands his TARDIS in the Lancaster town of Kennet, in the present day, he finds that something is terribly wrong. The people are scared. They don't like going out onto the streets at night, they don't like making too much noise, and they certainly don't like strangers asking too many questions.

What alien force has invaded the town? Why is it watching barmaid Alison Cheney? And what plans does it have for the future of the planet Earth?

The Doctor is helped (and hindered) by his new military liaison Major Kennet and his Royal Green Jacket troops. His old enemy the Master also plays a small part. During the course of this adventure he encounters a brand new race of ferocious alien monsters, and strikes up a friendship with his latest companion, Alison.

While starting with a small community under threat, this old-fashioned, very traditional but up to date Doctor Who adventure takes in the entire world, from New Zealand to India, Siberia to the USA, and cosmic expanses beyond.

This is the novelisation of BBCi's acclaimed animated Doctor Who adventure, first broadcast over the internet in November 2003.