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BBC Books to publish "lost" Adams Doctor Who story

24.03.11 | Charlotte Williams

BBC Books is to publish the "lost" "Doctor Who" story "Shada", an unbroadcast adventure of the Time Lord written by Hitchhikers' Guide author Douglas Adams.

Editorial director Albert De Petrillo bought world rights from Ed Victor, with the full backing of the estate of Douglas Adams. The book will be published in March 2012 as a £16.99 hardback and is the first novelisation of Adams' work on the programme.

Production of "Shada", the planned finale to the 1979-1980 season of "Doctor Who", was stopped due to industrial action at the BBC, and the story was never completed. This novelisation draws on drafts of the script and production notes, with "Doctor Who" script writer Gareth Roberts completing the story, featuring Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor.

De Petrillo said: "Douglas Adams' serials for Doctor Who are considered by many to be some of the best the show has ever produced. 'Shada' is a funny, scary, surprising and utterly terrific story, and we're thrilled to be publishing the first fully realised version of this Doctor Who adventure as Douglas originally conceived it."

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By Irving Braxiatel

...Which is going to be a problem for Gareth Roberts as huge chunks of 'Shada' were repurposed by Adams for his first Dirk Gently novel. Still, it'll doubtless be better than the Moorcock effort.

Thu, 24/03/2011 - 11:29
By Bookmonkey

Didn't Big Finish bring an audio version of this out ten years ago with Paul McGann?

Fri, 25/03/2011 - 10:28

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