Scream of

the Shalka

13TH NOVEMBER 2003 - 18TH DECEMBER 2003

(6 15-MINUTE EPISODES)

And so, at last, we have a new Doctor in the form of Richard E Grant. Whether he officially ‘counts’ or not is anybody’s guess, but after watching all six episodes of Scream of the Shalka on the BBCi website, it is hard to dismiss the so-called ‘nth Doctor’ lightly.

“I know about monsters. I’m the Doctor.”

A lot of Doctor Who’s ‘expanded universe’ stories suffer from dwelling on events that do not feature much of the Time Lord himself, but here he is always right in the thick of things, the double-heartbeat of what is a surprisingly traditional serial. Paul Cornell’s characterisation

is quite bold; Grant plays quite a smug, smooth-talking Doctor who comes across as down-right obnoxious in the early going. I am not talking “lick the mirror handsome” or any of that stuff from the Comic Relief special – this portrayal is altogether different. A little bit like Sylvester McCoy’s, Grant’s Doctor is very dark and manipulative; but he is also very sure of himself, much like Colin Baker’s Doctor was. At first I was not keen on him at all, but as the story progressed and we learned more about this damaged, lonely rock of a Time Lord I really found myself warming to him. He is very much Cornell’s Doctor, and so if you are familiar with his previous work, then you will know what to expect. He is not just a hero; he

is a person that carries with him a lot of angst and grief. There is one scene in the fourth episode where the Doctor is convinced that he is about to die – and he is glad. He is wracked with guilt to such an extent that he simply does not care about living any more.

“Exile from what?”

For me though, the most important thing of all was that this Doctor – despite being a new Doctor played by a new actor – was clearly the Doctor. He was not some complete re-invention á la Death Comes To Time, thankfully. Indeed, if anything it seems that Scream

of the Shalka was intended to follow on from the destruction of Gallifrey in the eighth Doctor novels.

And for the most part, the story’s online presentation is very impressive indeed – the animation is a million per cent improvement on the rather crude Death Comes To Time,

and the widescreen aspect ratio is a particularly nice touch! Obviously, depending on one’s connection speed there is inevitably a lot of time spent ‘loading’ which tends to spoil things somewhat, but even so I have to give BBCi an overall thumbs-up here. The one complaint that I do have is that the music and sound effects are so much louder than the dialogue. I

was constantly turning my volume control up and down to avoid waking up the neighbours!

THE DOCTOR        Why did you only invade one bit of Lancashire?

PRIME                      Our ambitions extend beyond that.

THE DOCTOR        What, Nottinghamshire?

The story itself did not wow me, particularly given Cornell’s generally lofty standards, but I thought it was decent nonetheless. The first episode introduces us to the new Doctor, as

well as to Alison – the new companion – and the climate of fear that has gripped Cornell’s native Lancashire. Episode 2 brings in the military, and from then on in the serial roughly adheres to the old Pertwee/UNIT format with the Major in the Lethbridge-Stewart role and

the Sergeant providing all the Benton-esque comic relief. It works very well on the whole,

but a few little bits – all the “DO NOT offer me a gun again!” stuff – really got under my skin;

it felt like Cornell was really ramming the Doctor’s characteristics down the viewers’ throat, presumably for the benefit of a new audience.

Moreover, I cannot say that I was over-keen on Alison. The character is likeable enough, but

so mundane that I just found her boring. On top of that, Sophie Okenedo’s voice really grates – it reminded me of David Walliams’ character Lou in the television show Little Britain! Her boyfriend Joe is no more entertaining – except, that is, when he is possessed by the Shalka, attacking the Doctor, muttering “Sorry Doctor I can’t help myself…” , and the Doctor turns round and punches him in the face! Now that’s what I call entertainment...

“I only come here for the wine and the total eclipses.”

I was completely taken by surprise with Sir Derek Jacobi’s Master. Oh yes, he’s a wonderful, camp, traditional Master – no leather jackets or sunglasses in sight – but he is a goodie! A goodie damn it! The Master! Given the choice between oblivion in the TARDIS’ belly, and eternity in an android body as the Doctor’s “dearest companion”, the rogue Time Lord chose the latter! It was certainly an interesting development to see, but I really cannot see the logic in it. If you are going to bring him back as a baddie, fair enough. A one-liner like “…so you escaped from the TARDIS’ belly, then?”, and we would have been away. But to bring him back as a good guy in quite a continuity-heavy, convoluted fashion makes no sense to me, especially when Scream of the Shalka is meant to be appealing to a new audience; a new generation.

 “You do your best to stop all the plates from smashing. You don’t have to be perfect, okay?”

Compared to the likes of The Twin Dilemma and Time and the Rani, the meat of Grant’s first story as the Doctor is actually very good. There is quite a strong green, ecological message in there, which I liked, and the Shalka themselves came across as being genu-

inely different and interesting aliens. At times it is gruesome (a Shalka plugged into Alison’s brain, for example) and at times it is quite nostalgic (the Doctor’s singing destroying the Shalka, a bit like Victoria in Fury From The Deep). And at times, it’s just beautiful – the troops flooding out of the TARDIS, the scenes of terror worldwide as the Ozone layer is stripped away and the world ends… Cosgrove Hall have certainly earned their money.

I particularly liked the final scene, where Alison decides to join the Doctor and the Master in the TARDIS. As it is a time machine, she says to Joe something along the lines of that she will be home before she even left, and to call her at her Mum’s house. He does so and she

is not there. Nevertheless, she still gets in the TARDIS and goes off on adventures to who knows where, who knows when…

But with a new television series now on the horizon, it seems unlikely that we ever hear from this Doctor and Alison again - I certainly can’t see Russell T Davies and company feeling bound by this webcast, however bold and impressive it may be. Nevertheless, if enjoyed in the same spirit as Big Finish’s Unbound series, this dip into the multiverse is unlikely to disappoint.

Copyright © E.G. Wolverson 2006

E.G. Wolverson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

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