He was the fourth Time Lord – but never got the chance to defeat the evil alien Skagra when a BBC strike saw the season 17 finale shelved.
And now, those who feel passionate about the Doctor Who cannon will learn what happened to Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor in the now-completed ‘lost’ episode Shada.
Penned by acclaimed series writer Douglas Adams, the story – dreamt up in 1979, was set in Cambridge and showed the Doctor, his robot dog K9 and his companion Romana team up with retired Time Lord Professor Chronotis to battle Skagra who is attempting to steal the secrets to the prison planet Shada.
Doctor Who: Lost episode Shada has been SAVED from the BBC archives with fourth Time Lord Tom Baker reprising the role and shooting new scenes to ‘fill in the gaps’
Reprising the role: Those who feel passionate about the Doctor Who cannon will learn what happened to Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor in the now-completed ‘lost’ episode Shada
The aforementioned strike meant Shada was rendered an almost mythical tale amongst fans of the programme.
BBC Worldwide has now announced that it is being released as a digital download, and on DVD and Blu-ray, combining the original completed footage with new animated sequences to fill in the gaps.
Baker, 83, and Lalla Ward, 66, have reprised their roles as the Time Lord and Romana respectively for the animations as well as other members of the original cast.
Baker is delighted that he has finally got the chance to finish the story, saying of the opportunity: ‘Shada was one of my favourite Doctor Who stories. I have many fond memories of shooting the location scenes in Cambridge, and it was disappointing not to finish the story in studio.
Back together: Baker, 83, and Lalla Ward, 66, have reprised their roles as the Time Lord and Romana respectively for the animations as well as other members of the original cast
‘I’m so glad that BBC Worldwide have found a way to bring fans a complete visual version.’
The story was previously recreated as an animated webcast in 2003, with Eighth Doctor actor Paul McGann taking the lead, and it was also novelised by writer Gareth Roberts in 2012.
It is being produced by the team behind the highly successful and critically acclaimed animation of lost Doctor Who story The Power of the Daleks and lost Dad’s Army episode A Stripe For Frazer.
Completing the story: Penned by acclaimed series writer Douglas Adams, the story – dreamt up in 1979, was set in Cambridge and showed the Doctor, his robot dog K9 and his companion Romana team up
The team were granted access to nearly seven hours of raw footage from the original 1979 shoot.
They are editing the new production from scratch, with all the original film negatives re-scanned in full HD and digitally remastered.
Shada will be released as a digital download on Friday November 24, and on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday, December 4.
On Saturday, December 2 there will be a special screening of ‘Doctor Who: Shada’ at the BFI Southbank in London.