BBC Strike Killed a Douglas Adams Doctor Who Story—Then It Took 36 Years to Finish
Douglas Adams and the exterminated Doctor Who adventure
In 1979, Doctor Who filmed 'Shada' in Cambridge, written by Douglas Adams. A BBC strike halted studio work, leaving the story unfinished for decades. Tom Baker struggled with punting and fell into the Cam. In 2017, Baker and Lalla Ward returned to record missing lines, and the lost adventure was finally released with new animation.
We did the recording in the morning and then come lunch time we all went off. We came back and all the studio doors were locked and chained because of the strike.
- thinkingemote
One thing with some modern sci-fi shows is that it's more of a message with a disguise of a story rather than a story with a disguised message.
The writers justify the change by saying (correctly) that the message is important and that right now is the most important time to say the message. The message became more important than the vehicle that it travelled in so poor story writing is acceptable.
It's like Christian rock music, it's okay and if you are Christian you might enjoy it both for the message and the music but if you just want good music you are likely not going to enjoy it as much as regular "secular" rock.
But there's also rock music that everyone can enjoys which contains (not sure the word to describe it) non obvious but religious-adjacent themes.
- sien
The wikipedia entry is well worth a read for anyone interested in this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shada_(Doctor_Who)
The tie in between Shada and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective agency is worth noting.
- mapontosevenths
The unfinished original is one of my favorites, and the 2017 animated version is also wonderful.
I feel like the animated version filled in gaps I hadn't even realized were there in the old one that just had the voice overs.
If you like classic who, Adams, or both, and haven't seen it buy the blu-ray!
- philipallstar
Who exterminated the 2026 Christmas special[0]?
- spiralpolitik
There have also been a couple of audio versions over the years (one with Paul McGann).
There was also a partial BBC attempt in late 80s/90s that was released on VHS with Tom Baker narrating the missing scenes.
- zem
I just recently read the novelisation of "shada"[0]. it was altogether delightful, and reminded me of the time in college when I was a huge fan of dr who novels despite never really getting into the TV show.
- hedora
I recently discovered his text adventure bureaucracy.
- mrlonglong
Seems like the Doctor Who enemies really has it in for the poor old UK.