Now I can by no means claim to be an aficionado when it comes to BBC webcasts, but I have to say I am rather inordinately fond of Scream of the Shalka. I say “inordinately” because I’ve only seen it the once.
Shalka holds a rather unusual place in Who history. It was first intended as an “official” extension of the televised series, released in six 15-minute parts over the 40th anniversary from 13 Nov – 18 Dec 2003. When it was announced in July of that year, it was assumed this would be the new direction for the franchise – continuing televised stories seemed like a pipe dream – so this Doctor, voiced by Richard E. Grant (known to some as the “lick the mirror handsome” Doctor from the 1999 Comic Relief special “The Curse of Fatal Death” – not to mention Withnail from the 1987 cult classic Withnail and I costarring Eighth Doctor Paul McGann), was billed as the Ninth Doctor.
Before this first new story even saw the light of day, though, it was doomed to become some sort of obscure footnote. By the end of September 2003, the return of Doctor Who to our screens had been announced. For a brief time, there was question whether or not the Shalka Doctor (as this “alternative Nine” has come to be known) would remain the Ninth Doctor (making Eccleston’s on-screen Doctor the Tenth) or not. I guess we all know how that turned out.
As a result, BBC essentially swept the Shalka Doctor under the rug. For the most part, it’s worked; I don’t know how many neowhovians have ever even heard of him. I know I hadn’t bothered to look into this whole Shalka thing myself until a couple of months ago. And that’s actually quite a shame, because – like all the other Doctors before and since – he’s brilliant in his own way.
One thing that really intrigues me about the Shalka Doctor is that we get mere hints at where he’s been since regeneration, and only barely start to get to know him. He’s clearly the Doctor, too. I love his cleverness, his slightly enigmatic air, the way he can be both flippant and deadly serious by turns – sound familiar? Exactly! It sounds like the Doctor. And I love him.
So I must admit that once I’d finally taken the opportunity to watch the Shalka Doctor in action, I was sad to think about what might have been. In some parallel universe, there are more webcasts where he’s simply “the Ninth Doctor,” and he’s got his own large and very loyal following. Not that I’d ever give up our Nine! But I can’t help but wishing the timing had worked out differently so we could have had the equivalent of a series’ worth of stories from this Nine before Eccleston became Ten.
At least we will eventually get to see Richard E. Grant in a “canon” story from the BBC; he’s just been announced as a guest star for the Christmas Special. This guy playing off against Eleven? That I can hardly wait to see.
Doctor Eight and Three Quarters
I loved Shalka but not just for the REG Doctor, I loved Jacobi’s enigmatic Master, Sophie Okenedo was top notch in the Companion/Assistant stakes and I thought that the army personnel came across well (although no doubt someone with better military knowledge can find fault.) I though REG had a very Holmesian (Sherlock not Robert) edge to his Doctor, and that may just be sloppy and easy thinking on my part, but all he needed was the hat (and Hartnell’s pipe) to complete the ensemble
Needed a Fuller Review…
There was definitely a lot going for Shalka. 🙂 I didn't get into the rest of the cast because – aside from having to go on memory, having only seen it that once – I was running up against my self-imposed posting deadline. But you're absolutely right that there were a lot of other details to love.
The implied relationship between the Doctor and the Master here was just fascinating, and that's one of the things it would have been brilliant to see explored in more depth with further webcasts. ~sigh~ One of a vast number of if only's in Who fandom.