Scream of the Shalka Scream of the Shalka novelisation

BBC Online Feast of the Stone

Written by	Cavan Scott and Mark Wright
Format	Web short story
Released	2003
Continuity	After Scream of the Shalka.

Available at The BBCi site

Synopsis: The Doctor, the Master and Allison encounter vampires.

• A Review by Richard Radcliffe

A Review by Richard Radcliffe 3/5/04

Now here's an interesting story, courtesy of BBCi. Mark Wright and Cavan Scott, who have written 3 Big Finish audios, were asked to write a short story based around the characters from the recent Shalka webcast. BBCi have a new Vampires Cult Magazine, and with Wright and Scott's obvious enthusiasm for such a subject, they were probably the best candidates. Many described Richard E Grant's Doctor as Doctor Dracula, and it's ironic that his first story should be about a vampire.

There's a stack of short stories out there that I haven't got round to reading. Charity anthologies sit on my shelf, with only a few excerpts read. The likes of Decalog and Short Trips catch my attention at times - but let's say I am not completely bowled over by the short story medium. This special BBCi story though seemed the ideal way to carry on the REG Doctor (could be the 9th, could be alternative - depends on the new series).

With webcast pictoral references, I found my mind creating pictures of this story all the way through. The TARDIS arriving, the Doctor emerging moody, Alison retreating to the inner TARDIS, the Master android shortcircuiting. It would be relatively easy to visualize properly, as the TARDIS and Cave are the only real settings. After a stumbling first paragraph (I'm not that great at English, but even I found the structure strange) the story settles down into a rather well written piece. It's big on atmosphere, and short of action - with so few words that's probably the best way to go anyway. The characters from the webcast are recreated perfectly, but then they were very definite characters. The main beneficiary is the Master android. He's vital to the story's resolution (which also raises some interesting ideas about the Doctor's friendships), and has a bigger part throughout than the webcast gave him. I didn't like the character before - I think there's some mileage in it now.

The vampire connection is in the entity and the dreamscapes the entity creates. With echoes of Nigel Kneale's The Stone Tape as its inspiration, I found the dream sequences quite unsettling. Wright and Scott certainly know their vampires!

If this was part of a short story collection it would be one of the best (based on DW short stories to date) of that collection. Check it out, it's readable via BBCi website. 8/10