Scream of the Shalka ( webcast ) Scream of the Shalka was a flash - animated " Doctor Who " serial with Richard E Grant as the voice of an alternative Ninth Doctor . Its animation was produced by Cosgrove Hall . The serial was webcast by the BBC ' s official Doctor Who website in November and December 2003 . This story remains the most recent webcast production of this nature . Synopsis . The Doctor ' s TARDIS materialises in the village of Lannet in Lancashire . An annoyed Doctor , who has apparently been transported here against his will , finds the village silent . Its inhabitants are all living in fear except for a barmaid , Alison Cheney . The alien Shalka have taken up residence beneath Lannet in preparation for a wider invasion . Despite his initial reluctance , the Doctor finds himself having to save the world again , aided by Alison and an enemy who has become an ally . Plot . " to be added " Story notes . Production background . " Scream of the Shalka " was produced to coincide with the fortieth anniversary of " Doctor Who " . It was originally posted in six weekly parts from 13 November to 18 December 2003 on BBCi ' s " Doctor Who " website . Although it was intended to be an " official " continuation of the television series that had ended in 1989 , the revival of the programme in 2005 relegated it and the Richard E Grant ' s Ninth Doctor , to non - canon ical status . Previous " Doctor Who " webcast s were produced with which was little more than a series of still illustrations . This story was the first - ever officially licensed fully animated " Doctor Who " story . " Doctor Who " had suspended production in 1989 . Aside from charity specials , it had only resurfaced as an American - funded television movie in 1996 which didn ' t garner enough ratings to go to a regular series . When " Shalka " was announced in July 2003 for broadcast in November , the possibility of " Doctor Who " returning to television screens still seemed remote as BBC Worldwide were shopping around for another possible movie deal . As a result , BBCi announced , with BBC approval , that the Doctor appearing in " Shalka " would be the " official " Ninth Doctor . However , events rapidly overtook this . In September , Lorraine Heggessey , the Controller of BBC One persuaded BBC Worldwide that as their plans for a " Doctor Who " film were nowhere near fruition and that BBC television should be allowed to make a new series . A deal with Russell T Davies to produce the new series was quickly struck , and on September 26 , the BBC announced that " Doctor Who " would return to BBC One in 2005 , produced by BBC Wales . As a result , the " official " nature of the " Shalka " webcast was in doubt from even before it was released . After the web cast , in February 2004 , plans for sequels were indefinitely shelved . For a period , it was unclear if the new television Doctor would be the Ninth or Tenth Doctor , but this was settled in April 2004 when in an interview with " Doctor Who Magazine " , Davies announced that the new television Doctor ( played by Christopher Eccleston ) , would be " the " Ninth Doctor , relegating the Richard E Grant Doctor to unofficial status . Grant ' s incarnation of the Time Lord ( often referred to as the " REG Doctor " or the " Shalka Doctor " by fans ) has since appeared in an online short story , " The Feast of the Stone " by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright , although no further stories seem planned . Paul Cornell , who wrote " Scream of the Shalka " , has since referred to this story as his " unbound " . Novelisation . Paul Cornell wrote a novelisation of " Scream of the Shalka " , which was published by BBC Books . This marked the first publication of a novelisation under the BBC Books paperback line since " Doctor Who " was so adapted in 1996 , and the first novelisation of a non - televised " Doctor Who " story since " The Ghosts of N - Space " in 1995 ; it is also the only webcast to be so adapted . The book was augmented with a section chronicling the making of the webcast .