Nightshade ( novel ) Written by Mark Gatiss , Nightshade is the eighth instalment in the series of Virgin Publishing ' s " Doctor Who " paperback novels . A New Adventure , it features the Seventh Doctor and Ace . Publisher ' s summary . " " I have done enough ! " " Ace has never known the Doctor so withdrawn and melancholic . He is avoiding her company , seeking solace in the forgotten rooms and labyrinthine passages of his ancient time machine . Perhaps he will find the peace he yearns for on his favourite planet , Earth , in the second half of the twentieth century — in the isolated village of Crook Marsham , to be precise , in 1968 , the year of peace , love and understanding . But one by one the villagers are being killed . The Doctor has to act , but for once he seems helpless , indecisive , powerless . What are the signals from space that are bombarding the radio telescope on the moor ? What is the significance of the local legends from the Civil War ? And what is the aeon s - old power that the Doctor is unable to resist ? Plot . Prologue . Eight old men on Gallifrey visit the cloisters . One slips away and steals a TARDIS ; the leader of the group discovers it and disapproves . Chapter 1 . December 22 - 23 , 1968 : WW1 veteran Jack Prudhoe dodges an argument with his wife Win and goes to the local pub . He reminisces about meeting her in 1916 ; then he sees what he believes , impossibly , to be the 1916 version of Win outside the window . He follows outside onto the moor in the rain , and into a shallow cave , where he is killed by something large and dark . Aging former actor Edmund Trevithick once played the adventurous Professor Nightshade on television . Now the series is being replayed on the new BBC2 , and the BBC wants to interview him at Dalesview Residential Home , for old times ' sake . As he goes to bed , his nurse , Jill Mason , is frightened by something monstrous outside . Later , something smashes Trevithick ' s window and menaces him . Lovers Holly Kidd and Vijay Degun work as technicians at Hawthorne and Cooper Space Tracking Station , a radio telescope near the village . Shortly after 5 AM on the 23rd , the telescope - - trained on Bellatrix in the Orion quadrant - - picks up alarming readings at the same time as a security breach alarm . Vijay finds the security guard missing and a hole in the fence , and then is chased back to the facility by something large and fearsome . In the village , Betty Yeadon , the second wife of pub owner Lawrence Yeadon , has a mysterious chronic illness . Her situation - - and her husband ' s unwarranted cheerfulness about it - - is a hot topic of gossip . A mile from the station , along the road to nearby St . Hilda ' s Monastery , homeless man Billy Coote witnesses the early morning arrival of the TARDIS . Chapter 2 . Ace reflects on the Doctor ' s recent spell of brooding . She discovers him in his nightclothes ; unexpectedly he takes her on a search through the TARDIS , ending at a long - disused , stone - decorated tertiary console room . He relocates it to the main entrance . Ace discovers an old Coal Hill jacket , which once belonged to Susan , prompting the Doctor to snap at her before abruptly switching to a good humour . He dresses , then leads her outside . Betty Yeadon wakes up from a nightmare about her dead brother , Alfie , who died in a WW2 ship sinking . She takes medication , and gets her stepson Robin out for the morning , before giving in to her fear in the pub . Robin meets the Doctor and Ace , and refers them to a cafe for breakfast . The Doctor ruminates on retiring to Gallifrey , then leaves for the monastery to think , promising to meet at the pub at 8 : 30 pm . Ace sees Vijay come in and try to call Cambridge , but all lines are down . Betty goes to take a bath , but passes out when she sees what looks like her dead and rotted brother rise from the tub . At the same time , the tracking station detects more activity . Chapter 3 . Ace discusses the telescope and current events with Mrs . Crithin at the cafe ; she then goes outside and spots Vijay ' s car . Investigating it , she gets inside , but is forced to stay put and hide when he returns and drives away . The Doctor walks to the monastery . In the greenhouse he meets the exceedingly jolly abbot Mervyn Winstanley , and asks to spend time at the monastery . Betty ' s vision continues , terrifying her and causing her to scream until she passes out . Lawrence sends Robin for a doctor , as the phones are still out . Trevithick and Jill meet a constable , George Lowcock , who expresses little expectation for the investigation . Robin then arrives , having been unable to find local physician Dr . Shearsmith , and gets Jill to go check on his mother . Trevithick accompanies them . Ace , driven by Vijay onto the station grounds , finds herself trapped inside the fence . When she finds the hole in the fence , she discovers the decaying body of the missing guard . She runs into the station , startling Hawthorne and Cooper . At the pub , Trevithick talks with Lowcock about the disappearance of Prudhoe and Shearsmith . They are interrupted by Betty ' s renewed screaming . The Doctor reads a history of the area which implies that locals have been subject to terrible fears for centuries . Chapter 4 . In 1644 , Cromwell routes an army led by Prince Rupert near Crook Marsham . Survivors led by Sir Harry Crooke hide in the village ' s ruined Norman castle , hunted by Cromwell ' s man Philip Jackson . Cooke sees apparitions of his dead daughters , which turn into a fiery creature that consumes him ; his men flee in terror , and are captured by Jackson . Jackson investigates the castle , but sees strange energies , and flees in terror just before it explodes and burns out of existence . Finishing the book , the Doctor inquires about the castle site ; the abbot tells him that the telescope was built on the spot . Chapter 5 . Hawthorne , a diehard racist , muses on the path that brought him here ( including a bit of childhood trauma regarding the Tar Baby in the Brer Rabbit stories , which he associates with his perceived racial inferiors ) . He is interrupted by the arrival of the terrified and manic Ace . Intent on going through with his plan to retire , the Doctor returns to the pub to meet Ace , who isn ' t there ; but on mention of his name , Trevithick and Lowcock press him into helping Betty , who is now sedated by Jill . He gets her to sleep peacefully . In the pub , he compares notes with Trevithick regarding the phone outage and the disappearances , but still doesn ' t want to get involved . He learns that Ace was interested in the telescope , and leaves to find her ; Robin sneaks out to follow him . Hawthorne and Cooper interrogate Ace , who reports the dead guard . They are interrupted when the facility gets another data burst , and Hawthorne sends Ace to get Vijay and Holly , who are in bed together . Vijay responds , but lets Holly sleep . Betty awakens to another vision of her brother . Robin finds the Doctor to tell him about Ace , but before he can , they find a traumatised Win Prudhoe on the moor . She wanders away , and they find Jack ' s rapidly - decomposing body . Trevithick meets the monster again as he walks home , recognising it as an insect creature from the nightshade serials . It chases him , and even gives him a small injury , before Lawrence Yeadon ' s car runs it off . Lawrence says he and Lowcock couldn ' t get out of the village to go for help . The Doctor and Robin break into the satellite facility and meet everyone but Holly . He quickly ingratiated himself to Cooper asa scientist and identifies the double - star nova that is causing the electronic chatter , and offers to help . He also reports the body of Jack , corroborating Ace ' s story about the guard . Holly dreams of her former lover , James , who died six years ago ; she then awakens to an apparition of him in her bedroom . Chapter 6 . Billy Coote is sleeping at the monastery , and musing about the headaches that started a few months ago , and about the erratic second sight he has had all his life . A strange wind begins to moan around him ; down the hall , the abbot feels it too . At the station , Vijay interrupts Holly ' s visitation before it can devour her ; he only sees it as a vaguely humanlike cloud . Ace and Robin sleep in the station breakroom ; they are beginning to develop feelings for each other , and nearly kiss in the morning before being interrupted by the Doctor . Journalist Tim Medway comes to town to interview Trevithick . Trevithick , meanwhile , has stayed overnight in the pub with Lowcock and Yeadon , who are shaken by their encounter with the monster last night . In the morning , They compare notes , and suddenly Yeadon hurries upstairs to check on Betty . He finds her dead and decayed in bed , with the room mangled and the window torn out . Yeadon is hysterical ; Lowcock sets Trevithick to watch him , then heads to his police station . Edmund decides to take Yeadon to Dalesview and leave him with another resident while Edmund recovers something useful - - his old service revolver . The Doctor fails to repair the station radio , then interrogates Vijay and Holly about the apparition . Cooper gives him a walkie - talkie , and he takes Ace to the monastery ; Robin returns home . As they go , Ace realises she is beginning to resent the way the Doctor treats her , and to long for human contact - - like Robin . Meant , Medway nears town , and finds that all radio stations turn to static a mile out . He encounters a crashed bus with a dead driver ; the occupants are Jill and most of the Daleview residents , who were en route to visit various families for Christmas . Jill tells him of a sickly feeling that overcame everyone as they neared the edge of town , terminating in the fatal crash . He denies feeling anything , and helps them all to the nearby monastery . The Doctor and Ace arrive first , and begin researching more local history with the abbot , though not without some small tension between themselves . Ace finds record of an archaeological dig , Palaeolithic period , at the station site , which was abandoned under mysterious circumstances . Chapter 7 . Medway goes to the police station and meets Lowcock , reporting the bus accident . Lowcock sends an officer to deal with it , then takes Medway to meet Trevithick . The Doctor finished his research and gets a call from Cooper , asking him to return - - new signals are building up . Ace asks to stay behind - - secretly waiting for Robin - - and though neither of them admit it , both are preparing for her to leave the Doctor . Leaving the monastery , the Doctor meets Jill and her charges , and learns of the accident . Robin returns to the pub , thinking about Ace . He learns of his mother ' s death , and Yeadon blames him for leaving , and punches him , then apologises . He views the minimal remains , then admits to finding Jack in the same condition , then leaves . Lowcock and Medway arrive at the same time , and Trevithick reports Robin ' s story about Jack ; Lowcock tells Trevithick about Jill ' s accident . Lowcock relocates Yeadon to a b & b , and Trevithick tells Medway what ' s been going on . The Doctor , Cooper , Vijay and Holly confer . The signals are building steadily , but they aren ' t coming from the nova . The Doctor discusses the history of similar , horrific incidents . Hawthorne doesn ' t believe it , and nearly starts a fight with Vijay before storming off . Suddenly the signal goes wild again . Musing about the Doctor and waiting for Robin , Ace briefly joins Jill and the seniors in the monastery great hall , but gets uncomfortable and steps out . Jill gets the residents singing to calm them , but then sees an apparition of one resident ' s long - dead husband . It is joined by many other ghostly figures . When the phantoms touch their respective victims , the seniors are consumed in a burst of light and corruption . Jill flees the hall . Ace meets her and sees the conflagration ; a moment later , Robin arrives and Ace saves him from death . The creature chases Robin and Ace upstairs , but is distracted by the abbot on an upper floor . Hawthorne broods angrily in his room . Medway takes Trevithick to the telescope station , and Trevithick finishes his story en route . They arrive into the chaos of the control room , just as the fence breach alarm sounds again ; Cooper goes to investigate . The Doctor realises something is happening at the monastery . An apparition in the form of the Tar Baby kills Hawthorne . An apparition in the form of a mockery of Jesus kills the abbot . Chapter 8 . With the signal surge over , the Doctor leaves for the monastery to check on Ace . The power goes out . Trevithick confers with Holly while Vijay and Medway search for candles ; they find Hawthorne ' s remains , and Medway flees in terror in his car . Ace and Robin commiserate while hiding , and kiss . The Doctor arrives as the creatures fade from the monastery , and meets Jill running out , hysterical ; she updates him , and he sends her to gather everyone safely in one place . He goes in to find Ace . Trevithick confers with Vijay , and realises the apparitions are all from the victims ' pasts . Vijay ' s relationship with Holly is strained by her experience . As the power slowly returns , Holly finds the regular nova signal , plus a fainter but regular pulse in the background . Medway gets sick as he tries to leave town , but the fatal incident happens when he nearly runs over Jill and wrecks , his car exploding . Robin and Ace , in the tower now , see the explosion , as do the group at the station . They stay put and discuss the Doctor and Ace ' s life , and kiss again . They see Billy Coote approaching from further into the tower , and he appears possessed . At the station , the window explodes ; half a dozen of Trevithick ' s Nightshade monsters are approaching . The trip flees further inside as the creatures invade , and are forced to split up Trevithick finds an elevator and battles a creature to get inside , then goes up . The creature clings to the bottom of the lift , then breaks through the floor ; Trevithick shoots it , to no avail . He rigs a fire extinguisher to the creature , forces it back down onto the cable , sets the elevator going up , then shoots the extinguisher , setting the creature ablaze . The Doctor arrives at the monastery just as sunrise arrives , and finds nearly everyone dead . He sees an apparition . . . of Susan , his granddaughter . Chapter 9 . Ace and Robin climb to the roof to escape from Billy . Meanwhile the Doctor realises Susan isn ’ t real , and rejects the apparition , which turns into the burning cloud creature . He runs for the stairs up to the tower . Yeadon is assaulted by an apparition of Betty in the apartment over the pub . Vijay and Holly awaken and go outside , and find Cooper beneath a vehicle , injured but alive . The fence has been blown down — or rather , toppled by ground subsidence — and a “ fairy ring ” around the station is flattened and scorched . They discover that the Palaeolithic quarry beneath the grounds has been opened . Lowcock tries to gather the residents into the church as recommended , but finds that most of the village — including Win Prudhoe — have been consumed . Only about sixty survivors join him and Jill in the church . The Doctor gains the tower ; his encounter with the Susan apparition has forced him to face the feelings that led him to want to retire , and he isn ’ t prepared for it . In the tower , he finds Ace ’ s earring from Segonax on the floor , and then encounters the possessed Billy Coote , whose eyes have gone from normal , to all black , to transparent . The Doctor tries to confront him , realising he is mentally linked to something . Ace and Robin hear him , but remain on the roof . Trevithick awakens in the level 18 corridor , and takes the elevator back down , aiming for the control room on Level 8 , which is the ground level ( the lower levels are underground ) . The elevator doesn ’ t stop , and through the hole in the floor , he sees a web of light . He manages to escape on level 5 . Vijay , Holly , and Cooper return to the control room to search for Trevithick , but get distracted by the energy readings , which now show a regular pattern . Cooper realises it ’ s coming from underground . As the Doctor confronts the creature in Billy , Ace returns to the room to get climbing rope from her rucksack for Robin . The creature says it is ancient and doesn ’ t know what it is or where it came from , but it is hungry for life energy . Ace sets a rope , and Robin makes it to the ground . The creature moves to consume the Doctor , and Ace rolls two globes of Nitro - 9 - A at it . She descends the rope with the Doctor following , She makes it down safely , but the explosion in the tower causes the Doctor to fall . Chapter 10 . Trevithick makes it up to Level 8 , but passes out . The Doctor is alive , but his shoulder is dislocated ; Ace and Robin are forced to reset it . He then tells them that the creature — which he labels the Sentience — is ancient , with the Earth possibly having formed around it , and it feeds on energy . Ace ’ s explosion saved them for now , but made the Sentience stronger . They head for the telescope . As it grows , the Sentience destroys the Monastery , then begins to tear apart the village , before moving in on the crowd in the church . It finds root in the reactions of an old war veteran , then in Lowcock . Vijay locates Trevithick and gets him back to the control room just as the Doctor , Ace , and Robin arrive ; the group compares notes as the Sentience spreads over the moor and the village . The Doctor concludes that it is emotion , memory , and belief which are feeding the creature , summoning it , causing it to grow . He plans an expedition below ground via the quarry , and will take Trevithick , Vijay , and Holly with him , leaving Cooper to monitor via the equipment ; but he forces Ace to stay behind , with Robin to look after her , telling her she is too important to lose . Robin talks with her , and finally asks her to stay behind with him when the Doctor inevitably leaves . The Sentience confronts the Doctor ’ s group underground ; the Doctor warns them to clear their minds . Holly is unable to do so , and it gets a foothold in her memories , then manifests as her dead fiancé again . This time , she gives in and runs to it , but Vijay knocks her out in an attempt to save her ; but unknown to him , the sleeping mind is more vulnerable , and the creature quickly devours her . The Doctor , Trevithick , and Vijay flee the cavern , but encounter more of the nIghtshade creatures . Trevithick realises they can only exist because his memories give them form ; and he chooses to sacrifice himself by attacking them , allowing the Doctor and Vijay to make it back to the telescope station . Trevithick dies still fighting . The Sentience ’ s apparitions begin to break into the church despite Lowcock ’ s efforts at coordinating a defence , though he begins to realise what is feeding them . He finds a trapdoor into the crypt below , and gets everyone inside . At the station , the Doctor admits his failure , and tells Cooper , Ace and Vijay about his vision of Susan . Ace tries to summon the creature in the form of her mother , to determine their chance of success , and to illustrate her belief in the Doctor , who doesn ’ t believe in himself at the moment . It materialises , but she denies its reality , and without belief from her it is forced to retreat . She then challenges the Doctor to face his past as she faced hers . The Sentience now has enough strength to fully free itself from its prison in the earth . The Doctor summons it back to him on the strength of his memories of Susan , and it takes her form again . He forces it to confront its hunger , and then locks it onto the feed from the nova coming through the telescope . Finally strong enough to depart , it leaves Earth along the signal , and heads for the star , a practically unlimited source of energy . With the crisis over , Ace does something difficult : She tells the Doctor she intends to stay behind . He accepts it , and asks her for one last favour : A final trip in the TARDIS , as an experiment . As they board , the Doctor surmises that the nova is 324 light - years away — thus , it happened 324 years ago — and the creature is moving back in time … The Doctor lands in Crook Marsham in 1644 , where Jackson and Rupert ’ s soldiers are being alternately terrified and killed in the castle . The Doctor and Ace deduce that the creature is arriving here from the future before homing in on the nova — and true to expectations , they witness the destruction in fire of the castle as the creature arrives . It was the modern creature , not the historic , that destroyed the castle , before leaving Earth completely . The Doctor and Ace follow it to the nova , then forward in time to the nova ’ s eventual consumption , then across space to a supernova in Andromeda . . and forward again , in time to witness the conversion of the supernova into a black hole . The Sentience , at last , is consumed by the black hole . The Doctor prepares to take Ace back … but when she steps out of the TARDIS , she finds herself on an alien beach . When she steps back inside , the TARDIS dematerialises … and the Doctor is nowhere to be seen . Epilogue . Robin waits five months for Ace , but she does not return . Eventually he moves on , to York and beyond , keeping in touch with Cooper , Vijay , and Jill as they pick up the pieces . The telescope station is closed and later dismantled , and life in the village — such as remains — goes on . Images . The e - book version published by the BBC on their website included several illustrations by Daryl Joyce . Titles of illustrations are as they were on BBC ' s site .