Nightshade

Nightshade is the fourth story in Season 28. It was written by Mark Gatiss, directed by Nicholas Mallett and features Richard Griffiths as The Doctor and Sophie Aldred as Ace.

## Nightshade

### Director

Nicholas Mallett

Synopsis

Ace has never known the Doctor so withdrawn and melancholic.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 aeons-old power that the Doctor is unable to resist?

Plot

Part 1

To be added.

Part 2

To be added.

Part 3

To be added.

Part 4

To be added.

Cast

The Doctor - Richard Griffiths

Ace - Sophie Aldred

The Sentience/Susan - Carole Ann Ford

TBA.

Crew

Writer - Mark Gatiss

Producer - John Nathan-Turner

Script Editor - Andrew Cartmel

Director - Nicholas Mallett

Lighting - Henry Barber

Designer - Nick Somerville

Visual Effects Designers - Malcom James, Dave Chapman

Make-Up Designer - Joan Stribling

Casting Director - Anne Henderson

Music - Mark Ayres

Costume Designer - Ken Trew

Edited by - Hugh Parson

Vision Mixer - Susan Brincat

Original Theme Music - Ron Grainer

Title Music - Keff McCulloch

Title Sequence by CAL Video

References

The Doctor

The Doctor thinks of Susan almost every day now.

The Doctor's departure from Gallifrey was observed.

Individuals

Ace's parents met on the dance floor of a sweaty nightclub.

Ace decides to leave the Doctor for Robin Yeadon.

Jack remembers trips to Ilkley Moor with Win.

Bayles began working as a butcher in 1938.

Betty Yeadon blamed herself for the death of her brother Alfred Beadle, whom she had encouraged to enlist in the military.

Mr Pemberton was consumed by the Sentience.

Dr Shearsmith was one of the first people to disappear.

The son of Valentine Walton was killed in 1644.

Sharon Tate, wife of Roman Polanski, was murdered by Charles Manson and his "family". Ace read about it in one of her mother's True Crime books.

James Reynolds was nicknamed Debbie Reynolds

Thomas Edward Hawthorne once walked a hundred miles to hear Oswald Mosley speak.

Peter Dimmock read football scores on Sportsview.

Tim Medway spent the last two Christmases alone, watching Alastair Sim on television.

Locations

Marsham Castle was built in 1156.

The Doctor lands the TARDIS in an alien planet with a dusky purple sky and three moons.

Species

The Sentience absorbs the energy from Ace's Nitro-9.

Astronomy

The characters refer to features of space such as Andromeda, Bellatrix, black holes, supernovae and galaxies.

Food and beverages

The Doctor drinks either ginger beer or (less likely) Guinness.

Television series

Nightshade was a science fiction series produced by the BBC. Edmund Trevithick starred as the titular professor from 1953 to 1958.

Notes

The character of Professor Nightshade was inspired by Bernard Quatermass.

Continuity

The interaction between the Doctor and Ace in this novel explains some of the events in TV: Love and War.

Novel Adaptation