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Nov 8, 2013

Scream of the Shalka is a flash-animated series based on the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was produced to coincide with the 40th Anniversary of the series and was originally posted in six weekly parts from 13 November to 18 December 2003 on bbc.co.uk's Doctor Who website.

Although Scream of the Shalka was intended to be an official continuation[citation needed] of the television series that had ended in 1989, as well as the 1996 television movie, the revival of the program in 2005 relegated it, and its Doctor, to unofficial status. The series was scripted by veteran Doctor Who writer Paul Cornell, with Richard E. Grant providing the voice for the Ninth Doctor. This performance followed years of rumours that Grant would play the Doctor in a film or new series, and indeed he had appeared as the "Conceited Doctor" in the Comic Relief special Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Deathin 1999. Grant subsequently went on to appear in the revived television series of Doctor Who as a guest villain in 2012's "The Snowmen" and 2013's "The Bells of Saint John" and "The Name of the Doctor". The Doctor's companion for this adventure, Alison Cheney, was voiced by Sophie Okonedo who a year later would be nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in Hotel Rwanda. She also appeared in the 2010 series of Doctor Who, as Liz 10, in the episodes "The Beast Below" and "The Pandorica Opens". Derek Jacobireprised his role as the Master in 2007's "Utopia". David Tennant appeared in a cameo role as the Caretaker, later being cast as the Tenth Doctor in 2005.

Previous Doctor Who webcasts had limited animation and were little more than a series of illustrations. Earlier in 2003, BBCi had had some success with the original animated webcast Ghosts of Albion. The animation for that story was provided by Manchester-based animation studio Cosgrove Hall, who were also hired to animate Scream of the Shalka.

This story was the first officially licensed, fully animated Doctor Who story.