A 1979 BBC strike prevented the completion of the Doctor Who story 'Shada', which was filmed in Cambridge and written by Douglas Adams.

In 1979, the Doctor Who production team traveled to Cambridge to film a story titled 'Shada,' written by Douglas Adams and starring Tom Baker as the fourth Doctor. Although location filming was largely completed, the production was abandoned after strike action at the BBC prevented the recording of necessary studio scenes in London. The unfinished episodes became a long-standing legend among fans of the series.

Production Challenges in Cambridge

Filming in Cambridge presented several difficulties for the crew. According to Marcus Hearn, editor of Doctor Who Magazine, Tom Baker struggled to learn how to punt on the River Cam and frequently fell into the water. Hearn's father, a porter at Clare College, assisted the actor with blankets and brandy during the shoot. Due to permission issues, the production was unable to film at St John's College, where Adams had been a student, and instead used Emmanuel and Clare colleges.

The Impact of the Strike

Design assistant Les McCallum recalled that the production team returned from lunch during the studio shoot to find the doors locked and chained due to the strike. Because the actors were already contracted for other projects, the BBC could not reunite the cast to finish the episodes. The footage remained in the archives for years, eventually being used as fragments in the 1983 20th-anniversary special, 'The Five Doctors.'

Completion of the Story

Decades after the project was abandoned, the story was finally completed in 2017. Tom Baker and Lalla Ward, who played Romana, returned to record the missing dialogue from Douglas Adams' original script. The remaining scenes were finished using animation to bridge the gaps in the original footage.