Australia’s Doctor Who fans are in for a treat, because newly-completed 1979 story Shada is heading Down Under to the big screen.

The adventure, penned by Hitchhiker’s Guide author Douglas Adams, has become legendary among fans in the 38 years since it was abandoned. Starring Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor, it was intended to be the finale to the 17th series – then disaster struck: industrial action at the BBC meant filming was never completed and it had to be abandoned.

But early in October 2017 it was announced that Shada had finally been completed in full.

Producers have revived and remastered the original footage and used animation to plug the gaps. The animated sections will feature the newly-recorded voices of the original cast, including Tom Baker as the Doctor and Lalla Ward as Romana.

Shada will premiere in Australian cinemas on 24th November.

It tells the story of Chris Parsons, a post-graduate student of physics at Cambridge. One day he finds an old book on a dusty shelf – but it is no ordinary book and he’s soon caught up in the world of the Doctor, encountering everything from invisible space-ships to molten rock monsters to hordes of mind-control zombies.

For those of us who aren’t anywhere near an Australian cinema, Doctor Who: Shada will be released on Friday 24th November, first as a digital download and then on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday 4th December.