Doctor Who: Tom Baker adapts unmade Fourth Doctor movie into new novel!

In January 2019, Fourth Doctor fans will be treated to a novel written by Tom Baker himself: Scratchman, as adapted from the unmade Doctor Who movie!

Fourth Doctor fans have heard quite a bit about the legendary Doctor Who meets Scratchman over the years. Originally a planned movie by Tom Baker and Ian Marter (best known to Whovians as companion Harry Sullivan), Baker was very keen to see their script turned into an actual film.

Unfortunately, the project never received any funding and was eventually dropped. Fans have heard details about the film over the years, including a synopsis of the story in issue 379 of Doctor Who Magazine. But, despite a great deal of interest from the fandom, the story has never been adapted.

Until now.

In January 2019, Scratchman will finally be released as a brand new novel, as written by Tom Baker himself. The Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry get involved in an adventure facing horrific scarecrows on a remote Scottish island.

But there’s something much worse that the Doctor has to face: Scratchman. Something that claims to be the Devil itself…

Next year, the previously unmade Tom Baker story Scratchman will be released as a brand new novel!

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

Facing your fear

This looks set to be quite the scary novel. Especially as it’s described that Scratchman wants to know what the Doctor himself is afraid of. Tom Baker’s Doctor and horror are extremely complimentary. His first three seasons featured a lot of stories inspired by horror classics, and it gave us one of the best eras in the show’s long history.

Tom Baker seems particularly keen on horror himself, judging by this particular quote.

"More from Winter is ComingFor All Mankind finally gives us information in Episode 405, “Goldilocks”Watch a stunning VFX breakdown of The Wheel of Time season 2Of course Steve Toussaint (Corlys Velaryon) thinks Eve Best (Rhaenys Targaryen) should rule WesterosConfirmed: The Last of Us season 2 will air in 2025Final season of Star Trek: Discovery will have “a lot of action, a lot of adventure, a lot of fun”I love the improbability of Doctor Who. Reason plays no part at all. As in religion, the overriding thing is faith. It may be improbable, but just believe in it and it’ll all come right….When I was approached about the book, I thought, ‘Why not?’ I’m always on the lookout for a novelty. I’m very enthusiastic as I get close to darkness."

This sounds like quite the intriguing novel. I’m really looking forward to reading this one, and I’m definitely curious to see exactly what a Fourth Doctor story written by Tom Baker is actually like. Especially a novel that sounds so heavily focused on horror. I’m sure many fans of the Philip Hinchcliffe era are also eager to find out on January 24th 2019.

Are you curious to read this novel? Are you a fan of the Fourth Doctor’s era, or even horror in general? Do you think this could make for a great read? Let us know in the comments below.