Dr Who takes on zombies of Nor' Loch

Published on Monday 28 April 2008 10:48

HE has battled Daleks, Cybermen and aliens from the farthest reaches of time and space.

But now the Doctor is facing his toughest challenge yet – a portion of chips liberally splashed with Edinburgh's famous salt 'n' sauce.

The scene appears in the final act of a new Doctor Who spin-off novel set in the Capital, released by BBC Books.

The story sees the Doctor – played on-screen by Bathgate-born actor David Tennant – travel through time to visit the Edinburgh Fringe following a battle with zombies in the Old Town during the 18th century.

The story, called The Many Hands, has been written by science-fiction author Dale Smith, who said it was a long-standing ambition to bring the Time Lord to the Capital.

He said: "I first decided that I wanted to write a Doctor Who story set in Edinburgh years ago, as I regularly visited during the Festival and had a few of my plays staged during the Fringe.

"It's such a wonderful city with so much history in it and you can imagine it being the perfect place for a spooky mystery story.

"I originally wanted to have a zombie adventure set in 1840, but I had to change the date to 1749 after I found out that I'd got the date of the draining of the Nor' Loch wrong. It's a central part of the story, as that's where all the zombies are coming from. I'd always known that there were underground streets in the city, and the idea that monsters might be hiding down there waiting to get you was irresistible.

"But then I came up to Edinburgh and took a tour of Mary King's Close, where I discovered that the real stories of the people who'd lived and died there were just as spooky.

"Actually walking about down there made me realise just how scary those streets could be when the lights go out."

There have been several previous Doctor Who adventures set in Edinburgh. The last was 2003 novel The Domino Effect, which saw the eighth Doctor – played by Paul McGann in a one-off TV movie – travel to a modern-day Edinburgh being terrorised by a bombing campaign.

The Many Hands is set between the last and the current series of the science fiction favourite, and sees the Doctor aided by companion Martha Jones, played on screen by Freema Agyeman. He has since been joined by Donna Noble, played by comedienne Catherine Tate, for the current series, now being shown on BBC1.

Mr Smith would love to see Tennant add his voice to an audio version of the book.

He said: "I'd like to think David would enjoy it, as there are parts where the Doctor gets to speak in a Scottish accent. David's got this sort of Cockney-Essex thing going on at the moment, so it would be nice to hear him talking in his proper voice.

"There's a scene at the end of the book when he and Martha return to Edinburgh in the late Nineties, just to make sure everything's still OK.

"I couldn't resist putting in a bit where the Doctor gets a taste of Edinburgh's legendary salt 'n' sauce and I'm sure he would approve."

Hundreds of years ago, the sewage-filled Nor' Loch filled the area now occupied by Princes Street Gardens.