The Unknown Shade

The Unknown Shade was the first sentient Shadowman, as created by the Minister of War; an even darker reflection of his personality, speaking in an ethereal growl. They were never officially given a name, their designation originating from Jason upon his first encounter with the Shade after prompting from the Doctor. Their role was to obtain human life forms and carry out research, bonding them with raw shadow to create an army.

Biography
The Unknown Shade was present on Sontar as the Rutans mounted an invasion force, saving the Doctor and Jonski from a Sontaran Command Facility’s exploding reactor core. Depositing Jonski on the planet’s surface, they assisted in scanning the Doctor’s brain upon request of the Minister of War, later showing her around their technology before she escaped via teleport pod. Upon the Doctor’s return, along with Jason Whittaker, Jonski and Cafolla, the Unknown Shade tried to prevent their use of a Rutan EMP, killing Jonski in the process, but not before she was able to activate the device, disabling all electrical signals on the planet. In the midst of its activation, the Minister of War sent the Unknown Shade to Earth, their objectives to learn about the Doctor and find the Minister bodies for experimentation. (AUDIO: Conquest Of Sontar)

On Earth, the Unknown Shade did as instructed, stealing away the homeless in the night, including Wilson Stevens. They registered the Doctor’s arrival on Earth, encountering her in a newsagents’, before they had met in her timeline, it being here that they gained the title ‘Unknown Shade’. Attempting to coerce the Doctor into meeting the Minister of War by attacking Jason’s homeless shelter, they made a deal with her to bring all the Shadowmen together in exchange for her compliance. This however turned out to be a ploy, the Doctor using the interconnectivity of the shadow to channel her remaining regeneration energy throughout each Shadowman, the Unknown Shade included, destroying them and freeing their hosts. (AUDIO: Open Doors)

During the Minister of War’s invasion of Earth, all Shadowmen would be given sentience, sharing the same template as the Unknown Shade and a basic hive mind. (AUDIO: Eternal War) This allowed them to converse and also retain memory, meaning they remembered burning at the hands of the Doctor. (AUDIO: Against The Dying Of The Light)