Written by Basil Dawson, this four-part story involving murders in Victorian London. Dawson, a veteran screenwriter, was approached by script editor Robert Holmes to develop a story which would introduce a new companion to replace Sarah Jane Smith following her departure. The new character was to be a Cockney girl whom the Doctor would take under his wing and educate, in the manner of Eliza Doolittle in the George Bernard Shaw play "Pygmalion". This story was planned to be the fourth story of Season 14. "The Gaslight Murders" was quickly abandoned, however. Its spot in the schedule was ultimately filled by "The Face of Evil" with the Eliza Doolittle character being replaced with Leela, while Holmes reused the general framework in "The Talons of Weng-Chiang".