Working titles for this story included "The Monster of Fang Rock" and "The Beast of Fang Rock". "Horror of Fang Rock" was a late replacement for the scripts Terrance Dicks had originally submitted, a vampire-based tale entitled "The Vampire Mutations", which was cancelled close to production as it was feared it could detract from the BBC's "Count Dracula", a high-profile adaptation of Bram Stoker's classic novel "Dracula", which was due for transmission close to when the serial would have aired. A re-written version did, however, eventually see production in 1980 as "State of Decay", part of the eighteenth season of "Doctor Who".