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''City of Death'' is the second serial of the seventeenth season of the British

science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...

series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'', which depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor. It was produced by the

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and first broadcast in four weekly parts between 29 September 1979 and 20 October 1979 on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

. The serial was written by "

David Agnew "David Agnew" is a pen name that was employed on BBC television drama programmes of the 1970s as a scriptwriting credit. Conditions of use The pseudonym "David Agnew" was most often used when the original freelance scriptwriter was unable to acc ...

" – a pseudonym for David Fisher,

Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' developed into a " ...

, and Graham Williams – and directed by Michael Hayes. ''City of Death'' features the

Fourth Doctor The Fourth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Tom Baker. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the ...

(

Tom Baker Thomas Stewart Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and writer. He is well known for his portrayal of the Fourth Doctor, fourth incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Wh ...

) and his companion Romana (

Lalla Ward Sarah Jill "Lalla" Ward (born 28 June 1951) is an English actress, voice artist and author. She is best known for playing the role of Romana II in the BBC television series ''Doctor Who'' from 1979 to 1981. Career Early career Ward's stage na ...

). Set mainly in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1979, the plot concerns a scheme by Count Scarlioni (

Julian Glover Julian Wyatt Glover (born 27 March 1935) is an English classical actor with many stage, television, and film roles since commencing his career in the 1950s. He is a recipient of the Laurence Olivier Award and has performed many times for th ...

), in reality an alien called Scaroth, to steal the ''

Mona Lisa The ''Mona Lisa'' ( ; it, Gioconda or ; french: Joconde ) is a half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as "the best known ...

'' to finance experiments in

time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...

in the hope of averting the accident that killed the remainder of his race four hundred million years previously, which began the existence of life on the planet as well. The serial's original storyline was devised by Fisher but was heavily re-written by

script editor A script editor is a member of the production team of scripted television and radio programmes, usually dramas and comedies. The script editor has many responsibilities including finding new script writers, developing storyline and series ideas wi ...

Adams, aided by producer Williams. It was the first ''Doctor Who'' serial to film on location outside of the United Kingdom; the production team worked in Paris during April and May 1979; studio work was completed in June. Broadcast during a strike that took

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

(the BBC's rival) off the air, ''City of Death'' scored high ratings. The fourth episode was watched by over sixteen million viewers, the highest UK television audience ever attained by an episode of ''Doctor Who''. Although, in retrospect, it has been regarded as one of the best serials from ''Doctor Who'' classic run, the initial reception was not as positive, with criticism of the humorous tone.

Plot

While in Paris, the Doctor and Romana sense a time distortion. They observe the Countess Scarlioni using an alien device to scan the security systems housing

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

's ''

'' at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

. The pair meet Inspector Duggan, who suspects the Countess to be involved in an ongoing art theft scheme with her husband, Count Scarlioni. Duggan joins the Doctor and Romana in investigating the Scarlioni mansion. There, they find equipment used by Dr. Kerensky to experiment in time, the source of the time distortions, as well as six exact copies of the ''Mona Lisa''. The Doctor instructs Romana and Duggan to continue investigating while he returns to the

TARDIS The TARDIS (; acronym for "Time And Relative Dimension In Space") is a fictional hybrid of the time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and its various spin-offs. Its exterior ap ...

to visit Leonardo, a good friend of his. After the Doctor leaves, the Count returns after successfully stealing the ''Mona Lisa'' and captures Romana and Duggan. Learning that Romana is familiar with time, he kills Dr. Kerensky and forces Romana to continue the tests. In the past, the Doctor arrives at Leonardo's home but is captured by Captain Tancredi, who is Count Scarlioni. Tancredi reveals he is really Scaroth, a member of the Jagaroth race. They had arrived on Earth 400 million years ago, but due to an explosion in their craft, all of the others died and his own body was fragmented across time. Collectively, the fragments of Scaroth have manipulated humanity so that by the 20th century, they will have technology that will enable him to go back in time to stop the explosion. Tancredi is currently employing Leonardo to create copies of the ''Mona Lisa'' in order to finance Scarlioni's work. After Tancredi leaves, the Doctor knocks out his captor, marks the blank canvases with a felt-tip pen with the phrase, "This is a fake", and leaves a message to Leonardo to paint over his writing before returning to the present. The Doctor learns Scaroth threatens to destroy Paris if Romana does not continue the work. He tries to gain the Countess' help by showing the Count's true form, but he kills her. Romana completes the work and Scaroth uses it to travel to the past. The Doctor ushers Romana and Duggan into the TARDIS, fearing that the ship's explosion was the spark that started the development of life on Earth, and if Scaroth should prevent it, humanity would not exist. They arrive in time for Duggan to knock Scaroth out before he can reach the ship. Scaroth returns to present Earth, where he is discovered in his alien form by his bodyguard Hermann, and they get into a fight which damages the equipment and sets the mansion on fire. Hermann escapes, but Scaroth burns to death. By the time the Doctor, Romana, and Duggan arrive, the original ''Mona Lisa'' and 5 of the 6 copies have been burned in the fire, but the last copy remains safe. Duggan argues that they've lost an invaluable piece of art, but the Doctor assures him that the copy, still done by Leonardo's hand, will go unnoticed, and that art is worthless if its monetary value is all that matters. The Doctor and Romana say goodbye to Duggan at the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed "'' ...

Production

Conception and writing

Writer David Fisher had contributed two scripts to ''Doctor Who''s sixteenth season – ''

The Stones of Blood ''The Stones of Blood'' is the third serial of the 16th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 28 October to 18 November 1978. Part 4 was broadcast durin ...

'' and ''

The Androids of Tara ''The Androids of Tara'' is the fourth serial of the 16th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 25 November to 16 December 1978. The serial is set on t ...

'' – and was asked by producer Graham Williams for further story ideas. Fisher submitted two proposals; the first of these became ''

The Creature from the Pit ''The Creature from the Pit'' is the third serial of the 17th season of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 27 October to 17 November 1979. It was the first se ...

'' while the other, ''The Gamble with Time'', concerned a plot to rig the casinos in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

to finance time travel experiments.Pixley, ''Archive Feature. City of Death'', p. 26 Williams asked Fisher to rework ''The Gamble With Time'' as a spoof of

Bulldog Drummond Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond is a fictional character, created by H. C. McNeile and published under his pen name "Sapper". Following McNeile's death in 1937, the novels were continued by Gerard Fairlie. Drummond is a First World War veteran who, ...

, a fictional adventurer from the 1920s. Fisher's draft script centered around Scarlioni, a member of the Sephiroth race, who had accidentally become fractured in time. The script was mainly set in the year 1928 with the Doctor and Romana, aided by Drummond-esque detective "Pug" Farquharson, on the trail of the stolen Mona Lisa, pursuing Scarlioni from Paris to

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

where his partner, the Baroness Heidi, is using time travel technology to cheat at

roulette Roulette is a casino game named after the French word meaning ''little wheel'' which was likely developed from the Italian game Biribi''.'' In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a single number, various groupings of numbers, the ...

at the casino to fund Scarlioni's time travel experiments. Other settings included Paris in 1979, Leonardo da Vinci's studio in the year 1508, and prehistoric Earth.Strading & Morris, ''Paris in the Springtime''. At this point, production unit manager

John Nathan-Turner John Nathan-Turner (''né'' Turner; 12 August 1947 – 1 May 2002) was an English television producer. He was the ninth producer of the long-running BBC science fiction series ''Doctor Who''. He was also the final producer of the series' first ...

had worked out that the production team could afford to film on location in Paris with a stripped-down crew.Pixley, ''Archive Feature. City of Death'', p. 27 This necessitated a rewrite to Fisher's scripts to move the action to Paris and, for cost reasons, to drop the 1920s setting. The Doctor's robotic dog companion K9 also had to be removed from the script as the cost of bringing the robot dog and his operators to Paris was prohibitive. However, Fisher was going through a divorce, and his personal situation meant that he was unable to perform the rewrites. This meant that script editor

, aided by Graham Williams, had to perform a complete rewrite of the story over the course of a weekend. According to Adams, Graham Williams "took me back to his place, locked me in his study and hosed me down with whisky and black coffee for a few days, and there was the script". The revised script, now titled ''The Curse of the Sephiroth'', was credited to "David Agnew", a standard pseudonym used by the BBC and which had been previously used on ''Doctor Who'' for the season fifteen serial ''

The Invasion of Time ''The Invasion of Time'' is the sixth and final serial of the 15th season of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 4 February to 11 March 1978. It features the fi ...

''. The serial was subsequently retitled ''City of Death'' on 8 May 1979.Pixley, ''Archive Extra. City of Death'', p. 38. Adams would later reuse elements of ''City of Death'', along with the unfinished ''Doctor Who'' serial ''Shada'' (1979; 2003), in his novel ''

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency ''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' is a humorous detective novel by English writer Douglas Adams, published in 1987. It is described by the author on its cover as a "thumping good detective-ghost-horror-who dunnit-time travel-romantic- ...

'' (1987). In Part One, Lalla Ward as Romana makes a throwaway reference to a great art gallery called the Braxiatel Collection; the ''

Virgin New Adventures The ''Virgin New Adventures'' (NA series, or NAs) are a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. They continued the story of the Doctor from the point at which the televisio ...

'' novel series would later expand on this, introducing the character

Irving Braxiatel Irving Braxiatel or Cardinal Braxiatel is a fictional character from the Virgin New Adventures—spin-off novels based on the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He subsequently became a regular character in novels and audio d ...

, a

Time Lord The Time Lords are a fictional ancient race of extraterrestrial life, extraterrestrial people in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', of which the series' main protagonist, The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor, is a memb ...

.Barnes, ''The Fact of Fiction. City of Death''. Braxiatel also appears in the ''

Bernice Summerfield Bernice Surprise Summerfield (later Professor Bernice Summerfield or just Benny) is a fictional character created by author Paul Cornell as a new companion of the Seventh Doctor in Virgin Publishing's range of original full-length ''Doctor Who ...

'' series of novels and audio dramas and in the ''

Gallifrey Gallifrey () is a fictional planet in the long-running British science fiction on television, science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It is the original home world of the Time Lords, the civilisation to which the protagonist, The Doct ...

'' series of audio dramas which starred Ward as Romana.

Casting

was a well-established character actor who had previously appeared as

Richard the Lionheart Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overl ...

in '' The Crusade'' (1965). He was reluctant to don the Jagaroth mask as he felt the mask would impede his performance. As a result, he is doubled by Richard Sheekey in those scenes.

Tom Chadbon Tom Chadbon (born 27 February 1946, in Luton) is an English actor who has spent much of his career appearing on British television. Although principally a character actor, he has occasionally had leading or recurring roles. Chadbon starred in a ...

was cast as Duggan on account of his resemblance to the Franco-Belgian comics hero

Tintin Tintin or Tin Tin may refer to: ''The Adventures of Tintin'' * ''The Adventures of Tintin'', a comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé ** Tintin (character), a fictional character in the series ** ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (film), 2011, ...

.Hayes et al., ''City of Death DVD Commentary'', Part One

Peter Halliday Peter Halliday (2 June 1924 – 18 February 2012) was a Welsh actor. Early life The son of an auctioneer and estate agent, Halliday was brought up in Welshpool in Montgomeryshire, and attended Oswestry School in Shropshire. On leaving school ...

had previously appeared in several ''Doctor Who'' serials including '' The Invasion'' and '' Doctor Who and the Silurians''. Douglas Adams knew

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...

and

Eleanor Bron Eleanor Bron (born 14 March 1938) is an English stage, film and television actress, and an author. Her film roles include Ahme in the Beatles musical ''Help!'' (1965), the Doctor in ''Alfie'' (1966), Margaret Spencer in '' Bedazzled'' (1967), an ...

through his connections with ''

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...

'' and the

Footlights Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University. History Footlights' inaugural ...

.Wiggins, ''Production Notes'', Part Four. On learning that both would be working in

BBC Television Centre Television Centre (TVC) is a building complex in White City, London, White City, West London, that was the headquarters of BBC Television between 1960 and 2013. After a refurbishment, the complex reopened in 2017 with three studios in use for ...

on the day the art gallery scenes were to be recorded, he persuaded them to make a cameo appearance in a short scene written for "two Englishmen".Pixley, ''Archive Feature. City of Death'', p. 29 Cleese and Bron agreed on the condition that there be no pre-publicity regarding their appearance; Cleese wanted them to be credited as "Helen Swanetsky" and "Kim Bread" but the BBC declined.Pixley, ''Archive Extra. City of Death'', p. 38-39. Cleese liked the name "Kim Bread" and used it in later projects. During recording, Cleese and Baker also recorded two short comedy skits for the BBC Christmas tape.

Filming

''City of Death'' director Michael Hayes had previously directed ''

'' (1978) and ''

The Armageddon Factor ''The Armageddon Factor'' is the sixth and final serial of the 16th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 20 January to 24 February 1979. It was the las ...

'' (1979). He also had experience filming in Paris, having worked there on adaptations of ''

Maigret Jules Maigret (), or simply Maigret, is a fictional French police detective, a '' commissaire'' ("commissioner") of the Paris ''Brigade Criminelle'' ('' Direction Régionale de la Police Judiciaire de Paris:36, Quai des Orfèvres''), created b ...

'' (1960–63) and other

Georges Simenon Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer. He published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, and was the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret. Early life and education ...

stories for the BBC. Location filming took place in Paris between 30 April 1979 and 3 May 1979. It proved a difficult shoot as the dates coincided with the May Day holiday period, which meant that many of the locations chosen for filming were closed, necessitating considerable improvisation on the part of the cast and crew. Model filming was conducted at

Bray Studios Bray Productions was a pioneering American animation studio that produced several popular cartoons during the years of World War I and the early interwar era, becoming a springboard for several key animators of the 20th century, including the ...

between 8 May 1979 and 10 May 1979.Pixley, ''Archive Feature. City of Death'', p. 28 These concentrated on the shots of the Jagaroth spacecraft taking off from the prehistoric Earth and were overseen by Ian Scoones, a veteran of Gerry Anderson's '' Thunderbirds''. Following rehearsals, production moved to

where the remaining scenes were recorded in two blocks; the first between 21 May 1979 and 22 May 1979 and second between 3 June 1979 and 5 June 1979. Tom Baker found filming in Paris to be very different from what he was used to in the UK where crowds would gather to watch the filming and meet the stars. ''Doctor Who'' was not shown in France at the time and so the cast and crew were largely ignored.Wiggins, ''Production Notes'', Part One. Lalla Ward found ''City of Death'' the most challenging ''Doctor Who'' serial she worked on but was pleased with the outcome, saying, "We had to film loads of scenes in the rain and cold... there was no glamour in it at all... it was different from the ordinary stories too and I like the finished result". Seeing her costumes as an important part in creating the role of Romana, Ward clashed with costume designer Doreen James, rejecting the silver catsuit James had designed for her for the story.Wiggins, ''Production Notes'', Part Two. Ward came up with the idea for the schoolgirl costume she wore in conjunction with Baker, recalling, "I thought it would be fun to wear something that little girls probably hated wearing because it might cheer them up... I didn't bank on the fact that I'd also get loads of letters from their fathers saying 'Cool School uniform!'".

Broadcast and reception

''City of Death'' was broadcast on BBC1 over four consecutive Saturdays beginning on 29 September 1979.Pixley, ''Archive Feature. City of Death'', p. 30 At this time,

industrial action Industrial action (British English) or job action (American English) is a temporary show of dissatisfaction by employees—especially a strike action, strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay a ...

had blacked out rival broadcaster

and as a result, the serial scored very high ratings, averaging 14.5 million viewers over the four episodes; 16.1 million watched the fourth episode, the largest audience ever recorded for an episode of ''Doctor Who''. The story was repeated on BBC1 across four consecutive evenings from Tuesday to Friday, 12 – 15 August 1980, achieving viewing figures of 6.3, 5.5, 5.6 and 5.9 million viewers respectively. Audience appreciation ratings for the first two parts of ''City of Death were'' a respectable score of 64%. ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' published two letters from viewers regarding ''City of Death''. Les Rogers of

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

praised the serial's cast and the location filming; less impressed, however, was Paul R. Maskew of

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

who felt the show was being played for laughs. Responding to similar criticisms from viewers, Douglas Adams wrote, "If the programme didn't move and take a few risks then it would have died of boredom years ago".Wiggins, ''Production Notes'', Part Three. Several viewers wrote to point out the discrepancy between the start of life on Earth of 4,000 million years ago and the date given in ''City of Death'' of 400 million years ago. Graham Williams replied, "The good Doctor makes the odd mistake or two but I think an error of 3,600 million years is pushing it! His next edition of the ''

Encyclopedia Galactica The ''Encyclopedia Galactica'' is the name of a number of fictional or hypothetical encyclopedias containing all the knowledge accumulated by a galaxy-spanning (Type III in Kardashev scale) civilization. The name evokes the exhaustive aspects o ...

'' will provide an erratum". Another viewer wrote that the atmosphere of the primordial Earth would have been poisonous to the Doctor and his companions; Douglas Adams responded to this criticism, citing

artistic license Artistic license (alongside more contextually-specific derivative terms such as poetic license, historical license, dramatic license, and narrative license) refers to deviation from fact or form for artistic purposes. It can include the alterat ...

. ''City of Death'' was voted seventh in a 1998 poll of the readers of ''

Doctor Who Magazine ''Doctor Who Magazine'' (abbreviated as ''DWM'') is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Launched in 1979 as ''Doctor Who Weekly'', the magazine became a monthly publication the followi ...

'' to find the best ''Doctor Who'' story; the magazine commented that it "represented the height of ''Doctor Who'' as popular light entertainment for all the family". In 2009, ''Doctor Who Magazine'' readers voted it in eighth place. In a more recent 2014 poll, the magazine's readers voted it fifth best Doctor Who story of all time. A 2008 article in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' named ''City of Death'' one of the ten greatest episodes of ''Doctor Who''. John Condor, writing in the

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...

'' DWB'' in 1991, hailed the story as "the best blend of kitsch, surrealism, fantasy, and comedy-drama seen in our favourite Time Lord's annals".Howe & Walker, ''The Television Companion'', p, 478.

Vanessa Bishop Vanessa Bishop (floruit, fl. 1990s) is a British writer who wrote in the review section "Off the Shelf" in ''Doctor Who Magazine''.Bylines in Dr. Who Magazine, e.g., She has also written short stories based on the BBC Television series ''Doctor ...

, reviewing the serial's DVD release, described it as "imaginatively written, well-performed and beautifully made, ''City of Death'' is a story where pretty much everything works". Reacting to the serial, as part of ''Doctor Who Magazine''s ongoing "Time Team" feature,

Jacqueline Rayner Jacqueline Rayner is a British author, best known for her work with the licensed fiction based on the long-running British science fiction on television, science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Biography Her first professional writing cr ...

said "you're suddenly, almost violently, made aware this is happening in our world... with people just getting on with their business and two Time Lords walking through it. I don't think I've ever experienced that with ''Doctor Who'' up till now... it's the tiny touches of mundanity amid the fantastical that lift the story even higher".

Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders is an American writer and commentator. She has written several novels, published magazines and websites, and hosted podcasts. In 2005, she received the Lambda Literary Award for work in the transgender category, and in 2009, t ...

and

Javier Grillo-Marxuach Javier "Javi" Grillo-Marxuach (), born October 28, 1969 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is a television screenwriter and Television producer, producer, and podcaster, known for his work as writer and producer on the first two seasons of the American Bro ...

io9 ''io9'' is part of Gizmodo media since 2015, and it began as blog launched in 2008 by Gawker Media. The site initially focused on the subjects of science fiction, fantasy, futurism, science, technology and related areas but over the years has ...

included it on their list of "10 TV Episodes that Changed Television", citing "the sharp dialogue and clever use of time travel

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

prefigure everything Steven Moffat has done with the series in recent years." ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' reviewer Christopher Bahn described ''City of Death'' as the "gem" of the seventeenth season, finding Adams' subtle comedy script "easily the funniest and most quotable the series ever achieved". While he praised Scarlioni's costume and the mask, he felt that more could have been done with using Paris as a filming location. However, ''Doctor Who'' fandom's initial response was not so positive;

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

, writing in the fanzine ''TARDIS'' in 1979, decried it as "total farce... I simply couldn't believe this was ''Doctor Who''... the continual buffoonery is getting on my nerves". A similar view was held by

Gary Russell Gary Russell (born 18 September 1963) is a British freelance writer, producer and former child actor. As a writer, he is best known for his work in connection with the television series ''Doctor Who'' and its spin-offs in other media. As an a ...

who, reviewing the VHS release in 1991, said, "''City of Death'', like most Douglas Adams material, is overrated and misses the mark for me, falling between the stools of good pastiche and bad parody and making fairly unsatisfactory viewing". Vanessa Bishop countered that it was "the ''Doctor Who'' story it's alright to laugh at... we must now accept that ''City of Death'' is funny — because if we didn't the '' Crackerjack''-style sleuths, scientists and all... would leave it knocking about near the bottom of all the ''Doctor Who'' story ranking polls" and, responding to the criticisms about the levels of comedy, that "it's precisely these things that make it seem so special". Reviewing the serial in 2011, Patrick Mulkern of ''

'' awarded it three stars out of five, stating he disliked the smug tone to the humour and Ward's "snooty" portrayal of Romana. Despite this, he noted that the serial had good production values and direction, as well as a few jokes that he enjoyed.

Commercial releases

In print

''City of Death'' is one of five ''Doctor Who'' serials from the series' original run (1963–1989) not to have been novelised by

Target Books Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became well ...

; the others are ''

The Pirate Planet ''The Pirate Planet'' is the second serial of the Doctor Who (season 16), 16th season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC One, BBC1 from 30 September to 21 October ...

'', ''Shada'', ''

Resurrection of the Daleks ''Resurrection of the Daleks'' is the fourth serial of the 21st season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in two weekly parts on BBC1 between 8 February and 15 February 1984. The serial ...

'', and ''

Revelation of the Daleks ''Revelation of the Daleks'' is the sixth and final serial of the 22nd season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in two weekly parts on 23 and 30 March 1985. This was the final serial t ...

''. Target approached Douglas Adams to write a novelisation, offering their standard advance of £600; Adams replied, "I don't want to be embarrassing but I do have a tendency to be a best-selling author".Simpson, ''Hitchhiker'', p. 233 Target, concerned that their regular authors would seek better terms, refused to increase I their offer. Several years later, Target editor

Nigel Robinson Nigel Robinson is an English author, known for such works as the ''First Contact'' series. Nigel was born in Preston, Lancashire and attended St Thomas More school. Robinson's first published book was ''The Tolkien Quiz Book'' in 1981, co-written ...

offered an advance of £4,000 – double what was the standard advance at the time – but Adams again declined. Adams was unwilling to allow another author to write the novelisation. However, after Adams' death his estate allowed Gareth Roberts to write an adaptation of the unfinished serial ''Shada'', which was published by

BBC Books BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasti ...

in 2012. In 2013, Roberts announced that he was working on a novelisation of ''City of Death'', to be published on 21 May 2015. Roberts later announced that James Goss was working on the book instead. An abridged version was published as part of the ''Target Collection'' 5 April 2018.

Home media

''City of Death'' was released on VHS in April 1991 with a cover by Andrew Skilleter. It was re-issued in 2001. A DVD was released in 2005 with special features including commentary by actors Julian Glover and Tom Chadbon, as well as director Michael Hayes, and the behind-the-scenes documentary "Paris in the Springtime". It was also released as part of the

Doctor Who DVD Files This is a list of ''Doctor Who'' serials and episodes that have been released on DVD and Blu-ray. DVD Release Most ''Doctor Who'' DVDs have been released first in the United Kingdom with Region 2, and released later in Australia and New ...

in Issue 37 on 2 June 2010. On 1 January 2013,

AudioGO AudioGO (formerly BBC Audiobooks) was a publisher of audiobooks and a range of spoken word and large-print titles. It was majority owned by AudioGO Ltd, and minority owned by BBC Worldwide. It was formed in 2010, when AudioGO purchased a majori ...

released a two-hour soundtrack of the serial, narrated by Lalla Ward. A vinyl release of the soundtrack was released in 2018 exclusively for

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

. Ian Scoones'

storyboard A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, i ...

s for ''City of Death'' special effects sequences were published in Peter Haining's book ''Doctor Who – 25 Glorious Years'' in 1988, and a Scaroth figure was released by Harlequin Miniatures in 1999.Pixley, ''Archive Extra. City of Death'', p. 39.

References

Bibliography

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External links

''City of Death'' episode guide on the BBC website
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Fan novelisation

* {{good article Fourth Doctor serials Television episodes set in Paris 1979 British television episodes Television episodes written by Douglas Adams Television episodes about ancient astronauts Doctor Who stories set on Earth Depictions of Leonardo da Vinci on television Mona Lisa Fiction set in the 1500s Fiction set in 1979