City of Death

"The centuries that divide me shall be undone."

Writer: David Agnew

Format: TV

Broadcast: 29th September - 20th October 1979

Season: 17.02

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Romana II

Synopsis 

Whilst on holiday in Paris, the Doctor and Romana discover that something is amiss with time. Who is conducting the secret time experiments, and what connects them to the Mona Lisa? The answers lead them to discover a secret that has been hidden for four hundred million years...

Verdict 

City of Death is a simply wonderful serial! It really is Doctor Who at its very best and it also sees the show have humour play a large role within the plot and dialogue which is probably one of the main reasons it is so good. I love it from start to finish and it measures as one of my all time favourite stories. It has a wonderful TARDIS pairing in the Fourth Doctor and Romana II who are actually slowly going on their way to becoming my favourite pairing. When I first started watching the Classic era, I must admit that I wasn't keen on Tom Baker's incarnation of the Doctor but now I think he's excellent. I'm still actually yet to read an original novel featuring the incarnation but that is something I'm very keen to rectify soon. But as for Romana II, I think she absolutely remains as my favourite on screen companion. She's just marvellous and alongside the Fourth Doctor the pair are simply sublime. I think it's interesting to have the Doctor travelling with a fellow Time Lord, or Time Lady as was first coined in this story, and I just love how Romana is on the same level intellectually as the Doctor. It just brings so much to the pair's relationship and I don't think there's a story where that is more prominent. The comedy value of this story is outrageously good, particularly in the first two parts, and I think adding a Paris location just makes this an instant classic. The plot concerning Scaroth was magnificent and I like how we got to see the explosion of the Jagaroth ship which play a crucial role in the plot at the start of the first episode. I really liked the reference to Destiny of the Daleks and some of the guest characters were really great. Duggan tagging alongside the Doctor and Romana was wonderful and his constant breaking of glass and punching people was another addition to the humour. The Doctor's reaction to ever punch seemed to improved which was great. He really was an excellent character despite being clueless as to what was truly going on. I guess that made him a pretty typical detective then! Scaroth, or Count Scarlioni as he was better known, was a superb villain and I loved the idea of him being splintered through time. I always enjoy the cliffhanger to part two where the Doctor arrives in Florence and is greeted by an alternative Scaroth. It sets up the rest of the story beautifully and I love how each splinter version can communicate with the other. I thought the Countess was also a magnificent character and her early relationship with the Doctor was fantastic. It was a real highlight in my opinion. The theft of the Mona Lisa is a great premise for a story but that wasn't even the main plot which I think is magnificent. The Doctor writing 'this is a fake' on six genuine artefacts of Leonardo's work was wonderful. I was reminded of the Seventh Doctor's comments in Dust Breeding about him having the genuine artefact in his own collection. I guess he kind of deserved it for once again saving the human race. The revelation about the Jagaroth impact on human development was quite incredible and I love how the ship explosion was the catalyst for the human race itself! It's an incredible concept and Scaroth going back in time to put right the wrong his race encountered was thwarted by another tasty right hook from Duggan. The Doctor was pretty happy with that one. It was a great ending to a simply sublime serial of Doctor Who! Overall, one of the very best. 

Rating: 10/10