City Of Death is one of my favourite Tom Baker stories and indeed it’s right up there with my all-time fave Doctor Who stories overall. It’s also the first story I ever owned on video and consequently the one I’ve watched more than any other. Considering I first watched it 20 years ago, you can only imagine how many times I’ve watched it since, it’s definitely in double figures! There is so much to enjoy in this story though!

The Doctor-Tom Baker pulls out one of his funniest performances and the quality of the script just fits him like a glove. I really liked the mix between the funny and serious Doctor stuff in this. It was a bit Troughton-esque at times how he suddenly became serious after cracking a few jokes.

Romana-Also does well with a great script and has some great lines, especially in the scenes with Duggan. As for that school uniform outfit, surely the most Pre-Peri sauciest outfit there ever was! I always love the story Lalla Ward has told on that outfit, that she wore it to please the schoolgirl viewers but it had a greater impact on the male viewers instead!

Scaroth-Julian Glover has to be one of the best non-regular villains there has ever been. He is simply superb in his three main roles plus the other aspects of Scaroth from other periods. He has that elegance and charm to complement his villainy.



The Countess- Complements the Count quite admirably andLoved that scene between her and The Doctor in the last episode and the byplay between her and the Count when they first meet The Doctor was pure genius.

Duggan-Should have been a companion. Slightly inept, constant exasperated by The Doctor and Romana and

Korensky- What a star! I thought the way he was designed to counter the erm, Count was really interesting. The stereotypical scientist whose death was actually rather gruesome for this the Series at this point.

Other characters-Hermann is suitably menacing as the Count’s Legman. Peter Halliday is just superb in his smallest role in the show as Tancredi’s Guard and even the Louvre guide was quite amusing.



The location- The Paris settings just add to the story. There is no way the story would have worked as well in the studio only and I think it was great how they could be in Paris one moment and studio prehistoric times just a minute or so later! The mix between studio and location really worked well.

The script- I don’t think Doctor Who could be this witty again if it tried. The dialogue is just amazing and as I’ve mentioned the scene where the Count meets The Doctor is one of the wittiest and funniest scenes ever!

The incidental music-One of Dudley Simpson’s best scores ever IMO, especilally on the Paris scenes. It always gets stuck in my head. I also love the way that after running through Paris for a couple of minutes in Part 1, the playful music suddenly becomes more menacing as we’re introduced to the villain of the piece and the Count’s first scenes.

So there you have it. I can’t find anything to fault about this story, I love it to bits, hence the rather overlong introduction! By some comfortable margin the best story of this Season.

Depending on the source, Douglas Adams either wrote the story, or edited it.

LOVE this story, especially the scene with

Also love this scene, it's not actually from city of death, but it's still brilliant


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA59g...eature=related

Great story, one of the best of Tom Baker's. Great script, very witty dialogue. Best line by the Doctor: 'what a wonderful butler, he is so violent!'

That whole scene was brilliant!
Most of the sources I've seen say that Douglas Adams was script editor at the time but the supplied script wasn't good enough so DNA wrote the script along with David Fisher and Graham Williams under the psudonym of David Agnew (the established BBC psudonym for this sort of situation).

This is the story I would recommend for people who have never seen any Classic Who. It's got the humour, the action, the timey-wimey stuff, the alien bent on the destruction of humanity, all the stuff you'd expect of a modern episode.

wonderful script wonderful cast brilliant one liners Dugan one of the best one off characters in the entire history of Doctor Who I just absolutely love his cynical if it moves thump it attitude and Tom is simply at his very best.

Going totally against the grain here but I think it's distinctly average.

Really don't see why it gets so much praise, probably one of the most overrated stores ever (along with Androzani), IMO.

While I would agree with you a 100% about "The Caves Of Androzani" (I really don't get all the love for it one bit), I can't agree with you at all about "City Of Death", which I think is just tremendous and is for me is one of the best Who stories ever.

Though I disagree with you on both counts, I can understand the reaction. I often think the same about Talons Of Weng-Chiang but I also know it is just all about opinion.

What's great about doing these threads is that the best stories can get criticised and even the bad ones can get praised. (Such as The Armageddon Factor the other day). It does make for intriguing reading reading the variance of opinion, it's what makes these threads great to participate in!

Totally agree WelshNige


The Tom / Lalla pairing never really worked for me ~ I much prefer Romana as played by Mary Tamm.

I'm not overly keen on Douglas Adams and his "humour" either which is probably why none of the stories from this season are highly rated by me.

And, for some really none of it really gels for me:- too much running around Paris, too much Douglas Adams "humour" and a plot that doesn't really grab and retain my interest to any great degree.

The best thing you can say about it is that it's better than the 3 stories that succeeded it.

Having said that, I'd much rather watch Destiny Of The Daleks than this any day of the week!!!

Season 17 was a bit hit and miss though. Some liked the more humorous stories, some didn't. City of Death was the best story of the season in my view. I think Tom revelled in the more humorous slant, he was a bit OTT at times but it was entertaining. The remaining three stories were a bit of a mixed bag though.

I find this story a bit smug. The Doctor and Romana seem too close and a bit sexual (Tom and Lalla's relationship blooming on location in romantic Paris). David Graham is wildly OTT and would be roundly attacked for it if it were in another story.

The Countess is fantastic, and the Count is wonderfully arch and 70s. The music is lovely and Paris looks nice.

Whenever I hear people raving about this story, I am reminded of the Emperor's new clothes. It's as if this story is above criticism, and I suspect it's the Douglas Adams factor that does it.

I disagree with you here. I personally don't think any story is above criticism no matter how good it is. We've already seen from past threads that even the best of stories have their dissenters as I've already mentioned.

I rave about this story because I actually enjoy it. I don't interpret that enjoyment as meaning the story is invulnerable to criticism just as other people's enjoyment of other stories I don't rate means I shouldn't post a negative comment also.

This story is just brilliant, you can tell everyone is having a blast making it, particularly Tom Baker.
I was trying to think of my favourite scene but there's too many to mention. Although I do like it when the Doctor is convincing the Countess that her husband may not be all he seems. Even though she remains stubborn about it, the doubt slowly begins to take charge.
It does lead to the question, have the Count and Countess ever had an intimate encounter? I take it they haven't.


City of Death apparently wasn't too popular at the time, with alot of viewers dismissing it as overly silly. It's reputation has certainly become more favourable as time has gone on though.
I can understand why City of Death may not be for everyone as it's not like any other Dr Who story.

I agree about Caves of Androzani. Very mediocre.

It cant be true that City of Death wasnt very popular, on the contrary, I remember reading that it had the highest ratings any story has ever had in the history of the show.


Oh, and Caves of Androzani is brill

I believe that ITV were on strike at the time!

I loved this story. That strange tease at the start with an alien getting blown to bits - and then BOOM - we are in Paris!
Loved the Doctor and Romana's relationship, loved Duggan - reminded me of the lovely Harry Sullivan's clumsiness!! Catherine Schell played an impressive part too!
Some very witty lines involved too...."You're right - he IS as stupid as he looks" springs to mind!
I was pleased to see my favourite Tardis being used - albeit briefly, and John Cleese admiring it's beauty!
A nice story all in all as far as I'm concerned.

(I'd prefer this over Caves of Androzani any day!)

True, but the episode of CoD with the highest ratings was broadcast after ITV came back on air!

It's a fun story, but I have to agree with a couple of other posters above - there's way too much padding, and the Jagaroth mask is pretty poor and Kerensky is a massive ham.

But... Baker is having a ball, the supporting cast are with him the whole way, with Julian Glover and Catherine Schell playing their parts to perfection. And Duggan is hilarious.

But... while I can see why some people rate this story so highly I can't quite get into it as much I feel I ought to. It feels like perhaps too much of it is some sort of in-joke, which the cast and crew are all in on, but which the rest of us aren't really invited to.

Stiil, having said all that it is, by quite some distance, the best story this season, and probably the best story of the entire Graham Williams era.

That's true, and it just shows that when people who didn't normally watch Doctor Who watched it because there was no alternative, many of them liked it and stuck with it even when the alternative returned!
I think it's a good story with high production values, and I'm glad that it was on when the ITV strike happened as it was a good showcase for the show when it was getting a lot of viewers that it wouldn't normally have had, and hopefully encouraged a lot of people to try subsequent stories too.

Now this is more like it! This is the best story since at least Horror of Fang Rock and totally enjoyable throughout.

Julian Glover makes a terrific villain as the Count, while Tom Chadbon is an excellent "guest good guy" as Duggan. I love the way the Doctor chides Duggan throughout for resorting to violence, only for Duggan to save the day in the end by doing just that.

I know not all fans like the more comedic approach taken during this era, but if you are going to make the show comedic, I think this story shows how to do it. There's some really great sparkling dialogue from both the Count and the Doctor especially.

While I agree that Lalla Ward looks gorgeous as Romana in this story, I'd also like to say that the Countess is quite the sexyboots too Incidentally, talking of Romana, I love her reaction when the Doctor tells her to stay still as someone is drawing a picture of her. Her sheer delight is such a human reaction for a Time Lady!

A jolly, good-natured and highly amusing story.

There's a real frisson between Tom and Lalla (obviously things were going well between them at this stage).

The Paris locations work really well, and the supporting cast are excellent.

This is the one to show to people who are not yet into the classic series.

My favourite episode with my favourite Doctor and companion.

Great cliffhanger ..that eye still gives me the heebeejeebees.

THE costume just makes a great story even better, and I to can’t see all the fuss over Caves.