City of Death

105 – City of Death
Doctor Who serial
The face of Scaroth
Cast
Doctor Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor)
Companion Lalla Ward (Romana)
Others Julian Glover — Count / Tancredi Catherine Schell — Countess David Graham — Kerensky Kevin Flood — Hermann Tom Chadbon — Duggan Peter Halliday — Soldier Eleanor Bron, John Cleese — Art Gallery Visitors Pamela Stirling — Louvre Guide
Production
Directed by	Michael Hayes
Written by	"David Agnew" (pseudonym for David Fisher, Douglas Adams and Graham Williams)
Script editor	Douglas Adams
Produced by	Graham Williams
Executive producer(s)	None
Incidental music composer	Dudley Simpson
Production code	5H
Series	Season 17
Length	4 episodes, 25 minutes each
Date started	29 September 1979
Date ended	20 October 1979
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → Destiny of the Daleks The Creature from the Pit

Doctor Who – City of Death

Author	James Goss
Series	Doctor Who book
Publisher	BBC Books
Publication date	21 May 2015

City of Death is the second serial of the seventeenth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor. It was produced by the BBC and first broadcast in four weekly parts between 29 September 1979 and 20 October 1979 on BBC1. The serial was written by "David Agnew" – a pseudonym for David Fisher, Douglas Adams, and Graham Williams – and directed by Michael Hayes.

City of Death features the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) and his companion Romana (Lalla Ward). Set mainly in Paris in 1979, the plot concerns a scheme by an alien, Scaroth, to steal the Mona Lisa to finance experiments in time travel in the hope of averting the accident that marooned him on Earth 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 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. The studio work was completed in June.

Broadcast during a strike that took ITV (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's classic run, the initial reception was not as positive, with criticism of the humorous tone.