4.31: City of Death

In which the Adams/Williams era actually works.

Broadcast: September-October 1979

Watched: October 2020

City of Death, Part One

“Why hasn’t she got any eyebrows?” Also: “Shall we take the lift or fly?”

Well, this is properly lovely isn’t it. The Doctor and his companion take a holiday, and as in The Romans (the last time we saw the regulars do this?) it’s actually a lovely change of pace, just watching all the gratuitous mucking around in Paris.

Also: the first Who story since Web of Fear to have a starring role for an urban transport network, though how they get from the Eiffel Tower to Nation, on the other side of the city, I have no idea. Actually I need to not think about the geography as I’m fairly sure it makes no sense and will annoy me.

Aside from that, it’s really nicely written, obviously – the way the scenes with the count and those with the Doctor are written to lead into each other; the way the Countess and Duggan are in the Louvre (which is a hell of a coincidence but it’s so elegantly done I don’t care).

The fact you can get close enough to the Mona Lisa to see it is the least realistic thing in Doctor Who yet. [I’ve tried, could not get near it.]

“But not good enough. Kill them.” The look of relief on Herman’s face when he realises he only has to kill the flunkies, not the regular cast, is quite funny.

Other things: The guy sketching Romana is an utter prick, with the ostentatious standing up and throwing his work on the floor.

I’d forgotten the Braxiatel Collection was a throwaway line here. [It becomes a major setting, and Braxiatel a major character, in some of the ‘90s books.]

I had forgotten that the jagaroth are doomed because a middle manager won’t listen to the poor sod on the ground.

There’s definitely a woman on the metro train who is amused she’s being filmed by the BBC.

City of Death, Part Two

“Can you throw any light on that?” Must have seen this a dozen times and never noticed that Duggan then throws a light at him. Quite a good joke.

Anyway. In 2016, when I last rewatched the modern series, I got to Human Nature, and I knew it was great but I had somehow forgotten quite how great it was. In the same way you can never truly remember how pain feels, I think there are some bits of TV it’s impossible to recall how great they are unless literally watching them.

This is the first story to hit me like that since... Inferno, possibly? Every line, every shot is perfect. I knew it was good, I had forgotten how good.

The cliffhanger to part 1 is awesome [Julian Glover’s Count Scarlioni takes his mask off to reveal a wibbly green alien beneath it] – one of those plot twists that’s so familiar it’s hard to imagine not knowing it, but I do wonder whether it actually blew kids’ minds when it happened. The comic version of Tom is never better than in the “What a wonderful butler! He’s so violent!” scene. The time experiment with the chicken is also so familiar it’s easy to forget how weird it is.

And the idea of stealing the Mona Lisa, so you can sell seven copies of the Mona Lisa, feels like a twist beyond what you’d necessarily expect. I love that the crime stuff is the way into the story, but it’s only there so Scarlioni can fund his time travel experiments.

Couple of continuity errors I’ve never spotted before... There’s a scene in which the Doctor and Romana are bundled into Scarlioni’s front door by his heavies, and Duggan isn’t with them, despite the fact he is in the scenes both before and after. Also when the Doctor decides to nip back to the 15th century the story just forgets about the TARDIS randomizer. Oh, and Duggan knocks Kerensky out by hitting him in the back, which is weird.

Duggan is basically just a one-story companion, isn’t he? He’s just playing the role of Steven/Jamie/the Brig.

City of Death, Part Three

“If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it's being tortured by someone with cold hands.”

Alternatively: “I used to do divorce investigations, it was never like this.”

This one’s a bit of an empty episode. We’ve sort of had the big revelations now, it’s a three act structure, this one’s slightly treading water until we can have the finale.

So here’s a lot of breaking into stuff. I love Duggan jumping out of the Louvre window. Also Romana gently letting herself into the closed cafe, only for Duggan to immediately smash his way in. The way the proprietor just opens up around them after they’ve broken in, and no one comments on it, is hilarious.

There was life on earth a hell of a long time before 400 million years ago, by the way. That’s just roughly when the fossil record starts. Cambrian explosion and all that.

The scene where Scarlioni starts talking about the need to save the jagaroth and his wife just says, “Are you feeling alright my dear?” is beautifully directed.

Love the fact the Louvre stays open immediately after the theft, because that would happen. Also the old lady smiles pleasantly at the Doctor, and *then* screams when she sees him.

The count gesturing to Romana to put her hands down, Duggan doing the same and then Herman making him put them up again is quite funny.

Kerensky’s death is horrifying.

City of Death, Part Four

“Exquisite. Absolutely exquisite.”

Bit harsh the way the Doctor mucks up the Countess’ marriage for kicks. If he didn’t do the whole “wilful blindness” routine, then she’d never confront Scarlioni and he wouldn’t feel the need to kill her.

The John Cleese/Eleanor Bron cameo is properly brilliant.

“We’re standing on land.” “He’s out of his depth.”

Chadbon’s delivery – after travelling half a billion years through time in a police box that’s bigger on the inside than the outside – of, “That’s a SPACESHIP!” is brilliant.

Also, amazing use of Chekhov’s gun. Duggan’s fist: set up over four episodes, it’s the perfect denouement. Also, the way Scaroth’s ultimate death comes at the hands of his own security man.

The fact nobody has ever done a whole series of spin-offs set between the 400,000,000BC sequence and the final scene in the Eiffel Tower, with Romana and Duggan as companions, feels very strange when Big Finish has filled every other possible continuity gap by now.

Anyway, that’s brilliant. Even if I am annoyed that this is far too late to be sparking life on earth. And the Doctor and Romana definitely fly down at the end rather than using the lift.