On primordial Earth, a spaceship carrying the alien Scaroth explodes. In modern-day Paris, the Doctor and Romana trace disturbances in time to the urbane Count Scarlioni. They meet a private detective named Duggan, who believes that Scarlioni is responsible for a spate of lost objets d'art being sold on the black market. They realise that this is how he is funding experiments with time. Scarlioni is now planning to steal the Mona Lisa from the Louvre and sell six perfect copies. The Doctor travels back to 1505 to unearth the origin of the duplicates -- only to discover that, somehow, Leonardo da Vinci's patron is Scarlioni himself.

Doctor Who producer Graham Williams had enjoyed David Fisher's Season Sixteen story The Androids Of Tara, a spoof of the Anthony Hope classic The Prisoner Of Zenda. As such, after Fisher finished the outer space adventure The Creature From The Pit for the programme's seventeenth season, he was immediately asked to contribute another literary parody. This time, the target would be the exploits of “Bulldog” Drummond, a tough-as-nails detective created by Herman Cyril McNeile under the pseudonym “Sapper”. Drummond was introduced in the 1920 novel Bulldog Drummond, and went on to appear in dozens of books and movies.

On January 12th, 1979, Fisher was commissioned to write “The Gamble With Time”. With gambling a prominent element of his plot, he had originally envisaged Las Vegas, Nevada as the setting. By the end of February, however, the narrative took place during the 1920s -- predominantly in Paris, France and Monte Carlo, Monaco -- in keeping with the “Bulldog” Drummond novels. “The Gamble With Time” would be made after The Creature From The Pit and before Destiny Of The Daleks, although the order of these two stories would be interchanged in the broadcast schedule.

As conceived by David Fisher, the story saw the Doctor and Romana team up with private eye “Pug” Farquharson

As conceived by Fisher, “The Gamble With Time” saw the Doctor and Romana team up with private eye “Pug” Farquharson -- pugs and bulldogs being similar canine breeds. At this stage, the café artist was named Bourget, and was one of Count Scarlioni's cohorts. Scarlioni was a Sephiroth, and his 1920s incarnation went by the alias Carl Jaspers Scarlioni, in reference to “Bulldog” Drummond's nemesis, Carl Peterson. Captain Tancredi was the first of Scarlioni's splinters met by the Doctor, who was rescued in the sixteenth century by K·9. Professor Kerensky was a more malevolent figure, and tried to kill the Doctor, Romana and “Pug” with poisonous gas.

Following the theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre, the Doctor, Romana and “Pug” followed the trail of Scarlioni and his accomplice, Baroness Heidi von Kleist, to a casino in Monte Carlo, where they were using time devices to cheat the gamblers. A new ally was gained in the form of Anne Greenleefe, one of the victims of Scarlioni's scam whom “Pug” rescued from a suicide attempt. The Doctor and Romana ultimately discovered that Scarlioni was trying to journey back to prehistoric Earth and prevent the explosion of the time bubble which scattered his splinters throughout Earth's history. Scarlioni believed that radiation from the accident was responsible for the destruction of his people. He relented after the Doctor realised that the culprit was actually the common cold virus, to which the Sephiroth had no immunity.

Given that parts of “The Gamble With Time” were now set in France, it was suggested that location filming could actually take place in Paris. Doctor Who had never before been recorded outside of the United Kingdom, but Williams thought that this could be a tremendous publicity coup for the show. In early March, production unit manager John Nathan-Turner confirmed that filming in Paris could be accomplished on a budget similar to the cost of recreating it in the studio. However, this would mean that “The Gamble With Time” would have to take place in the modern day: it would be impossible to redress the French locations to give the impression of a 1920s setting. Furthermore, many of the sequences currently set in Monte Carlo would need to be relocated to Paris in order to justify the excursion.

Williams was agreeable to these changes, especially since he was unhappy with the scripts in their current form. He felt that Fisher had indulged in the “Bulldog” Drummond parody at the expense of writing good Doctor Who, and he was also uncomfortable with the emphasis placed on gambling -- particularly a sequence which saw the Doctor cheat at the casino to help Anne. By now, however, Fisher was dealing with the strain of divorce proceedings, and would be unable to carry out the necessary revisions. With just a month and a half remaining until production was due to begin, Williams and script editor Douglas Adams were left with no alternative but to rewrite the serial themselves. Sequestered in Williams' house from the evening of March 15th to the morning of the 19th, the pair worked virtually non-stop to produce a workable set of scripts. Also contributing to the process was the serial's director, Michael Hayes, who had handled both The Androids Of Tara and The Armageddon Factor the year before.

K·9 was excised due to the logistical complexities of operating the prop while filming in Paris

Apart from the altered setting and the elimination of the gambling elements, Williams and Adams made several other changes. “Pug” Farquharson and Baroness Heidi von Kleist became Duggan and Countess Scarlioni. The name “Scarlioni” was now just another of the many aliases used throughout time by the alien Scaroth. Anne Greenleefe was eliminated entirely, as were Torath and Zorath of the Sephiroth. K·9, too, was excised due to the logistical complexities of operating the prop while filming in Paris. The shift in the adventure's focus meant that “The Gamble With Time” was no longer a suitable title, and the serial was instead dubbed “Curse Of The Sephiroth”.

On March 22nd, BBC Head of Serials Graeme MacDonald wrote to Williams to question why the adventure was set in Paris at all, suggesting that the production would be much more straightforward if the action simply took place in Great Britain. Williams responded by pointing out that Scaroth's plan hinged on the proximity of a priceless masterpiece -- the Mona Lisa -- and that no appropriate domestic substitute could be identified.

Having read the revised scripts, Fisher indicated on March 28th that he did not feel he should receive on-screen credit for “Curse Of The Sephiroth”. After some negotiation, it was agreed on April 10th that he would retain three-quarters of the rights to the script, while Adams would receive the remaining quarter. As with the Season Fifteen finale The Invasion Of Time -- which Williams had co-written with former script editor Anthony Read -- it was decided that “Curse Of The Sephiroth” would be credited to “David Agnew”, an in-house BBC pseudonym. This concealed the fact that both Doctor Who's producer and script editor had played a major role in writing the scripts, a practice which was frowned upon within the BBC at the time.

Williams and Adams hoped that they might be able to secure some notable names to make cameo appearances as the two art critics in Episode Four. With this in mind, on April 25th, Adams approached John Cleese. Both men were alumni of Monty Python's Flying Circus, and had written with fellow Python Graham Chapman. Cleese was then wrapping up his seminal sitcom Fawlty Towers, and he responded to Adams the following day to indicate his interest in appearing in Doctor Who. This was partly because the recording dates would coincide with his presence at BBC Television Centre to work on the Fawlty Towers finale, and partly because Adams bribed him with the offer of bringing along his young daughter, Cynthia, who was a Doctor Who fan.

On April 30th, a minimal crew and just 3 actors -- Tom Baker, Lalla Ward and Tom Chadbon -- travelled to Paris

On April 30th, a minimal crew and just three actors -- Tom Baker, Lalla Ward and Tom Chadbon (playing Duggan) -- travelled to Paris. Things got off to an unfortunate start when Ward had a falling out with costume designer Doreen James, whom she blamed for the loss of the red shoes she was to wear as Romana. The relationship between the two women was already frosty, stemming from a disagreement over how Romana should be dressed. Apparently, James wanted her to wear a silver catsuit but, having previously taken issue with June Hudson's costume design for Romana in The Creature From The Pit, Ward went over James' head to Williams. He agreed to the actress' suggestion of a 1920s-style schoolgirl outfit.

Work on the serial, now untitled, was scheduled to begin immediately on the 30th, with the Denise René Gallery serving as the exterior of the modern art gallery. However, with May 1st a holiday in France, many establishments had decided to close on the 30th -- a Monday -- as well. As a result, the Doctor Who team arrived to find the Denise René Gallery shut tight. Hayes elected to proceed regardless: rather than have Tom Baker enter the gallery as originally planned, Hayes would simply show the Doctor walking up to the front doors and then cut to the interior, which would be taped in the studio. Unfortunately, during one take, Baker pushed on the doors forcefully enough to set off the burglar alarm. Cast and crew scarpered, leaving Nathan-Turner to mollify the police.

The material set in and around the café was supposed to be filmed on May 1st at the Café Coquille St Jacques. However, it transpired that this establishment, too, was closed for the holiday, and the proprietor refused to open it for the Doctor Who crew. Ultimately, the scenes were instead mounted at the Notre Dame Brasserie. Since this building would not match the sets already being constructed for the serial, Hayes tried to show as little of it as possible. Also filmed on this day were some sequences near the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris itself, but the picture quality wound up being too poor for the footage to be used.

Recording on May 2nd began at the Hôtel Amelot de Bisseuil, which offered an ornately-carved door suitable as the entrance to Scarlioni's chateau. The production then moved to the Eiffel Tower, during which Hayes learned that he had been denied permission to film at the other intended location for the day: the Louvre itself. Frustrated, the director decided to defy the Louvre administrators and hastily capture the required material anyway.

The final day in France was May 3rd, when filming took place at various Parisian roadways and on the Métro. By now, the crew was fully aware that the burgeoning relationship between Baker and Ward had developed into a genuine romance over the course of the French excursion. Meanwhile, the cast and crew had unexpectedly encountered Adams in Paris. Although Williams was under the impression that his script editor was manning the production office back in London, Adams had been persuaded by Destiny Of The Daleks director Ken Grieve to travel to France to discuss the Dalek story with Williams. The expedition had turned into a continental pubcrawl, and the two men continued on to West Germany before returning to the United Kingdom the following day.

Around this point, the serial briefly gained the working title “The Time Of The Sephiroth”. By May 8th, however, it had been rechristened City Of Death, while the Sephiroth became known as the Jagaroth. The 8th was also the day that model filming began at Bray Studios in Water Oakley, Berkshire. It continued until the 10th, when the effects material involving the rapidly-aging chicken was also captured there.

Rehearsals for City Of Death saw Baker, Ward and Chadbon joined by the rest of the cast, most notably Julian Glover as Count Scarlioni. It had been hoped that Glover's wife, Isla Blair, would be available to play the Countess, but other commitments prevented this. In accepting the role, Glover had made it clear that he was not willing to don a mask to play the Jagaroth version of Scaroth, and so walk-on Richard Sheekey was hired for these sequences. Glover later relented for a handful of shots, and was surprised to find that wearing sculptor John Friedlander's mask was much less unpleasant than he had anticipated.

The initial studio session for City Of Death was held on May 21st and 22nd at BBC Television Centre Studio 3 in White City, London. The first day was devoted to scenes in the café and at the modern art museum. Joining Cleese as the other critic was Eleanor Bron, a popular satirist who had been the first female castmember of the long-running Cambridge Footlights revue. Earlier, Adams had considered approaching Alan Coren -- a regular panellist on The News Quiz and an editor for Punch magazine -- while Cleese had suggested Jonathan Miller or Alan Bennett, both of whom had shot to stardom in the stage revue Beyond The Fringe.

John Cleese suggested that he be credited on City Of Death as “Kim Bread”

Cleese was not interested in garnering a lot of publicity for his Doctor Who appearance, for fear of detracting from the regular cast. To this end, he suggested that he be credited on City Of Death as “Kim Bread” -- a name he found amusing, and which he would employ on later projects. Similarly, it was planned that Bron would be accorded the pseudonym “Helen Swanetsky”. Although MacDonald turned down these requests, and both Cleese and Bron would be credited under their real names, it was agreed that they would be omitted from the Radio Times listing for Episode Four.

May 22nd dealt with material in Leonardo's studio, in the Jagaroth ship, and on primordial Earth. It also brought an abrupt end to Doreen James' involvement with City Of Death, and with Doctor Who in general. Her rapport with Ward had continued to deteriorate since their contretemps in Paris and, at the conclusion of the first studio block, James informed Williams that she was quitting. In fact, James was scheduled to design costumes for both Nightmare Of Eden and Shada later in the season, but she would ultimately be replaced by Rupert Jarvis. Jan Wright took over James' duties for the rest of City Of Death.

The serial's remaining studio block took place in TC6 from June 3rd to 5th. The chief set was Kerensky's lab, which was utilised on all three days. The 3rd also dealt with material in the basement storeroom and the hidden chamber adjacent to it. More scenes in the storeroom were taped on the 4th, along with sequences in the TARDIS, and in Scarlioni's library and its adjoining corridor. The montage depicting Scaroth's various fragments was completed on this day as well. Finally, the 5th took in the remaining material in the library, plus scenes set in both the Louvre and Scaroth's simulation of the museum.

The broadcast of City Of Death occurred during the final weeks of an industrial dispute which had kept ITV -- the BBC's commercial competitor -- completely off the air for two months. As a result, the serial enjoyed phenomenally high ratings, averaging 14.5 million viewers and reaching a peak audience of 16.1 million for Episode Four. These were the largest viewing figures ever attained by Doctor Who; indeed, alternative audience measurements put the viewership for City Of Death closer to an incredible twenty million people. The four episodes were scheduled at various times between 6.00 and 6.15pm, depending on the length of the animated short -- if any -- earlier in the evening. With the transmission of Episode Three on October 13th, The Basil Brush Show once again became the lead-in for Doctor Who, replacing Junior That's Life.

City Of Death was the final Doctor Who serial directed by Michael Hayes. It was also one of the very few serials from the programme's original run not to be novelised for Target Books. Having attained worldwide success with The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, Adams commanded page rates well in excess of what Target was able to offer, and he refused to let anyone else tackle the story. In fact, he subsequently repurposed several elements of City Of Death for his 1987 novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. Many years after Adams' death, his estate granted James Goss permission to novelise City Of Death; his adaptation was published by BBC Books in 2015.

• Doctor Who Magazine #205, 27th October 1993, “Archive: City Of Death” by Andrew Pixley, Marvel Comics UK Ltd.
• Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition #9, 22nd December 2004, “One Step Beyond” by Andrew Pixley, Panini Publishing Ltd.
• Doctor Who: The Complete History #31, 2018, “Story 105: City Of Death”, edited by Mark Wright, Hachette Partworks Ltd.
• Doctor Who: The Handbook: The Fourth Doctor by David J Howe, Mark Stammers and Stephen James Walker (1992), Virgin Publishing.
• Doctor Who: The Seventies by David J Howe, Mark Stammers and Stephen James Walker (1994), Virgin Publishing.
• In·Vision #40, November 1992, “Production” edited by Justin Richards and Peter Anghelides, Cybermark Services.