Doctor Who Logo 'City of Death'
(4 Parts)
Story Code '5H'

by David Agnew++
The Doctor

Whilst the Doctor and Romana are holidaying in Paris in 1979, their enjoyment is spoilt as they experience cracks in time. A visit to the Louvre in order to see the famous Mona Lisa painting results in the two Time Lords experiencing another time slip, and a dazed Doctor falls into the lap of Countess Scarlioni; he uses the opportunity to steal a futuristic bracelet from her. The Doctor and Romana then go to a nearby café, where they encounter Duggan, a private detective who is investigating the Countess's husband. Thugs arrive and take the trio at gunpoint to meet the count, in order to obtain the bracelet. They are locked in a cellar, where the Doctor finds a storeroom containing six Mona Lisas, all of which appear genuine. The Count is actually Scaroth, the last remaining member of the warlike Jagaroth race; whilst journeying to Earth millions of years ago, his spaceship exploded, sending splinters of his fractured being into different parts of Earth's history. He has been influencing the course of human development, in order to bring it to a level that is capable of building a time machine. Using the aid of Professor Kerensky, Scaroth plans to travel back in time to prevent himself from destroying his ship. The Doctor takes the TARDIS back in time to visit Leonardo Da Vinci, and writes 'this is a fake' on the back of six canvases, with a note to his old friend to paint over them. He then meets a splinter of Scaroth, Captain Tancredi, who is forcing the artist to paint several Mona Lisas; his future self will then steal the real Mona Lisa, and sell all seven versions to collector in order to gain funds for his time travel experiments. The Doctor escapes, and returns to the present, but the Count, who has revealed himself as a one-eyed, scaly green creature, has killed both his wife and Kerensky, and activates the time machine, travelling back to meet himself. The Doctor realises that the explosion of Scaroth's ship created the spark that led to life beginning on Earth, and he, Romana and Duggan travel back four hundred million years to primeval Earth, where Duggan knocks the Count unconscious. The three time travellers escape as the original Scaroth and his ship explode.

Tom Baker (Doctor Who), Lalla Ward (Romana), Julian Glover (Count), Catherine Schell (Countess), Tom Chadbon (Duggan), David Graham (Kerensky), Kevin Flood (Hermann), Pamela Stirling (Louvre Guide), Peter Halliday (Soldier); Eleanor Bron , John Cleese (Art Gallery Visitors)

Produced by Graham Williams
Directed by Michael Hayes


TX:
Part 1 - 29th September, 1979 @ 6.10pm - 6.35pm
Part 2 - 6th October, 1979 @ 5.50pm - 6.15pm
Part 3 - 13th October, 1979 @ 6.20pm - 6.45pm
Part 4 - 20th October, 1979 @ 6.05pm - 6.35pm

Notes:
*Featuring the Fourth Doctor, the Second Romana, and K-9 MKII

++For this story, 'David Agnew' was a pseudonym for Douglas Adams and Graham Williams, from an original script by David Fisher

*Working titles: 'The Curse of the Sephiroth' and 'Time of the Sephiroth'; 'A Gamble With Time' was Fisher's orginal script title