City of Death

In Paris, the Doctor and Romana sense a time distortion. They observe the Countess Scarlioni using an alien device to scan the security systems housing Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa at the Louvre. The pair meet Inspector Duggan, who suspects the Countess to be involved in an art theft scheme with her husband, Count Scarlioni. Duggan joins the Doctor and Romana in investigating the Scarlioni mansion. There, they discover Dr. Kerensky's temporal experiments, the source of the distortions, and six exact copies of the Mona Lisa. The Doctor instructs Romana and Duggan to continue investigating while he returns to the TARDIS to visit Leonardo. The Count successfully steals the real painting and captures Romana and Duggan after the Doctor leaves. Learning that Romana is familiar with time, he kills Dr. Kerensky and forces Romana to continue the tests.

The Doctor arrives at Leonardo's studio but is captured by another Scarlioni, who reveals he is really Scaroth, the last Jagaroth. His people arrived on Earth 400 million years ago, but the others died when their craft exploded, and his own body was fragmented across time. Collectively, Scaroth's fragments manipulated humanity to invent technology that will let him go back in time to stop the explosion. To finance his work, he employed Leonardo to create copies of the Mona Lisa to sell off after stealing the original. After Scaroth leaves, the Doctor escapes and writes "This is a fake" on the blank canvases before returning to the present.

Scaroth threatens to destroy Paris if Romana stops helping him. The Doctor tries to gain the Countess' help by showing Scaroth's true form, but Scaroth kills her. Romana completes the work and Scaroth uses it to travel to the past. The Doctor, Romana and Duggan follow him via the TARDIS, fearing that the ship's explosion created life on Earth, and if Scaroth should prevent it, humanity would not exist. Duggan knocks Scaroth out in time, returning the latter to the present, where he is discovered, unmasked, by his bodyguard. The ensuing fight sets the mansion ablaze, destroying Scaroth and the paintings save one marked copy. Duggan argues that they've lost an invaluable piece of art, but the Doctor assures him that the copy, still done by Leonardo's hand, will go unnoticed, and that art is worthless if its monetary value is all that matters before bidding him farewell.

File:Douglas adams portrait cropped.jpg

Writer David Fisher had contributed two scripts to Doctor Who{{'}}s sixteenth season – The Stones of Blood and The Androids of Tara – and was asked by producer Graham Williams for further story ideas. Fisher submitted two proposals; the first of these became The Creature from the Pit while the other, The Gamble with Time, concerned a plot to rig the casinos in Las Vegas to finance time travel experiments.Pixley, Archive Feature. City of Death, p. 26 Williams asked Fisher to rework The Gamble With Time as a spoof of Bulldog Drummond, a fictional adventurer from the 1920s. Fisher's draft script centered around Scarlioni, a member of the Sephiroth race, who had accidentally become fractured in time. The script was mainly set in the year 1928 with the Doctor and Romana, aided by Drummond-esque detective "Pug" Farquharson, on the trail of the stolen Mona Lisa, pursuing Scarlioni from Paris to Monte Carlo where his partner, the Baroness Heidi, is using time travel technology to cheat at roulette at the casino to fund Scarlioni's time travel experiments. Other settings included Paris in 1979, Leonardo da Vinci's studio in the year 1508, and prehistoric Earth.Strading & Morris, Paris in the Springtime. At this point, production unit manager John Nathan-Turner had worked out that the production team could afford to film on location in Paris with a stripped-down crew.Pixley, Archive Feature. City of Death, p. 27 This necessitated a rewrite to Fisher's scripts to move the action to Paris and, for cost reasons, to drop the 1920s setting. The Doctor's robotic dog companion K9 also had to be removed from the script as the cost of bringing the robot dog and his operators to Paris was prohibitive.Howe et al., The Handbook, p. 471.

However, Fisher was going through a divorce, and his personal situation meant that he was unable to perform the rewrites. This meant that script editor Douglas Adams, aided by Graham Williams, had to perform a complete rewrite of the story over the course of a weekend.{{Cite web|url=https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/city-of-death-at-40-revisiting-doctor-who-s-most-watched-story-2/|title = City of Death at 40: Revisiting Doctor Who's most-watched story|date = 26 September 2019}} According to Adams, Graham Williams "took me back to his place, locked me in his study and hosed me down with whisky and black coffee for a few days, and there was the script".Gaiman, Don't Panic, p. 49. The revised script, now titled The Curse of the Sephiroth, was credited to "David Agnew", a standard pseudonym used by the BBC and which had been previously used on Doctor Who for the season fifteen serial The Invasion of Time.Barnes, The Fact of Fiction. City of Death, p. 16-17. The serial was subsequently retitled City of Death on 8 May 1979.Pixley, Archive Extra. City of Death, p. 38. Adams would later reuse elements of City of Death, along with the unfinished Doctor Who serial Shada (1979; 2003), in his novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987).Simpson, Hitchhiker, p. 232.

In Part One, Lalla Ward as Romana makes a throwaway reference to a great art gallery called the Braxiatel Collection; the Virgin New Adventures novel series would later expand on this, introducing the character Irving Braxiatel, a Time Lord.Barnes, The Fact of Fiction. City of Death. Braxiatel also appears in the Bernice Summerfield series of novels and audio dramas and in the Gallifrey{{Broken anchor|date=2024-11-22|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=Gallifrey#Gallifrey audio series|reason=}} series of audio dramas which starred Ward as Romana.

File:John Cleese at 1989 Oscars.jpg

Julian Glover was a well-established character actor who had previously appeared as Richard the Lionheart in The Crusade (1965). He was reluctant to don the Jagaroth mask as he felt the mask would impede his performance. As a result, he is doubled by Richard Sheekey in those scenes. Tom Chadbon was cast as Duggan on account of his resemblance to the Franco-Belgian comics hero Tintin.Hayes et al., City of Death DVD Commentary, Part One Peter Halliday had previously appeared in several Doctor Who serials including The Invasion and Doctor Who and the Silurians.

Douglas Adams knew John Cleese and Eleanor Bron through his connections with Monty Python and the Footlights.Wiggins, Production Notes, Part Four. On learning that both would be working in BBC Television Centre on the day the art gallery scenes were to be recorded, he persuaded them to make a cameo appearance in a short scene written for "two Englishmen".Pixley, Archive Feature. City of Death, p. 29 Cleese and Bron agreed on the condition that there be no pre-publicity regarding their appearance; Cleese wanted them to be credited as "Helen Swanetsky" and "Kim Bread" but the BBC declined.Pixley, Archive Extra. City of Death, p. 38-39. Cleese liked the name "Kim Bread" and used it in later projects.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/cityofdeath/detail.shtml|title=BBC - Doctor Who Classic Episode Guide - City of Death - Details|website=www.bbc.co.uk}} During recording, Cleese and Baker also recorded two short comedy skits for the BBC Christmas tape.

City of Death director Michael Hayes had previously directed The Androids of Tara (1978) and The Armageddon Factor (1979).Lofficier, Programme Guide, p. 99 He also had experience filming in Paris, having worked there on adaptations of Maigret (1960–63) and other Georges Simenon stories for the BBC. Location filming took place in Paris between 30 April 1979 and 3 May 1979. It proved a difficult shoot as the dates coincided with the May Day holiday period, which meant that many of the locations chosen for filming were closed, necessitating considerable improvisation on the part of the cast and crew. Model filming was conducted at Bray Studios between 8 May 1979 and 10 May 1979.Pixley, Archive Feature. City of Death, p. 28 These concentrated on the shots of the Jagaroth spacecraft taking off from the prehistoric Earth and were overseen by Ian Scoones, a veteran of Thunderbirds. Following rehearsals, production moved to BBC Television Centre where the remaining scenes were recorded in two blocks; the first between 21 May 1979 and 22 May 1979 and second between 3 June 1979 and 5 June 1979.Pixley, Archive Feature. City of Death, p. 28-29

Tom Baker found filming in Paris to be very different from what he was used to in the UK where crowds would gather to watch the filming and meet the stars. Doctor Who was not shown in France at the time and so the cast and crew were largely ignored.Wiggins, Production Notes, Part One. Lalla Ward found City of Death the most challenging Doctor Who serial she worked on but was pleased with the outcome, saying, "We had to film loads of scenes in the rain and cold... there was no glamour in it at all... it was different from the ordinary stories too and I like the finished result".{{cite journal| last = Marson | first = Richard |date=May 1984 | title = Lalla Ward Interview | journal = Doctor Who Magazine | issue = 88 | pages = 20–24 | issn = 0957-9818}} Seeing her costumes as an important part in creating the role of Romana, Ward clashed with costume designer Doreen James, rejecting the silver catsuit James had designed for her for the story.Wiggins, Production Notes, Part Two. Ward came up with the idea for the schoolgirl costume she wore in conjunction with Baker, recalling, "I thought it would be fun to wear something that little girls probably hated wearing because it might cheer them up... I didn't bank on the fact that I'd also get loads of letters from their fathers saying 'Cor! School uniform!'".{{cite journal| last = Cook | first = Benjamin | date = 3 March 2004 | title = Across the Universe... | journal = Doctor Who Magazine | issue = 340 | pages = 14–19 | issn = 0957-9818}}

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City of Death was broadcast on BBC1 over four consecutive Saturdays beginning on 29 September 1979.Pixley, Archive Feature. City of Death, p. 30 At this time, industrial action had blacked out rival broadcaster ITV and as a result, the serial scored very high ratings, averaging 14.5 million viewers over the four episodes; 16.1 million watched the fourth episode, the largest audience ever recorded for an episode of Doctor Who. The story was repeated on BBC1 across four consecutive evenings from Tuesday to Friday, 12 – 15 August 1980, achieving viewing figures of 6.3, 5.5, 5.6 and 5.9 million viewers respectively.{{Cite web|url=https://guide.doctorwhonews.net/story.php?story=CityofDeath&detail=broadcast|title=Doctor Who Guide: broadcasting for City of Death|website=Doctor Who Guide}}

Audience appreciation ratings for the first two parts of City of Death were a respectable score of 64%. Radio Times published two letters from viewers regarding City of Death. Les Rogers of Hastings praised the serial's cast and the location filming; less impressed, however, was Paul R. Maskew of Exeter who felt the show was being played for laughs. Responding to similar criticisms from viewers, Douglas Adams wrote, "If the programme didn't move and take a few risks then it would have died of boredom years ago".Wiggins, Production Notes, Part Three. Several viewers wrote to point out the discrepancy between the start of life on Earth of 4,000 million years ago and the date given in City of Death of 400 million years ago. Graham Williams replied, "The good Doctor makes the odd mistake or two but I think an error of 3,600 million years is pushing it! His next edition of the Encyclopedia Galactica will provide an erratum". Another viewer wrote that the atmosphere of the primordial Earth would have been poisonous to the Doctor and his companions; Douglas Adams responded to this criticism, citing artistic license.

City of Death was voted seventh in a 1998 poll of the readers of Doctor Who Magazine to find the best Doctor Who story; the magazine commented that it "represented the height of Doctor Who as popular light entertainment for all the family".{{cite journal| last = Cornell | first = Paul | author-link = Paul Cornell | date = 3 June 1998 | title = The DWM Awards: City of Death | journal = Doctor Who Magazine | issue = 265 | pages = 14–15 | issn = 0957-9818}} In 2009, Doctor Who Magazine readers voted it in eighth place.{{cite web|first=Lester|last=Haines|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/17/best_who_ever/|title=Doctor Who fans name best episode ever|work=The Register|date=17 September 2009|access-date=10 August 2012}} In a more recent 2014 poll, the magazine's readers voted it fifth best Doctor Who story of all time.{{cite magazine|title=The Top 10 Doctor Who stories of all time|url=http://www.doctorwhomagazine.com/the-top-10-doctor-who-stories-of-all-time/|access-date=21 August 2014|magazine=Doctor Who Magazine|date=21 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191206154728/https://doctorwhomagazine.com/the-top-10-doctor-who-stories-of-all-time/|archive-date=6 December 2019|url-status=dead}} A 2008 article in The Daily Telegraph named City of Death one of the ten greatest episodes of Doctor Who.{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3674193/The-10-greatest-episodes-of-Doctor-Who-ever.html|title=The 10 greatest episodes of Doctor Who ever|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=2 July 2008|access-date=14 October 2012}} John Condor, writing in the fanzine DWB in 1991, hailed the story as "the best blend of kitsch, surrealism, fantasy, and comedy-drama seen in our favourite Time Lord's annals".Howe & Walker, The Television Companion, p, 478. Vanessa Bishop, reviewing the serial's DVD release, described it as "imaginatively written, well-performed and beautifully made, City of Death is a story where pretty much everything works".{{cite journal| last = Bishop | first = Vanessa | author-link = Vanessa Bishop | date = 7 December 2005 | title = Off The Shelf | journal = Doctor Who Magazine | issue = 363 | pages = 60–61 | issn = 0957-9818}} Reacting to the serial, as part of Doctor Who Magazine{{'}}s ongoing "Time Team" feature, Jacqueline Rayner said "you're suddenly, almost violently, made aware this is happening in our world... with people just getting on with their business and two Time Lords walking through it. I don't think I've ever experienced that with Doctor Who up till now... it's the tiny touches of mundanity amid the fantastical that lift the story even higher".{{cite journal| last = Pritchard | first = Michael | date = 1 February 2005 | title = The Time Team | journal = Doctor Who Magazine | issue = 365 | pages = 55–57 | issn = 0957-9818}} Charlie Jane Anders and Javier Grillo-Marxuach of io9 included it on their list of "10 TV Episodes that Changed Television", citing "the sharp dialogue and clever use of time travel [that] prefigure everything Steven Moffat has done with the series in recent years."{{cite web|first=Charlie Jane|last=Anders|url=http://io9.com/5913850/10-tv-episodes-that-changed-television|title=10 TV Episodes that Changed Television|publisher=io9|date=29 May 2012|access-date=24 June 2012}} The A.V. Club reviewer Christopher Bahn described City of Death as the "gem" of the seventeenth season, finding Adams' subtle comedy script "easily the funniest and most quotable the series ever achieved". While he praised Scarlioni's costume and the mask, he felt that more could have been done with using Paris as a filming location.{{cite web|first=Christopher|last=Bahn|url=https://www.avclub.com/doctor-who-classic-city-of-death-1798171043|title=City of Death|work=The A.V. Club|date=8 January 2012|access-date=31 July 2012}}

However, Doctor Who fandom's initial response was not so positive; John Peel, writing in the fanzine TARDIS in 1979, decried it as "total farce... I simply couldn't believe this was Doctor Who... the continual buffoonery is getting on my nerves". A similar view was held by Gary Russell who, reviewing the VHS release in 1991, said, "City of Death, like most Douglas Adams material, is overrated and misses the mark for me, falling between the stools of good pastiche and bad parody and making fairly unsatisfactory viewing".{{cite journal| last = Russell | first = Gary | author-link = Gary Russell | date = 15 May 1991 | title = Off The Shelf | journal = Doctor Who Magazine | issue = 173 | pages = 18–19 | issn = 0957-9818}} Vanessa Bishop countered that it was "the Doctor Who story it's alright to laugh at... we must now accept that City of Death is funny — because if we didn't the Crackerjack-style sleuths, scientists and all... would leave it knocking about near the bottom of all the Doctor Who story ranking polls"{{cite journal| last = Bishop | first = Vanessa | author-link = Vanessa Bishop | date = 30 May 2001 | title = The DWM Review | journal = Doctor Who Magazine | issue = 304 | pages = 45 | issn = 0957-9818}} and, responding to the criticisms about the levels of comedy, that "it's precisely these things that make it seem so special". Reviewing the serial in 2011, Patrick Mulkern of Radio Times awarded it three stars out of five, stating he disliked the smug tone to the humour and Ward's "snooty" portrayal of Romana. Despite this, he noted that the serial had good production values and direction, as well as a few jokes that he enjoyed.{{cite web|first=Patrick|last=Mulkern|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2011-02-14/city-of-death|title=Doctor Who: City of Death|work=Radio Times|date=14 February 2011|access-date=5 August 2012}}

{{Infobox book

| name = Doctor Who – City of Death

| image =

| caption =

| author = James Goss

| series = Doctor Who novelisations

| release_date = 21 May 2015

| publisher = BBC Books

| pages = 320

| isbn = 978-1-849-90675-3

| exclude_cover = yes

}}

City of Death is one of five Doctor Who serials from the series' original run (1963–1989) not to have been novelised by Target Books; the others are The Pirate Planet, Shada, Resurrection of the Daleks, and Revelation of the Daleks. Target approached Douglas Adams to write a novelisation, offering their standard advance of £600; Adams replied, "I don't want to be embarrassing but I do have a tendency to be a best-selling author".Simpson, Hitchhiker, p. 233 Target, concerned that their regular authors would seek better terms, refused to increase their offer. Several years later, Target editor Nigel Robinson offered an advance of £4,000 – double what was the standard advance at the time – but Adams again declined.{{cite book |last=Howe |first=David J. |author-link=David J. Howe |others=Tim Neal |title=The Target Book: The History of the Target Doctor Who Books |year=2007 |publisher=Telos |location=London |isbn=978-1-84583-023-6 |pages=150 |chapter=Appendix C: Off Target}} Adams was unwilling to allow another author to write the novelisation. However, after Adams' death his estate allowed Gareth Roberts to write an adaptation of the unfinished serial Shada, which was published by BBC Books in 2012. In 2013, Roberts announced that he was working on a novelisation of City of Death,{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/OldRoberts953/statuses/385491439771480064 |title=Twitter: OldRoberts953 |last1=Roberts |first1=Gareth |author-link1=Gareth Roberts (writer) |date=2 October 2013 |website=Twitter |access-date=3 October 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://www.sfx.co.uk/2013/10/07/gareth-roberts-is-novelising-city-of-death/|title=Gareth Roberts is Novelising "City of Death"|work=SFX|date=7 October 2013|access-date=12 October 2013}} to be published on 21 May 2015.{{cite book|title=Doctor Who: City of Death: Amazon.co.uk: Douglas Adams, James Goss: Books|id={{ASIN|1849906750|country=uk}}}} Roberts later announced that James Goss was working on the book instead.{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/OldRoberts953/status/524629974826115072|title=Gareth Roberts on Twitter: "Bit of news: the amazingly talented @gossjam is now doing the book of City of Death. It'll be fantastic!"|access-date=21 October 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2014/10/gareth-roberts-city-of-death-211014203915.html|title=Doctor Who News: Gareth Roberts no longer writing City of Death book|work=The Doctor Who News Page|access-date=21 October 2014}} An abridged version was published as part of the Target Collection 5 April 2018.{{cite web|url=https://www.penguin.com.au/books/doctor-who-city-of-death-target-collection-9781785943270|title=Doctor Who: City of Death (Target Collection) by James Goss|website=penguin.com.au|access-date=12 November 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171113060137/https://www.penguin.com.au/books/doctor-who-city-of-death-target-collection-9781785943270|archive-date=13 November 2017}}

City of Death was released on VHS in April 1991 with a cover by Andrew Skilleter. It was re-issued in 2001.Barnes, The Fact of Fiction. City of Death, p. 23. A DVD was released in 2005 with special features including commentary by actors Julian Glover and Tom Chadbon, as well as director Michael Hayes, and the behind-the-scenes documentary "Paris in the Springtime".{{cite web |url=http://www.purpleville.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/rtwebsite/cityofdeath.htm |title=City of Death |access-date=23 May 2007 |last=Roberts |first=Steve |author2=Jonathan Wood |author3=Mark Ayres |date=8 August 2005 |publisher=Doctor Who Restoration Team |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070806144735/http://www.purpleville.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/rtwebsite/cityofdeath.htm |archive-date=6 August 2007}} It was also released as part of the Doctor Who DVD Files in Issue 37 on 2 June 2010. On 1 January 2013, AudioGO released a two-hour soundtrack of the serial, narrated by Lalla Ward.{{cite web|url=http://www.audiogo.com/uk/doctor-who-city-of-death-4th-doctor-tv-soundtrack-david-agnew-gid-1004854|title=Doctor Who: City of Death (4th Doctor TV Soundtrack)|publisher=AudioGO|access-date=3 January 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130219231133/http://www.audiogo.com/uk/doctor-who-city-of-death-4th-doctor-tv-soundtrack-david-agnew-gid-1004854|archive-date=19 February 2013|url-status=dead}} A vinyl release of the soundtrack was released in 2018 exclusively for Record Store Day.{{Cite web|url=http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2018/04/vinyl-releases-for-record-store-day.html|title=Vinyl Releases for Record Store Day|publisher=Doctor Who News Page|author=Marcus|date=2018-04-21|access-date=2018-04-26}} Ian Scoones' storyboards for City of Death{{'s}} special effects sequences were published in Peter Haining's book Doctor Who – 25 Glorious Years in 1988,{{cite book |last=Haining |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Haining (author) |title=Doctor Who: 25 Glorious Years |year=1988 |publisher=W. H. Allen |location=London |isbn=1-85227-021-7 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/doctorwho25glori0000hain/page/ –] |chapter=Designs on Doctor Who |url=https://archive.org/details/doctorwho25glori0000hain/page/}} and a Scaroth figure was released by Harlequin Miniatures in 1999.Pixley, Archive Extra. City of Death, p. 39.

{{Portal|Doctor Who}}

• Eduardo de Valfierno
• Cultural references to Leonardo da Vinci

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite episode | title = City of Death | series = Doctor Who | series-link = Doctor Who | credits = "David Agnew" (writer); Michael Hayes (director); Graham Williams (producer) | network = BBC | station = BBC1 | date = 29 September – 20 October 1979 | season = 17 | number = 105}}
• {{cite journal | last = Barnes | first = Alan | author-link = Alan Barnes (writer) | date = 8 December 2004 | title = The Fact of Fiction. City of Death | journal = Doctor Who Magazine | issue = 350 | pages = 16–23 | issn = 0957-9818}}
• {{cite book | last = Gaiman | first = Neil | author-link = Neil Gaiman | title = Don't Panic. Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | edition = 2nd | year = 2003 | publisher = Titan Books | location = London | isbn = 1-84023-742-2}}
• {{cite video | people = Hayes, Michael, Tom Chadbon, Julian Glover |year=2005 | title = City of Death DVD Commentary | medium = City of Death DVD Special Feature | publisher = 2|entertain. BBCDVD1664 | location = London}}
• {{cite book | last = Howe | first = David | author-link = David J. Howe | author2 = Stephen James Walker | author2-link = Stephen James Walker | title = The Television Companion. The unofficial and unauthorised guide to Doctor Who | edition = 2nd | year = 2003 | publisher = Telos | location = London | isbn = 1-903889-52-9}}
• {{cite book | last = Howe | first = David | author-link = David J. Howe | author2 = Stephen James Walker | author2-link = Stephen James Walker |author3= Mark Stammers | title = The Handbook. The unofficial and unauthorised guide to the production of Doctor Who | year = 2005 | publisher = Telos | location = London | isbn = 1-903889-96-0}}
• {{cite book |last=Lofficier |first=Jean-Marc |author-link=Jean-Marc Lofficier |title=The Doctor Who Programme Guide – Volume 2: What's What and Who's Who |year=1981 |publisher=Target Books |location=London |isbn=0-426-20142-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/doctorwhoprogram0000loff}}
• {{cite book | last = Miles | first = Lawrence | author-link = Lawrence Miles | author2 = Tat Wood | author2-link = Tat Wood | title = About Time 4: The Unauthorized Guide to Doctor Who (Seasons 12 to 17) | year = 2004 | publisher = Mad Norwegian Press | location = Illinois | isbn = 0-9759446-3-0}}
• {{cite journal | last = Pixley | first = Andrew | date = 27 October 1993 | title = Archive Feature. Serial 5H. City of Death | journal = Doctor Who Magazine | issue = 205 | pages = 23–30 | issn = 0957-9818}}
• {{cite journal | last = Pixley | first = Andrew | date = 22 December 2004 | title = Archive Extra. City of Death | journal = Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition | issue = 9 – The Complete Fourth Doctor Volume Two | pages = 37–39 | issn = 0963-1275}}
• {{cite book | last = Simpson | first = M. J. | title = Hitchhiker. A biography of Douglas Adams

| year = 2003 | publisher = Hodder and Stoughton | location = London | isbn = 0-340-82488-3}}

• {{cite video | people = Stradling, Ed (producer); Morris, Jonathan (writer) |year=2005 | title = Paris in the Springtime | medium = City of Death DVD Special Feature | publisher = 2|entertain. BBCDVD1664 | location = London}}
• {{cite video | people = Wiggins, Martin |year=2005 | title = Production Notes | medium = City of Death DVD Special Feature | publisher = 2|entertain. BBCDVD1664 | location = London}}

{{notelist}}

{{Wikiquote|Fourth Doctor}}

• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/cityofdeath/ City of Death episode guide on the BBC website]
• {{Isfdb title|id=1842034|title=City of Death}}

Fan novelisation

• {{Isfdb title|id=1724611|title=City of Death}}

{{Doctor Who episodes|C17}}

{{Douglas Adams}}

{{Fourth Doctor stories|selected=Television}}

{{Dirk Gently}}

{{Mona Lisa}}

{{good article}}

Category:Fourth Doctor serials

Category:Television episodes set in Paris

Category:1979 British television episodes

Category:Television episodes written by Douglas Adams

Category:Television episodes about ancient astronauts

Category:Doctor Who stories set on Earth

Category:Depictions of Leonardo da Vinci on television

Category:Mona Lisa

Category:Television episodes set in the 16th century

Category:Television episodes set in the 1970s

Category:Television episodes set in Italy