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Doctor Who: City of Death at The BFI

Doctor Who: City of Death at The BFI

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Image from Doctor Who: City of Death
Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 17 is released on Blu-ray soon.

UK 1979
Dir Michael Hayes
With Tom Baker, Lalla Ward, Julian Glover, Catherine Schell
4x25min + bonus content
Certificate PG
Courtesy of BBC Studios

The most-watched episode of Doctor Who ever, which had over 16 million viewers when first shown in 1979 is coming to the big screen in December.

The reason that City of Death is the most-watched episode isn’t because it was co-written by Douglas Adams, or that it stars Julian Glover, nor that it was filmed in Paris — but simply that ITV was on strike at the time, and with the Saturday evening alternative being a choice of a community activity show on BBC2 or Doctor Who on BBC1, it’s not a surprise that Doctor Who won.

The story, City of Death was set in 1970s Paris and is one of those legendary Doctor Who stories, that was at the time panned by critics and Doctor Who fans for its comedy aspect, and has since become a firm favourite.

It was reputedly a very difficult story to film, being done in Paris and seemingly no one checked for French bank holidays meaning they arrived when a lot of filming locations were closed for the holiday. Tom Baker was also surprised to be left alone when in the UK he was more used to being followed around by fans. John Cleese also agreed to a cameo in the show along with Eleanor Bron, as he was filming in the BBC on the same day as they would shoot an indoor scene they needed an extra actor for.

The story was not well received at the time, especially amongst the Doctor Who fans, who are never shy at expressing their opinion about the show, criticising the light-hearted tone of the story. More recently that’s become its main appeal, along with a fairly decent plot.

Tickets to see the show on the big screen will go on sale on the BFI website at 11:30am on Thursday 4th November.

Tickets £15, concessions £12 (Members pay £2 less), restricted to two per booker.

Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 17 is released on Blu-ray soon.

Season 17 announced as the next instalment in The Collection Blu-ray range.

Season 17 announced as the next instalment in The Collection Blu-ray range.

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The penultimate season for Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor, with a full season of Lalla Ward as Romana, is the next release to come to Blu-ray with Season 17.

Doctor Who, Dr Who, Season 17, Tom Baker, Lalla Ward, Romana, K9

In 1979, Tom Baker’s Doctor was in full flight. With Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy) as script editor, the series leaned into Baker’s penchant for humour, and paired his Doctor with a regenerated Romana (Lalla Ward) as his traveling companion. Together, they would form one of the most popular Doctor/companion duos of all time.

Although Season 17 was crippled behind-the-scenes by strike action (resulting in the season finale being abandoned part-way through production), it remains a beloved slice of Doctor Who history, featuring the return of Davros and the Daleks, and one of the all-time classic stories, Douglas Adams’ own City Of Death.

Doctor Who, Dr Who, Season 17, Tom Baker, Lalla Ward, Romana, K9

With all episodes newly remastered from the best available sources, this Blu-ray box set also includes extensive and exclusive Special Features including:

  • Brand New Documentaries – Including a Making-Of documentary for Destiny Of The Daleks, and new featurette for The Creature From The Pit
  • Tom Talks – A candid interview with Tom Baker as he gives us his unique take on life, the universe and everything
  • Douglas Adams Tribute – Friends and colleagues remember the Doctor Who writer/script editor and creator of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy
  • In Conversation – Matthew Sweet chats to Bob Baker, writer of Nightmare Of Eden, co-creator of K9 and one of the creative forces behind Wallace & Gromit
  • Behind The Sofa – New episodes with actors Colin Baker, Katy Manning, Matthew Waterhouse, Nicola Bryant, June Hudson, Graeme Harper & Mat Irvine
  • Lalla Ward Interview – An extensive interview discussing her first year on the programme.
  • Updated Special Effects – View Nightmare Of Eden with optional new effects
  • Shada – An updated version of the ‘lost’ story, completed with enhanced animation and presented in six episodes for the very first time, alongside the original 1992 VHS and 2017 versions
  • Exclusive New Audio Commentaries – With Tom Baker on episodes of Destiny Of The Daleks and City Of Death, and Lalla Ward & Catherine Schell on City Of Death
  • Extended Episodes – An early cut of The Creature From The Pit Three
  • Blu-ray Trailer – A familiar face returns in a brand new mini-episode of classic Doctor Who
  • Immersive 5.1 Surround Sound – On Destiny Of The Daleks and Shada
  • Rare Gems From the Archive – BBC archive material covering the promotion of this season
  • Convention Footage – A triumphant 1997 appearance from Tom Baker
  • HD Photo Galleries – Including many previously unseen images
  • Production Subtitles
  • Behind-the-scenes information and trivia on every episode
  • Scripts, Costume Designs, Rare BBC Production Files and Other Rarities from our PDF Archive
  • And Lots More!

The seven-disc box set also includes hours of special features previously released on DVD.

A specially shot announcement trailer has debuted on the Doctor Who YouTube channel, written by new series contributor Pete McTighe (Kerblam! and Praxeus) and featuring David Gooderson back as Davros in Risen.

Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 17 includes the following stories from 1979 and 1980:

  • Destiny Of The Daleks
  • City Of Death
  • The Creature From The Pit
  • Nightmare Of Eden
  • The Horns Of Nimon
  • Shada

Pre-order Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 17 from Amazon, Zavvi, Rarewaves and HMV in the UK, from Sanity and JB in Australia and Amazon in the US.