We have one of Doctor Who’s ultimate high points with City of Death, often being near the top of many official best episodes rankings for the show but mostly due to this story holding the highest viewing figures in Doctor Who history with part four drawing over 16 million viewers. A feat that not even the 50th anniversary special achieved! Of course, part of the reason why was down to the fact that at the time there were only three channels and one of which was on strike. Plus, there were no video or repeats back then so tuning in was essential for fans. But even with all the technical reasons, City of Death is well deserving of its place in Doctor Who history as it’s Douglas Adams style sci-fi comedy at its best!

Another notable accolade for City of Death is being the first story filmed outside of the UK, taking place in Paris and it made for some great location filming as the Doctor and his Time Lady companion Romana work alongside a bumbling private eye to solve the mystery behind Count Scarlioni as to how he plans to steal the Mona Lisa, why it ties in to his experiments with time travel and why if he succeeds it could lead to the erasure of the entire human race.

The script for this is just a perfect mix of clever sci-fi and witty humour that only Douglas Adams can pull off. He briefly worked as script editor for the show between his work on Monty Python and writing Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He was a much welcome addition to the Graham Williams era and helped bring that balance of light-hearted humour after such a clunky tonal shift from the Hinchcliffe era when Graham Williams initially took over as showrunner.

The guest cast is one of the show’s finest, with a quick but funny cameo from John Cleese and a fantastic performance by Julian Glover as the villain. You’re probably more familiar with him as Maester Pycelle from Game of Thrones but previously Glover had appeared in the First Doctor episode The Crusades as King Richard the Lionheart and in a bizarre coincidence would later play the villain of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

This story is one of the most enjoyable episodes you’ll find in the classic show and a huge factor in that is the incredible chemistry between Tom Baker and Lalla Ward, Paris is often known as the city of love and in this case that couldn’t be a truer statement as the two began to blossom a relationship that would go one to be the only marriage between a Doctor and companion actors, albeit a very short-lived marriage. Baker himself gives one of his finest performances as the Doctor as he’s bursting with energy and charisma with some great one-liners.

If you’re new to Classic Who and are looking for a fun story to ease yourself in, I can’t think of a better starting point recommendation than this.