Visiting contemporary Paris, the Doctor and Romana discover a crack in Time…

The fourth (and final for now) narrated release from the Tom Baker era is another Douglas Adams story, under the nom de plume of David Agnew. It’s renowned as one of the best tales ever told for the Fourth Doctor, if not of the classic series, and you can see why, even when losing a lot of the stylish visuals. Baker and Lalla Ward wrap their tongues round Adams’ dialogue, with Julian Glover making the perfect foil for them.

Usually in these versions, the narrator has to slip loads of information into very short gaps. City of Death has the reverse problem: there are great periods where not a lot is happening – the Doctor and Romana are crossing Paris in an effort to show where the budget went… er, to save the Earth from destruction. Some of these are filled; others, the music is allowed to take centre stage.

The CD is completed with the second part of an interview by narration scriptwriter David Darlington, in which Lalla Ward comes across occasionally a little waspish. It also sort of just stops…

Verdict: It won’t beat getting the DVD out, but this is an entertaining way of reliving the tale.  7/10

Paul Simpson

 
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