BBCDVD 1664 Doctor Who - City of death by David Agnew


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Picture of dvds Doctor Who - City of death (David Agnew)

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Release pictures

Front cover
Picture of BBCDVD 1664 Doctor Who - City of death by artist David Agnew from the BBC records and Tapes library
Rear cover
Picture of BBCDVD 1664 Doctor Who - City of death by artist David Agnew from the BBC records and Tapes library

BBC records label code
Label
BBC DVD label


Release details

DetailValue
Catalogue numberBBCDVD 1664
TitleDoctor Who - City of death
Artist(s)David Agnew
Cover conditionNear mint
Record conditionNear mint
BBC records label code-
Item deleted?No
Released1980
Distributed / printed by2 entertain
Country of originUK UK flag
Media typePrimary
Media genreDramas - Sci-fi
View all other tracks listed as Dramas - Sci-fi.
Run-off codes / Shop bar codesA0101639855-A912 18 IFPI L556 Sony DADC
A0100639665-A522 16 IFPI L556 Sony DADC
My rating*****
Guest rating*****

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Number have1
What type of seller was used?Other online shop
Where can I buy this release?You may be able to purchase this release from the following websites (others are available!)
 Amazon
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 MusicStack
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All release pictures

Below is all the cover (front, back, middle and inserts if applicable) and label pictures I have for this release.
Front cover
Front cover of BBCDVD 1664
Back cover
Back cover of BBCDVD 1664
Label
Label Label

Tracks

Below is a list of tracks for this release.
Side & trackTrack and ArtistLength
A1Episode 124.25
A2Episode 224.33
A3Episode 325.25
A4Episode 425.08
A5Paris in the springtime44.05
A6Paris, W12 - Studio tapes20.05
A7Prehistoric landscapes2.27
A8Chicken wrangler2.46
A9Photo gallery8.40
A10Eye on ... Blatchford13.00
A11Doctor Who annual 1980 [PDF]
Total length of media 3:10:34.

Reviews

Below is my review for this release and the ratings.
A good entry, I will include a full review asap!
Ratings
My rating3
Guest ratingCurrent average value is 3.

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Extra notes on cover, middle (gatefold sleeve) and any inserts


Starring


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

Written by


David Agnew (pseudonym for David Fisher, Douglas Adams and Graham Williams)

Produced by


Gareth Williams

Directed by


Michael Hayes

Synopsis


Whilst on holiday in Pars, the Doctor and Romana discover that something is a miss with time. Who is conducting the secret time experiments, and what connects them to the Mona Lisa? The answers lead them to discover a secret that has been hidden for four hundred million years ...

Background


David Agnew, the writer of City of Death, does not exist. The name was a popular norm-de-plume used by the BBC in the 1970s, when they couldn't actually credit the writers on a particular TV programme for various contractual reasons. 'David Agnew' first cropped up on Doctor Who when producer Graham Williams locked himself and script editor Anthony Read away until they had written scripts for The Invasion of Time. Read's replacement as script editor on Doctor Who was Douglas Adams, still fresh from writing his universally lauded radio sci-fi comedy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. When problems arose on the script for the story A Gamble With Time in 1979, Williams again found himself locking up his script editor until a workable story was scripted. The old adage about creativity thriving under pressure was proven once again.
Adams' first love was comedy, and City of Death sees Doctor Who at its comedic highpoint. The script just oozes wit and intelligence, but is also competently good science fiction. Adams was never one just to abandon a good idea, and his 1987 book Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency reuses some plot points from both this story, and his ultimate unmade 6-part serial Shada. Thanks to thrifty budgeting by Production Unit Manager John Nathan-Turner, it was worked out that Doctor Who could afford its first ever overseas filming. The sequences shot in Paris give an epic feel to the story, and all the boxes are ticked. Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Seine, Champs Elysees ... check!
It seems churlish to point out that this story got some of the highest ratings ever for Doctor Who, at a time when ITV were on strike, and the only alternative was BBC2 or a blank screen. But part four holds the record for the series at 16.1 million viewers, and it's hard not to attribute at least some of this success to the quality of this classy Tom Baker story.

Line 5 includes 'The gamble with time', a story which this one was based on.

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Further information

BBC Radio Enterprises Ltd and BBC Enterprises Ltd, predecessors of BBC Worldwide / BBC Worldwide Ltd., the BBC's commercial arm. Formed 1968 and 1979 respectively, they were a subsidiary wholly owned by the BBC and merged into BBC Worldwide in 1995. In that time, there were companies set up within or structured brands as part of the company to deal with separate parts of the business, e.g. BBC Records for recorded audio. Sometimes written as BBC Enterprise Ltd.

The items shown here are from the "main" BBC Records and Tapes library covering a wide secletion of genres from themes, comedy dramas and others, depending on which format you have selected.

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This page was last updated on 24-03-2023 at 20:36:33 UK local time.

This record has been seen 1683 times since 20th May, 2017.