Doctor Who

City of Death

(Download from AudioGO.com)

Reviewed by Chris Gardner

Leonardo de Vinci painted more than one copy of the Mona Lisa according to this classic Doctor Who story co-written by Douglas Adams.

Tom Baker's Doctor travels back to when they were painted to vandalise the copies in order to foil the plans of a dastardly alien who wants to pull off the biggest art heist of all time.

Julian Glover's Count, really an alien called Tancredi, plans to steal the work from the Louvre for half a dozen secret buyers and then sell each of them one of da Vinci's copies.

On all but one the Doctor scribbles, in felt tip pen, "this is a fake".

The biggest laugh-out-loud moment, however, comes as John Cleese's art critic discusses the aesthetics of the Doctor's time machine, the Tardis, which he has left parked in the Louvre.

Basil Fawlty in Doctor Who is a heck of a lot of fun and just stinks of Douglas Adams . . . in a positive way.

AudioGo has done a great job of turning the soundtracks of this four-part television story, from 1979, into a pair of CDs with bridging narration from Lalla Ward who played Baker's Doctor's travelling companion.

Extras include an interview with Ward on filming the story in Paris.

- © Fairfax NZ News