Series 4, Episode 2 | 1 part | First broadcast: 12 April 2008 | Writer: James Moran | Director: Colin Teague
Cast
- David Tennant as the Doctor
- Catherine Tate as Donna Noble
- Peter Capaldi as Caecilius
- Karen Gillan as a Soothsayer
Summary
Landing in ancient Pompeii on the eve of Vesuvius’s eruption, the Doctor and Donna discover the volcano’s destruction is not a natural disaster but a fixed point in history caused by an alien Pyrovile threat feeding off the mountain’s heat. As Donna pleads with him to save at least some of the doomed city’s residents, the Doctor is forced to directly trigger the very eruption he had hoped to prevent, in order to stop an even greater catastrophe.
Interesting Facts
- The episode features both Peter Capaldi and Karen Gillan in supporting roles years before they were cast as the Twelfth Doctor and companion Amy Pond, respectively.
- This story directly addresses the concept of “fixed points in time,” a rule the Doctor cannot break, later expanded upon in “The Waters of Mars.”
- Donna’s insistence that the Doctor save at least one family from Pompeii’s destruction marked an important character beat establishing her moral influence on him.
- Extensive practical sets built in Rome for another production were repurposed for this episode’s ancient Pompeii setting.
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