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194 – "The Fires of Pompeii"
Doctor Who episode
Cast
Doctor	David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companion	Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)
Guest stars
Peter Capaldi – Caecilius Tracey Childs – Metella Phil Davis – Lucius Sasha Behar – Spurrina Francesca Fowler – Evelina Lorraine Burroughs - Thalina Victoria Wicks – High Priestess Francois Pandolfo – Quintus Karen Gillan – Soothsayer Phil Cornwell – Stallholder^[1]
Production
Writer	James Moran
Director	Colin Teague
Producer	Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s)	Russell T. Davies Julie Gardner
Production code	4.2
Series	Series 4
Length	45 mins
Originally broadcast	12 April 2008
Chronology
← Preceded by	Followed by →
"Partners in Crime"	"Planet of the Ood"

"The Fires of Pompeii"is the second episode of fourth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 12 April 2008,

The episode takes place during the 79AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius. In the episode, the Doctor is faced with a moral dilemma: whether to recuse from the situation or to save the population of Pompeii. The Doctor's activities in Pompeii are impeded by the rock-like Pyrovile, and their allies, the Sibylline Sisterhood, who are using the volcano to convert the humans to Pyroviles.

The episode was filmed in Rome's Cinecittà studios, the first time Doctor Who has filmed abroad since its revival. The production of the episode was impeded by several events, most notably a fire near the sets several weeks before filming started and the production team being delayed while crossing Europe.

1 Plot
- 1.1 Synopsis
- 1.2 Continuity
2 Production
- 2.1 Writing
- 2.2 Filming
3 References
4 External links

Plot

Synopsis

The Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) arrive in what the Doctor believes to be be first century Rome. After an earthquake, he realises that they are not in Rome: he has materialised in Pompeii on 23 August 79, one day before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. When he returns to the TARDIS' location, he is told it was sold to a Lucius Caecilius Iucundus (Peter Capaldi), a marble sculptor.

The episode's antagonists are the Pyrovile, giant rock-like creatures whose home planet was destroyed. They operate secretly; the Sibylline Sisterhood act as their proxies. They use the Sisterhood, which comprises of a high priestess (Victoria Wicks), Spurrina (Sasha Behar), Thalina (Lorraine Burroughs), to make prophecies while converting them to stone. The Sisterhood is inducting Caecilius' daughter Evelina (Francesca Fowler) and is allied to the local augur Lucius (Phil Davis). The Doctor is disturbed by their knowledge of London, Gallifrey, the Doctor's name, and Lucius' latest commission, a marble circuit board.

The Doctor breaks into Lucius' home and discovers that Lucius is creating an energy converter. He is accosted by Lucius, who sends a Pyrovile to kill the Doctor. The confusion allows the Sisterhood to kidnap Donna briefly; the Doctor follows them and frees Donna. They escape into the Sisterhood's hypocaust system and travel into the centre of Mount Vesuvius.

Mount Vesuvius is being used by the Pyrovile to convert the human race to Pyroviles. The Doctor realises the volcano will not erupt if the energy converter is running, and switches it off, triggering the eruption of Vesuvius. Despite Donna's efforts, she and the Doctor are only able to save Caecilius' family, who watch Pompeii's destruction from a hillside.

The last scene takes place six months later in Rome. Caecilius' family are shown to be successful: Caecilius is running a profiting business, Evelina has become a socialite, and his son Quintus (Francois Pandolfo) is training to become a doctor. Before Quintus leaves, he pays tribute to the family's household gods, Doctor and Donna.

Continuity

The Doctor refers to the eruption as "volcano day", a phrase used by Jack Harkness and the Ninth Doctor in reference to the eruption in "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances".^[2]^[3] The Shadow Proclamation, an intergalactic code invoked in "Rose", "The Christmas Invasion", and "Partners in Crime" is used by the Doctor when speaking to the Pyrovile.^[4]^[5]^[6] The Medusa Cascade, mentioned by the Master in "Last of the Time Lords";^[7] Executive producer Russell T Davies stated that the Cascade would "come back to haunt us".^[8] The Doctor also admits minor responsibility for the Great Fire of Rome, which was depicted at the end of The Romans.^[9]

Production

How does [the Doctor] decide who lives, who dies, when to intervene, and when not to? If you do save them, where do you stop? Do you remake the universe according to what you think is right and wrong?
James Moran^[10]

Writing

The episode was written by James Moran, who previously wrote the film Severance and the Torchwood episode "Sleeper". Moran had difficulty writing the episode, and had to rewrite the Doctor's opening line over twenty times.^[11]

Moran worked closely with executive producer Russell T Davies because of the constraints imposed by filming.^[10] Davies encouraged Moran to insert linguistic jokes similar to those in the comic book series Asterix, such as Lucius Petrus Dextrus (Lucius Stone Right Arm) and TK Maxximus. Davies also based the ancillary characters of Metalla (Tracey Childs) and Quintus from characters in the Cambridge Latin Course.^[12]

The episode was heavily based on a moral question posed to the Doctor by Donna: whether to warn the population of Pompeii, or to recuse from the situation.^[10]^[12] Moran also had to deal with the intensity and sensitivity required when writing about the eruption.^[12] Davies and Moran both appreciated Catherine Tate's performance, and cited Donna's ability to humanise the Doctor and help him deal with "lose-lose situations" as the reason the Doctor travels with companions.^[10]

Filming

"The Fires of Pompeii" was filmed at the Cinecittà studios in Rome.

The episode was filmed at the Cinecittà studios in Rome in September 2007.^[12] Several weeks before filming started, a fire disrupted the production team.^[13]^[14] Other locations suggested were in Malta and Wales, but the size of the project, the biggest since the show's revival, resulted in production taking place in Italy.^[12] Cinecittà had accepted the BBC's request despite the show's small budget to promote the studios.^[10]

Filming an episode abroad had been suggested in 2004,^[10] but the episode was the first such occasion. Planning began in April 2007, before Moran had written the script, and continued until the production team travelled to Italy.^[12] Moving to Rome caused problems for the production team: the equipment truck was delayed for several hours at the Swiss border; the special effects team were delayed for twenty-four hours at Customs in Calais.^[12] The production team only had 48 hours to film on location. The aftermath of the eruption was filmed on the same night as the location shots. To create the falling ash, the special effects team used a large mass of cork, with a "constant supply of debris raining down".^[11]