Doctor Who: 14 Cool Details James Moran Just Revealed About The Fires Of Pompeii

11. Caecilius Buying The TARDIS Is A Reference To John Cleese's Doctor Who Cameo

Doctor Who The Fires of Pompeii David Tennant Catherine Tate Donna Noble
BBC/Twitter: @jamesmoran

After realising that the volcano is almost ready to erupt, the Doctor makes the wise decision to flee Pompeii and escape certain death.

However, upon returning to the TARDIS' location, he discovers that it's vanished. We then learn that a local man, Caecilius (played by none other than Peter Capaldi) has bought it, and is displaying it inside his home as "modern art".

Moran created this situation as a direct nod to the Fourth Doctor story City of Death, in which two random characters (played by famed British actors John Cleese and Eleanor Bron) also mistake the TARDIS for art.

Doctor Who City of Death John Cleese Eleanor Bron
BBC

Exquisite.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.