Sarah has been trapped in a painting by the Mona Lisa, who will stop at nothing to find her brother, who is also encased in a painting elsewhere in the gallery. When Luke, Clyde and Rani try to interfere, a gun-toting highwayman from another painting is sent after them. Clyde is captured and brought before the Mona Lisa, who plans to keep him as an insurance policy against the others – and the means to free her brother and devour all life on Earth. With Sarah unable to help them, Luke sees no choice but to give the Mona Lisa what she wants… unless he can do what his mother has always done, and come up with a plan to save the world.
written by Phil Ford
directed by Joss Agnew
music by Sam Watts / title music by Murray GoldGuest Cast: Suranne Jones (Mona Lisa), Ace Bhatti (Haresh), Alexander Armstrong (Mr. Smith), Jeff Rawle (Mr. Harding), Liza Sadovy (Miss Trupp), Paul Kasey (Highwayman), John Leeson (voice of K-9)
Notes: The Mona Lisa itself has already played a significant part in Doctor Who history, as it was central to the plot of 1979’s City Of Death, co-written by Douglas Adams – but it’s just possible that City Of Death helps to explain this story. Luke theorizes that Leonardo da Vinci may have used paints laced with alien minerals for the Mona Lisa; it’s just possible that da Vinci’s paint was provided for him by Scaroth, last of the Jagaroth, who demanded that da Vinci paint extra copies of the Mona Lisa for him as part of a scheme to fund time travel experiments in the 20th century. (It is mentioned in City that, as of 1979, the Mona Lisa in the Louvre – and therefore the one in this story as well – was one of Scaroth’s duplicates.)
LogBook entry by Earl Green