The Pyroviles are a rock monster species from a distant planet called Pyrovilia. Pyrovilia was lost when it was taken out of time and space by the Daleks for the creation of the Reality Bomb in The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End at the end of Series 4 of Doctor Who. The Pyroviles therefore seek a new home on Earth in Ancient Pompeii during the Roman Empire. The Pyroviles are made of rock and they have to live in volcanic conditions, so they conceal themselves beneath Mount Vesuvius. They drain power from the volcano in order to take over the world. The Pyroviles are also influencing the people of Pompeii, turning some of them into stone and giving some of them the gift of prophecy. But they have concealed the forthcoming volcanic eruption from them…

The Fires of Pompeii

★★★★☆

TX: 12/04/2008

Written by James Moran    Directed by Colin Teague

The Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble arrive in Pompeii on 23rd August, 79AD, the day before Mount Vesuvius is due to erupt and engulf the Roman city. The local Sibylline Sisterhood have the ability to predict the future as does the city augur Lucius Petrus Dextrus. However, the foreknowledge of the volcano has been hidden from them. Donna wants to begin evacuating the city but the Doctor warns her that the destruction of Pompeii is a fixed point in history and must not be altered. The Doctor and Donna befriend a marble merchant called Lobus Caecilius after the TARDIS is sold to him. Caecilius’s daughter Evelina also has the gift of prophesy and recognises that the Doctor is a Lord of Time. The Doctor and Caecilius’s son sneak into Lucius’s house where they discover stone tablets that appear to be part of a circuit. Lucius reveals that his arm has turned to stone. Donna tells Evelina that Mount Vesuvius is going to erupt tomorrow and bury Pompeii. The Sibylline Sisterhood (which are similar to the Sisterhood of Karn from The Brain of Morbius) commune with Evelina and discover this horrifying revelation. The High Priestess of the Sibylline orders the sisters to sacrifice Donna as a false prophet. However, the Doctor rescues her and discovers that the High Priestess of the Sibylline has turned into stone – the people of Pompeii are turning into Pyroviles, a stone race from a lost distant volcanic planet called Pyrovilia. A race of Pyroviles is concealed beneath Mount Vesuvius and they are stealing power from the volcano in order to convert the human race into Pyroviles and take over the world. The Doctor is faced with a terrible choice: should he explode Vesuvius and let it bury Pompeii or wait and let the Pyroviles conquer Earth. The Doctor and Donna choose to sacrifice Pompeii and let history take its course. The pair escape the Volcano in a Pyrovile escape pod. However, Pompeii is engulfed in ash and flames. Donna urges the Doctor to save Caecilius and his family from destruction, which the Doctor eventually agrees to. Centuries later, the Doctor will adopt Caecilius’s face as a reminder that saving people is part of who he is. Caecilius and his family live a normal, happy life in Ancient Rome, but they keep a shrine to the Doctor and Donna who they worship as household gods for saving them.