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Story Eight
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Story Code
H
Title
The Reign Of
Terror
“Friends” Title
The One With The
French Revolution
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Episode Titles
A Land Of Fear
Guests Of Madame
Guillotine
A Change Of
Identity
The Tyrant Of
France
A Bargain Of
Necessity
Prisoners Of
Conciergerie
Current availability
Episodes 1-3 and
episode 6 exist, but there is no sign of episodes 4-5.
Sources
Doctor Who Magazine Archive, Issue
204. As with Marco Polo, certain elements have also been taken from the
novelisation The Reign Of Terror by
Ian Marter.
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Date
1794.
The downfall of
Robespierre occurred on 27th July 1794 (the Ninth Thermidor). This story therefore begins on 24th July and
takes place in the days up to that event (which happens in episode 6).
Genre
Historical
Plot synopsis
1. The Doctor tries to put his human
companions out of the ship on what he believes to be twentieth century Earth,
but they persuade him to come for a farewell drink. Evidence soon reveals they are near Paris
during the “Reign of Terror” that followed the French Revolution. They reach an abandoned farmhouse, and
encounter first two escaping royalists - Rouvray and d’Argenson - then a group
of revolutionary soldiers come to get them.
The royalists are killed, and Ian, Barbara and Susan taken away to
Paris. The Doctor has been knocked
unconscious by the royalists, and remains in the farmhouse as the soldiers set
light to it.
2. The Doctor is rescued from the
farmhouse by Jean-Pierre, the ragged boy they met. He makes for Paris, interrupted en route by a
road works overseer, whom he soon outwits with a shovel. His three companions, meanwhile, are
imprisoned at the Conciergerie prison where Ian meets a dying man called
Webster, who gives him a message to pass on to English spy James Stirling. The encounter causes Ian’s name to be struck
off the execution list by the fearsome Citizen Lemaitre for further
questioning, but the two women are taken off to the guillotine.
3. Ian escapes from the Conciergerie, not
realising he has been helped on his way by Lemaitre. Barbara and Susan are rescued by a
counter-revolutionary named Jules. He is
dismayed that the farmhouse - vital to their escape route - has been
discovered, and his comrade Leon says there is a stranger at the inn Le Chien Gris asking for him. The Doctor, in Paris, disguises himself as a
Provincial Officer with the aid of a shopkeeper, and visits the Conciergerie
with a mind to freeing his companions, but instead meets Lemaitre, who forces
him to accompany him to see Robespierre.
The shopkeeper, however, comes to the Conciergerie jailer with evidence
of the Doctor’s deception.
4. The Doctor bluffs his way through his
meeting with Robespierre, but Lemaitre forces him to stay a night in the
Conciergerie. He hears the shopkeeper’s
evidence, but instructs him to keep quiet about it. Jules kidnaps the stranger at the inn, but it
is Ian, following Webster’s instructions.
He is reunited with Barbara and Susan, but Susan is now feeling unwell,
and the two women go to a physician, who promptly turns them in. They wind up back at the prison, where
Barbara is to be questioned...by the Doctor!
Hoping to find James Stirling, Ian meets Leon in a deserted crypt, only
to find soldiers there - Leon is a traitor and has led him into a trap.
5. Jules arrives in the nick of time, Ian
is rescued and Leon killed. The Doctor
arranges for Barbara to escape, but is unable to perform the same trick for
Susan. He attacks the jailer, but is
interrupted by the return of Lemaitre, who reveals he knows the Doctor is an
impostor, and demands to be taken to Jules Renan. That evening, the Doctor and Lemaitre turn up
at Jules’ house, and Jules labels the Doctor a traitor.
6. Lemaitre reveals himself as James
Stirling, and Ian delivers his message.
The various parties agree to help each other, and Ian and Barbara spy on
a meeting between Robespierre’s deputy, Paul Barrass, and Napoleon Bonaparte,
where they plan Robespierre’s downfall the following day. As the tyrant is shot in the mouth and
dragged to the Conciergerie, the Doctor manages to free Susan, and the
travellers return to the TARDIS.
Pitch
Like Danton, but bloodier.
The Money Shot
Impossible to say,
really. But perhaps the allegedly
spectacular starscape that accompanied the closing lines. Or if the guillotine actually makes an appearance
on screen. Or something.
The Doctor and his kind
• It is claimed
that the French Revolution is the Doctor’s favourite period of history. (This possibly being why Susan borrowed a
book on the subject from Barbara in An
Unearthly Child). Seems odd. Why?
Rather a violent and nasty period, after all.
• Then again, the
Doctor himself is more violent here than we’ve seen him since prehistoric
times. He hits one man with a shovel,
and another with a cognac bottle.
The history of Earth
• In 1789, a Revolution
sprang up in France, the King was executed, and a man named Robespierre became
First Deputy of the new revolutionary government. Thus began a five-year Reign of Terror, with
counter-revolutionaries and royalists executed by the thousand - in one scene,
Robespierre claims that 342 executions have taken place in nine days in Paris
alone. In 1794, his deputy, Paul
Barrass, led a revolt against Robespierre, and the tyrant was sent to his own
Conciergerie prison to await execution.
Barrass intended to amend the constitution to allow for rule by three
Consuls, one of whom would be Corsican General Napoleon Bonaparte. We do not see the outcome of these plans,
although they are well known to Barbara - she suggests to Jules that Bonaparte
will one day rule France alone.
• It is not
thought that (in our world) Bonaparte could possibly have met Barrass as
depicted here. So what? He does in this world!
Script Heaven
• Barbara “But
think of all the times we’ve been in danger before. We’ve always found a way out in the end.”
Susan “Oh yes, we’ve had our share of luck.
But you can’t go on and on being lucky.
One day things are bound to catch up with you.” Is this foreshadowing something? Or not?
• Foreman “I
suppose you think you’re very clever.” The Doctor “Well, without any undue
modesty, yes!”
• The Doctor “Now
do stop arguing, Barbara. You know
perfectly well that my schemes always work.”
• The Doctor “Our
destiny is in the stars, so let’s go and search for it!” (Note: According to the novelisation, the Doctor’s
final words are “Where to? Who knows,
Chesterton? Who knows? Because I certainly don’t!” Which is also a good line.)
Catchphrase
• Jailer “Who are you?” The Doctor “Exactly.”
The Doctor’s Achievement
• Once again, in a
historical, not much can be achieved.
Ian warned Stirling to flee: he
was going to anyway. Ian and Barbara
learn of Barrass’ and Bonaparte’s plans:
but no-one does anything about them.
Susan gets captured a lot, and the Doctor’s marching about is all in aid
of rescuing his companions. Perhaps the
only concrete achievement is that the Doctor rescues some “tax dodgers” from a
rather unpleasant and greedy road works overseer!
Things I learned from Doctor Who
• Much of the
history of the latter stages of the French Revolution, of course.
Body Count
Rouvray and
d’Argenson. Leon and his two
soldiers. Webster. That’s all the definites, but of course,
death was going on all the time off screen:
6.
Screams / Twists Ankle
• One bit of the
novelisation I can quite easily believe is Ian Marter’s depiction of
Susan. “Susan broke away from her escort
and ran across to peer through the small window in the door of Ian’s cell. ‘Ian...Oh, Ian...’ she cried, tugging
uselessly at the lock with her frail fingers.”
Yep, sounds about annoying enough.
• Oh, I’ve Been Captured Tally: 2.
People keep getting locked up in this one. Principally, however, we have the classic
moment where Barbara and Susan go to the doctor and are promptly captured, only
to find the Doctor ready to release (one of) them!
Checkov’s Plot Device
Checkov’s James
Stirling (no he isn’t). But we’re really
stretching it now.
The TARDIS wardrobe
• The Doctor’s
usual costume remains in Paris, though he retrieves his ring from James
Stirling. He now gains the uniform of a
French Provincial Officer, which I’m sure will come in useful. Still, as we know, he’s got lots of outfits
similar to his regular one, hasn’t he?
He said so in The Sensorites. Funny, you’d think his taste in clothes might
be a little more varied. Still, at least
now we know why he doesn’t smell.
Whoops
• Locked up in the
Conciergerie, Barbara says it reminds her of “the last time we were
imprisoned...in prehistoric times.” So,
does the Dalek cell not count, then?
(This may just be a feature of the novelisation).
• Ian gives Jules
a message all about Paul Barrass and The
Sinking Ship. Er, when exactly did
Webster mention all that? I don’t notice
it in the novel.
Notes
• Presumably, half
the cast are speaking French in this story.
I would dearly like to see the surviving episodes to find out how they
got around this one without turning into an episode of ‘Allo ‘Allo. At any rate, it
can’t have been done the way it was in the book, with the travellers breaking
into O Level French whenever they had to.
Besides which, if the Doctor and his companions can understand Dalek,
Mongol and Sensorite, surely they can cope with French?
• It was a violent
time, but even so, Ian Marter’s novelisation gives us some rather gruesome
scenes, notably the multiple bayonetting of d’Argenson in the first
episode. Surely it can’t quite have been
like this on TV?
• Scenes of the
Doctor approaching Paris in Guests Of
Madame Guillotine are the series’ first pieces of location filming. Of course, it isn’t really William Hartnell
at all...it’s actor Brian Proudfoot in a wig.
• The final
regular castmember goes on holiday - William Russell gets very little to do in
episodes 2 and 3 as a result.
Queries
• What’s the
attraction of the French Revolution for the Doctor?
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On-screen Credits
Taken from DWM.
CAST
Dr. Who - William
Hartnell, Ian Chesterton - William Russell, Barbara Wright - Jacqueline Hill,
Susan Foreman - Carole Ann Ford, Lemaitre - James Cairncross (2-6), Jailer -
Jack Cunningham (2-6), Jules - Donald Morley (2-6), Small Boy - Peter Walker
(1-2), Rouvray - Laidlaw Dalling (1), D’Argenson - Neville Smith (1), Sergeant
- Robert Hunter (1), Lieutenant - Ken Lawrence (1), Soldier - James Hall (1),
Judge - Howard Charlton (2), Webster - Jeffry Wickham (2), Road Works Overseer
- Dallas Cavell (2), Peasant - Denis Cleary (2), Jean - Roy Herrick (3-4),
Shopkeeper - John Barrard (3-4), Danielle - Caroline Hunt (3-4), Leon - Edward
Brayshaw (3-5), Robespierre - Keith Anderson (4-6), Physician - Ronald Pickup
(4), Soldier - Terry Bale (5), Paul Barrass - John Law (6), Napoleon - Tony
Wall (6), Soldier - Patrick Marley (6).
CREW
Written by Dennis
Spooner. Title Music by Ron Grainer with
the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Incidental
Music composed and conducted by Stanley Myers.
Costume Supervised by Daphne Dare (6).
Make-up Supervised by Sonia Markham (6).
Film Cameraman - Peter Hamilton (2-3).
Film Editor - Caroline Shields (2-3).
Lighting by Howard King (6).
Story Editor - David Whitaker.
Designer - Roderick Laing.
Associate Producer - Mervyn Pinfield.
Producer - Verity Lambert.
Directed by Henric Hirsch (1-2,4-6).
Familiar Faces
Ronald Pickup, who
played the Physician, was later to become quite a well-known actor. More impressively, Edward Brayshaw (Leon
Colbert) was to become Mr Meeker in Rentaghost!
Review
Well, from what I
can see, it looks like a pretty classy historical adventure to me. All right, there’s a bit of a reliance on
capture/rescue scenarios, but you’ve got to admit the show has guts, shoving an
alleged children’s serial into the middle of the Reign of Terror. It’s interesting that we more or less remain
around the edges of the action, the Doctor’s encounter with Robespierre
notwithstanding. And the scene at the Sinking Ship is just there because
Dennis Spooner couldn’t resist the temptation to stick Napoleon in. Otherwise, though, we are mainly concerned
with restoring the TARDIS crew to freedom (a perennial theme in the show so
far) and with Lemaitre, who is clearly an excellent character, and I can only
hope that James Cairncross was an excellent actor. The revelations about him in episode six are
a shock, and merely make the character better.
Other interesting aspects of this story include the increased amount of
comedy, especially in the character of the jailer...although, in the
novelisation at any rate, these come across as comedy in the same way as, for
instance, the porter in Macbeth - it’s not funny as such, but you can see how
it’s supposed to be comedy. Also, take a
look at Script Heaven. This early on,
the show’s really getting self-referential, mocking its own barely established
conventions - e.g. they always get out of tight spots. The only real problem with these historicals,
though, is that while there’s plenty to look at, the plot is largely limited to
people dashing in and out and getting shot every other episode so that we don’t
notice that all the travellers are doing is being captured and escaping. They can’t affect history, so there’s no real
plot. Not to worry, though. It’s enjoyable enough on paper, now can
someone show me a real version please?
Rating
7 / 10
Season One in Review
The series has set out its stall and
it hasn’t done it by halves. These eight
stories provide an impressive intro, and you have to keep watching to see if
they can maintain this high standard.
The series’ strengths and weaknesses are plain - historicals such as Marco Polo, The Aztecs, The Reign Of
Terror and even An Unearthly Child
(and OK, I haven’t seen all of these) shine amongst slightly dodgier outer
space-set stories (The Sensorites, The Keys Of Marinus). Perhaps least memorable in the season (though
by far not the worst story) is the two-parter The Edge Of Destruction, but the season’s apogee must be The Daleks - whatever its shortcomings
as a story, you can’t deny that it and its villains stick in the mind. And someone at the BBC has a tidy mind - the
elaborate societies created for Skaro and the Sense-Sphere are remarkable, and
it’s a lot of effort to put into a group of aliens that (at least in the case
of the Sensorites) we’re unlikely to encounter again. Someone cares, which is good. The central cast are mostly strong,
especially when given good material - let’s face it, no-one could do much with
the middle episodes of The Keys Of
Marinus, but get a load of Jacqueline Hill in The Aztecs. For the next
season, I can only hope that some of the writing talent poured into the
historicals gets allocated to the more SF stories, as there’s surely more
mileage in these.
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