6 episodes
Aired between 8th August 1964 and 12th September 1964
Written by Dennis Spooner
Produced by Verity Lambert
Directed by Henric Hersch
Synopsis
As the TARDIS lands in a woodland glade, the Doctor, still acting childish, insists on Ian getting off the ship. Now being aware of the old man's mood swings, Ian and Barbara stroke his ego and say that if this is London in 1963, then they should part on good terms, and so they invite him out for a pint.
The Doctor eventually agrees which cheers Susan up no end.
As they leave the TARDIS though, the group find it a bit odd that it's dusk, but they see no sign of streetlamps or city lights in the distance. Barbara speculates that it might be somewhere in Summerset (which the Doctor is quick to agree with in order to protect his ego). But they happen across a tatty young boy who thinks they are going to kill him. Once calm, he tells them that they have landed in France.
Ian teases the Doctor that he's dropped them hundreds of miles away from where they should be and the Doctor wanders off to find somewhere to stay, seeing as its getting dark.
It's not long before the group stumble upon an old, dusty farmhouse. The Doctor checks upstairs and gets a knock to the noggin' by some unseen person. Downstairs, Barbara and Susan find lots of period clothes in a chest (which they all change into), and Ian remarks that there's a really good quality candle stick left amid all the cobwebs and dust.
The group find some forged papers, signed by the famed Robespierre, and determine that they've landed during the French Revolution: the reign of terror. The dwelling is obviously some kind of halfway house for people fleeing the revolutionaries.
Sure enough, the group are confronted by two french loyalists called D'Argenson and Rouvray who were escaping. They threaten the group, thinking they are spies who have led the soldiers to them, but soon change their mind, well, Rouvray does, D'Argenson is too busy freaking out about how they're all going to die.
As they are arguing among each other, french soldiers turn up outside and begin searching the area. They are ordered to halt and wait outside instead, knowing that if there is anyone inside, they cannot escape and they can play a game of nerves, deciding to assault the house whenever they feel like it.
D'Argenson goes absolutely bonkers and runs out the front door like a moron, right into the hands of the soldiers. Rouvray follows him, and it becomes clear that he was once a captain in the French Army. His men are still loyal to him over their new revolutionary commander, and it takes one of the commanders men to step up and shoot the former captain for the rest to act. They grab the royalist that's scared out of his wits, and kill him.
Meanwhile, Ian, Susan and Barbara decide to go and find the Doctor but they come face to face with a group of soldiers that sneaked into the building. The soldiers tie up Ian, Susan and Barbara and announce that they are taking them to Paris to face the Guillotine. As they leave for the prisons in Paris, the soldiers set the building on fire, totally unaware that the Doctor is inside.
Still groggy from the blow to the head, the Doctor tries desperately to get out of the burning building, but he's just too weak and collapses on the floor as the flames burn their way towards him....all turns to black....
...When the Doctor wakes up again, he's outside the building, having been saved by the grubby French boy from the woods. The boy explains that his friends were captured and taken away to the Conciergerie prison. The Doctor thanks the boy, salutes him, and sets off on the long walk to Paris.
Ian, Barbara, and Susan are sentenced to death for conspiring with known royalists and are sent to the prison, where a lecherous guard who's French sounds surprisingly like Yorkshire, tries to have his wicked way with Barbara, but only comes away with a slap.
Ian is imprisoned separately with a dying man known as Webster, whilst Susan and Barbara are put in a really smelly cell (as its drains lead directly to the sewer).
Barbara tries to reassure a miserable Susan that the Doctor would have got out of the burning building, and keeps their spirits up by using parts of the bed as a crowbar to break through some of the stone wall.
In the other cell, Ian talks to Webster, who tells him that he needs to carry on Websters mission to find an Englishman named James Stirling and help him get back to blighty, as he has important information that could bring England into war with France.
As the Doctor makes his way along the country paths, he happens across a chain gang, digging the road. The supervisor is pretty grumpy, but confirms that the Doctor is on the correct road to reach Paris. As the Doctor rests, the supervisor complains that he needs to finish this section of the road by the following day. The Doctor sarcastically tells the supervisor that the road would be dug quicker if he gave the men a hand rather than yelling at them all the time. The supervisor takes offense to the advice and when he finds out that the Doctor has no travel papers, he brands him a tax dodger, and commands him to join the chain gang.
Back in the prison, Susan and Barbara are beginning to despair. Their attempts to tunnel out are almost discovered by the prison guard, but luckily for them, a nobleman called Lemaitre turns up wanting to question Ian, to find out if Webster said anything before he died. Ian said he didn't but the guard tells Lemaitre that he heard voices, though not what was said. Lemaitre decides to play it cautious and takes Ian's name off the execution list.
The Doctor is thoroughly miserable working in the chain gang, and manages to get the other convicts to help him steal some of the supervisors coins that he keeps counting. The Doctor sows the coins into the earth and pretends to find them, fooling the greedy supervisor into believing that they've stumbled upon buried treasure. As the supervisor snatches the pick and begins to rummage in the dirt, the Doctor smashes him on the head with a shovel, knocking him out and leaving the Doctor to escape along with the rest of the convicts.
Despite his valiant efforts to get to Paris, the Doctor is too late, as Susan and Barbara are collected for the Guillotine and loaded onto the back of a cart. Ian watches from his cell as they are taken away.
Susan and Barbara are led through the streets in the back of a cart. As they near the guillotine, the horse throws a shoe, forcing them to stop.
Barbara urges Susan to make a run for it with her, but Susan has too much of a headache (like she wouldn't have a worse one if they reached the guillotine). Luckily for Susan, two gentlemen turn up an shoot the guards, whisking them away to a mansion somewhere in Paris.
Back at the prison, the guard is bringing food for Ian, when Lemaitre turns up, demanding the guard attends him. In his hurry, the guard leaves the keys in the lock, allowing Ian to steal the cell key and replace a different key in the lock.
The Doctor finally arrives in Paris, and comes upon a clothes shop. Remembering his frightful experience with the chain gang, he uses his head and makes a deal with the tailor to swap his wardrobe (and his ring) for that of a Southern Regional Governor, complete with parchment, quill and ink.
As darkness falls, Ian waits until the Yorkshire guard is drunk, and uses the pilfered key to escape. In his hurry, Ian fails to notice that the guard wasn't unconscious from drink, but had a nasty blow to the head, and that Lemaitre is stood in the shadows, wondering if Webster really did give Ian a message to deliver to James Stirling.
At their new found safe house, Barbara and Susan are introduced to their rescuers - Jules and Jean (they don't use surnames so as to limit the knowledge they can reveal). Jules and Jean are loyalists and intend to smuggle the ladies out of France via their network of contacts, but Susan refuses because she won't leave her grandfather. As they explain to Jules and Jean how they got to be at the prison, the men grow sombre at the recounting of the death of D'Argenson and Rouvray. Jules is now certain that they have a traitor in their gang, informing the soldiers about the safe houses. As Susan retires to bed with another headache, Barbara is entertained by the third flirtatious member of the royalists: Leon.
The following morning, the Doctor arrives at the prison, all decked out as the Regional Govenor, running intellectual rings around the Yorkshire Jailor. He presses the bewildered man for information on the recent additions to the jail, and discovers that Barbara and Susan have gone to the guillotine, and Ian escaped last night. The Doctor thanks the witless man and goes to leave but comes across Lemaitre. The French nobleman examines the Doctors papers with a sinister grin, and invites him to attend a meeting with Lemaitre and Robespierre to discuss the execution lists. The Doctor is in no position to refuse.
Once they have left, the tailor turns up and demands to see Lemaitre, showing him the ring and saying he has evidence of a traitor.
In the company of Robespierre, Lemaitre invites the Doctor to personally give his update on the executions scheduled in his region. The Doctor sidesteps the topic and gets Robespierre into a rant about how the executions are necessary to root out all the disloyal members of the nation. Lemaitre and the Doctor take their leave as Robespierre sulks, but as they go, the tyrant invites the Doctor to return tomorrow and give his regional update.
Susan is growing more ill and Barbara fears for her. Leon gallantly volunteers to find her a trustworthy physician and leaves.
Barbara and Susan go to bed, as Jean and Jules return from checking one of the safe houses. They are forced to climb through their own window and bring with them a prisoner, unconscious with a bag on his head. They revive him, to find that it's Ian.
Once Lemaitre and the Doctor return to the prison, the Doctor tries to make his excuses and get away, but the French noble isn't having any of it, saying its more than his necks worth should the Doctor not meet with Robespierre the next day. The Doctor is forced to reluctantly agree to stay at the prison.
Lemaitre is called to a side room shortly after where the tailor tells him that the Doctor is an impostor. Lemaitre pays the tailor off and takes the Doctors ring.
Reviving Ian, Jules and Jean are shocked to find out that he's a friend of Barbara and Susan's, and that he was given Jules name to contact about James Stirling. Jules protests that he hasn't got the faintest idea who James Stirling is, but says that Leon may know more and Ian agrees to meet with him.
Susan is getting a fever now, and they decide that she must go and see a medical doctor. When Batbara and Susan go there, the physician asks a few too many questions and behaves suspiciously, asking Barbara and Susan to wait in his surgery whilst he fetches some leeches.
As soon as he leaves, they find that he's locked them in. Shortly after, the physician returns with a bunch of soldiers and they are taken back to the Conciergerie prison.
Lemaitre orders that Susan is locked up, whilst Barbara is to be taken to the Doctor for questioning. As Barbara is sent to the Doctor's temporary accommodation, Lemaitre listens at the door, hearing Barbara explain the entire ordeal so far to the Doctor.
Meanwhile, Ian is given the location of an old church to meet Leon in. As he wanders inside, Leon greets him, and as soon as he finds out Ian is alone, soldiers emerge from the shadows. Leon explains how he is loyal to the revolution, and intends to extract the information he needs out of Ian.
Whilst the Doctor and Barbara are together, they come up with a plan to escape once more. The Doctor gingerly approaches the yorkshire prison guard, explaining that Barbara has information about the underground network but won't talk. He leads the Jailer into suggesting that they let Barbara go and follow her to find out her contacts locations. Smiling, the Doctor agrees.
At the old church, Ian is being questioned by Leon, but can only explain what Leon already knows.
Leon logically assumes that someone from England sent him to rescue James Stirling, and he wants to know who. When Ian tells him they flew here in a little box, Leon gives the order to kill him. As one of the soldiers raises his rifle, Jules and Jean show up, killing the soldiers and Leon.
Lemaitre leaves the jail to speak with Robespierre and orders Susans door to remain locked on pain of death. Once with Robespierre, the tyrant explains that he has information suggesting Paul Barras, his deputy will seek to bring accusations against Robespierre in an upcoming convention. He tasks Lemaitre with following Barras to a secret meeting he's found out about the find the identities of the other conspirators. Lemaitre agrees..
As Ian, Jules and Jean return to the safehouse they are surprised to see Barbara there. She fills them in on the plan for the Doctor to release Susan, but throws a fit when she discovers that Jules killed Leon. Ian isn't bothered and takes the stand that he got what he deserved (not surprising when Leon was going to kill Ian).
At the prison, the Doctor approaches the jailer again to trick him into releasing Susan. The jailer is terrified of having his head cut off though, and refuses, especially since he supposedly bungled the plan to assign guards to follow Barbara as she escaped.
The Doctor goes back to the drawing board, and his second plan involves Susan crouching down at the bottom of the door so that she can't be seen from the door hatch. The Doctor exclaims that Susan has escaped, and the jailer panics, opening the door to enter the cell, just as the Doctor brings down the ceramic bottle of wine onto his head.
The Doctor hurries Susan out of the cell and they turn to escape, coming face to face with Lemaitre. The guard apologises and they lock Susan back up. Lemaitre takes the Doctor to a side room and reveals that he knows the Doctor is an impostor. He makes a deal to release Susan after the Doctor has led him to Jules' safe house (assuming he gets the location off of Susan as he's never been there).
At the safe house, Ian, Barbara and Jules await the safe return of Susan and the Doctor, but when he turns up, they are shocked to find that the Doctor has brought Lemaitre as company. The group are all angry until Lemaitre reveals that he is actually James Stirling. He explains that he helped orchestrate the groups escapes and wanted to find out what message Webster gave to Ian.
Ian tells Stirling that Webster told him to pass on the message to return to England. Stirling pressures Ian for any more information, but he can't remember anything else, until Stirling tells the group that he has to follow Paul Barras. Ian suddenly remembers that Webster mentioned the name Barras when he was delirious, as well as "the sinking ship". The group work out that Webster was referring to an inn on the Calais road.
The Doctor doesn't care about Stirling's mission and demands that Susan is released so they can go on their way. Stirling proposes that they group help him gather information on the conspirators, in return, and then he will release Susan. The group are not in a position to disagree.
That night, Ian, Barbara and Jules go to the Sinking Ship inn, and disable the landlord. Ian takes his place, and Barbara disguises herself as a barmaid, and Jules sets himself up as a guest. Soon enough, Paul Barrass turns up and is very cagey, but accepts the sudden change in staff. Shortly after, Barrass' guest arrives and they both retire to the back room. Through a hole in the wall that Ian drilled, they discover that the guest is none other than Napoleon Bonapart!
Barrass convinces Napoleon to become one of the three consuls to rule the country if they can stage a successful coup against Robespierre.
When the group tell Stirling what they have found, he takes Ian with him and rushes to stop the Coup. Unfortunately for Robespierre, they are too late, arriving once the soldiers have stormed his office and captured him.
Robespierre is dragged off to the prison with a bullet wound across his jaw.
Not interested in the coup at all, the Doctor takes Baraba to the prison to rescue Susan. He outwits the hapless Yorkshire jailer once more by implicating him as an associate of Lemaitre whom has just been uncovered as a traitor. He convinces the jailer to release Susan to make space for the massive influx of traitors in league with Robespierre. As Susan is finally released, Robespierre is brought into the prison and led to a cell to await the Guillotine.
The group use the smuggling network to get out of Paris and say their goodbyes to Stirling, Jules and Jean, and return to the TARDIS.
Once inside, the group reflect once more on how they couldn't influence the course of history. The Doctor shrugs it off and suggests that their destiny is among the stars and they should go and meet it.
Trivia
- Henric, the Director really didn't hit it off with William Hartnell, and none of the actors particularly liked working with him as he didn't give much direction, only criticism. The stress of working with the volcanic Hartnell, coupled with time constraints, budget constraints, and the stifling environment of the Lime Grove studio culminated in Henric collapsing during the filming of episode 3. He did return, but the production team had to have a word with Hartnell to go easy on Henric. Once he finished the show, Henric did very little TV work.
- You'd be forgiven for thinking that none of the TARDIS crew took a holiday during this story, but you'd be wrong! In episodes 2 and 3, you'll see that all the scenes with Ian have a grainier look to them. That's because they were shot on film prior to him going away. So, when the guard shouts at Ian to keep "back to the wall", he's talking to thin air.
- I could be wrong, but this also looks like the first time actual location shots are used on the show. The shots only consist of the Doctor walking in the fields and down tree flanked pavements.
What Worked
- When the group find out that they've landed in France, Ian and Barbara have quite a tender conversation and again, it looks like those two could be more than just friends.
- The humour in the chain gang scenes as well as the Doctor's interaction with the jailer makes the story a lot more fun and a welcome distraction from all the brutish attitudes and violence of the times
- Talking of that violence, the fact that the show didn't pretend that people weren't killed was good. In the first episode, two men are murdered, and from there everyone is threatened with the national razor every two minutes. Ok, the murders are never shown, but that's ok because it's made over the top obvious.
- The Doctor is separated from the rest of the group, allowing him chance to show us how he can use his ingenuity and cunning. The same can be said with Ian.
- For the first time, there's a bit of continuity beyond just the odd mention of past adventures. This story reinforces the lessons learnt from the Aztecs, you cannot rewrite history, not even one line.
What didn't work
- I was virtually impossible to remember or pronounce Lemaitre's name, especially when they all call him Citizen.
- Every cell was decorated with painted on stone blocks.
- The still images of the Guillotine and Paris at the start of episode 2.
- I wasn't enamored with Barbara's sudden crush on Leon as I thought he was a bit too lecherous and creepy and I wasn't alone, even the servant girl thought it.
This is a fun story set in a perilous time.
We've seen a lot of the components many times over now. Most of the historical adventures work on the premise of arrival-impersonate-capture-escape-repeat. I can give a certain amount of sympathy ot this because there seems no other way of handling the story AND meeting important figures in history without doing this (without the inclusion of an alien threat). The Reign of Terror however mixes things up a bit.
We still get the same old formula, but it's mixed up a bit with the impersonation being a modus operandi for escape, not the justification for capture. In addition, humour is added in scores to the character most unlikely to be humorous. This is great because by putting these scenes in here and separating the Doctor from the rest of the group, it gives him a chance to shine and show just how clever he can be.
Rating
8 out of 10
The sets are lovely; the main cast's performances are all great, and the harpsicord music just adds to the humour.
Rewatchability Factor
7 out of 10
When I first watched this story about a year ago, I thought it was, (dare I say it), mind numbingly boring. The second time around though, I was able to appreciate it a lot more, when it's put in context with the rest of the historical episodes that have gone before it.
Having said all of that, and taking into account the fact that this is one of the stories with missing episodes and so it automatically makes it more interesting than perhaps it actually is.
Watch this if you liked...
Consulting the Matrix
Was the reign of terror the best period in French History to visit or would you have sent the TARDIS to another time? What about the height of Napoleons reign?
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