The Reign of Terror (Doctor Who)
Encyclopedia
The Reign of Terror is a serial in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 science fiction television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from August 8 to September 12, 1964. The story was set in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 during the period of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

 known as the Reign of Terror
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...

.

Plot

The Doctor
Doctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....

, Ian
Ian Chesterton
Ian Chesterton is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and a companion of the First Doctor. He was played in the series by William Russell, and was one of the members of the programme's very first regular cast, appearing in the bulk of the first two...

, Barbara
Barbara Wright (Doctor Who)
Barbara Wright is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and a companion of the First Doctor. She was one of the programme's very first regulars and appeared in the bulk of its first two seasons from 1963–65, played by Jacqueline Hill. In the film version...

 and Susan
Susan Foreman
Susan Foreman is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The granddaughter and original companion of the First Doctor, she was played by actress Carole Ann Ford from 1963 to 1964, in the show's first season and the first two stories of the second season...

 arrive in what they believe to be England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. However, it is soon clear that they have travelled back into Earth history yet again, this time to 18th Century France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. They have arrived in a wood twelve kilometres from Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, then venture to a nearby farmhouse. When they venture inside they find the farmhouse is being used as a staging post in an escape chain for counter-revolutionaries and contains clothes – some of which are put to good use by the travellers - and fake papers, some of which bear the signature of Robespierre
Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre is one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. He largely dominated the Committee of Public Safety and was instrumental in the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended with his...

, the chief orchestrator of government during the Reign of Terror
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...

. Before long they are found by two counter-revolutionaries, D'Argenson and Rouvray, who knock the Doctor unconscious and hold the others at gunpoint. The impasse is ended when a band of revolutionary soldiers surrounds the house and demands their collective surrender. Both D'Argenson and Rouvray are killed during the siege, but only after they have worked out that there must be a traitor in their escape chain. The soldiers now enter the house and capture Ian, Barbara, and Susan, who will be marched to Paris and the guillotine. The parting action of the soldiers is to set fire to the farmhouse – unaware there remains one person inside.

The Doctor awakes the next morning suffering from exhaustion and smoke inhalation. He was saved from the blaze by a young boy, who tells him his friends have been taken to the Conciergerie
Conciergerie
La Conciergerie is a former royal palace and prison in Paris, France, located on the west of the Île de la Cité, near the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. It is part of the larger complex known as the Palais de Justice, which is still used for judicial purposes...

 Prison in Paris. He sets off after them and, after a brief period press-ganged into a road mending crew for lack of papers, makes some speed in the twelve-kilometre journey.

Things are looking grim for Ian, Barbara and Susan. They are all sentenced to death as traitors without a chance to speak in their own defence, and are all promised the guillotine
Guillotine
The guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body...

 for their crimes. Back at the Conciergerie, Ian is confined in one cell, while the women are taken to another. Ian's cellmate is an English prisoner named Webster who only lives long enough to tell him there is another English spy, James Stirling, highly placed in the French Government who is now being recalled to England. It was Webster's job to find him and he only knows that Stirling can be found through Jules Renan at the sign of "Le Chien Gris". Once Webster is dead a government official named Lemaitre arrives and probes any conversation between Ian and the dead man. Lemaitre also crosses Ian's name off the execution list.

Susan and Barbara are less fortunate. Confined to the filthiest cell in the jail when Barbara refused the advances of their drunken jailer, they are soon taken on a tumbrel to the guillotine. Luckily for them their transport is hijacked by two men, Jules and Jean, who spirit them back to their safe house. Susan is, however, somewhat ill from her exposure to damp conditions. They are told they will be given food and a place to rest, and then they will be smuggled out of France in the escape chain, but Barbara is nervous about leaving France without the Doctor and Ian. Jules and Jean reassure her they will try to reunite the four travellers, and they all exchange tales of the fate of D'Argenson and Rouvray, whom it seems were part of the same escape chain. Another counter-revolutionary, Leon Colbert, arrives and joins their company, immediately striking up a romantic liaison with Barbara.

The Doctor has finally reached Paris and exchanges his clothes and Roman ring for the costume of a Regional Officer of the Provinces plus some parchment and writing materials. In this guise he heads for the Conciergerie, but by the time he gets there all three of his companions have gone. Ian has successfully stolen the key to his cell from the incompetent jailer and managed to get away, not least because Lemaitre seems to have rendered the jailer unconscious to aid his escape. The Doctor ascertains what has happened to his friends and is about to leave when Lemaitre arrives and insists he accompany him to visit First Deputy Robespierre to report on his province. They are soon taken to an audience with "The Tyrant of France" himself, who appears as both a zealot and a psychopath with his constant talk of needing to increase the pace of execution. Little the Doctor can say to the contrary seems to have any sway, and he departs angrily.

Ian follows Webster's words and hunts out Jules Renan, who turns out to be the man sheltering Barbara and Susan, who remains critically ill in bed. Ian shares the last words of Webster with his host and they both agree that Stirling must be found and returned to England to help end the war with France which is helping to create the climate of fear that is sustaining Robespierre and his tyranny. Barbara meanwhile takes Susan to a local physician who wastes no time in reporting them as escaped prisoners to the authorities and they are seized once more before the revolutionary police. Things take a turn for the worse for Ian too when he goes to meet Leon in secret – only to find he is the mole in the escape chain and there are armed troops waiting for him. Leon Colbert is desperate to find out what Webster said to him, but Ian is very guarded in his comments.

The Doctor has returned to the Conciergerie where two people are waiting to see him. The first is Lemaitre, who reports that Robespierre wishes to see him again the following day. The second is the tailor who sold the Doctor his clothes and has reported his suspicions of him to the jailer and Lemaitre. The latter confiscates the ring and dismisses the tailor, saying he will deal with the situation. Lemaitre ensures the Doctor spends the night in the Conciergerie in order that he remains in Paris for his second audience with Robespierre. He is still there when Barbara and Susan are brought in as prisoners, and effects a reunion with his friends without raising too much of an alarm. With Susan too weak to be moved, he engineers Barbara's release first on the pretext that she can be trailed to lead the security forces to the core of the escape chain.

Jules Renan has meanwhile rescued Ian, killing the traitor Leon Colbert in the process. Ian has been wounded but yet they both know they need to get their friends freed from the Conciergerie somehow. They return to Jules' house and are stunned to meet Barbara there, released on the authority of the Doctor of whom Jules knows nothing. Barbara is hurt and saddened by the death of Colbert, seeing good in all sides during the revolution.

Robespierre's mental state is deteriorating and he suspects his deputy, Paul Barras
Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de Barras
Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de Barras was a French politician of the French Revolution, and the main executive leader of the Directory regime of 1795–1799.-Early life:...

, is conspiring against him in the Convention. He asks Lemaitre to track Barras the following day to a secret assignation outside the city. When Lemaitre heads back to the Conciergerie it is to confront the Doctor, whom he unmasks in private as an impostor. Lemaitre now insists the Doctor help him find Jules Renan's house and expose the spy ring. With Susan held in the prison as a hostage, the Doctor takes him to the very place, much to the concern of Ian, Barbara and Jules. Once there, Lemaitre reveals that he is in fact James Stirling. In response, Ian relays Webster's message that Stirling should return to England immediately. The spy agrees but presses Ian for more detail on Webster's last hours. When Ian recalls the words "Barras, meeting, 'The Sinking Ship'", Stirling recalls his own conversation with Robespierre and the inn on the Calais Road, and they realise that is where the conspiracy against the First Deputy will take place. Jules, Ian and Barbara head to the inn and there overhear Barras conspire with a young general, Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...

, in the indictment and overthrow of Robespierre. Barras seeks to persuade the young general to take the mantle of leadership when it comes as one of three Consuls. Napoleon urges Barras to topple Robespierre, but warns him that if this fails to happen he will deny this meeting ever took place.

The following day Stirling fulfils a pledge to the Doctor and arranges Susan's release from prison. Speed is of the essence as the coup against Robespierre has begun, and the tyrant has been badly wounded before being seized himself and sent to the Conciergerie. The Doctor and Barbara reach the prison where he outwits the jailer one more time, ensuring Susan is freed to escape with them. As they leave by one door, the bleeding Robespierre is brought in by another, his body broken and his rule ended. He will be guillotined himself soon.

The escape chain now demonstrates itself to best effect and smuggles several people out of Paris. Stirling will head for Calais and thence to England; Jules and Jean will lie low as they measure the future now that Robespierre has fallen; and the Doctor and his companions are keen to return to the TARDIS in the wood near Paris, reflecting on another brush with history and their role within it.

Continuity

  • For the dating of this serial, see the Chronology.
  • Susan's first scene in An Unearthly Child
    An Unearthly Child
    The serial that became An Unearthly Child was originally commissioned from writer Anthony Coburn in June 1963, when it was intended to run as the second Doctor Who serial. At this stage, it was planned that the series would open with a serial entitled The Giants, to be written by BBC staff...

    involved Barbara lending her a book on the French Revolution, which Susan then opened and began to vocally criticise.
  • The story spans 5 days to 27 July 1794 (day before Robespierre's execution), one year before the metric system was defined and implemented. However, the episode references kilometres as a distance of measurement both verbally and on roadside distance markers.

Production

  • In a number of 1970s listing guides, the story was called The French Revolution. This appears to derive from a promotional article in the BBC
    BBC
    The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

     listings magazine Radio Times
    Radio Times
    Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...

    entitled Dr Who and the French Revolution. See Doctor Who story title controversy.
  • Director Henric Hirsch suffered from exhaustion during the making of this serial, and was unable to direct episode three. John Gorrie (who had previously directed The Keys of Marinus
    The Keys of Marinus
    The Keys of Marinus is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in 6 weekly parts from April 11 to May 16, 1964...

    ) temporarily stepped in. As no director is credited on-screen for this episode, some sources have credited Verity Lambert as director, yet she firmly denied this.
  • William Russell was on a two-week holiday for some of this story (including the above episode), he appeared only in pre-filmed inserts in Episodes 2 and 3. Similarly, in the long shot of the Doctor walking along a country lane (incidentally, the first location footage filmed in the history of the show), a stuntman doubled for William Hartnell, as Hartnell was busy rehearsing for The Sensorites.

Cast notes

  • Edward Brayshaw, later featured in the The War Games
    The War Games
    The War Games is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in ten weekly parts from 19 April to 21 June 1969. It was the last regular appearance of Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor, and of Wendy Padbury and Frazer Hines as companions Zoe...

  • Roy Herrick later provided one of the voices of Xoanon in The Face of Evil
    The Face of Evil
    The Face of Evil is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. This serial starred Tom Baker as the Doctor and was the fourth story in Series 14 of Doctor Who. First broadcast in four weekly parts from January 1 to January 22, 1977...

    and appeared as Parsons in The Invisible Enemy.
  • Ronald Pickup appeared in the audio play Time Works
    Time Works
    Time Works is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Synopsis:...

    as Kestorian.

Missing episodes

  • This Doctor Who story was bought and screened in 19 countries, starting with Australia in September 1965. The last known television broadcast of this story was in Ethiopia, which screened it over six weeks between 24 June and 29 July 1971. On the instructions of BBC Enterprises, the copies Ethiopia screened were returned to the BBC in London in April 1972.
  • All six episodes were lost in the BBC's stock clearance of the 1970s
    Doctor Who missing episodes
    The Doctor Who missing episodes are the instalments of the long-running British science-fiction television programme Doctor Who that have no known film or videotape copies. They were wiped by the BBC during the 1960s and 1970s for economic and space-saving reasons...

    . However a copy of "Prisoners of Conciergerie" was returned by a private collector in 1982. In October 1984, copies of "A Land of Fear", "Guests of Madame Guillotine" and "A Change of Identity", along with another copy of "Prisoners of Conciergerie", were found in Cyprus
    Cyprus
    Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

    . They were duly returned early in 1985, and the recovery was formally announced in July of that year. Cyprus did not screen The Reign of Terror: broadcasts ended with the showing of Part Six of The Sensorites on 25 November 1966; the prints that were screened had been sent to Cyprus from Malta.
  • As a result of the above episode recoveries, only two episodes (parts 4 and 5, "The Tyrant of France" and "A Bargain of Necessity") remain missing.

In print

A novelisation of this serial, written by Ian Marter
Ian Marter
Ian Don Marter was an English actor and writer, perhaps best known for his role as Harry Sullivan in the BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, from December 1974 to September 1975 as a regular, with a one story return in November and December 1975...

 (the actor who portrayed companion Harry Sullivan
Harry Sullivan
Harry Sullivan is a fictional character from the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who and is a companion of the Fourth Doctor...

), was published several months posthumously by Target Books
Target Books
Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became well known for their highly successful range of...

 in March 1987.

VHS, DVD and CD releases

  • In October 2003, this story was released in the US on VHS
    VHS
    The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....

    , with linking narration by Carole Ann Ford, as part of a "collector's set" meant to celebrate the show's 40th Anniversary by releasing all previously unavailable serials. It was then released in the UK in November 2003 and was the last ever VHS release.
  • In November 2004, existing clips from episodes 4 and 5 were released on Region 2 DVD
    DVD
    A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

     in the three-disc Lost in Time set.
  • An audio-only version of this serial was released on CD by BBC Audio in 2005, it was re-released as part of The Lost Episodes: Collection One 1964-1965 in August 2010.
  • It is due to be released on DVD in 2012, with the two missing episodes restored through animation.

External links



Reviews

  • The Reign of Terror reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
    Outpost Gallifrey
    Outpost Gallifrey was a fan website for the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was active as a complete fan site from 1995 until 2007, then existing solely as a portal to the still-active parts of the site, including its news page and forums Outpost Gallifrey was a fan website...


Target novelisation

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK