The Aztecs Marco Polo |
BBC The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve |
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| Episodes | 4 |  |
| Story No# | 22 | |
| Production Code | W | |
| Season | 3 | |
| Dates | Feb. 5, 1966 - Feb. 26, 1966 |
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With William Hartnell, Peter Purves, Jackie Lane.
Written by John Lucarotti. Script-edited by Donald Tosh. Directed by Paddy Russell. Produced by John Wiles. |
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Synopsis: The Doctor and Steven land in tumultuous 16th century France, where the ruling Catholics plot against the minority Hugenots, with the aid of a suspicious Abbott.
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| Note: Audio recordings of this story are available at Missing Doctor Who Reconstructions & Audios. |
A Review by Stuart Gutteridge Updated 15/1/02
As with John Lucarotti`s previous offerings, Marco Polo and The Aztecs, The Massacre turns out to be another outstanding piece of historical drama. Listening to the audio release, really makes you appreciate the sense of drama and atmosphere in this tale.
Notably, due to the absence of The Doctor, Peter Purves steps into the limelight as Steven and steals the show as a traveller caught up in events in a place he doesn`t belong; affording him some much needed character development. William Hartnell`s versatility as an actor is also brought to the forefront, with his portrayal of The Abbot Of Amboise; gone is the bluster, instead we have a character played straight down the line. The introduction of Jackie Lane`s Dodo at the tales conclusion allows for some light relief, even if it is a little rushed. Undoubtedly, this is one of the best Doctor Who tales.
The Massacre of St. Bartholomew`s Eve may not be the best remembered Hartnell tale, but it is unquestionably one of the best televised historicals.
One of the Greats by Robert Thomas 27/8/00
Well, it's been available on audio for over a year and at last I've found a copy. After having my head filled with so many good points of this serial I settled myself down for a listen and the inevitable disappointment, which never came.
This is simply one of the best serials that the show ever produced. I could go through the whole of the show's televised output and very rarely would I use the word faultless, but it fits here perfectly.
Instead of presenting us with a villain this story concentrates on the theme of a man stranded in time. Steven is given the centre stage and for the duration the viewer feels a bond with him as we neither have a clue what is going on. Indeed it feels like the viewer is also a companion.
Although The Doctor rarely appears Hartnell puts in one of his best performances. His speech at end is one of the shows greatest ever moments. The best part of this story is the end as the regulars combine to create one of the most human moments and one of the best endings.
This is Doctor Who at its best, experimenting with its format and creating a priceless piece of drama. Foreshadowing the events of the next season which introduced regeneration and Peter Purves cementing Steven Taylor as one of the best companions.
The tragedy of the time traveller by Tim Roll-Pickering 30/10/01
Based on the Materialising TARDIS Reconstruction.
Few Doctor Who stories are as downbeat as this. The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve stands out as the only one of the third season historicals that is not comical. John Lucarotti's final contribution shows history at its most mysterious and darkest. On this occasion we see the events leading up to one of the bloodiest events in the French Wars of Religion but this is not made explicit until towards the end of the story. This is not one of the popularly remembered events in history and so Steven has little idea of what is about to occur until he finally finds the Doctor. This provides for a wonderful and highly revealing scene in which the Doctor's tragic position is exposed - forced to witness the horrors of history and unable to do anything to change them and unable to return 'back to my own planet'.
We also get to see William Hartnell taking on the additional role of the Abbot of Amboise. The Doctor is mostly absent in the story and so Steven is left to try to find him, wondering if the Doctor is impersonating the Abbot and if he is then why he is sanctioning such measures. Hartnell's appearances as the Abbot are all too few but they show a strong and stark characterisation that contrasts heavily with the Doctor and shows the actor's versatility. With the Doctor missing the bulk of the action falls upon Steven and so this is the first story to revolve around a companion (the middle two episodes of The Keys of Marinus aside). Steven reacts as most people would do in such a situation - try to save what lives he can and escape. Peter Purves delivers a strong performance here, showing the strength of this overlooked companion.
The guest cast for the story are for the most part straightforward but both Leonard Sachs (Admiral de Coligny) and Annette Robertson (Anne) stand out, each as tragic as the other. However it is doubtful that Anne would have made a good regular companion given her limited knowledge. The end of the story sees the arrival of Dodo, who mistakes the TARDIS for a real police box and her reaction is natural. Her cockney accent makes a change from the norm and it is a pity that this was not continued into the later episodes. Her appearance also helps to further empathise the Doctor's detachment as a time traveller, meeting members of two generations of the same family some four hundred years apart.
The limited visual material for this story makes it difficult to judge but the few photos that survive show impressive costumes. The action is well paced and laid out over four successive days, with each episode taking place on a different day and having no reprises. The whole story is competent and highly enjoyable and it is a pity that no footage whatsoever survives. 9/10
This is so far the only Materialising TARDIS Reconstruction by Paul Cryer and it's highly competent. Given the limited material available it successfully uses material from other stories and other series and a mixture of captions at the bottom of the screen or in a full screen by themselves to adequately convey the action. This greatly succeeds in allowing one of the most overlooked stories to be once again viewed. 10/10
A Review by Michael Hickerson 20/1/04
By the time I get to this point of the Hartnell years, I tend to lament the state of the historical stories, feeling they had become a bit stale by the third season of Doctor Who. And then, along comes a story, written by the master of the historical stories, John Lucarotti. Lucarotti, you may remember, also gave us Marco Polo and The Aztecs, two of the best historicals the series did -- and in the case of The Aztecs, one of Who's best overall stories.
And here, Lucarotti gives us yet another great historical story. Part of this is that Lucarotti tries to get into the history lesson in a different way. Instead of looking a hugely famous people from history, Lucarotti examines the more common people that are affected by the sweeping changes of history. In The Aztecs, we saw a bit of the daily life of the Aztecs and with The Massacre, we see how the events of the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve were affecting not only the royalty, but also the common person. And it works very well.
The story is one that is interesting enough because it chooses a small focus -- the days leading up to the massacre. We get some idea of the politics of the time and how the people might have been feeling. We see some of the power struggle at the top and how it affects all those under it. I admit that I'm not strong on the history surrounding the events portrayed here, but the story made me genuinely interested to want to find out more. Which is high praise for a historical story.
The story is pretty much carried by Peter Perves as Stephen since the Doctor vanishes mid-way through episode one and doesn't crop up again until episode four. But he does a great job and really runs with it. There are some great moments when Stephen wonders if he has been abadoned in time and space and Purves does a marvelous job with them. Also doing a good job is Hartnell, who gets to play a dual role as the Doctor and the Abbott. Indeed, one of the things that drives the story is wondering if the Doctor is the Abbott and vice versa. Of course, since the Abbot gets killed, we can assume the Doctor isn't -- or can we? Looking back at this story through the prism of the McCoy era, we are left to wonder if this wasn't an early sign of the time's champion/manipulative Doctor that was yet to come. (I love it when you re-examine an old story in a new light). But whether or not that is true, all I can say is that Hartnell does a great job, creating two distinct characters.
But the real reason the story is successful is that it hinges a lot on the characters. There are some great moments in here for the regulars. I mentioned Stephen's concern that he is trapped in time and space. But there's also a long soliquoy by Hartnell at the thought of Stephen's departure. Indeed, the historical aspect of the story ends early in episode four and we're treated to some great scenery chewing by Hartnell and Purves. We got some echoes of The Aztecs as we see Stephen frustrated that he couldn't change history and his lashing out at the Doctor for not doing something. And then the soliquoy of the Doctor, wondering how he will travel through space and time alone is nicely done.
So, The Massacre is an unexpected surprise in the third season of Doctor Who. I must admit I found myself enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. It's one of the stories from the Hartnell era that has moved up on my wish list of stories I would like to see resurface.
A Review by Sean Gaffney 22/1/04
I've had the audio CD to The Massacre for a long time, but for some reason never got around to listening to it until now. I feel rather stupid for that, as it's every bit as good as its reputation, even as an audio soundtrack.
The soundtrack benefits from the fact that the 4 episodes are very talky, with lots of sitting around and plotting. Sadly, there are several bits that could use visualization, particularly Hartnell's facial expressions as the Abbot and the Massacre itself, which is about a minute of screaming and chaos. But overall, very little is missed that can't be imagined.
The writing is top notch, with each character getting some very nice development in amongst the plotting and planning. For the most part, the acting is up to the levels of the script. I felt the Hugenot side (Nicholas, Gaston, the Admiral) were merely good, but Marshal Tavarres, The Queen Mother and Henri were exceptional, managing to take their role and make it tand out. Oddly, the CD I have doesn't even credit the actors for Tavarres and Henri.
And then there's the regulars. Hartnell can sometimes be variable in later stories, but he's truly exceptional here. People discuss his Abbot, but I was even more impressed with his passionate, fiery Doctor, showing a lot more moxie than I'm used to. Tosh's speech is perfectly composed, but Hartnell makes it sound as if it was entirely his off-the-cuff ad lib.
I used to dislike Steven from what little I saw of him, but he's amazing here, carrying almost the entire story on his back. considering he has very little to do in it besides look earnest, get frustrated, and say "But that's the Doctor! a few dozen times, this is particularly noteworthy. (Purves always said he wishes his roles had more development, and while I think this is his best serial I have to agree with him).
And then there's Dodo, complete with the magical Cockney accent that vanishes once one leaves the Earth. She's hilarious, and quite pushy considering the variety of female companion we'd had before. The Doctor is delighted once she arrives - he gets great character development here, with Steven leaving almost terrifying him, and his reaction to Dodo is almost over the top in its relief.
I don't know if I'd recommend this as a starting place for someone new to Doctor Who, but if you have a friend who's never seen/heard the historicals this would be a great way to kick them off.
9/10.
(Incidentally, I think this is the first time I've reviewed something that isn't a book...)
A Review by Brian May 11/9/06
The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve is one of the most tightly focused of the historical Doctor Who adventures, detailing a single event and following its unfolding over a period of four days. It's also one of the bleakest, but undoubtedly one of the best.
The story is well structured, with each episode representing one day. It's excellently written, with rich dialogue and well-crafted characters. Given its grim nature, there's very little humour, which is appropriate and quite respectful, as opposed to the awkward mix of frivolity and seriousness we saw in The Myth Makers. The idea to depict a relatively little-known event in history is good, although it does present a problem: it's not made clear until the final episode. When the Doctor learns of it he rushes back to the TARDIS, only fully explaining the incident after he and Steven have departed. There's a clear lack of tension if you don't know why he's hastening to leave. Perhaps the writer assumed that during the course of the story's transmission viewers would be rushing to the library to look up what it was all about? Maybe some did, but then again, perhaps nobody did. Of course, in hindsight it's gripping: the continual tolling of the tocsin and the safe passage to the TARDIS being blocked make for real "race against time" material. Superimposing sketches of the massacre over mock audio of the carnage would have created a haunting effect; it goes for well over a minute, emphasising the magnitude and bloodthirstiness of the events in a sobering way. (If you also want to benefit from hindsight, may I suggest you rent out the 1994 film La Reine Margot just to see how awful and bloody this event probably looked like, free of the budgetary and censorial restraints of a Sixties kids' TV show.)
Jackie Lane's rather underwhelming debut as Dodo aside, the cast are extremely good. Anne's West Country accent grates a little, but the characters follow the usual 1960s BBC pattern: Queen's English for nobles/middle classes, working class accents for the commoners, and given the proliferation of Cockney tones we hear among the soldiers and passers-by, Annette Robertson can be forgiven - even more so as she makes Anne such a sympathetic character. Peter Purves is given the lead role as the Doctor disappears and Steven is thrust into the proceedings, and he pulls it off with great finesse. He's never been better as the hopelessness and inevitability of the scenario take a considerable toll, and his anger at the Doctor's refusal to take Anne with them is emotionally compelling.
The Doctor having a double is a sci-fi cliche that's incorporated into the story quite well: we're not sure if the Abbot of Amboise is the Doctor or not; Tavannes's accusation against him: "that since you came, everything which had been so carefully planned has gone wrong" fuels the red herring, implying that he is the Doctor up to something. Indeed perhaps the only other disappointing aspect of the story is the lack of explanation the Doctor gives when he re-appears in the final episode. Where was he? But anyway, William Hartnell is remarkable as the Abbot, his performance being so un-Doctorish. It's a pity we can't watch it.
On that point, it's a pity we can't watch any of this story. Not a scrap of footage exists - not even any telesnaps. The whole lot's gone, so we have to rely on the soundtrack alone, but thankfully the audio conveys the story faithfully; it's easy to visualise and quite talky, so therefore more dialogue than action oriented. But that's cold comfort given the high quality of the production. You'd think at least one episode would have been held; my preference would have been the third, Priest of Death, as it features the court intrigue, a fine dramatic set piece in the attempted assassination of de Coligny, and above all Hartnell's aforementioned turn as the Abbot. But beggars can't be choosers...
As it's effectively a BBC costume drama, we can be assured that this story would have looked good. What we can glean from the photographs affirms this; there's a wonderful still of the Doctor in Preslin's shop - which I've only seen reprinted in Howe, Stammers and Walker's The Sixties - that attests to great design. All in all it's a real gem: a mature, tense and tragic reminder of religious intolerance and man's inhumanity to man. And the Doctor's soliloquy in the TARDIS at the end is real goose-bump telly! 9/10
Comme Ci, Comme Ca by Peter Niemeyer 26/9/08
A lot of the reviews for The Massacre have been glowing. This may have set up some false hope for me. I didn't think it was bad, but I was expecting spectacular, and in that sense I was disappointed.
My greatest criticism of The Massacre was that I just didn't find myself caring enough about the characters and events to find the story engaging. It reminded me of The Reign of Terror in that it discussed two groups at odds with each other, but no real discussion as to what the conflict was about. In this case, the heart of the disagreement was religious, but nobody went to any length to discuss why their own religion was superior or why the other religion was so intolerable. Stephen states that he's a Protestant (though perhaps this was a lie of convenience just to gain the trust of Gaston and company). I feel it would have been far more effective if Steven had been neither and had asked the locals to explain the two religions to him.
The plot also struck me as unextraordinary. Much of the story revolves around preventing the assassination of the Admiral. But I didn't feel a genuine sense or urgency. The plottings of Tlotoxl or King Richard's plans to marry off Joanna were far more compelling. Heck, I was more engaged with Za's quest for fire. When the Admiral does get shot, the characters' reaction is what I'd expect from a high school drama production. Doctor Who historicals have made me care before. But this one felt like they had filmed the initial script read-through.
I also found myself a bit perplexed by the Abbot of Amboise. He is the Doctor's double, but the plot makes very little use of this. If he had been simply similar in appearance to the Doctor, the script would gave required only a minor rewrite. I think William Hartnell did an admirable job in the role. (I had only his vocal performance to go on, but he clearly played it differently than he does the Doctor.) However, if so little is to be made of the two characters' appearance, then I would just as soon have given Hartnell a two-week vacation and cast someone else in the role of the Abbot.
The one place where the story did shine was the way in which Steven gets center stage. Like Barbara and Ian in the middle of The Keys of Marinus, it shows that the companions could be more than just foils to the Doctor. It's regrettable that this practice was discontinued once Troughton took over.
I hate to say it, but if we have to have stories missing from the Hartnell era, I'm not too terribly sad that this serial was among the missing.
One Thing I'd Do Differently: I would rewrite Dodo's introduction. It just seemed like such an obviously scripted introduction to a companion. How convenient that Dodo had nobody who would miss her. How convenient that the oncoming police would necessitate a rapid departure. Why not just have the Doctor say "My, my, we could use a new young girl for a companion... preferably one who can get through 9 episodes without getting herself killed."
One Thing I Wouldn't Touch: Steven's temporary departure from the TARDIS at the end of episode 4. It gave an air of realism by allowing him to express his objections to the Doctor's philosophies, and it gave the Doctor a chance to reflect on his actions and his departed companions.
Would I Like To Watch This Serial Again: No
A Review by Daniel Saunders 14/3/09
It seems to be traditional to start any review of The Massacre (or The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve, which is historically inaccurate (the massacre took place on Saint Bartholomew's Day), but is the title on the camera scripts) by stating that the reviewer knows nothing of the period in question, before going on to praise the story's accuracy. I must differ in both respects. While hardly an expert, I do have a little knowledge of the religious wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, not to mention a couple of books close at hand to check my dim memories of General History III: 1400-1650.
The French Wars of Religion were a very complex mixture of religion, court politics (Protestantism had a strong following among the nobility, as well as in the towns, but little elsewhere) and international politics (modern day France was a patchwork of states at the time). No one was clearly "good" or "bad" and the situation in The Massacre is simplified for dramatic purposes. Coligny had been implicated in various plots, including the assassination of the Duke of Guise (although this accusation came from a confession obtained under torture). Furthermore, while the massacre left around 11,000 Protestants dead, it did not end Protestantism in France, nor did it herald its suppression. In 1589, Henry of Navarre-Bourbon, frequently referred to in these episodes but never seen, became Henry IV of France, returning to the Catholic Church for political reasons in 1593 and, in 1598, passing the Edict of Nantes, which protected French Protestantism for nearly a century before Louis XIV revoked it and expelled the Huguenots in 1685.
Naturally, any historical drama must simplify events, to help the audience follow the plot as well as for aesthetic reasons, but this story has such a reputation for being one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of the historicals, that I felt the matter needed stressing.
On to what is actually on screen - and here we hit another problem. Of all the missing stories, this is the one I find hardest to follow. Several actors have very similar voices, which is not a problem on television, but very confusing on audio. Much of the action is hard to follow, especially regarding where people are and what exactly they are doing. It is also hard to tell how effective was the use of contemporary woodcuts, dubbed with screams, to show the actual massacre.
This was the first of the audio releases where the linking narration was scripted by fans (rather than by John Nathan-Turner or Eric Saward), and while things are better than in those earlier releases, lessons were clearly still being learnt about how to carry out this (admittedly rather peculiar) task. To be fair, the story suffers from a lack of visual material: no surviving episodes, no clips, no telesnaps and, judging by what I have seen published, very few photographs. Incidentally, several actors, including Leonard Sachs and Andre Morell, are not credited on the tape sleeve, a rather less forgivable error.
The plot itself suffers from one huge hole, namely the Doctor's role in events. If the Doctor wasn't pretending to be the Abbot for half the story, where was he? In retrospect, we can assume he chanced upon an alien invasion to quickly defeat or some such, but it is hard to think of an explanation that fits in context. It could be a detail lost in all the rewrites. John Lucarroti's novelization, based on his original scripts, has the Doctor playing a double role throughout; the impracticality of achieving this with the resources available, and perhaps also the inappropriately light-hearted tone, prompted Donald Tosh to rewrite the entire script. Nevertheless, Tosh's script tries hard to make the audience believe the Abbot is, or at least might be, the Doctor. In episode one, the Doctor is thinking of visiting the Abbot of Amboise to help Preslin. When he leaves Preslin, he has a purpose, and Preslin wishes him luck with it. Episode three is built on the idea that he is disguised as the Abbot (the Abbot is blamed for the failure of the assassination, and the cliffhanger involves Steven thinking he has found the Doctor's corpse). This is not a minor detail, and it is really surprising that it was not dealt with, not even with a throwaway line about the Doctor being imprisoned for breaking the curfew, for example.
The closing scene is also rather confused, not to mention jarring. After Steven's emotional departure and the Doctor's moving speech about the nature of history and his isolation, it all goes horribly wrong as Dodo storms in, accepts the dimensional oddities of the TARDIS (not to mention its time/space-travelling nature) without a second thought, Steven returns and everyone hurriedly departs. On audio, it is hard to tell quite how Dodo ended up staying on board. It could have been a mistake, but the dialogue suggests the Doctor took her away deliberately, which makes his leaving Anne in Paris seem rather callous. It is possible that he is worried about a second pre-modern companion after the death of Katarina in The Daleks' Master Plan, but his main fear seems to be changing history, without quite making clear how he knows that Anne was supposed to remain in Paris (unlike Vicki, who he happily left at the fall of Troy). It may be significant that Vicki is the only companion (excluding Susan) who actually chose to travel with the Doctor up to this point, suggesting that the Doctor may be breaking the laws of time travel by taking any human passengers, but this is contradicted by his willingness to let Dodo travel with him (and is he really naive enough to believe a teenager who says her guardian wouldn't care if she was dead?).
I have spent nearly a thousand words writing mainly about historical accuracy and two plot details. This is perhaps indicative of the problem I have with this story: I find it very difficult to get a grip on it, and I cannot work out if this is intentional, a happy accident, or the product of the destruction of so much of the story. There is no denying that, despite the points I have raised, this is an excellent story. The cast are all perfect, and what visual references we have indicate that the designers were up to their usual high standards. The script, despite some minor quibbles, is very accurate for the average historical fiction and holds together well dramatically. The characterisation is brilliant and the world of sixteenth-century France is built with remarkable economy, despite some obvious info-dumping in the early episodes. These are real people arguing about issues that matter to them, and doing so in a believable way. No one is just "evil", not even in the way that Tlotoxl was in The Aztecs. There is even a certain dark humour, both in the character of the bored, petulant, childish king, and in the fact that the failure of the Catholic plans in the first three episodes seems to be due to the Doctor impersonating the Abbot, but was all down to coincidence and chance - not that that saves the life of the Abbot, Coligny or anyone else. The serial certainly deserves praise for handling such sensitive subject matter without trying to force a contemporary allegory or moral out of it, although that may have been easier in 1966 than it would be now.
That, in many ways, is the problem. The Massacre feels so aloof, so remote, both from the rest of Doctor Who and from almost everything else on television, now and in the past, that it is hard to get a hold on it. It is rather like one of Channel Four's political docudramas, only set four hundred years ago, and with Steven Taylor from popular family adventure series Doctor Who included due to some bizarre scripting error. I'm very grateful they made it, even if I'm not quite sure why - and I suspect that may have been the effect Donald Tosh and John Wiles were aiming for.