Episode 103: War of God

NB: This episode no longer exists in the archives, nor is there a full set of telesnaps. Representative images are therefore used to illustrate it.

Synopsis:

The TARDIS materialises in a secluded yard on the Rue de Bethisy in Paris. Emerging onto the street the Doctor deduces from the architecture that they could be anywhere between the medieval period and the 17th Century.

They observe a young man approach one of the houses, identifying himself as Gaston and that Nicholas Muss is expecting him.

From the man's costume, the Doctor pins the era down to the 16th Century. He is pleased at this, as this was the time of a famous brotherhood of apothecaries who were active in the city. One of their number was Charles Preslin, and the Doctor determines to seek him out.

The house which Gaston entered was that of the Admiral de Coligny - the political figurehead for the Protestant community in France.

The young man then goes to a nearby inn where he antagonises the landlord by praising the Protestant King Henri of Navarre, whilst ignoring his Catholic bride Marguerite - sister of the French King Charles IX, and daughter to the powerful Queen Mother, Catherine de Medici.

The regal pair have only just been wed in a lavish ceremony designed to help heal the country's deep religious divide.

The Doctor and Steven, in appropriate historical dress, have come to the inn before going their separate ways. He will go alone to find Preslin, whilst Steven will have a day to explore the city.

Gaston is joined by Muss whilst the inn is also visited by a group of Catholic men, including Simon Duvall. He works in the household of the Abbot of Amboise. 

Before leaving, Duvall instructs the landlord to report on what Gaston and Muss talk about.

Steven finds himself befriended by the young Huguenots after having trouble changing the gold coin given to him by the Doctor. On learning that he is English, they assume he supports their cause.

The Doctor arrives at the Port Saint Martin and meets the initially suspicious Preslin. The old man explains that he and his fellow scientists are being persecuted by the Catholic authorities - especially by the Abbot of Amboise.

Near the inn, a young woman rushes from a building in a terrified state. She bumps into Steven as he sets out to find the Doctor, and he invites her inside when he sees how upset she is.

On seeing soldiers searching for her, Gaston and Muss protect her and they are forced to withdraw.

She is identified as Anne Chaplet, who works in the Abbot's household. On demanding to know why she is afraid, she tells Gaston and Muss of something she overheard - a reference to the town of Vassy. A decade ago, dozens of Huguenots were massacred there on the orders of the Catholic Duke de Guise. One of the victims was Anne's father.

At the Abbot's house, Duvall and a man named Roger Colbert are angry that the Captain of the Guard and his men failed to arrest Anne. They are concerned about how much she heard and who she may tell.

At the inn, the Huguenot group suspect that another Vassy is being planned by the Abbot and his associates. 

To protect Anne further, she is sent to de Coligny's household to work for him. The Admiral must hear what she has to say in person.

Duvall returns to the inn, only to find Anne gone. When he questions the landlord, he is suspicious to learn that that an Englishman was part of the Huguenot group. He also discovers where Anne has been sent.

Returning to the Abbot's house to report back, he tells the cleric of what he has learned.

The Abbot of Amboise is the spitting image of the Doctor...

Next episode: The Sea Beggar

Data:

Written by: John Lacarotti

Recorded: Friday 21st January 1966 - Riverside Studio 1.

First broadcast: 5:15pm, Saturday 5th February 1966

Ratings: 8 million / AI 52

Designer: Michael Young

Director: Paddy Russell

Guest Cast: Charles Preslin (Erik Chitty), Eric Thompson (Gaston), David Weston (Nicholas Muss), John Tillinger (Simon Duvall), Christopher Tranchell (Roger Colbert), Annette Robertson (Anne Chaplet), Edwin Finn (Landlord), Clive Cazes (Captain of the Guard).

Critique:

There are incomplete stories, and there are lost stories. The Massacre is very much a lost story, as not one single second of film / video footage survives - not even an 8mm off-air clip. Additionally, the director elected not to purchase telesnaps of the production, and very few photographs were taken during the making of the episodes. The Target novelisation bears little relation to what was seen on TV back in 1966, so we can't even rely on that.

This has led to it becoming known as one of the most obscure Doctor Who adventures.

Back in 1964, Terry Nation had been working on a story set at the time of the Indian Mutiny (known to fans as "The Red Fort"). This was put aside when he was asked to concentrate on new Dalek material.

The following year, the setting was still under consideration and story editor Dennis Spooner discussed it with John Lucarotti. He had written two highly regarded historical stories for the first season - Marco Polo and The Aztecs.

Problems arose, however, when a rule was introduced that historical stories had to be set prior to 1600. More recent history was too well known to the audience, running the risk of complaints if stories weren't accurate enough. Overfamiliarity was also a concern (something present day producers should think about. Just how many dramas / documentaries do they think we need to see about the same couple of Tudors?).

Lucarotti was offered an alternative and settled on a Viking adventure - despite the fact that they were featuring in a forthcoming story (The Time Meddler, which was even called "The Vikings" at one point).

Changes in the production office saw Spooner depart, replaced by Donald Tosh. Tosh approached Lucarotti for a story - only to be told that he was already working on one, agreed with his predecessor. Though no formal contract had been entered into, this was a 'gentleman's agreement' which Tosh felt obliged to honour.

Even though the Meddling Monk story was now in pre-production, Tosh allowed the writer to carry on with his submission, which dealt with Eric the Red's discovery of Newfoundland.

The story got as far as rewrites requested by Tosh when - out of the blue - Lucarotti was told that his work was being rejected. Reasons given included the limiting nature of a story set mostly at sea, and the Monk story already featuring Vikings.

The writer was naturally upset and decided to take formal action against the BBC through his agent. Donald Wilson sided with Lucarotti and John Wiles had Tosh offer Lucarotti another submission. Wiles wanted to see a story which revolved around religious intolerance, and it was Tosh who hit on the idea of it being specifically set during the events in Paris of August 1572.

William Hartnell had been asking to appear in a story in which he did not play the Doctor, and had proposed the notion of the Doctor having an evil son, who looked just like him and who travelled around the universe being villainous.

This idea wasn't picked up, but Wiles liked the idea of the Doctor having an evil doppelganger.

Lucarotti faced more rewrites as the TARDIS crew entered a period of great instability. It was originally envisioned that Anne Chaplet would become the next full-time companion. With the Doctor side-lined whilst Hartnell played his secondary role, she and Steven would team up and at the conclusion would be saved from almost certain death by accompanying him into the TARDIS.

He would eventually change his mind on this, recalling the problems of a historical companion like Katarina, one who would need even the simplest of scientific concepts explained to them.

It would also have involved the Doctor interfering in history, which he and Wiles were set against.

Still unhappy with Lucarotti's work, it was decided to pay him off and Tosh completed the scripts as part of his editing duties. He would get an on-screen credit on the final episode, for the sequence introducing the new companion, but in actual fact he wrote much of what appears on screen. This can be seen by comparing it with Lucarotti's novelisation for Target. Lucarotti came close to having his name taken off the story as broadcast.

The historical background is the Wars of Religion which gripped France in the 16th Century. The incident at Vassy took place in 1562, when the powerful Duke de Guise massacred around a hundred Huguenot worshippers. Relationships between Catholic and Protestant were nearing breaking point again when Guise was assassinated by a Protestant. The wedding of Henri of Navarre to Marguerite de Valois was intended to calm the situation. 

In the background was the ineffectual young King's friendship with Admiral de Coligny. The Queen Mother and her advisors were concerned at his growing influence over the young man - especially when he wanted him to wage war on an old ally and forge alliances with old enemies.

This was a period of history which was not very well known to British audiences. When it came to the Reformation, UK schools tended to concentrate on the Anglican dimension - Henry VIII and the dissolution of the religious houses.

(You can read a dramatized account of these events in La Reine Margot, by Alexandre Dumas, published in 1845. The 1994 film, by Patrice Chereau, is highly recommended, and there is also an older adaptation from 1954).

Chosen to direct the story was Patricia "Paddy" Russell, one of only a couple of female directors at the Corporation. She had gained a great deal of experience working as right hand to producer-director Rudolph Cartier on the original Quatermass serials and his version of 1984 amongst many other productions, many of which went out live.

Russell had originally been earmarked to work on The Edge of Destruction.

Designed to be a cheap production after the preceding Dalek epic, Russell was given five days of filming - four at Ealing and one on location at Wimbledon Common.

This took place in the first week of January1966.

Shots of Anne fleeing the soldiers were completed on the first day, with only Robertson and Cazes present of the main cast. A Paris street set was redressed over the next three days to represent different avenues for different episodes.

Hartnell and Peter Purves attended on the Thursday, with the star only featuring as the Abbot on film. For this he wore white clerical robes.

Because of the Christmas break, Doctor Who was now going into studio just a couple of weeks before transmission.

It was during the afternoon camera rehearsals for War of God that the majority of images we have from this lost story derive - photos taken of Hartnell and Purves, and of Purves with the Huguenot group, on the inn set.

The episode title and writer credit were shown over a period print of 16th Century Paris (La Maison appartenant de Bretonvilliers a Paris, to be exact). The same image was used behind the closing credits:

Tosh had structured the story so that each instalment took place over the course of a single day, with the tocsin bell sounding curfew to indicate the onset of evening.

General street life sounds were played in for the main sets, but birdsong backed Preslin's street, to indicate that his shop was out in the suburbs.

To save having the TARDIS materialise in studio, the prop was already set up behind gates in a cul-de-sac off the Rue de Bethisy, with just the usual sound effect being played in.

Russell had the set harshly lit, to indicate an August heatwave. There was only a single recording break scheduled - to allow Hartnell and Purves to change costumes.

After recording, Hartnell embarked on another week's holiday - his second in four weeks. He would only feature on film in The Sea Beggar.

Neither Charles Preslin nor the Abbot of Amboise were real historical figures.

As an opening episode, coming immediately after a 12 week Dalek epic, it's very much a low key instalment - concentrating on dialogue over action. It's primarily set around the inn upon which many of the significant characters converge - young people like Steven.

As a period of history few viewers will have been familiar with, time has to be taken to set the scene and provide context, so we have quite a bit of exposition as Steven is brought up to speed about the current situation in Paris, and the events at Vassy from a decade before.

This might be why the story saw a sizeable drop in viewers over its four week run. A talky episode, set in an unfamiliar era, with no action beyond Anne's brief chase by soldiers.

There is much debate about the story title. Like many, I like to call it simply The Massacre. The BBC's own soundtrack release gives this title on the sleeve, but the fuller title of "The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve" on the discs themselves. This longer title is supposed to be the official one - but it's rubbish. The Massacre took place on Saint Bartholomew's Day, not on the eve of the festival. If it's a reference to the events leading up to the event, then it ought to read "The Eve of the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day", or something to that effect. 

When Tosh took it over, he renamed it "The Massacre of Saint Bartholomew", which sounds like it's directed towards the Biblical figure.

You may come across purists who insist on the full title. My advice: just ignore them. The Massacre suffices.

Trivia:

• The programme moves to a new, earlier, time-slot of 5:15pm - having gone out just before 6pm previously. This is a reversion to the original time-slot of the first season.
• The series returns to its Riverside Studios home, as used through most of Season 2.
• The ratings start off relatively okay with 8 million tuning in, but will slide thereafter as we'll see. The appreciation figure remains above 50, though.
• This is one of the longest Doctor Who stories of the Classic era, in terms of episode length. Each instalment runs to just under 25 minutes, with the final actually going over. This opener is 24' 41".
• The original overall story title was going to be that of this episode.
• For many years fandom was led to believe that Anne's surname was "Chaplette", whilst Dodo's was "Chaplet". This turned out to be nonsense, and both characters had the exact same surname.
• Eric Thompson (1929 - 1982) is the father of actors Emma and Sophie, and was the husband of Phyllida Law. He is best known for having brought The Magic Roundabout to UK audiences. Law was under consideration for the role of Barbara Wright in 1963, and was eventually associated with the series when she appeared in Eye of the Gorgon, one of The Sarah Jane Adventures.
• Christopher Tranchell made two further appearances in Doctor Who - as the passport control officer / Chameleon duplicate Jenkins in The Faceless Ones, and as Andred in The Invasion of Time.
• Erik Chitty will be seen again as Co-ordinator Engin in The Deadly Assassin.
• David Weston will also return - as the Tharil Biroc in Warriors' Gate.
• The extras who played the Policemen in the opening seconds of both the pilot and the transmitted versions of An Unearthly Child - Reg Cranfield and Fred Rawlings - appear together in Parisian street scenes in this story.
• Future Doctor Jon Pertwee was always proud of his Huguenot origins - his surname deriving from Pertuis / Perthuis - a commune in France. The events of this story were the reason why his ancestors came to be living in England.
• Radio Times introduced the new story with its usual third of a page feature, accompanied by one of the images of the Doctor and Steven in the inn (a colourised version of which can be seen above):