Episode 105: Priest of Death

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 next morning Steven finds some clothing at Preslin's shop and changes, so that he can get close to the Abbot's house. He remains convinced that the Doctor is impersonating the cleric for some reason. Anne insists on accompanying him.

At the Louvre, a council meeting is underway. Present are King Charles IX and the Queen Mother, accompanied by Marshal Tavannes, Admiral de Coligny and Councillor Teligny. 

A decision on war with Spain is deferred, but the Admiral complains about the current persecution of Huguenots in Paris. When the King seems hesitant to address this, de Coligny accuses him of being too much under the control of his mother. Angered, she storms out. This amuses the King as he likes how de Coligny speaks his mind, and resents his mother's influence.

The meeting ends with the next session due to take place in two day's time - the Feast of Saint Bartholomew. 

At the Abbot's house, Steven meets the man he thinks is the Doctor and entrusts Anne's safety to him because of this.

Tavannes arrives from the council meeting and confers with the Abbot in private. Steven discovers that the "sea beggar" refers to the Admiral. He then overhears talk of the imminent assassination of the Admiral on one of the streets between his house and the Louvre. Roger Colbert spots Steven and warns the Marshal that the Englishman who has been seen with the Huguenots has been eavesdropping.

The Marshal is furious that a potential threat to their plans was allowed into the Abbot's house. Should the assassination fail, the Abbot will be blamed.

Steven and Anne are too late to warn their friends. The Admiral is shot as he walks along the Rue des Poulies, but is not killed. Badly wounded, he is carried to his house.

On hearing of this, Tavannes orders the death of the Abbot.

Teligny reports the incident to the King and his mother, and the young monarch instructs the Marshal to put protection in place for the Admiral. He is highly critical of Tavannes.

Later, the Queen Mother tells her son that the Marshal was simply doing his job of protecting the Catholics of Paris, now that a Huguenot prince is part of the royal family.

The Huguenots may soon want to rid themselves of the Catholic monarchy...

It is soon reported that revenge attacks have taken place, with Huguenot mobs said to be murdering Catholics.

When Teligny tells Steven that the Abbot is one of those killed, he rushes to his house.

An angry crowd has gathered, and Colbert sees Steven. He loudly accuses him of being responsible for the Abbot's murder. Steven is forced to flee for his life, whilst the body of the man he believes to be his friend lies forgotten in the gutter...

Next episode: Bell of Doom

Data:

Written by John Lucarotti

Recorded: Friday 4th February 1966 - Riverside Studio 1

First broadcast: 5:15pm, Saturday 19th February 1966

Ratings: 5.9 million / AI 49

Designer: Michael Young

Director: Paddy Russell

Additional cast: Joan Young (Catherine de Medici), Barry Justice (King Charles IX), Michael Bilton (Teligny)

Critique:

The first two episodes had been very much about build-up, setting the scene for viewers unfamiliar with these historical events. The mystery of the Doctor / Abbot is also put in place. Like Steven, the viewers are supposed to be wondering if this is the Doctor impersonating the Abbot - and if so, why?

This aspect of the story really doesn't work, however, as we've been given no motivation for him doing this. Apart from Steven's suspicions, there's been no intimation that the Doctor is indulging in disguise.

All this tends to undermine the "shock" death of the Abbot at the conclusion of this week's episode.

It's interesting to note Hartnell's performance as the Abbot. He pitches his voice a little higher than usual, but there are none of the vocal mannerisms he uses as the Doctor - showing that what we normally get is very much a performance and not Hartnell simply being himself.

It has been claimed that several of his alleged fluffs by the actor were actually deliberate and rehearsed.

Paddy Russell advised Hartnell whenever she thought any of the Doctor's verbal tics were showing in his performance as the Abbot.

This week events move forward and we actually have some action - the historical assassination of Admiral de Coligny and the fictional murder of the Abbot.

There are three prime suspects in the assassination attempt on the Admiral of France - the Guise family, the Duke of Alba, and Catherine de Medici. 

The former were suspected as de Coligny was believed to have been responsible for the death of the Duke of Guise in 1563, whilst Alba governed the Netherlands and did not want to see the country drawn into war with Spain.

With neither of these factions present in Lucarotti's scripts (or Tosh's redrafts) we are left with the Queen Mother. Her main motive is presented as one of "kill them before they kill you". In the same way that Guise's death had sparked wider conflict, the death of the Admiral would provoke reprisals against the Catholics. If this was inevitable, then best to strike at them first.

Her other motivations are keeping France from going to war with another Catholic power, and the purely personal one of the growing influence de Coligny had over her son. Charles was only 22 at the time of these events, and a weak-willed individual whom she had easily manipulated up to now. 

de Coligny was saved by bending down to tie his shoe which had come loose. The assassin shot him from an upper window of a house on the Rue des Poulies which was on the route from the Louvre to his house. The bullet hit his left arm and lost him one of his fingers. The assassin, Maurevert, escaped.

The assassination of Admiral de Coligny told in a composite image of the time. On the left, we see him shot by the assassin, whilst on the right he is attacked in his sick-bed and his corpse is thrown from the window - an event from two day's later. The body of Teligny can also be seen being thrown from a window.

Hartnell returned from his week's holiday. He and Peter Purves were then absent from rehearsals on the afternoon of Thursday 3rd February to carry out pre-filming on The Ark. This was their first work with new co-star Jackie Lane, who had been cast as Dodo Chaplet.

The star would only be seen playing the Abbot again this week.

Designers liked to make their sets more interesting by introducing different levels. This was usually achieved though the use of rostra, creating raised areas. Notable examples include the Dalek saucer and the alleyway entrance to the Plague Cemetery in The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and the lab sink in Planet of Giants.

For the Ealing filming of his Paris street scenes, Michael Young elected to build down rather than upwards. He used the studio's famous water tank in which to build sections of the set, so that steps could be seen leading down onto the narrow streets and alleyways.

Joining the cast this week were Michael Bilton (1919 - 1993) as Charles de Teligny, one of the King's Councillors and another leading Huguenot.

Joan Young (1903 - 1984) portraying Catherine de Medici, was a renowned radio artist who had also featured in a number of British films, including Ealing comedies.

Barry Justice (1940 - 1980) playing the King, featured in the BBC adaptation of David Copperfield the same year as his Doctor Who appearance. This version had Ian McKellen in the title role.

A photograph session was booked for the afternoon of recording, to get images of Morell, Sachs, Young and Justice on the Louvre set.

Rather than create a complex piece of set for the assassination scene, the director elected to simply have a camera on a crane with a gun barrel placed underneath - giving a POV shot instead of having to build a complicated upper storey chamber.

This was the final episode on which Donald Tosh was credited as Story Editor. His replacement - Gerry Davis - had been shadowing him since Christmas, during which time he had developed his own ideas about historical-set stories. Now free of his contract, Tosh would be able to get a writer's credit on the fourth and final instalment of the story.

Trivia:

• The ratings manage to remain consistent with the previous week, though now dipping slightly under the 6 million mark. The appreciation figure falls below 50.
• Michael Bilton would return to the series to play Collins in Pyramids of Mars.