022 - The Massacre Of St Bartholomew's Eve

Broadcast:

5^th - 26^th February 1966

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Steven

Adversary:

French Catholics

Written by:

John Lucarotti, Donald Tosh

Director:

Paddy Russell

Music:

Stock

Script Editor:

Donald Tosh, Gerry Davis

Producer:

John Wiles

Average Viewers:

6.43m (8, 6, 5.9, 5.8)

Summary: Steven finds himself in a vulnerable position at a very dangerous and pivotal time in French history with shocks and surprises throughout.

Love them or hate them, historical stories were a standard part of Doctor Who's early years. Love them or hate them, 'Doctor light' stories have been a part of the revived show (though limited to one per series and only for a few years). The point is, love it or hate it The Massacre Of St Bartholomew's Eve is both of these things rolled into one. It is intriguing and dull at the same time, unless you know about 16th century France, but as a lesson aid it draws you into the period atmosphere ready to listen to and understand what your teacher is telling you, or embark on your own research.

The story title gives you a jumping off point for understanding or researching the setting. On the eve of St Bartholomew's day 1572 (the night of August 23rd) French Catholics assassinated a number of prominent Huguenots in Paris and general Catholic mob violence followed with several thousand deaths. A rather poignant coincidence saw about 2000 civilian villagers massacred in Tây Vinh and Gò Dài (Vietnam) during the broadcast of this story.

Lighter news included the Soviet spacecraft Luna 9 making the first controlled landing on the Moon and Australia moving to decimal currency and introducing their Dollar. Topping the music charts were The Overlanders' "Michelle" and Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'", while cinemas had such films as Never Too Late, Bunny Lake Is Missing, and by another similar coincidence The Great Sioux Massacre.

Since this story is completely missing from the archives, it is unclear how each of the writers and story editors were credited and various memories are conflicting. It is unlikely that Donald Tosh would have been allowed to receive credit for both writing and editing the story and it is presumed that he only has credit (or at least copyright, based on surviving documentation) for writing due to extensive rewrites of John Lucarotti's work and Lucarotti's alleged displeasure at them. Gerry Davis was the in-coming Story Editor and may simply have shadowed Tosh and received the credit because Tosh could not... So if the story itself doesn't leave you confused or bemused then the story behind it probably will!

006 - The Aztecs

Broadcast:

23^rd May - 13^th June 1964

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

Aztec Heigh Priest

Written by:

John Lucarotti

Director:

John Crockett

Music:

Richard Rodney Bennett

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

7.53m (7.4, 7.4, 7.9, 7.4)

Summary: Landing amongst an ancient civilisation that demands human sacrifice leads Barbara to try and change history - the very subject which she teaches!

Following the quality of his scripts for Marco Polo, John Lucarotti was asked to write another. He drew on his experience of living in Mexico and his fascination with Aztec culture to write what would be Doctor Who's third dip into history.

At the time of broadcast, viewers could also become familiar with the First World War as the BBC started to show their 26 part documentary series The Great War or watch such films as Night Must Fall and The Evil of Frankenstein (the former featured Sheila Hancock who would later appear in The Happiness Patrol as Helen A, and the latter starred Peter Cushing who would play the Doctor in the two Dalek movies in 1965 and 1966). In the charts, Four Pennies spent a week at number one with "Juliet" followed by four weeks of Cilla Black's "You're My World". Meanwhile the Rolling Stones crossed the Atlantic for their first American tour. In the news, South Korean President Park Chung Hee declared martial law in Seoul, after 10,000 student demonstrators overpowered police in anti-government protests, a referee's decision during the Tokyo Olympics football qualifiers in Peru lead to riots which killed 319 people and left 500 injured, the first Soviet communications satellite was launched, and Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment (though political changes would eventually result in his release in 1990 and pave the way for his presidency of South Africa 30 years and one month after his sentencing).

As for The Aztecs, Carole-Anne Ford would be taking her two week holiday so arrangements were made to give Susan a minor sub-plot that could be filmed in advance at Ealing and take her away from the main action, indeed all four regulars would be apart from each other for much of the story which gives it a sense of scale but also a slight emptiness...

004 - Marco Polo

Broadcast:

22^nd February - 4^th April 1964

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

Mongol Bandits

Written by:

John Lucarotti

Director:

Waris Hussein, John Crockett (ep4)

Music:

Tristram Cary

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

9.47m (9.4, 9.4, 9.4, 9.9, 9.4, 8.4, 10.4)

Summary: The TARDIS is captured by a great explorer and the travellers are forced to travel through Cathay with him, facing bandits and dehydration along the way

I initially thought this would be an easy review. All episodes of Marco Polo are missing from the archive but the audio is presented on the The Edge Of Destruction DVD in an edited form with telesnaps which I remembered watching a few years ago and not enjoying a great deal. They have condensed seven episodes into 30 minutes so it feels very fast, choppy and a little incomprehensible. There are sections of voice over narrating a journey animated on a map and an explanation of condensation that feels very shoe-horned in just to fulfil the educational remit.

I then remembered that Loose Canon have created full telesnap reconstructions of every missing episode (Marco Polo had a fresh make over just a year ago) and while they make a point of only distributing them on VHS (you provide the tape and prepaid postage) the modern computer age has made it easier for others to convert these videos and upload them to sites like YouTube. At the time of writing, only 5 parts are not available (one complete episode and the first half of three others) which is a mere 2.8% of missing material. Once I watched their version of Marco Polo, it was clear that the 30 minute edit on the DVD did not do it justice and I hold great hope for the remaining stories.

And so to the main review...