The Reign of Terror (TV story)

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Summary

The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan arrive in what they believe to be England. However, it is soon clear that they have traveled back into Earth history yet again, this time to France, and soon become prisoners of Robespierre's government. With Ian, Barbara, and Susan sentenced to death as traitors, the Doctor must adopt the guise of a government official and secure their release before they are guillotined


Cast & Characters

Uncredited Cast


Crew


Notes

  • The first Doctor Who story to feature on-location filming
  • Episodes 1,2,3 and 6 exist in 16mm telerecordings
  • Episode 6 was returned by a private collector in May 1982
  • Prints of all 4 existing episodes were recovered from a Cypriot television station in 1985. These included a superior print of episode 2.
  • 12 clips from episodes 4 and 5 exist in the form of 8mm home movie reel
  • Episode 2 used the working title Guests of the Guillotine
  • This story was a replacement for a 6 part story by David Whitaker which would have been set at the time of the Spanish Armada
  • William Russell originally suggested the idea of a story set during The French Revolution
  • 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) stepped in temporarily. Some sources have credited Verity Lambert as director for this episode, as no director is credited onscreen (which at the time normally implied that the producer also directed the programme), but she has firmly denied this
  • William Russell was on holiday during the filming of episodes 2 and 3 and appeared only in pre-taped film sequences
  • Edward Brayshaw, later to feature as the War Chief in 1969's The War Games has a role as Léon Colbert, a counter-espionage agent allied with the Revolutionary government.
  • 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 listings magazine Radio Times entitled "Dr Who and the French Revolution.
  • Many photographs of this story remain. Along with the soundtrack these were used by Loose Cannon Productions to make a reconstruction of this story. (see external links). An earlier reconstruction of this story was made by Michael Palmer although this is no longer in circulation
  • It was originally intended that Verity Lambert and David Whitaker would be responsible for finding a replacement show to run during the season break however this did not proove necessary and the slot was filled with repeats of The Valiant Varneys


Influences


Ratings

  • A Land of Fear - 6.9m viewers
  • Guests of Madame Guillotine - 6.9m viewers
  • A Change of Identity -6.9m viewers
  • The Tyrant of France - 6.4m viewers
  • A Bargain of Necessity - 6.9m viewers
  • Prisoners of Concergerie - 6.4m viewers


Myths

  • An elaborate model of Paris was made for this story but never used. This model was given to Carole Ann Ford as a present. (No such model was made, Carole Ann Ford was actually given the design model made by Roderick Laing to assist with his work)


Location Filming

This story was filmed at both Television Centre Studio TC4 and Lime Grove Studio G


Continuity

  • The French Revolution is The Doctors favourite period of history. Susan also showed an interest in this period in An Unearthly Child
  • During her incarceration Barbara is reminded of her imprisonment in An Unearthly Child.
  • Barbara claims to have learnt her lesson about meddling in history after the events of The Aztecs


Discontinuity

  • The sounds of the TARDIS control room can be heard in the forest before the TARDIS materialises
  • The TARDIS lands silently in the Forest
  • The TARDIS crew just happen to find clothes in the abandoned farm house which fit them perfectly
  • The involvement of Robespierre and Napoleonis historically inaccurate


Quotes

Barbara - "You can't influence or change history. I learned that lesson with the Aztecs."

Doctor - "The events will happen, just as they are written. I'm afraid so, and we can't stem the tide. But at least we can stop being carried away with the flood!"


Story Arcs

Historicals


Similar stories

To be added


References

To be added


More Info


Public Releases

  • DVD Release - This story has not yet been released on DVD
  • Video Release - Released as Doctor Who: The Reign of Terror
UK Release: November 2003 / US Release: October 2003
PAL - BBC Video BBCV7335 (2 tapes)
NTSC - Warner Video E1853 (2 tapes)
This release contains narration by Carole Ann Ford. It contains clips and stills from episodes 4 and 5.
The second tape contains episodes 1 and 3 of The Faceless Ones and episode 1 of The Web of Fear
The North American release was also located in The End of the Universe Collection
The reconstruction of this story by Loose Cannon Production includes the following features
A Celebrity Introduction by Carole Ann Ford
Further information about this project can be found at Story Reconstruction

External Links


Template:Television Stories Box

Template:Wikipedia

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