The Massacre (reference book): Difference between revisions

During its first three years on air [[Doctor Who]]’s production team divided its stories roughly equally into two categories: 'future' – [[science fiction]] stories set on alien worlds, involving monsters or both – and 'past' – serials set in human [[history]] which, initially, had no science fiction elements beyond the presence of the series' leads in the historical period portrayed.

''[[The Massacre (TV story)|The Massacre]]'' ([[1966 (releases)|1966]]), a serial of disputed authorship, of which no video copy is known to survive, was one of the last of Doctor Who’s 'past' stories as originally defined. Produced during a fractious, transitional period in the series' evolution, it nevertheless deals with the topic of religious civil strife in the [[Paris]] of [[1572]] with maturity and complexity, and from a variety of angles, many surprising for a tea-time adventure serial.

This Black Archive title looks at ''The Massacre'' both in terms of its place in Doctor Who’s ongoing production and public reception, and as a piece of historical fiction intimately concerned with Christianity which draws on a variety of primary and secondary sources, many of them never previously acknowledged in discussion of the serial.

[[James Cooray Smith]] contributed production notes to a number of the [[BBC]]’s Doctor Who DVD releases.