The Reign of Terror

Carry On Don't Lose Your Head
The Reign of Terror(6 X 25mins B&W)
Written by Dennis Spooner
Doctor Who Series one Serial eight
A Land of Fear transmitted BBC1 8 August 1964
Guests of Madame Guillotine transmitted BBC1 15 August 1964
A Change of Identity transmitted BBC1 22 August 1964**
The Tyrant of France** transmitted BBC1 29 August 1964
A Bargain of Necessity** transmitted BBC1 5 September 1964
Prisoners of Conciergerie transmitted BBC1 12 September 1964
* Note: until 1966 Doctor Who serials had no overall title, instead each episode had its own title.
** Episode no longer exists, animation used for source DVD.
Synopsis
The Doctor promises Ian and Barbara that he's got them home finally and that they've landed in 1963 England. The scanner certainly shows it's Earth. But on travelling from the ship they come to a farm and discover that they're in France and the year is 1794, slap bang in the middle of the French Revolution and the period known as The Terror. Before they can return to the TARDIS the Doctor is knocked unconscious and left undiscovered in the farm, whilst the rest  are arrested by soldiers and sent to the Conciergerie prison in Paris. The soldiers set the farm on fire. Will the Doctor survive? Will the rest keep their date with Madame Guillotine
Review
This is the first historical adventure for the crew, after Marco Polo and The Aztecs. Unlike the other adventures, we get no introductory history lesson from Barbara. The serial assumes the audience knows about the French Revolution, and that they do not need to be told who the characters like Robespierre are.
Cynics (and the contemporaneous Daily Worker review made this point) could argue that this lack is because this is not history but the Scarlet Pimpernel story yet again without that hero, his role replaced by others, or A Tale of Two Cities. It was certainly criticised by non-Left reviewers as historically inaccurate. You could say it gives the prevalent and jaundiced British view of said period, though to be fair to writer Dennis Spooner he does give Barbara a speech in episode 5 in response to Ian that he can't judge the whole idea of the French Revolution and everyone who  was involved in it by the brutality that  they've witnessed. But she doesn't explain why it came about, and what were its principles. And on the other hand, he does show the jailer (sic) as a comic buffoon.
The story is quite violent, though most of it takes place off-screen (the camera often shows a reaction shot). Unfortunately, the basic plot is very simple, the TARDIS crew get captured, imprisoned, escape, meet resistance, get captured again, imprisoned, escape again, meet resistance. After an interesting and suspenseful first episode this goes on for the next five episodes, until at the end they finally escape, too late to save Robespierre, but just in time to discover that Napoleon will take over (in an event that in reality never took place).
Dennis knows he has to pad out the middle section, so to take up the time, and to relieve from the grim and brutal monotony of the prison (and boy is it grim, and monotonous), we have one episode where the Doctor walks from the farm to Paris (a double in the first filmed inserts for the serial, shot in lovely Buckinghamshire countryside), then disguising himself in the uniform of a regional Officer of the Provinces, by the completely improbable device of hiring the uniform from a pawn-broker! Incredible! We then have two episodes of him masquerading as this officer, particularly in comedy scenes between himself and the jailer (Jack Cunningham). Dennis is the first writer to try a little bit of comedy business in a Doctor Who serial (he would later write the only Who farce, The Romans). Unfortunately, though the actors seem to enjoy themselves, its not exactly hilarious for the audience.
If the writing (and Whitaker's script editing) leave a little to be desired, the acting and production design is excellent. The BBC have always excelled at historical dramas, and since this was a period where Who historical stories were straight histories, i.e. didn't feature Sci-Fi elements other than our travellers, everyone ('comedy' moments aside) plays this straight, as if it were a classic adaptation. It's hard to single any individual out (especially as two stories are missing, so have been replaced by animations), but Keith Anderson's Robespierre and Donald Morley are especially fine. It's a shame Ronald Pickup's television debut is in one of the wiped episodes, as I've always admired this recently departed actor.
The production design and set design is on the whole very good, though as with the scene where Barbara and Susan are carted to jail show, the Lime Grove studio was incredibly cramped, and a lot of the interiors are shot in corners of a room. The prison walls also look a bit fake, compare them with Ian's jail scenes which, as the actor was about to go on his two weeks holiday, were pre-shot on film at Ealing Studios. Daphne Dare's costume designs are exemplary, and capture the period more accurately than the script.
We also have the perennial Who problem of interfering in Earth history. The implication here is that it's impossible, rather than undesirable, or Time Lord unlawful.  The characters even suggest that if they'd written a note to Napoleon he would have lost it, or if they'd tried to shoot him, the bullets would just bounce off, which is a preposterous suggestion. Also, Napoleon did at least end the Terror. Surely, the audience will quickly discover this basic fault. What if they change history accidentally, the old butterfly syndrome? At then end the Doctor states "our destiny is in the stars", and the poor ratings and lukewarm critical reaction, plus the second series high ratings for its first two Sci-Fi serials, would suggest that Who's future might be in space, and that the historical stories might become, well, history (as they sadly have).
Final analysis? As with all Who six-parters (even in the classic 70s period) one wishes it was four. It's almost three hours length shows up the repetitious monotony of the basic plot being spread too thinly, and having to be repeated again and again. If you want to know the truth about this period (and the ideals behind the Revolution) you'd be better off with a good historical text. If you want a British biased pro-Royalist adventure yarn, stick with Baroness Orczy or Charles Dickens. Personally, I prefer the Carry On film. Good costumes and acting can't make up for cramped sets, some fake sets, broad humour, monotonous plotting, and historical inaccuracy. The end title says next episode "Planet of Giants", but after 43 weeks (with one week off), the BBC shelved its plan to show a whole years worth of stories and take a seven week break, with a repeat showing for Reg Varney's family tree comedy "The Valiant Varneys". When Who returned, it did so with a vengeance.
ANIMATION As episodes 4 & 5 are missing, on the source DVD they're replaced with animated versions, and I have to say the animations are rather splendid. They're quite detailed, with at least twice the set-ups for later, cheaper animations. Reaction shots, and action sequences, and the characters moving and alive (rather than standing still mouthing their dialogue, as in later animations), with the characters actually looking like the actors (which they don't always in the later adaptations). Good, atmospherically lit rendering, particularly the crypt (pictured), complete with close-ups of spiders moving in webs, that probably are much better than the Lime Grove set. 5/5 for the animation, splendid. And NOT colourised.
TARDIS rating: 2.5/5 (half a star extra for the animations).
Credits

Dr. Who .................................................................................... WILLIAM HARTNELL
Ian Chesterton .........................................................................  WILLIAM RUSSELL
Barbara Wright ......................................................................... JACQUELINE HILL
Susan Foreman .......................................................................  CAROLE ANN FORD
Small Boy ................................................................................. PETER WALKER
Rouvray .................................................................................... LAIDLAW DARLING
D'Argenson ............................................................................... NEVILLE SMITH
Lieutenant ................................................................................. ROBERT HUNTER
Judge ........................................................................................ HOWARD CHARLTON
Jailer (sic) ................................................................................. JACK CUNNINGHAM
Webster .................................................................................... JEFFRY WICKHAM
Road Works Overseer .............................................................. DALLAS CAVELL
Lemaitre ................................................................................... JAMES CAIRNCROSS
Jean ......................................................................................... ROY HERRICK
Jules Renan ............................................................................. DONALD MORLEY
Shopkeeper .............................................................................. JOHN BARRARD
Danielle Renan ........................................................................  CAROLINE HUNT
LĂ©on Colbert ............................................................................. EDWARD BRAYSHAW
Robespierre .............................................................................. KEITH ANDERSON
Physician .................................................................................. RONALD PICKUP
Paul Barrass ............................................................................. JOHN LAW
Napoleon .................................................................................. TONY WALL
Title Music ........................... by RON GRAINER with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
Incidental Music Composed and Conducted by ................. STANLEY MYERS
Story Editor ......................................................................... DAVID WHITAKER
Designer ............................................................................. RODERICK LAING
Costumes Supervised ........................................................ by DAPHNE DARE
Make-up Supervised .......................................................... by SONIA MARKHAM
Film Cameraman ................................................................ PETER HAMILTON
Film Editor .......................................................................... CAROLINE SHIELDS
Lighting ............................................................................... by HOWARD KING
Associate Producer ............................................................ MERVYN PINFIELD
Producer ............................................................................. VERITY LAMBERT
Directed .............................................................................. by HENRIC HIRSCH
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