The Massacre is the third and final script by John Lucarotti. It’s fair to say that my relationship with Lucarotti’s writing has been a little rough. I rather dislike Marco Polo but I adore The Aztecs. So where does The Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve fit? Somewhere in between is the rather simplistic and boring answer. Although I didn’t have as many problems with it as I do with Marco Polo, I didn’t love it as much as The Aztecs either. Of course, the fact that Donald Tosh extensively rewrote the serial needs to be taken into consideration here (I don’t remember being overly enamoured with Lucarotti’s novelisation of the story which, apparently, returns the story to a earlier draft than the version which ultimately made it to screen, but it has been many, many years since I read it).

I think both this story and Marco Polo suffer from a lack of visuals, The Massacre even more so as we don’t even have a bunch of telesnaps recovered from the director’s attic. As far as I’m aware there are no more than about 10 photos from the whole production – and nothing showing a key aspect of the story: Hartnell as the Abbot of Amboise.

Consequently, it is a little tricky to follow the political machinations of the rather large cast and I must admit to being lost a couple of times as to who was speaking to whom. There is Nichola Muss, Gaston and Anne Chaplet; Admiral de Coligny, Catherine de Medici, King Charles IX, Marshal Tavannes, Simon Duvall, Roger Colbert, Teligny and Charles Preslin, not to mention sundry unnamed characters, Steven and both the Doctor and his doppelganger, the Abbot of Amboise. This, to me, seems like a massive cast for an average Doctor Who story – and with most of them being fairly similar sounding, it makes an audio only story a bit difficult to keep track of.

However, when making a concerted effort to pay attention and follow the plot, a fascinating and quite troubling plot is revealed.

Central to this story is Steven. This is basically a Doctor-lite story, 40 odd years before the new series invented the concept. Of course, prior to this story there had been Doctor-less episodes – two parts of The Keys of Marinus for example – but this is the first time the Doctor has frankly had nothing whatsoever to do with the main outcomes of the story. The Doctor disappears during part one, War of God (after some delightful interplay with Preslin), and doesn’t reappear until part four, Bell of Doom. When he does return he berates Steven for causing trouble (none of which was Steven’s fault) and bundles him into the TARDIS for further adventures in time and space.

Understandably, Steven is livid with the Doctor – principally for leaving Anne Chaplet to her, probably bloody, fate, but also, I think, for leaving him in the lurch with no explanation, no contact or reassurance and no apology!

Steven is central to the entire story, caught between the Protestants and Catholics and not really understanding any of the issues causing the tension. He protects Anne, not because he believes the Catholics are evil but because it’s the right thing to do for a vulnerable person. He spends time at the Admiral’s house not because he believes in the Huegenot cause but because Nicholas is the only person willing to offer him hospitality.

The trauma that Steven is put through is tangible. The confusion he feels when he discovers that the Abbot looks like the Doctor is shared by the viewer. Is it the Doctor? If it is, why is he doing it and why hasn’t he told Steven?  The possibility that this is the Doctor with some grand unknowable plan recalls the manipulative Seventh Doctor, particularly the version portrayed in the New Adventures, or the way the Second Doctor manipulates Jamie in The Evil of the Daleks. It is shocking to even contemplate the possibility that the Doctor is masquerading as the Abbot and leaving Steven to fend for himself in a time and place he cannot hope to understand. When it seems that the Doctor has been murdered in the street and Steven is pursued by a vicious mob, the viewer shares his utter hopelessness. Anne’s suggestion of returning to England brings home the stark reality of what would happen to the Doctor’s companions (particularly ones who don’t even have a fellow companion with them) if the Doctor were to actually die and leave them stranded in a time and place they didn’t belong.

Aside from the focus on Steven, the other unusual aspect of this serial is its subject matter. I can guarantee most Doctor Who fans only know about this rather obscure event in history because of the series. It’s not a historical time or place that I have ever come across in any other part of my life – not museums, television, books or even the wonderful Horrible Histories. That said, though, having listened to this serial a few times, I don’t actually think my knowledge of it is any greater. I know that there was religious tension between the Catholics and Protestants (or Huegenots). I know that Louis IX was on the throne but his mother, Catherine de Medici had influence over him. I know there was a marriage between a Protestant Prince, Henry, and a Catholic Princess in a futile, and probably insincere, attempt to bring peace to the two factions. I know that the Catholics attempted to assassinate Admiral de Coligny. I know that there was a terrible massacre of Protestants around the time of the festival of St Bartholomew’s Day. What I don’t know is what came before or after. I don’t know why there was this specific tension. I don’t know what the result of the marriage was or of the massacre itself. Of course, what this should make me do is go and find out. I think the difference here is that, with most historical periods visited in Doctor Who, we already have a basic understanding of the period and the players. Whether its Rome burning while Nero fiddled or Vikings raiding Britain or Cortez wiping out the Aztecs, these are times and places that are more familiar than 16th century France. Without any prior knowledge the viewer (listener) has to pay attention to every single line of dialogue to build up a picture of what is going on. This puts us in exactly the same position as Steven and that is a very good, and yet – to some extent – unsettling thing.

In terms of firsts for Doctor Who, here we have the first example of a doppelganger of the Doctor. Yes, I know previous to this we had the robot Doctor created by the Daleks in The Chase, but, one – that was a robot specifically designed to look like the Doctor; and two – it looked nothing like the Doctor! This is the first instance of another person who just happens to look like the Doctor (something that would be revisited from time to time, most notably in The Enemy of the World). Of course, this other person is a villain (in so much as any of the characters in this story are villains) but it allows Hartnell to play a very different character to the Doctor – particularly the softer, more playful character the Doctor had become by the third season. Much has been made of the fact that Hartnell doesn’t fluff his lines as the Abbot, but then the suggestion that the ‘Billy-fluff’ was an affectation is countered by the fact that in the historical stories, a clear favourite of Hartnell, he rarely fluffed his lines anyway.

That said, though, the Abbot is hardly in the story and serves more as a plot device to increase the level of jeopardy for Steven. Hartnell was on holiday for episode 2 anyway, so we only really see the Abbot a bit in part one and then part 3 before he is murdered. It’s isn’t the all encompassing performance that Troughton would give us as Salamander or even Tom Baker as Meglos.

And this is the reason why, unlike the Doctor’s non-involvement in Marco Polo his non-involvement in The Massacre is vital to the plot – indeed is the plot. Steven’s confusion, despair and ultimate anger because of how the Doctor behaves in this story and the presence of the Abbot is central to the entire story.

The Massacre is an unusual story and I can’t quite decide how much I like it. I adore the fact that Steven is pushed front and centre for the entire story, but do miss the Doctor’s contribution to events a little. The huge cast of characters can be confusing (especially on audio) but with a bit of concentration it isn’t beyond me to keep up. The main criticism I would have is that there is an awful lot of standing around and talking as characters divulge the plot with not a huge amount of action in between. With very similar sounding characters, that does make it a little uninvolving from time to time but I think the uniqueness of the serial balances this out and means I look forward to revisiting the story at some point in the future. I’m off now, to find out more about the Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve so I can properly understand what on earth was going on.

I haven’t commented on Dodo’s introduction. I don’t really know what to say. It’s so at odds with the rest of the story and causes Steven’s anger to dissipate almost instantaneously that I can’t take it seriously. Add to that the fact that Jackie Lane’s accent is utterly bizarre (especially if it is supposed to be Wimbledon Common she’s stumbled in from) and the ridiculous suggestion that she could be some distant relative of Anne and I don’t really want to deign the idea with my thoughts – oh look, I just have! I think I’ll save commenting on Dodo till we reach a full story with her in.