War of God (The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve Episode 1)

The one where Steven gets mixed up in 16th century French politics...

As War of God begins, no mention is made of the previous adventure's legacy, of Sara's horrific death, the ravages of the Time Destructor, the devastation of Kembel, or the disintegration of the traitorous Galactic Alliance. The narrative is reset, with the Doctor and Steven stepping out of the TARDIS as if nothing ever happened. The Doctor seems his usual twinkly self, and Steven seems to be his usual slightly dissatisfied self (Steven is always moaning about wanting to move on or questioning why they're doing something - it can get quite tiresome at times).

As we learnt from The Reign of Terror, the Doctor loves French history, and as soon as he discovers they've landed in Paris in the year 1572, he's on the trail of "that strange brotherhood of apothecaries", in particular the scientist Charles Preslin, who it transpires is ahead of his time when it comes to germ theory. Now, I'm no student of French or scientific history, but a quick Google makes it clear to me that Preslin was not a real person, and germ theory wasn't actually proven until Louis Pasteur came along in the 19th century. It's true that a rudimentary understanding of infectious agents was put forward by the scholar Girolamo Fracastoro in 1546, but he was Italian, not French.

So exactly who writers John Lucarotti and Donald Tosh intended Preslin to be or represent is a mystery to me, but the Doctor does mention that there is somebody in Germany working on an invention which will allow Preslin to study his theory more closely: ie, a microscope. Quite who that is intended to be is also a little vague - there were a number of Dutch inventors working in optics around this time (mostly a little after), but perhaps the Doctor is being deliberately loose with his dates in order to encourage Preslin. Whatever the truth is, the fact all of this is steeped in writers' artistic licence spoils its verisimilitude for me.

So I'll choose to ignore historical accuracy/ research, and concentrate on plot. There isn't a lot of plot in War of God as it's more of a "setting-up" episode, but we learn enough about the politics of the time to understand that the streets of 16th century Paris are a dangerous place to be, especially at night after curfew. Steven acts as the viewer's representative, as he knows just as little about the time period as we do. It's an obscure, seldom depicted time in French history, so the viewer needs Steven to be as ignorant of the politics as we are! He constantly explains to his newfound Huguenot/ Protestant friends in the tavern that he is a stranger, from England, and is unaware of recent events and current affairs. A script which assumed foreknowledge of the French Wars of Religion would be too dense and tiresome.

It's great to have some of the action take place in a traditional French tavern (I love how the Doctor demands: "Landlord! Wine!" upon entering), with plenty of cocky Huguenots knocking back the vino while under the surreptitious surveillance of Edwin Finn's fawning landlord. Catholic Simon Duvall is using the landlord to find out what the Protestants are talking about, as well as who their new friend Steven is. When the Huguenots get involved with serving wench Anne Chaplet, who has run away from the apartments of her master the Abbot of Amboise after overhearing a possible Catholic plot, that's when the story proper kicks in. The viewer knows straight away that it can't be advisable for Steven to get mixed up in local religious politics, and I was wishing he would observe the curfew by returning to the TARDIS rather than agreeing to stay over at a Huguenot nobleman's house. But then I suppose there'd be no adventure, would there?

The Doctor is strangely separated from the main action quite early on (something Lucarotti apparently disliked about script editor Tosh's rewrites), but we're left with a highly intriguing cliffhanger when it transpires the feared Abbot of Amboise appears to look just like the Doctor. Hartnell delivers his few brief words at the end in such a starkly different way to how he is as the Doctor that you're knocked onto the back foot completely. And because we have recently learnt that Preslin has sent the Doctor on some kind of mission, we have to wonder if it is the Doctor in disguise. At no point did Preslin mention to the Doctor that he looked like the Abbot, so we shall just have to wait and see...

First broadcast: February 5th, 1966

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The cliffhanger is deliciously intriguing. Is that the Doctor impersonating the Abbot? Or does the Abbot look like the Doctor? And if so, why?
The Bad: The history is wholly unfamiliar to the casual viewer, but to be fair, the writers are subtly explaining things as we go along.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

NEXT TIME: The Sea Beggar...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: The Sea Beggar (episode 2); Priest of Death (episode 3); Bell of Doom (episode 4)

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/the-massacre-of-st-bartholomews-eve.html

The soundtrack to The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve is available on CD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Massacre-Peter-Purves/dp/0563552611