The Massacre (Doctor Who)

022 – **The Massacre**
022 – The Massacre
Doctor Who serial
	The Doctor (William Hartnell) and Steven (Peter Purves) in a production still. Critics praised Hartnell for his dual roles in the serial and Purves for his leading performance.
Cast
	Doctor William Hartnell – First Doctor;
	Companion Peter Purves – Steven Taylor;
	Others David Weston – Nicholas Muss; Eric Thompson – Gaston; Annette Robertson – Anne Chaplet; John Tillinger – Simon Duvall; Christopher Tranchell – Roger Colbert; Erik Chitty – Charles Preslin; Edwin Finn – Landlord; Clive Cazes – Captain of the Guard; Reginald Jessup – Servant; William Hartnell – Abbot of Amboise; André Morell – Marshal Tavannes; Leonard Sachs – Admiral de Coligny; Cynthia Etherington – Old Woman; Joan Young – Catherine de' Medici; Barry Justice – Charles IX; Michael Bilton – Teligny; Norman Claridge – Priest; Will Stampe, Ernest Smith – Men; Jackie Lane – Dodo Chaplet; John Slavid – Officer; Jack Tarran, Leslie Bates – Guards;
Production
Directed by	Paddy Russell
Written by	John Lucarotti; Donald Tosh (4);
Script editor	Donald Tosh (1–3); Gerry Davis (4);
Produced by	John Wiles
Music by	None
Production code	W
Series	Season 3
Running time	4 episodes,; 25 minutes each
Episode(s) missing	All episodes
First broadcast	5 February 1966
Last broadcast	26 February 1966
Chronology
← Preceded by; The Daleks' Master Plan	Followed by →; The Ark

The Massacre (also known as The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve) is the fifth serial of the third season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by John Lucarotti and Donald Tosh, and directed by Paddy Russell, it was broadcast on BBC1 in four weekly parts from 5 to 26 February 1966. In the serial, the First Doctor (William Hartnell) and his travelling companion, Steven (Peter Purves), arrive in France in 1572, during the events leading up to the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. Steven befriends a group of Huguenots and encounters the Doctor's lookalike, the Abbot of Amboise (Hartnell).

Lucarotti wrote the serial after his previous outlines had been rejected. Tosh, the programme's script editor, significantly rewrote the scripts, leading to a co-writer credit on the fourth episode. He soon resigned, and it was his final credited work on the series. The Massacre marks the first appearance of Jackie Lane as incoming companion Dodo Chaplet. It is notable for being the first Doctor Who serial directed by a woman and the first time the lead actor (Hartnell) played a dual role. Purves was given a leading role in the serial as Hartnell was briefly on holiday. Filming took place at Riverside Studios from January to February 1966.

The Massacre received an average of 6.4 million viewers across the four episodes, dropping more with each consecutive week; it was the programme's lowest figures since the first episode in 1963. Contemporary and retrospective reviews were generally positive, with praise for the performances, direction, and script, and the serial was sold extensively overseas. Its videotapes and film prints were wiped by the BBC in the 1960s and 1970s, and it remains missing; a complete off-air audio recording survives, but it is the only serial with no known visual recordings. The story was novelised by Lucarotti, who restored much of his original drafts, and the off-air recording has been released as an audiobook.