3x25 Bell of Doom

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Another completely missing historical, once again penned by the master of pure historicals, John Lucarotti (Marco Polo and The Aztecs, both from 1964). Will he manage a hat trick?

Oh, and this one breaks new ground for the show as well, as we will see...

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It should be noted how similar The Massacre feels to another France-set historical, The Reign of Terror (1964) - both feature a bloody conflict in France's history between two different groups, and both feature the Doctor doing stuff separately from the companions. The Massacre, however, is more contained and focused, and flows slightly better, despite being entirely missing.
The Part One cliffhanger is one of those jaw-dropping moments the first time you see it. And there's a similar moment at the close of Part Three as well, related to the first cliffhanger.

Most of the ingeniousness of the script comes from how Lucarotti handles the doctor and the Abbot and how he plays around with the audience by making us believe the Doctor is playing a double act. He then deliberately leaves the truth of the matter a mystery, forcing the viewer to draw their own conclusions. The closing moments of the serial feature a fake companion departure followed by a rare instance of the Doctor sadly reminiscing about all of his former travelling companions - a pretty heartfelt little moment, quickly interrupted by the introduction of Jackie Lane's Dodo (who thinks she's entered a real police box and remains one of the few companions who barely notices the fact that the TARDIS is bigger on the inside).

This is very much Steven's serial, and he is the de facto lead here since the Doctor barely appears between the first and last episodes. Peter Purves carries the serial convincingly, proving his worth as a capable co-lead in what is one of his last chances at shining in the role before sharing screen-time with Lane in the next serial and then leaving a few episodes later. We also meet a slightly more contained, yet childishly eager Doctor again, which feels nice after a series of very serious takes on the character. I love how eager the Doctor is to return to France; so eager in fact that he immediately wants to rush off to meet local celebrities before even considering exactly when he and Steven have arrived. And when the Doctor does realize what is about to happen, he suddenly decides to leave quick and easy to let history run its course - grim but totally in line with (this) Doctor's principles.

All this jolly goodness makes perfect sense when looking at the second part star William Hartnell plays within the story. Oh yes, for the first time (but far from the last, see The Enemy of the World;1967-1988, Meglos; 1980 or Nightmare in Silver; 2013, for instance), the actor playing the Doctor plays a villain (or another character) within the same story. Hartnell's take on the Doctor's identical double, the Abbot of Amboise, is so deadly serious and different, that it's almost impossible to believe it's the same actor (considering Hartnell's worsening health at the time). This is a truly marvellous feat from Hartnell and Lucarotti writes the story in such a clever way, that both characters can appear in the story without ever sharing a scene.
Annette Robertson appears as the young and scared servant girl Anne Chaplet, supposedly a distant relative to companion Dodo Chaplet, who is introduced during the final minutes of the serial (but played by the aforementioned Lane). I've always found it eerie how similar Robertson looks and sounds to Lane, so you'd easily be fooled into thinking Lane was playing two different parts as well!
Aside from Robertson, the most compelling performances are offered by Barry Justice as the bad-tempered King and Joan Young as his scheming mother.

The Massacre sets the scene slowly, building the political tension and brewing conflict steadily throughout the four episodes - it, therefore, feels tenser and more focused than Lucarotti's previous scripts - but not quite as tense and focused as his next contribution (the undoubtful classic, The Ark in Space; 1975, which he co-wrote with Robert Holmes).

I feel like I'm repeating myself when reviewing these historicals, but the sets and costumes look marvellous (from what we can see, anyway) and do a great job at making the setting come alive.

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I've always struggled with getting into this story and the characters in particular. All of the guest characters, except for the Abbot, are pretty forgettable to me, even if they're portrayed realistically. The lack of a compelling villain is one of the bigger problems. The Abbot isn't really a villain, the King and the Queen Mother are hardly in the story and aren't very actively involved in anything and some of the others seem to change alliances based on whether they trust Steven or not. Pretty boring stuff, if I'm being honest!

In all honesty, The Massacre is one of those straightforward and serious historicals that are easily overlooked due to not having much going for it, despite the solid production. If it wasn't for the Hartnell double-act, I couldn't come up with any reason to watch this story. You'd think that a serial with such a morbid title as this one in a season known for its dark and serious themes would feature a lot of death and despair, but The Massacre ends up being almost disappointingly bland and uneventful.

The tension never quite intensifies and this serial feels like four episodes of build-up and a quick wrap-up before moving on to the next adventure - there's barely a fallout to the build-up and the last episode briefly shows the beginning of the titular massacre before going out with a sizzle (and shoehorning in the strangest companion introduction we've seen so far into the closing minutes of Part Four).

Since The Massacre is another dialogue-heavy serial, it can feel somewhat tedious to sit and listen to with no surviving materials to support the narrative - even if the soundtrack is of good quality. It's certainly not one of the more exciting reconstructions to sit through, and I suspect the story would work a whole lot better if we ever were to recover (or animate, hear me BBC!) the missing episodes.