French Revolution

The French Revolution was a series of political and social upheavals in France in the late 18th century. This was the First Doctor's favourite period of Earth history: "all the turbulence of the age crammed into five years in one tiny country," as he put it. (PROSE: The Man in the Velvet Mask) It was an age which he visited on several occasions.

The Sixth Doctor's companion Jason (a.k.a. the Marquis de Saint Epiman de Sinee de la Tour) was a young aristocrat living in France at the time of the Revolution. He was sentenced to death by guillotine in 1789 but was rescued by the Doctor. Later, the meddling of a Dalek caused the TARDIS to return to revolutionary France. Jason was arrested once more and his sentence was almost carried out but he managed to escape again. (AUDIO: The Ultimate Adventure)

Revolutionary-era France was the site of the First Doctor and Susan Foreman's first visit to Earth. (PROSE: Just War) Later, while attending Coal Hill School in 1963, Barbara Wright lent Susan a book called The French Revolution, in which Susan noted several historical inaccuracies. (TV: An Unearthly Child)

The Doctor and Susan visited Revolutionary-era France again, specifically July 1794, this time with Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright accompanying them, not long after departing 1963. (TV: The Reign of Terror)

The Doctor and Dodo Chaplet later visited an alternate timeline, in which the Revolution continued longer than it did in N-Space. (PROSE: The Man in the Velvet Mask)

Behind the scenes

 * The French Revolution was also a working title for The Reign of Terror.