The Massacre was a novelisation based on the 1966 television serial The Massacre.
Publisher's summary[]
1987 Target Books edition[]
The TARDIS lands in Paris on 19 August 1572. Driven by scientific curiosity, the Doctor leaves Steven to meet and exchange views with the apothecary, Charles Preslin.
Before he disappears, he warns Steven to stay out of 'mischief, religion and politics.' But in sixteenth-century Paris it is impossible to remain a mere observer, and Steven soon finds himself involved with a group of Huguenots.
The Protestant minority of France is being threatened by the Catholic hierarchy, and danger stalks the Paris streets. As Steven tries to find his way back to the TARDIS he discovers that one of the main persecutors of the Huguenots appears to be - the Doctor.
1992 Target Books edition[]
ON THE THRONE SAT THE DEADLY ABBOT OF AMBOISE. STEVEN STARED AT HIM IN HORROR. 'THAT'S - THE DOCTOR!'
The TARDIS lands in Paris on 19 August 1572 and the Doctor, driven by scientific curiosity, leaves Steven in order to meet and exchange views with the apothecary Charles Preslin.
Ignoring the Doctor's warning to stay out of trouble, Steven finds himself caught up with a group of Huguenots, whose very existence is threatened by the Catholic hierarchy. As Steven tries to find his way back to the TARDIS, he is horrified to find the greatest persecutor of the Huguenots is actually none other then the Doctor himself...
First broadcast in 1966, this story is the only one to feature William Hartnell playing a character other then the Doctor himself. It also introduced the character of Dodo Chaplet, who was to accompany the Doctor on his next five adventures.
Chapter titles[]
- Prologue
- The Roman Bridge Auberge
- Echoes of Wassy
- The Apothecary
- Double Trouble
- The Proposition
- Beds for a Night
- Admiral de Coligny
- The Escape
- A Change of Clothes
- The Hotel Lutèce
- The Royal Audience
- Burnt at the Stake
- The Phoenix
- Talk of War
- Face to Face
- A Rescue
- Good Company All
- Epilogue
Deviations from televised story[]
- Due to several behind-the-scenes changes at the time this story was made, the final televised version bore little resemblance to the scripts that John Lucarotti had originally submitted. The novelisation is therefore an adaptation of his scripts than the televised serial rewritten by Donald Tosh. William Hartnell's double role as the Doctor and the Abbot of Amboise is a key centrepiece of the novella, whereas it was only suggested minimally on television.
- Lucarotti adds a prologue and epilogue in which the Doctor is being asked to explain his actions in sixteenth-century France to a group of Time Lords. Curiously, the Doctor is noted to have been retired from his travels for quite some time. He hasn't spoken French in centuries.
- Steven trained to be an astronaut.
- Mention is made of an EDF system or External Decontamination Function that the TARDIS can use as a "sort of spatial car-wash."
- In one of the more marked changes from the televised story, the Doctor's time in Paris as a prisoner and later a confidante of a conspiracy operating from the Parisian catacombs is explored in far greater detail. It's the Doctor's interference, in spite of his sworn intention contrariwise, that ultimately brings the scrutiny of his peers in the bookends. Here, he deliberately meddles in historical events by attempting to prevent the assassination of Admiral de Coligny.
- The TARDIS is taken to the Bastille prison where it is pawed over by a locksmith. The locking mechanism sets "fire to his arm on the inside," as he describes it, when attempting to force the door open.
- Unable to find suitable lodgings for the evening, Steven and Anne rest in a Parisian crypt that Steven dubs the Hotel Lutèce.
- The character of Charles de Teligny does not appear in the novelisation.
- Simon Duval is killed by Gaston de Leran in a swordfight.
- Henri III is mentioned.
- Charles Preslin is a secretive man who dislikes strangers and never answers his front door.
- The Doctor first learnt about Preslin from a footnote in a half-destroyed scientific journal that he once found.
- Gaspard de Coligny and Nicholas Muss' bodies are thrown out of a window.
- Preslin and his colleagues, David and Jules, worked with Gaston Lerans and Nicholas Muss to protect Huguenots using a system of Roman tunnels beneath the city. When he is visited by the Doctor, who doesn't know the nature of Preslin's work, Preslin is suspicious and believes for a time that he is the Abbot in disguise when the resemblance between the two is noticed. The Doctor sends him and his colleagues to Germany using the Abbot's seal, which the Time Lords disapproved of but could not prove.
- Anne Chaplet was born circa 1557 and lived in Wassy with her father and her younger brother, Raoul. In March 1562, the Reform Church was set ablaze by Catholics and Anne and Raoul escaped to the roof, leaping onto a hayrick. Their father, however, died in the fire. They fled to Paris, being taken in by their aunt and living in a modest house on the rue des Fossés Saint Jacques.
- In the novelisation, the Doctor is present, and could be argued is partly responsible, for the slaying of the Abbot of Amboise. The Abbot is considerably more antagonistic in the novelisation and a direct threat to both the Doctor and Steven, believing them to be agents of either the Huguenots or Satanic powers.
- The Doctor and Steven depart Paris on sobering, but nevertheless, softer terms than in the televised version.
- Anne helps Steven sneak out of de Coligny's house and goes with him upon learning that he is heading to Montparnasse, which is near where her aunt and brother are living. After stopping at Preslin's shop, they go to Anne's aunt's house and learnt that she and Raoul have been captured on the Abbot's orders, so they instead go to the rubbish dump where the TARDIS materialises. They watch the ship as it is carried to the Bastille and sleep in a tomb in the Lutèce cemetery. The next day, Anne hands herself in and is locked up with her aunt and brother, but the Doctor poses as the Abbot and has her and her family released. He tells them to leave for Picardy, as the Governor of Picardy is amongst the few who refused to obey King Charles IX's orders.
- The final scene of the televised story where the Doctor and Steven have travel forward to twentieth-century England, and the TARDIS is mistaken for a real police box by Dodo Chaplet, is omitted from the novelisation. However, both Dodo and her possible relation to a rescued Anne Chaplet are mentioned in the epilogue.
Writing and publishing notes[]
- Author's note: "The historical events described in The Massacre are factual, as were the 287 kilometres of tunnels and catacombs under Paris, some of which may still be visited. The woodcut engraving of the attempt on de Coligny's life, which shows a cowled cleric in a doorway, does exist. The author has seen it. John Lucarotti."
- The novelisation features a Dramatis Personae detailing key roles among the Catholics and the Huguenots.
- The included reference to the Time Lords was not in the television series' continuity and the then-producer John Nathan-Turner was at first unhappy with the reference until it was explained to him and he gave his approval.
- The cover for the original Target Books edition featured the artwork of Tony Masero.
Additional cover images[]
Cover by Alister Pearson
British publication history[]
- Hardback (June 1987)
- W.H.Allen & Co. Ltd. UK ISBN:[tel:[tel:[tel:0491034237 0491034237] 0491034237] 0491034237], copies priced £7.50 (UK))
- Paperback (November 1987)
- Target / W.H. Allen & Co. Ltd. One single paperback edition, estimated print run: 25,300, priced £1.95 (UK).
- Paperback (October 1992)
- Target / Virgin Publishing New cover artwork by Alister Pearson, priced £2.99 (UK).
Audiobook[]
This Target Book was released as an audiobook on 11 June 2015 complete and unabridged by BBC Audio and read by Peter Purves.
The cover blurb and thumbnail illustrations were retained in the accompanying booklet with sleevenotes by David J. Howe. Music and sound effects by Simon Power.
The audiobook was reissued on 1 September 2022 as part of the audio anthology The Second Earth Adventures Collection.
External links[]
to be added