Conception and writing On 24 February 1965,
Doctor Who script editor
Dennis Spooner invited
John Lucarotti to submit an idea for a historical story; he had previously written
the first season's
Marco Polo and
The Aztecs (both 1964). Interested in a historical Indian setting, Lucarotti spoke to
Waris Hussein, the British-Indian director of
Marco Polo, who noted there were few interesting events prior to the
seventeenth century and suggested the
Indian Rebellion of 1857. After speaking with producer
Verity Lambert and head of serials
Donald Wilson, Spooner was forced to reject the idea due to an edict that historical serials be set before 1600. Lucarotti suggested a
Vikings story instead, and Spooner
verbally agreed. In early May, Spooner's successor as script editor,
Donald Tosh, invited Lucarotti to submit an idea, unaware of the verbal agreement. By late May, Tosh met with Lucarotti and approved the storyline:
Erik the Red's discovery of
Newfoundland in 1002. On 8 June, Tosh and new producer
John Wiles told Lucarotti that they wanted the series to become more menacing and mysterious; Lucarotti rewrote his storyline over ten days, speaking twice to an enthusiastic Tosh, and submitted the twelve-page outline on 22 June. Two days later, Tosh and Wiles rejected the story, considering it unsuitable and too similar to
The Time Meddler (1965), which was in production. Lucarotti, supported by Wilson, tasked his
agents to follow up with the production team, and Tosh agreed to discuss a new storyline. Wiles wanted the series to explore a
religious conflict; Tosh suggested the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, which Wiles approved, wanting the Doctor to witness history rather than interfere. On 9 July, Tosh commissioned Lucarotti to write the four-episode
The War of God, due for 17 September. . Lucarotti submitted his scripts on 20 July, approved by Tosh the following day. By early August, Tosh requested second drafts; Lucarotti submitted the first two episodes on 28 September and the third and fourth on 6 and 8 October. Tosh formally approved the drafts on 15 November and paid Lucarotti in full, but subsequently made several edits; he was familiar with the subject matter and identified some mistakes, wanting to adhere to documented history and not misrepresent Gaspard de Coligny. He spent two days researching the period at the
British Museum, followed by two weeks rewriting the scripts; Lucarotti asked for his name to be removed due to the extensive rewrites, though his agent dissuaded him. By late 1965, the serial was known as
The Massacre of St Bartholomew, with the first episode titled "War of God"; the camera scripts were titled ''The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve''.
Paddy Russell was assigned the serial's director on 26 November—the first woman to direct
Doctor Who. She enjoyed the scripts and was apprehensive about working with lead actor
William Hartnell but found him cooperative, acting as a sort of mediator between him and Wiles, with whom he was having disagreements. The serial's design work was originally assigned to Gwen Evans, then to Michael Young; neither had worked on the series before, and Young did not return. Though he remained during production of
the following serial,
The Massacre was Tosh's final credited work on
Doctor Who, and he resigned from the BBC to work
freelance; he had been unhappy with the series, partly due to his strained relationship with head of serials
Gerald Savory, and discovered the vision of Wiles's incoming replacement,
Innes Lloyd, differed from his own. In January 1966, Tosh handed over to his replacement,
Gerry Davis, whose first credit was
The Massacres fourth episode; Tosh was credited as co-writer due to his significant rewrites. Lucarotti considered Tosh the serial's author.
Casting and characters Hartnell had been interested in portraying a character besides the Doctor, suggesting a storyline in which the character encountered his evil son (also played by Hartnell); the idea went unused but Wiles was interested in similar experiments, leading to Hartnell's dual role as the Doctor and the Abbot of Amboise in
The Massacre. The Abbot is a fictional character named after the 1560
Amboise conspiracy, a failed plot against
François, Duke of Guise;
the duke's assassination three years later was partly attributed by some to de Coligny. Tosh rewrote the scripts so Hartnell largely played one character in each episode, avoiding costume and make-up changes, and to account for Hartnell's holiday during filming of the second episode. Russell occasionally told Hartnell when his performance as the Abbot leaned too heavily into the Doctor's mannerisms. Hartnell was concerned about the length of the Doctor's soliloquy in the final episode, but agreed to keep the full version after Tosh praised his performance during rehearsals; Tosh, who wrote the speech, considered it his "final signature on the programme" and wanted it to convey the show's "fundamental principles".
The Massacre had to introduce a new companion, following the loss of three in the two preceding serials. The first candidate was Anne Chaplet, a servant girl destined for death before being saved by Steven. Tosh and Wiles felt altering established history violated the series's principles and were cautious of introducing a historical companion after difficulties writing for
Katarina. The script was rewritten to introduce Anne's descendant, Dodo, as the new companion, with similar character traits, indicating that Anne survived.
Jackie Lane was cast as Dodo in early December 1965, contracted for thirteen episodes on 29 December (with an option for an additional twelve by May 1966). Years earlier, Lane had rejected Lambert's offer to audition for
Susan Foreman, the show's first companion. Wiles had seen Lane's 1961 performance in the play
Never Had It So Good and thought Dodo could use a working-class
Mancunian accent. He wanted the character to change her hair in each serial, but Lane had her hair cut short before filming.
The Massacre is the first
Doctor Who story to only feature a male companion—one of four in the show's original 26-year run. Steven was given a leading role as a result of Hartnell's holiday, which Tosh partly considered an apology to actor
Peter Purves for the character's weaker role in
Galaxy 4 (1965).
André Morell was cast as
Marshal Tavannes in December 1965; he was subsequently offered a role in the film ''
Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966) but his contract prevented him from partaking. Russell cast her friend Cynthia Etherington as the old woman in the second episode and former BBC employee Marguerite Young as both a Parisian extra and dog-walker in the last two episodes. Roy Denton was cast as "1st Man" but fell ill during rehearsals, replaced by Will Stampe after the third day; Denton remained credited in Radio Times'', which had already gone to press. Of the serial's fifteen speaking characters, six are fictional (including the Doctor, Steven, and Dodo), while seven are real historical figures and two are based on real history; none of the latter nine talk to the Doctor, and only two appear in the same scene as him—an intentional choice to avoid implications of historical interference. Purves felt the high calibre of the guest cast indicated the shifting tone towards the television industry at the time.
Filming (pictured in 2018).|alt=Riverside Studios Early
35 mm filming began on Stages 3A and 3B of the
BBC Television Film Studios on 3 January 1966. Purves could not be released from rehearsals of ''The Daleks' Master Plan'' on 5 January (
extra John Clifford doubled as Steven) though he and Hartnell were released the following day. The only
location shooting occurred on 7 January for two
inserts for the final episode: Dodo entering the TARDIS, and a woman watching it dematerialise. The former was Lane's first work for the series. A camera was mounted on a
Citroën car for
tracking shots of Dodo running towards the TARDIS; Lane had to jump across a ditch for the scene, and at one point fell in. For the second insert, it was hoped and scheduled for the scene to feature a
cameo appearance of
William Russell and
Jacqueline Hill as former companions
Ian Chesterton and
Barbara Wright arriving as the TARDIS dematerialised; it is unknown if either actor was approached. Rehearsals for the serial started on 17 January, and weekly recording began on 21 January in Studio 1 of
Riverside Studios; it was the first serial recorded at Riverside for several months, the series having shifted to using the
BBC Television Centre in the meantime. Paddy Russell employed the use of sound effects while filming for authenticity, including sounds of horses and carts for shots of city streets,
birdsong for the apothecary, and a bell to signify
curfew. The final episode was recorded on 11 February; several
prints were supplied by the British Museum to depict the massacre. The first episode was budgeted at and the rest at each; recording ultimately cost a total of (). == Reception ==