N.B. there might (or might not) be spoilers in this article!

… of St Bartholomew’s Eve, to give it its (probable) full title, might well be the most serious-minded of Doctor Who‘s 60’s serials, possessing an air of quiet menace, doom and paranoia that befits the maelstrom of religious intolerance that is its backdrop.

“History sometimes give us a terrible shock …”

The Doctor, Bell of Doom

It deals with a period of French history I must confess to knowing little about and, with not a single frame of footage surviving, I also have to admit that it is a story I find particularly difficult to visualise. (More my fault than the story’s, which is dialogue-heavy and therefore more suitable a listen than many other serials.)

On a somewhat trite side note, I was particularly impressed that even though William Hartnell played a double part in this story, he still managed to squeeze in a week’s holiday. It must also be said though that his brief turn as the Abbot of Amboise sounds great – it’s such a shame we cannot see it.

And yet, as I seem to be saying regularly in these posts, it is the story’s ending that remains with you. The Doctor’s monologue about Susan and his travelling companions all leaving him is worthy of great praise indeed. It’s so good that we’ll forgive him getting caught up in the implausibility of Dodo being a descendent of Anne’s: “Yes, yes it’s possible, my boy. Very possible …”.

Yes, it is possible … but very, very unlikely. Given what the Doctor and Steven have just witnessed and left behind, I’m willing to let that one slide and allow them their happy coda.