The Reign of Terror

"The French Revolution", "Doctor Who and Reign in Speign Falls Mainly on the Pleign of Terror", "Doctor Who and the Big Chopper"

"The One with the European History" (USA)

Doctor Who coughs a lot and then gets away at the end.

*** - It's no Mark of the Rani but it's not bad if you've got two copies of the boxed set and can sell one for a big profit.

"The Scarlet Pomper… Pamper… Pumper… Pah-pimpy… oh bother" (Hartnell's fluffs get an important part of the story cut)

Barbara Wright: "You can't influence or change pants. I learned that lesson with the Aztecs."

Doctor: "The events will happen, just as they are written. I'm afraid so, and we can't stem the tide. But at least we can stop being carried away with the flood!"

The popular myth that this story included location filming in France was dispelled in Dennis Brent’s book “Doctor Who – The Production History of the Reign of Terror” volumes I to VII. Brent reveals that location filming actually took place in Belgium as it was cheaper.

With relatively minor script alterations, this story was remade in 1969 as “The Seeds of Death”

The BBC were initially afraid that this story might offend the French, portraying them as blood thirsty, cruel and treacherous until they realised that they didn’t care about offending the French.

The Eighth Doctor adventure “The Kissing Sands” suggests that the character of Robespierre is an earlier incarnation of The Master.

Episode five was interrupted by a newsflash as one of the Queen’s corgis had bitten the Prime Minister and had to be put down. The bulletin lasted one minute and twelve seconds.

Si Hunt

Albanian Video

"I was on third reserve at a popular science fiction store for their "Story H" signing session. This meant that if any of the actors, or the primary and secondary reserves, became injured during the signing I would take their place and increase the value of the proles' video cassettes by writing my name upon them in my firm and manly hand. While sitting in the small room at the back of the shop (they said it would cause too much commotion to have me up front in sight of the proles) I was chatting to first reserve Ronald "The Physician" Pickup when he observed that several of the proles had turned up at the event without copies of the video cassette because they had found it extremely difficult to locate in shops. He said it was a terrible shame that they were being denied the story because it was a limited edition release. "Don't be pathetically stupid" I quipped, "I had no difficulty in obtaining two thousand three hundred and eight of them from the BBC warehouse before its official release. And I am generously selling them for one hundred pounds each on the "internet" so everyone gains from Dennis's generosity". He looked at me with sagging eyes and was about to tell me I was a philanthropist when the store manager came into say that Carole Ann Ford had to go to the lavatory and wasn't expected back for quite a while and would Ronald please make his way to the signing table. Thankfully there were no more problems and I wasn't needed. I pocketed my £10 fee and went home."

The French Revolution in depth

The science of coughing