The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve - War of God

Well I knew that this moment was going to happen sooner or later. We are approaching Dodo land. But first before we get to that stage we have a moment to take a deep breathe which is what is needed after the last twelve episodes. This story is another historical adventure written by John Lucarotti and it's another story that doesnt exist at all on video which is going to be a big problem in enjoying this four part adventure. 

I cant say that this is a period of history that i know of which It's good to have just the Doctor and Steven. This is the smallest TARDIS crew that the show has ever had. Which can not benefit the story. The story starts off in a relatively good way, its nice and calm with nothing dramatic happening but its not long before the Doctor and Steven are separated but its of their own choosing and its a nice refreshing change and seems to show a change of style in the show which is needed after 102 episodes.

Despite not really understanding the period, I thought that the characters were quite well played. Annette Robinson was rather good as Anne Chaplet. We're introduced to her halfway through and she had some good scenes. The rest of the performances were quite good and it helps get you over the fact that the historical points of this story aren't well known. The central performances are good and it seems a bi more balanced than it has been for several episodes.

The cliffhanger for this episode is one of the best for quite some time. The final scene is where the talk about the wearabouts of someone and then they talk about getting her back and the twist in this is that the person barking out the orders is someone who looks like the Doctor. Now this could have been done way back in 'The Chase' but they did it better here because they worked the script around the fact that Hartnell would have to be in two places. It was a nice and unexpected way to end the episode.

This opening episode sets the story up nicely and for a historical story it manages to keep me interested even when I take the characters out of the equation. I think that Lucarotti has done a good job and Paddy Russell has made a good start with her debut episode.