Doctor Who: The Massacre: A 1st Doctor Novelisation

John Lucarotti

Jun 2015 · BBC Digital Audio · Narrated by Peter Purves

About this audiobook

Peter Purves reads John Lucarotti's novelisation of his classic First Doctor TV adventure. The TARDIS lands in Paris on 19 August 1572. Driven by scientific curiosity, the Doctor goes 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 16th 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! Peter Purves, who played Steven in the original BBC TV series, reads this novelisation of a fondly remembered classic story, the original episodes of which are lost from the BBC archives.

About the author

John Lucarotti was a British screenwriter. He created the television series Operation Patch (later novelised), The Ravelled Thread, and The Panther's Leap. He wrote ten episodes for The Avengers, thirty-two episodes for The Troubleshooters and contributed fifteen episodes to the BBC's Doctor Who in the 1960s, the three serials Marco Polo, The Aztecs and The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve. He subsequently novelised his scripts for Target Books. He contributed a script for what ultimately became the 1975 serial The Ark in Space, but it was rewritten by script editor Robert Holmes and Lucarotti received no on-screen credit.