Story 8: "The Reign of Terror" Quiz

Answer: Barbara Wright

The first episode begins with the Doctor insisting on Barbara and Ian leaving the TARDIS, since Ian (at the end of the previous serial "The Sensorites") disparaged the Doctor's control of his own machine. However, before being put out and left behind, Ian and Barbara insist on ensuring that they have, indeed, returned to their own time and place.

Soon after leaving the TARDIS, the group meets a young boy dressed in tattered clothing and scared out of his mind. He informs them that they are not in England, but rather a short distance from Paris, France.

Coming across an abandoned house, the time travelers enter and find a stocked wardrobe, along with weapons and traveling papers. Barbara, being a history teacher, quickly recognizes the clothing as from the 18th century, and makes the deduction that they have landed during "The Reign of Terror" of the French Revolution.

The Doctor's companions are his granddaughter Susan Foreman (played by Carole Ann Ford) and her teachers Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) and Ian Chesterton (William Russell).

Answer: Set the house on fire

The Doctor is exploring the upper level of the house when he gets knocked unconscious by the fugitives. As he awakens, he quickly realizes that the building has been set aflame. Unfortunately, the door out of the room is locked, and as the credits roll, the Doctor falls unconscious, a victim of smoke inhalation.

At the beginning of the second episode, we see the same boy that they met in the woods come and rescue the Doctor from the house.

The two fugitives, D'Argenson and Rouvray, are played by Neville Smith and Laidlaw Dalling, respectively.

Answer: James Stirling

Webster tells Ian that he must escape and find Stirling, who is highly placed in the French government. Webster was supposed to pass the instruction on to him to return to England, but was captured instead. To find him, Ian must find Jules Renan at the sign of "Le Chien Gris".

When a French official learns of a conversation between the two men (reported by the guard), he removes Ian's name from the list of those to be guillotined. Unfortunately, Susan and Barbara are still headed for the chopping block.

In the meantime, the Doctor slowly makes his way towards Paris with the intent to free his companions.

Answer: Regional Officer of the Provinces

Unknown to the Doctor, at the very same time that he is arriving in Paris, Barbara and Susan are being transported to the guillotine to be executed. As he makes the trade for his disguise, the girls get rescued by the rebel faction who are trying to fight Robespierre's tyranny. They are rescued by Jules Renan and co-conspirator Jean, then brought to Renan's house to hide and to be taken care of by the lady of the house, Danielle. Another counter-revolutionary, Léon Colbert, arrives at the house later.

The Doctor tries to make a straight exchange of his outfit for the uniform, but finds that he must sweeten the deal with his ring. With that added value, however, he manages to procure writing materials as well, with which he forges official documents to grant him access to the prison.

Answer: No

By the time the Doctor arrives at the prison to rescue his companions, the girls have already been taken away (and subsequently rescued from their plight), while Ian has managed to escape on his own, due to a distracted jailer. What does happen, however, is that the Doctor finds himself required to meet with Robespierre himself to provide a report on "his" province and the recent raid there (the one that captured Ian, Barbara and Susan).

Answer: False

While in his meeting, the Doctor never actually gets around to talking about his own (supposed) province. Instead, he draws Robespierre into speaking of himself and justifying his own actions (the multiple executions). The Doctor leaves Robespierre's presence without a problem, but is required to return the next day.

What the Doctor doesn't know, however, is that the tailor from whom he had acquired the disguise arrived at the prison after the Doctor had left, bringing the Doctor's ring as proof of treason.

Answer: The physician

Susan contracted an illness in the prison, and has steadily worsened. When the physician won't come to the place where they are being kept, their hosts instead arrange for Barbara and Susan to go to the physician's office. Unfortunately, the physician suspects them as prison escapees due to evidence that they have been digging with their hands (a very unladylike thing to be doing).

They are recaptured and returned to the prison, where Citizen Lemaitre promptly uses Barbara to confirm the tailor's report that the Doctor is an imposter.

Answer: Léon

Léon Colbert ambushes Ian at the place of their meeting, waiting with a number of Robespierre's soldiers. He chains Ian up and begins to interrogate him, but of course Ian has no information beyond what he received from Webster in the prison; the message for Stirling. Disgusted by Ian's lack of cooperation, Colbert orders one of the soldiers to shoot Ian, but Jules Renan comes in at the last moment to save him.

Answer: Lead him to the house of Jules Renan

When Lemaitre arrives at the jail and foils the Doctor's attempt to release Susan, he privately reveals to the Doctor that he already knew of his deception, as revealed by the tailor, and that he has held on to that information for his own political purposes: "I need friends, even if they're enemies; people I can call on for help. If I have something on them, so much the better."

Answer: Lemaitre

The Doctor arrives with Lemaitre at the house of Jules Renan and walks in on Barbara, Ian and Jules, to their astonishment and dismay. Before everyone can get too upset, he reveals himself to be James Stirling. As he tells them of another plot against Robespierre involving Paul Barras, Ian remembers Webster mentioning that name in his ramblings, as well as something about a 'sinking ship'. Immediately Stirling recognizes it as the name of an inn two hours north on the Calais Road. They make plans to listen in on Barras' meeting, which turns out to involve a young General by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte.

With Robespierre's end near, Stirling arranges for Susan's release the next day, and the time travelers escape the city before the coup begins in earnest.