Marshal Tavanes with Catherine de Medici

After the tragic events with the Daleks (see "The Daleks' Master Plan") the TARDIS next takes the time travellers to Paris, France in 1572 – a part of history that places its occupants, The Doctor and Steven Taylor, in a very dangerous situation with tensions between Protestants and Catholics are at fever pitch in the city.

Despite the danger The Doctor and Steven visit a tavern. The Doctor then heads off alone to visit the famous apothecary Charles Preslin, leaving Steven to drink alone but warning him to keep out of trouble. However, when he is unable to settle his bar bill Steven first finds himself befriended by a group of Huguenots, from the household of the Protestant Admiral de Coligny, and then, after helping to rescue a young serving girl, Anne Chaplet, from some pursuing guards, of the Catholic Queen Mother’s plan to have all the French Protestants massacred.

Steven it seems must resist the urge to alter history and to stop the imminent massacre. But this becomes difficult when Steven becomes emotionally attached to Anne Chaplet. Worse still it appears that the hated Catholic dignitary the Abbot of Amboise could in fact be The Doctor in disguise and that he seems to be conducting a metaphorical witch-hunt against all heresy, including the apothecaries and the Huguenots.

The Doctor and Steven

Meanwhile in the Council of France a power struggle is taking place between the impassioned, Catholic Tavannes, Marshal of France, and the more cautious Admiral de Coligny, who is trying to persuade the Court to back the Dutch in their war against Spain. They also argue about domestic matters, with de Coligny urging more action to protect the Huguenots. In doing so he insults the Queen Mother. For de Coligny this is a bad thing as the Queen Mother is the real power in France – and not her son, the weak King Charles IX of France.

Believing him to be The Doctor, Steven decides to visit the Abbot’s house and to his relief, Steven soon realises that the Abbot is not The Doctor after all - but merely his physical double. While there Steven overhears Tavannes inform the Abbot that; ‘The Sea Beggar dies tomorrow’ – not realising that ‘The Sea Beggar’ is a codename for de Coligny. However, when the subsequent assignation attempt on de Coligny fails the Abbot finds himself held responsible for the failure and executed by the Catholic authorities.

French plotters with Steven

It is then that The Doctor returns and, on realising that the massacre is about to start, The Doctor warns Anne that she must stay behind closed doors for the next day. While she heads off, looking for sanctuary in tears, Steven and The Doctor head back across the city to where they left the TARDIS. They manage to regain the safety of the ship just as the curfew is falling and the massacre begins.

Worried for Anne and his friends and that they could do nothing to change history, and especially as Anne may not have survived, Steven is angry that The Doctor made him leave before they could do anything – not even allowing Anne to join them in the TARDIS and so escape the bloodshed.

The TARDIS next arrives in 1966 London on Wimbledon Common. Steven still unable to accept that The Doctor had to leave Anne behind decides he wants to leave the TARDIS. However, shortly afterwards a young girl named Dorothea 'Dodo' Chaplet, after witnessing a road accident, enters the TARDIS, believing it to be a real police box.

Anne is Accused

Steven then arrives back too, saying that policemen are approaching, and his heart softens when the young woman introduces herself. Could Anne have survived the massacre after all? The Doctor, on hearing Steven's warning of the approaching policemen, hurriedly sets the TARDIS controls, not noticing until afterwards that Dodo is still aboard and so she joins The Doctor and Steven on their travels.

Steven informs Dodo that there's no way back. But Dodo seems either unworried or simply does not believe him. She says she is an orphan who lives with her great aunt and thus has few ties. And so the TARDIS takes The Doctor, Steven towards the next adventure with their new companion.