Day 105: Priest of Death

The Doctor, as mentioned in the last entry, is not present for these two episodes. This isn't the first time that this has happened, we've had the Doctor be off-screen before, but they've normally featured an absence of William Hartnell as well, however he is present throughout this story. He doesn't play the Doctor, instead he is the villainous Abbot of Amboise. It's a shame that this episode is not currently present in the BBC archives, as it would be a joy to observe Hartnell's performance in another role, and to see how he made the two characters distinctly different, because Hartnell is a good actor, and he would have made them both distinct characters. But the key thing to notice here is the way that the issue of the doppelgänger is addressed. The audience knows that the Doctor is not the Abbot, however Steven doesn't and believes that they are one and the same. So this means that the audience is one step ahead of Steven, and this changes the way that the story is told, allowing for more focus on Steven as he reaches conclusions that are already known, instead of just making it a normal historical adventure. It does have the nasty side effect of changing the impact of this episode's cliffhanger though, which features the body of the Abbot, now deceased, as Steven realises that the Doctor must be dead. But we know that the Doctor isn't dead, and so the shock of this is no longer present, we instead look at Steven's reaction and know that he is wrong, and move on with our lives. But there's another dimension to this, as people are getting blamed for the murder and the Huguenots may be in trouble very soon...