'The Reign of Terror' was the final story of Doctor Who's first season. The story was originally wiped from the BBC's archives, but episodes 1-3 and 6 have been recovered from a foreign TV station and a private film collector.

The story is set in 1794 in and around Paris, during the French Revolution - the 'Reign of Terror' refers to Robespierre's infamous mass executions of the nobility and anyone else he felt was a threat to him. As the first three episodes of the story do still survive, they will not, for the time being, be transcribed here; instead, a summary of the events of these episodes follows. Episodes 4 and 5 will be transcribed, and episode 6 may follow at a later date. If anyone would like to volunteer to transcribe the surviving episodes, I would be most grateful!!

The TARDIS lands on Earth, and the Doctor insists he has finally succeeded in bringing Ian and Barbara home. The two travellers are doubtful, though, and suggest a quiet drink in a pub as a cover for finding out which time they're actually in. This turns out to be 1794, near Paris - one of the bloodiest years of the French Revolution, Robespierre's 'Reign of Terror'.

The travellers find a young local boy, who runs away as soon as he can, obviously terrified by the strangers. They then come to a country house, and find a stash of clothing and forged documents - they realise it is a safe house on an escape route to England. The Doctor investigates upstairs, and is knocked unconscious by two men, Rouvray and D'Argenson.

The two then hold the travellers at gunpoint, but release them when they realise they are English. Rouvray and D'Argenson explain they are on the run from the authorites in Paris. The sounds of approaching soldiers are heard from outside; Rouvray and D'Argenson are both captured and shot. Ian, Barbara and Susan narrowly escape summary execution, but are instead taken to Paris to be tried and guillotined.

As the soldiers leave the house, they set fire to it with torches. The Doctor begins to wake, but is quickly overcome by smoke; as the companions are leds away, their last sight is that of the house burning down with the Doctor still inside...

The young boy rescues the Doctor just before the house is burned to the ground. He tells of the fate of the companions, and the Doctor sets off for Paris on foot.

Ian, Barbara and Susan are taken before a judge and sentenced to the guillotine. They are then held in the Conciergerie Prison to await execution. The three are split up after Barbara offends the drunken (and none too bright) jailor. Susan and Barbara try digging under the walls with their hands, but have only blisters to show for their troubles.

Ian is put in a cell with a dying Englishman named Webster. The man tells Ian about an Englishman working in France to gain advanced warning of the time of the expected French invasion; his name is James Stirling. Webster asks Ian to contact Stirling with the message to return to England; he is to look for Jules Renan at the inn of 'Le Chien Gris'.

On his way to Paris, the Doctor falls foul of the overseer of a group of criminal labourers, and is forced to join in the work of repairing the road. By the ruse of pretending to find gold in the dirt, the Doctor is able to knock the overseer over the head with a spade, and continues on his way.

In the prison, Webster soon dies. Ian's cell is visited by Lemaitre, the Prison Governor, who is in charge of the executions and is a right-hand man of the First Deputy, Robespierre. Lemaitre is told by the jailor that Webster and Ian spoke before the former's death; Lemaitre thoughtfully erases Ian's name from the execution list, noting Ian's English name. Susan and Barbara are taken to the transport wagon that will carry them top their execution; Ian watches helplessly from his cell window as the wagon rumbles past...

The jailor is called away by Lemaitre just as he is locking Ian's cell. He runs off, leaving the keys in the lock. Ian manages to reach the keys through the barred door, removes the key to his cell and replaces the rest of the bunch. The jailor returns and is relieved to find the keys still there; he fails to notice that one is missing.

Susan and Barbara are rescued from the prison wagon by two men. Susan though, has clearly caught some illness from the prison and is getting weaker. That night, Ian escapes, using his stolen key. As he goes, he is watched by Lemaitre - the Governor had set up the escape deliberately to find out whether Ian is carrying a message for Stirling. Meanwhile, the two men take Susan and Ian to a house in the city, where they are met by a young woman. The men introduce themsleves as Jules Renan and his friend Jean; the woman, Danielle, is Renan's sister, and the house is his. The two run the escape chain that the travellers accidentally came across, and are shocked to hear of the deaths of Rouvray and D'Argenson. They guess at a traitor in their midst.

They are soon joined by Leon Colbert, another member of the rebel group; he tells of a stranger at the inn of 'Le Chien Gris', asking for Jules. The two men go to investigate.

The Doctor, on his arrival, visits a tailor and swaps his clothes and his ring for the uniform of a Regional Officer of the Provinces and writing equipment. He then goes to the prison, presents a set of forged papers, and demands to see Ian, Susan and Barbara, who he claims are escapees from his province. Lemaitre tells him that all three have escaped, but that he will be dicussing the Doctor's province at his meeting with Robespierre the next day. The Doctor is forced to go and report in person to the dreaded leader of the Terror.

The next morning, as the Doctor and Lemaitre leave, the tailor arrives in the prison to see Lemaitre. He shows the jailor the Doctor's ring; as he says, "Evidence against a traitor!"