Trivia / Doctor Who S1 E8 "The Reign of Terror"

• Actor-Inspired Element: It was William Russell who suggested a story set during the French Revolution.
• California Doubling: This serial featured the first location filming of the series. In this case, Denham and Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire doubled for the outskirts of Paris.
• Missing Episode: At the time The BBC stopped junking, all six episodes were missing from their archives. In 1982, Episode 6 was returned by a private collector, and in 1985 Episodes 1-3, along with another copy of Episode 6, were returned from Cyprus. Episodes 4 and 5 were animated for the DVD release. The Cypriot copies of those episodes are believed to have been destroyed in the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus.
• Troubled Production: The main director, Henric Hirsch, had a mental breakdown during the shoot due partially to the punishing shooting schedule and the mutual dislike between himself and William Hartnell, and ended up in the hospital. Another director had to be drafted in at short notice to finish the job, but no surviving members of the cast or crew are able to remember who it was. John Gorrie is the man usually credited with it and he doesn't remember doing it. The alternate theory is that the episode was effectively co-directed by Verity Lambert and assistant director Tim Combe. For the record, the actual episode does not credit a director.
• Working Title: The French Revolution.