The Romans

Information

Writer: Dennis Spooner
Director: Christopher Barry
Script Editor: Dennis Spooner
Producer: Verity Lambert, Mervyn Pinfield (associate producer)
Executive Producer(s): None

Originally Broadcast: 16th January - 6th February 1965
Episodes: 4
Duration: 25 mins each episode
Production Code: M
Series: 2
Story Number: 12
Enemy: Didius
Setting: Rome, A.D. 64

Synopsis

The four time travellers are enjoying a rare holiday, staying at a villa not far from Rome in the year A.D. 64. The Doctor soon becomes restless and sets off to visit the city, taking Vicki with him. In their absence, Ian and Barbara are kidnapped by slave traders.
Having been mistaken for the famous lyre player Maximus Pettulian and asked to perform at the Emperor Nero's Court, the Doctor has to devise ever more elaborate schemes to avoid revealing that he cannot actually play the instrument.
Ian meanwhile becomes a galley slave, while Barbara is sold to Nero's slave buyer Tavius at an auction in Rome. Ian and a fellow slave named Delos escape from the galley when it is wrecked in a storm and make their way to Rome to try to find and rescue Barbara.
There they are recaptured and forced to fight as gladiators in the arena. Events reach their climax when, by accidentally setting light to the Emperor's plans for the rebuilding of Rome, the Doctor gives him the idea of having the city razed to the ground. Nero plays the lyre while Rome burns, and the Doctor and Vicki and a reunited Ian and Barbara make their separate ways back to the villa.

Cast

The Doctor - William Hartnell

Ian Chesterton - William Russell

Barbara Wright - Jacqueline Hill

Vicki - Maureen O'Brien

Sevcheria - Derek Sydney

Didius - Nicholas Evans

Centurion - Dennis Edwards

Stall Holder - Margot Thomas

Slave Buyer - Edward Kelsey

Maximus Pettulian - Bart Allison

Ascaris - Barry Jackson

Delos - Peter Diamond

Tavius - Michael Peake

Woman Slave - Dorothy-Rose Gribble

Galley Master - Gertan Klauber

1st Man in Market - Ernest Jennings

2nd Man in Market - John Caesar

Court Messenger - Tony Lambden

Nero - Derek Francis

Tigellinus - Brian Proudfoot

Poppaea - Kay Patrick

Locusta - Anne Tirard

Story Notes

• This was the first story played as a comedy.
  
• All episodes exist in 16mm telerecordings.
  
• Negative film prints of both episodes exist and were recovered by the BBC in 1978.
  
• Telesnaps of this story are held by private collectors.
  
• The characters of Tigellinus and Sevcheria were both expanded during re-writes of the script.
  

Preceded by: The Rescue - Followed by: The Web Planet