The Romans

“Oh something else I forgot to tell you. I think I’ve poisoned Nero.”

The Romans des problèmes. On peut carrément lui reprocher son cynisme et un sens de l’humour problématique. On peut aussi lui reprocher sa négligence et sa légèreté. 

Et pourtant il a aussi un charme fou.

Le Docteur et Vicki se baladent en effet dans la Rome antique et ils affrontent carrément Néron. Mais surtout, ils rient de son pouvoir aussi atroce et dangereux que foncièrement ridicule ! 

C’est donc l’histoire de deux filous face au pire régime possible, pendant que Ian et Barbara survivent désespérément dans un Empire qui anéantit les faibles. 

Et du coup c’est presque une autre histoire sur les joies de la résistance et de la solidarité alors que le monde est fou.

One thing The Romans does really well is character work. The main cast are fantastic, and even the side characters get their moments. It's also just really good fun to watch

"You know, I am so constantly outwitting the opposition, I tend to forget the delights and satisfaction of the arts, the gentle art of fisticuffs!"

Enjoyed this more this time around. A really fun and silly pure historical, focussed more on the comedic aspect than anything else. Its tone does shift a little too much during the runtime but it's a well paced, and at times genuinely funny little romp.

I think Derek Francis is probably the best guest star the show has had up to this point, a really fun, over the top and campy performance as Nero. He plays off well against Hartnell perfectly. It's a shame the story neglects the new companion Vicki in her first adventure, but she still has great chemistry with the Doctor throughout.

A fun, charming and silly camp romp through Ancient Rome. It works well!

I love getting to see the TARDIS team relaxing on a holiday. A holiday which very quickly (from our perspective) goes wrong.

Ian and Barbara's domesticity is fun to watch, especially the joke about the fridge.

The Doctor's lyre-playing is a highlight of the episode. Truly cannot believe that William Hartnell was such a skilled musician

I actually think this is one of Hartnell's better stories, with the Doctor getting involved in the action. You can tell by this point that he's starting to transition into a more action-hero character, whereas in An Unearthly Child, Ian takes on this role, whilst the Doctor is portrayed as being a less active character.

Historical accuracy is fair for the time it was written, and the pacing holds up well today.

❤️(9.8) Superb!

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

PRIMARY NOTES:

The Romans, a comedic romp set in the Roman Empire during the time of Nero's rule, offers a unique twist on pure historical fiction. This is Dennis Spooner bringing out his best writing skills and giving us a historical adventure with proper entertainment value.

I love the unique way this serial starts, with our heroes comfortably settled down just outside Rome, living as if they were on a holiday.

The lively sets, beautiful costumes, and period-appropriate music make this another production success.

The chemistry between the leads is lovely. I particularly enjoy the friendly connection between Barbara and Vicki, as well as Ian and Barbara's very obvious romantic flourish.

The script very cleverly intertwines three separate plots to make a comedic whole that also explores various aspects of Roman life: the case of mistaken identity taking the Doctor to Nero’s court; Barbara and Ian sold off as slaves, with Barbara ending up as Nero’s lover and Ian eventually becoming a gladiator. It's also entertaining how the characters embark on these adventures independently, only to reunite at the end, unaware of each other's experiences, even though they nearly cross paths several times.

The Romans is one of the very best performances as the Doctor by William Hartnell. He shows his immense comedic skills here and is in full warm grandfather mode. I especially love how he constantly gets himself into trouble but then uses some quick thinking and wit to get through the situation, all the while being excited about meeting Nero and witnessing history firsthand. And he also gets to fight again, just like in The Rescue.

I enjoy the entertaining scenes with Ian and Barbra in Part 1. You can see their sparkles flying between them at their best. That “ice in the fridge” thing always makes me cackle.

Another successful aspect of The Romans is how it mixes dramatic tension coming from the various dangerous situations with comedy in how most of these situations are resolved.

The galley scene with Ian and the other slaves always felt very realistic to me, and it’s a standout sequence of the story.

The guest cast is also strong. I’ve always enjoyed Michael Peake as Tavius, but the real scene-stealer is the absolute delight that is comedy actor Derek Francis as the hilariously self-centred Emperor Nero, one of the most memorable and enjoyable takes on a historical character the show has ever done.

Then there’s the often-overlooked Anne Tirard, who plays the slightly unnerving potion lady Locusta. And Nero consistently dismisses the poor Tigilinus, who ultimately suffers a terrible fate.

Part 2's cliffhanger about Ian being afraid while looking at some obvious stock footage of a lion at a zoo always gets me.

Everything going on at Nero’s court in Part 3 is comedy gold, especially the Doctor’s lyre ruse and the creepy chase sequence between Nero and Barbara.

I also appreciate how the Doctor gradually comes to understand his role in assassinating Nero, placing him in a challenging situation.

Fortunately, there’s very little of the usual back-and-forth filler (getting captured, escaping, and getting captured again), which helps the flow of the story immensely.

The gladiator fight with Ian in front of Nero and Barra was another outstanding moment.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the story is how it suggests that the Doctor is indirectly responsible for the Great Fire of Rome (usually attributed to Nero) by accidentally setting some maps in Mero’s study aflame. We’ve come some way from the “You can’t rewrite history” days of The Aztecs (and we’ll go even further in The Time Meddler), even if the Doctor doesn’t admit his part in the event.

Rome catches fire as the TARDIS crew flees the scene, bringing the serial to a satisfying conclusion.

One of the show’s most successful instances where it took the rules and flipped them completely on their head. From the opening that is surprising for how unusual it is, to part 3, which erupts into camp chaos. The Romans is, in my opinion, the absolute standout of the Lambert era, and is unlike anything that Doctor Who has ever done. I always forget how genius this TARDIS team is, and splitting up Ian and Barbara from Vicki and the Doctor is really smart, because William Russel and Jaqueline Hill have tons of charisma together, as do Maureen o’Brian and William Hartnell. I wish Doctor Who could have the guts to be playful with the regular formula to this extent again, which, to his credit, Moffat would often attempt. This is Doctor Who at its funniest.

More A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum than it is Doctor Who, I find the experiment in tone and format extremely gratifying, that is until Nero attempts to rape (?) Barbra. Woof.

The Romans: 9.2/10 - The Romans was a really great story. I loved the comedy in the story. The characters were great and Vicki is already entertaining as a companion. I thought the general topic of the slave trade was portrayed seriously and real. There were some faults of the episode, primarily the scene where Nero chases Barbara which has aged horribly, but overall I think it did well and was really good.

It’s great to see The Doctor getting more involved in the action, including the sword fighting and blagging being an incredible musician, tricking his listeners in some funny and inventive ways. He is becoming a more impressive lead character in each episode.

Ian and Barbara had fantastic side plots to themselves, one being forced to fight to entertain Nero and the other being sold into slavery. Vicki however is a wasted character in only her second ever story.

Nero is played by a hammy actor, but he was good fun, watching him chase Barbara around was hilarious. I did not like however, Ian losing his temper at Barbara at the end of episode four, there was an uncomfortable element of almost physical violence which hasn’t aged well.

I'm just not as much a fan of The Romans as other First Doctor historicals. Unlike something such as Marco Polo or The Aztecs, The Romans feels a lot less serious and is made all the worse for it. I did not enjoy Nero's antics and while the costumes and sets were fairly impressive, after a while I just tune this serial out. It's not terrible but certainly one I'm not eager to revisit when re-watching, either. All that being said, the TARDIS crew is pretty fun here and you can definitely get a sense of the show really starting to firm up certain sensibilities about its production going forward.

A pure laugh a pure laugh honestly height of comedy

Small side note before we begin: This episode is available in color on archive.org. Worth looking into if you like that sort of thing.

A pure historical written by Dennis Spooner. I don’t plan on bringing up writers every time, but it is notable how you can sometimes recognize the writer without seeing his name.

This story shares a lot of DNA with ‘The Reign of Terror’ from last season, which was my least favorite in that range. Spooner apparently likes to take a historical setting and mess around it, almost to the point of comedy. Dressing the doctor up, meeting some funny historical people, having some fun at the setting’s expense.

That’s fine I suppose, I’m open to a more comedic tone, but he seems to also want to add some drama, so his division of the cast and choice of setting are sometimes a bit skewed.

This time we’re in the ancient Roman Empire. We start of relatively light (And with a really weird transition from last time’s cliffhanger), but that’s a nice change of pace. It quickly becomes mingled however.

The Doctor decides to travel to Rome with just Vicki. He’s bored of sitting still. An odd choice, but okay. After that, Barbara and Ian quickly get captured as slaves. This is where the issues in tone begins.

We switch often between tones. We have the Doctor and Vicki on one side, disguised as a lyre player and generally having a jolly, comedic time. And then we go back to Ian and Barbara, who are drowning, forced to fight, sold to a lustful emperor and generally just not having a good time.

This is very jarring and detracts from both parts that are going on. The Doctor is having a laugh, and the story wants us to laugh with him, but we don’t because we just want to know if Ian and Barbara will be safe. It slowly becomes a tangled web, but the stories never quite meet each other and it becomes more worrisome and frustrating than intended.

The story does have highlights though. The Doctor in his energetic good mood, while unfitting, is fun to watch. Even getting another fight scene. The lyre performance he gives is also entertaining. At the start, Ian and Barbara are also flirting in a Roman villa, which is a blast and adds on nicely to the audio’s. Vicki does not add much on her own yet, but she still brings about a more positive doctor that wants to explain stuff, which is fun.

Some other notable moments are the emperor Nero, who is a bit of a buffoon, and the fire of Rome, which causes some nice introspection in the doctor, before he laughs it off. We’re getting closer to interfering…..

I haven’t learned that much about the history as the story assumes though. I’ve learned something about the slave trade and the habits of the Roman people, but I don’t really have any new insights in the actual fire or Nero, because both are played for laughs. It still feels very odd to me to do. The fire is by all means a tragic event, but we’re supposed to laugh at it. Doesn’t really land for me.

This story feels at times like a bunch of shorts stuck together. It’s fun in bursts, but the bursts don’t link together all that well and more often than not detract from each other (Let’s all laugh at the silly emperor who burned an entire city). The huge differences in tones make this one pretty weak, switching too quickly from comedy to slavery. That said, there are definitely some parts that are diamonds in the rough, like the lyre-based comedy.

The one where the TARDIS crew have a holiday near Rome and then rollick around Nero’s court as lyre players, slaves and gladiators.

The Romans is well known as the first ‘comedy’ episode of Doctor Who and I love it. It is truly hilarious – the regulars sparkle with a comedy script, especially Hartnell and the slapstick/farcical elements play out really well. The slightly darker aspects – mainly Ian’s storyline – don’t seem at odds with what else is going on and we end with the beautiful pay off of the Doctor inspiring Nero to burn Rome.

Some of the jokes are wonderful: the Chesterfield/Chesterton/Barbara’s calling you; the ‘she looks after the liars’; and ‘close your eyes and Nero will give you a big surprise…Pardon' (Jacqueline Hill’s delivery of that single word is hilarious).

The concept of the Doctor and Vicki having a parallel storyline to Ian and Barbara and the two pairs never knowing how their paths have nearly crossed is original and a lot of fun. Vicki unwittingly saving Barbara from poisoning and the Doctor constantly foiling Nero’s attempts to accost Barbara in the third episode are well played. Although Ian’s storyline relies on a number of coincidences everything else is too much fun to care.

Ancient Rome, and the nearby areas, are well depicted – Nero’s palace; a Roman villa; a Roman market; a countryside lane; a Roman galley, beach and cells. The costumes are, probably, accurate and look stunning, particularly the Doctor’s and Barbara’s.  This historical characters are depicted as one would expect for this time - sure that there may be historical myths being perpetuated and the rough edges of history shaved off for a children's TV show.  The official court poisoner, Locusta (who was definitely a real person - she's even referenced in the final episode of I, Claudius) is a brilliant inclusion.   The rest of the Romans are, I think, fictitious but it is an interesting touch to have Tavius revealed to be an early Christian.

The Doctor lectures Vicki on interfering with history when she nearly poisons Nero (and does, technically cause the death of comedy servant Tigilinus). The entertaining exchange at the close of the story when Vicki accuses him of influencing history by inspiring Nero to burn Rome is an interesting twist on his rather more serious discussions with Barbara in The Aztecs.

A great story and one of the highlights of the Hartnell era – the regulars are all on top form and the guest cast is practically faultless – with special mention for Ian’s surrogate companion Delos (played by Peter Diamond) and Locusta. Dennis Spooner’s script is brilliant and is proof that Doctor Who, as a series, can do practically any genre when in the right hands.