“The Romans” is an adventure of the second season of “Doctor Who” classic series which aired in 1965. It follows “The Rescue” and it’s a four parts adventure written by Dennis Spooner and directed by Christopher Barry. At that time the various episodes of each adventure had individual titles, in this case:
- The Slave Traders
- All Roads Lead to Rome
- Conspiracy
- Inferno
The story
The Tardis materializes in 64 A.D. in the Roman Empire on the edge of a cliff, so much that it falls down. Nearby, the First Doctor (William Hartnell), Ian (William Russell), Barbara (Jacqueline Hill) and Vicki (Maureen O’Brien) find a villa empty because the owner is in Gaul so they use it to have some vacation.
The Doctor decides to visit Rome and Vicki goes with him but on the road they find the corpse of a lyre player. The Doctor is mistaken for him because he took his lyre and is invited to Nero’s court to play it for the Emperor. Meanwhile in the villa Ian and Barbara are kidnapped by a group of slave traders and sold.
Extras
This DVD contains a quite rich amount of extras. There are typical contents such as production subtitles, Radio Times Billings, the announcement of coming soon DVDs and a gallery of pictures from this adventure.
There are comments in the adventure alternative audio track moderated by Toby Hadoke by protagonist William Russell, actors Nick vans and Barry Jackson director Christopher Barry and designer Raymond Cusick.
What has “The Romans’ Ever Done For Us? Cast, crew and historians talk about the realistic and less realistic elements of this adventure with an eye to other TV and movie productions on the Romans.
Roma Parva (“Little Rome”). Director Christopher Barry uses a model to show how cameras use and movements were programmed during the filming of this adventure.
Dennis Spooner – Want to Write A Television Series? A tribute to Dennis Spooner, remembering his work not only in “Doctor Who” but also in other successful television series.
Girls! Girls! Girls! – The 1960s. The Doctor’s companions in the ’60s.
Blue Peter. Television program Blue Peter reproduced a Roman banquet.
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The adventures in history had quickly become one of the foundations of “Doctor Who” but until that moment they had always been dramatic stories. Producer Verity Lambert wanted to experiment new possibilities for the show and in the adventure “The Reign of Terror” there were already some comical moments so she asked writer Dennis Spooner to write a historical comedy.
However “The Romans” contains some dramatic elements in the story of Ian and Barbara, who are sold into slavery and after several misadventures Ian is forced to become a gladiator. Instead, the Doctor and Vicki’s story is a totally a comedy, especially in the third episode, set in Nero’s court. The emperor is almost always a comic character and the third episode the story takes quite a farcical tone.
At the time, such a choice in setting up a story about Nero was a novelty and part of the audience reacted negatively, considering it ridiculous. Clearly the audience’s taste has changed over the years because the reputation of “The Romans” has improved over time, so that in new “Doctor Who” series they produced episodes such as “The Shakespeare Code” and “The Girl In The Fireplace” set in the past that contain strong elements of comedy despite having some dramatic moments.
Seeing “The Romans” today I can’t help thinking that part of the audience who criticized this adventure at the time had ideas a bit limited. You can see that “The Romans” is trying to introduce new elements with this vision a little surreal of Nero’s court which certainly doesn’t want to be educational like previous historical adventures.
The actors, including non-protagonists, are very good at playing even the most farcical moments, especially William Hartnell and Derek Francis, who plays Nero. We can therefore say that the experiment succeeded but wasn’t sufficiently appreciated. I guess at the time “Doctor Who” was already too far ahead of its time for everybody to be able to get it.
“The Romans” is a funny adventure and overall well made as the wide availability of costumes and props suitable to that setting in the BBC warehouses could compensate for the very limited “Doctor Who” budget. As for the DVD extras, they’re particularly interesting for fans and also for people with a passion for Roman history.
This DVD is part of a box set together with the adventure “The Rescue”, available on Amazon UK
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