12: The Romans

Before Watching

This is another Dennis Spooner historical. Well, you may recall that while I could appreciate the Reign of Terror, I couldn’t say that I really enjoyed it that much. I thought that it was somehow less than the sum of its parts – just my opinion, and of course, feel free to disagree.

I’ve heard or read sometime in the past that The Romans is supposed to be just this side of Carry On Cleo. Which wouldn’t actually worry me too much if it’s true, since Carry On Cleo is my favourite of that particular series of films. It’s only 4 parts too, so if it isn’t that good, well, at least it isn’t going to last that long.

After Watching

I don’t know what I was expecting, but I wasn’t quite expecting that. Just when you think you’ve got to grips with what the First Doctor stories have to offer . . . If we take the first episode – The Slave Traders – it opens after the travellers have been staying in an empty villa in the roman countryside for several weeks already. Now, like me, it’s possible that you might well have thought from time to time – why doesn’t the Doctor and the crew find somewhere nice, and chill out for a while? Well, in this story it’s clear that they have done so. In the first episode we see Vicki and Barbara taking a walk down to the local market – and they’re just like any modern day tourists. It’s such a familiar scene – and yet it really isn’t familiar in the context of Doctor Who. The Doctor decides that he’s off to Rome, and doesn’t want Ian and Barbara along, leaving them potentially for several days. At this stage I have to say that I’m pretty sure that the scene before the two of them are captured in the villa is deliberately designed to leave adult viewers to draw the conclusion that they have done the deed, as it were, without actually saying anything that a parent would be embarrassed to have to explain to a seven year old.

When Ian and Barbara are taken prisoner in the villa, and sold by the slavers, I couldn’t help but think of a similar scene in Carry on Cleo – alright, the slavers in this weren’t actually called Marcus et Spencius like in the film, but it still made me think of them.

One of the things I like about watching the Hartnells story by story is that you can actually see the Doctor’s character develop. Yes, he looks old, but actually he is the youngest he will ever be. The mean, grumpy and inconsiderate edges have all been practically worn off by this time, and here Hartnell is at his most impish, and virtually twinkles through every scene. He and Vicki chance upon the body of the murdered lyre player Petulian on the way to Rome, and when he is mistaken by a centurion for the lyre player he is quite happy to play along. The centurion escorts him to Rome, where the Emperor Nero awaits a command performance.

I was interested to see how the story would deal with Nero. It’s very easy to see him as a buffoon – he acted like a buffoon at times, but he was also an amoral killer. Derek Francis goes for the buffoon here, although this does mean that when we are allowed just a glimpse of the monster – when he intentionally poisons a slave who is getting on his nerves – it is much more effective. I guessed that Nero would be the latest to join the massed ranks of men who’d like to force their attentions on the divine Barbara, and his pursuit of her charms has all the subtlety of a Feydeau farce.

Now, I know that this one was played for laughs, but I think even now you can see how Dennis Spooner was trying to change the show’s attitude to the Doctor altering/influencing Earth history. It’s made fairly clear that it is the way that the Doctor accidentally burns Nero’s architectural plans that gives Nero the idea of burning down Rome. (OK – short historical digression. Almost certainly Nero was not responsible for the burning of Rome. He wasn’t even in Rome at the time.) Only last season the Doctor was telling us that you can’t change History, not one line of it. Now, apparently, it seems that either the Doctor has steered Earth History in one direction – or that he was predestined to do it. Alright, let’s not go down that line of argument again.

All in all I don’t have a great deal to say about this story. It was pleasant enough – and probably the fact that everyone involved was clearly having a blast with the story made it more enjoyable too. Given the choice between having to watch this, or the Reign of Terror again, I’d watch this one every time. Still, it does make you think , when you see that the team wanted to experiment with not just doing another Historical, but specifically doing a ‘funny’ historical. Did that suggest that they were losing patience with or interest in the genre? Well, there’s another one along in two stories time, and that should help us answer that. 

What Have We Learned?

Good question. 

The TARDIS crew do actually stay in the same place for relatively long periods of time.

Ian and Barbara are definitely 'at it'.