The Romans

"Doctor Who in Rome", "Carry On Nero", "Slave and Prosper"

"The One with the Vigorous Hair Brushing" (USA), "An Abomination" (History Today)

Doctor Who goes to Rome and leaves again while Ian and Barbara do the same but in a different storyline.

*** - Fun with murder and violence - like Tarantino but with more obvious laughs.

"Slavery ? Ooh - sounds kinky" (William Russell's unappreciated ad lib)

"I've got a friend who specialises in pants. He dives in and usually finds a way"

A full sized replica of Rome was built for the burning scene however a one tenth scale model of Nero appeared in some scenes with Jacqueline Hill

The idea for this split-crew story came from a real life row between William Hartnell and William “Russell” Enoch over who should have the last jam sandwich at the wrap party for The Rescue. Hartnell swung his stick at “Russell” Enoch and ended up rubbing the sandwich in Enoch’s face. He is also alleged to have shouted “Take it you poof”. A cooling off period was ordered and this tale of almost-meeting was the result. The scenes of them together at the beginning were done using look-a-likes but, by the end of part 4, they were friends again and agreed to film together.

A stunt double was used during the scene where a vase is smashed over Ian’s head, with Gladys Dennison doubling for Jacqueline Hill, who was a confirmed pacifist that week. Hill, who was noted for flitting from cult to cult, would embrace violence for a fortnight in 1967 when she became a Millwall supporter.

Contemporary audiences were shocked at the filming of lions, Roman galleons and an expensive shipwreck sequence. Modern audiences laugh at how stupid their forebears were.

One of the extras used in the scene where Nero tells them to burn down the city is suspected of stealing the entire set as it went missing between recording and the post show cocktail party.

BBC audience research described this story as “ok”, “fair”, “middling” and “Dr Who has run out of steam”

Si Hunt

"I was enjoying a small bag of pork flavoured savouries in a public bar when I heard two members of the lower caste discussing Story M. The first peasant offered the opinion that the story was spoilt by blatant use of stock footage at important moments. "Don't be pathetically stupid" I said across the room. He looked up at me as a church goer might if Jesus appeared before him. "The stock footage in Story M is a wonderful thing. The material comes from other productions - new papers to study, new information to accumulate and publish via niche publishing houses for a small fee. In short, months and months of fruitful work. And since you failed to appreciate this when bandying your contemptible opinions around I can only conclude that you are subnormal. Good day" and I stormed out of the establishment, returning only for the second half of my small bag of pork flavoured savouries and to pay my respects to the wife of the deceased."

Nero's official website

A collection of links for would-be poisoners