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The Romans (Doctor Who)

012 – The Romans
Doctor Who serial
Romans (Doctor Who).jpg
The Doctor, Vicki and Ian relaxing in a Roman villa.
Cast
Others
  • Derek FrancisNero
  • Michael Peake — Tavius
  • Brian Proudfoot — Tigellinus
  • Kay Patrick — Poppaea Sabina
  • Peter Diamond — Delos
  • Derek Sydney — Sevcheria
  • Nicholas Evans — Didius
  • Barry Jackson — Ascaris
  • Anne Tirard — Locusta
  • Dennis Edwards — Centurion
  • Margot Thomas — Stall Holder
  • Edward Kelsey — Slave Buyer
  • Bart Allison — Maximus Pettulian
  • Dorothy-Rose Gribble — Woman Slave
  • Gertan Klauber — Galley Master
  • Ernest Jennings, John Caesar — Men in Market
  • Tony Lambden — Court Messenger
Production
Directed by Christopher Barry
Written by Dennis Spooner
Script editor Dennis Spooner (uncredited)
Produced by Verity Lambert
Mervyn Pinfield (associate producer)
Executive producer(s) None
Incidental music composer Raymond Jones
Production code M
Series Season 2
Length 4 episodes, 25 minutes each
Date started 16 January 1965
Date ended 6 February 1965
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by →
The Rescue The Web Planet
List of Doctor Who serials
The Romans
Doctor Who The Romans.jpg
Author Donald Cotton
Cover artist Tony Masero
Series Doctor Who book:
Target novelisations
Release number
120
Publisher Target Books
Publication date

16 April 1987 (Hardback)

19 September 1987 (Paperback)
ISBN

The Romans is the fourth serial of the second season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 16 January to 6 February 1965. The story is set during the era of the Roman Empire in the reign of Nero.

With the TARDIS stuck at the bottom of a cliff, the four time travellers have installed themselves in an unoccupied Roman villa. As the Doctor and Ian recline, Barbara and Vicki walk to a nearby Roman village. They are spotted by two slave traders, Didius and Sevcheria. When they return to the villa the Doctor announces that he is off to Rome, some miles away, and will travel there with Vicki. Later that evening Barbara and Ian, now alone, are relaxing when the two slavers burst in upon them. They are soon overpowered and taken prisoner. Ian is sold to one slave owner, while Barbara is to be traded with another and sent to Rome.

The Doctor and Vicki are en route for Rome when they find the murdered body of a lyre player named Maximus Pettulian. The Doctor is holding the man’s lyre when a centurion arrives and mistakes him for the dead man who is late for an engagement in Rome. The centurion accompanies them to Assisium. Once there, the centurion contacts the assassin Ascaris, who killed the real Pettulian, and instructs him to kill the Doctor.

The Doctor overpowers the assassin and drives him away. The centurion has fled, and the Doctor concludes the soldier was in league with the assassin. He decides to maintain his alias as Pettulian and head to Rome. Barbara is already there and is sold Tavius, who is highly placed in the court of the Emperor Nero. She is to be a handmaiden to Nero's second wife, the Empress Poppaea Sabina.

The Doctor and Vicki arrive at Nero's court and encounter Tavius, who seems to imply to the Doctor that Pettulian is part of a secret network in which he is also a player. They find the body of the centurion who imperilled them earlier.

Ian has been confined to a galley in the Mediterranean but the craft runs into rough seas and is broken up. He is washed up on the nearby shore and there is found by another survivor of the galley, Delos. They agree to head for Rome in search of Barbara. When they reach there they are captured by some centurions and taken to the arena to be trained as gladiators.


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