In 1965, Doctor Who producer Verity Lambert decided to stretch
the format somewhat. One of the results was this fruitful and vibrant
story, featuring one of Hartnell's best performances. 
The story uses an interesting storytelling technique in denoting a
passage of time between The Rescue's literal
"cliffhanger" and the crew relaxing. It adds an air of mystery as to what
has happened in the intervening time. All of the cast are on top form
here, with William Russell and Jacqueline Hill loving the chance to be
flirty and funny, playing off each other deliciously. They seem to strike
the balance between serious drama and high comic farce extremely well.
There's some wonderful interplay between all the TARDIS crew and Vicki has
already settled in well, being much more convincing all-round than Susan
was.
Plaudits should be given for the production on this occasion. The soft
lyre playing in the background and the busy marketplace add a convincing
atmosphere to the story. There's some lovely comedy present all around,
even from the guest cast. When Sevcheria keeps trying to get information
from the stall trader and she asks for more money for each nugget of
information, I was laughing out loud. The best performance is certainly
from Derek Francis as Nero. This blustering buffoon is a riot from start
to finish, yet also has a veil of sadistic cruelty that reminds the viewer
of his true intentions.
But the greatest performance is certainly William Hartnell. He revels
in the farce here, playing most scenes for laughs and also getting the
First Doctor's pomposity down to a tee. The look on his face when he
discovers he's eating ants eggs and his repeated mispronunciation of Ian's
surname show an actor at the top of his game, putting some of his
lacklustre moments in The Dalek Invasion of Earth to
shame. A particular highlight is the scene with Nero in which the Doctor
gloats about Nero's plan to throw him in the Arena. Okay, so the story
isn't historically accurate. But really, how many Doctor Who
stories truly are?
It has to be said that the plot is not much more than the crew running
around, missing each other, and veering from one calamity to another. In
the wrong hands, this could go awry, but director Christopher Barry
clearly has everything under control, and the humour sprinkled with
moments of serious drama (such as when Tavius' Christianity is revealed)
make the story roll along at a great pace. Later experiments in comedy
ultimately come out either over-earnest or pale, but The Romans
seems to get it right.
It's really the tone of the story (switching between the Doctor and
Vicki's farcical adventure to Ian and Barbara's terrifying ordeals) that
makes it so interesting to watch. In a season where some experiments
didn't come off and some just worked, The Romans was a complete
triumph.
And isn't the whole "Emperor's New Clothes" sequence just brilliant?
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