As an experiment in out and out comedy, I think The Romans works really well. I really enjoy watching this, it's do much better than some of the dreary historicals of both Season 1 and 3.

The banter between Ian and Barbara is excellent at both ends of the story. Hartnell puts in another excellent performance and really hams it up in his comic scenes, especially those with Nero. Vicki is just about passable and I simply love those scenes where the regulars just keep missing one another by a few seconds.

So I just wonder what others thought of the comedy element of this story. Was it something you would liked to have seen more of or was it just too much humour for an otherwise serious programme? I think just one a Season would have been ideal to mix it up with the more serious historicals but sadly it never happened.

I don't think they should have been that comedic all the time, but it worked well in this one and lightened the rather heavy mood of The Rescue. One of the best things about DW is the way it experiments with different genres and tones, and we still see the same sort of experimentation in episodes like Amy's Choice and even (gasp!) Love and Monsters.

But The Romans also works on a serious level as we follow Ian's adventure as a galley slave. And the reveal with Tavius at the end and the Doctor's surprise at his own involvement in the fire are nice bits to end on. Possibly my favourite historical if you don't count The Time Meddler.

I agree with this, I think Season 2 they tried a lot of different things to keep the show fresh, including The Time Meddler(Which I'll leave until it's thread). This was just another of them. I think this one is up there in the top five of the historicals and I enjoyed all of them from Season 2.

The Romans is great: funny, imaginitive and filled with characterization, which was quite unusual at the time. Ian and Barbara's tacit romance was highlighted and Vicki was showed to be a much better granddaughter character for the Doctor than Susan ever was.

It was an especially good story for William Hartnell, who thrived on comedy scenes and he had some of his best here: wrestling with the assassin and playing for Nero.

A near 5 star story in my estimation, if not for some of the tedious slave scenes.

Hartnell must have loved being able to do comedy bits again after years of being typecast as the tough sergeant.

one of those stories that has grown on me the more I've seen it a lovely gentle romp.

Just watched this story and its a kind of weird one for me.A strange mix of dark elements andthen Benny Hill type comedyat times.

I really like the first two episodes. Seeing the Tardis crew relaxing in ancient Rome felt very natural. The intrigue with the slave traders is interesting and there is a geniune sense of a dark story as you wonder what will happen to Ian and Barbara.Poor Ian as a slave rowing in a galley ship.

I dont know if I actually like all the comedy once we are in Nero's palace.Things like Barbara being chased by Nero seemed to go on for ages and the Doctor pretending to play a lyre seemed a bit silly.
I know William Hartnell really enjoyed this story for the more comedic elementsbut for me he actually is more believable as a dramatic character rather than a jokey one.

I dont really like the conceit of the Doctor playing a part in the fire of Rome. I know this is a sci-fi show but its a personal dislike when important historical events somehow lead back to the Doctor.

Not a bad story at all but not fully to my taste.

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Great seeing the doctor tangle with someone in a fight scene.

William Hartnell was good in this one, I think you need to have a bit of both humour and serious side to play The Doctor but this most definitely went towards the former. As a one-off I think I can live with a funny performance for four whole episodes. If he'd been like that all the way through it would have been a different matter.

Has the Doctor ever done a Fire safety course so he knows which fire extinguisher to use ? I think not!