Like a number of other serials from the early days of Doctor Who, "The Romans" was set during the Earth's past rather than in outer space. During this period the programme was regarded as having a mission to educate children about both science and history; it is significant that the Doctor's companion Ian is a science teacher and Barbara a history teacher. The historical content, however, was not always accurate. In something like "The Reign of Terror", which aimed to take a serious look at the French Revolution, the inaccuracies were presumably inadvertent, but with "The Romans" the programme-makers don't seem to have been taking the period seriously at all.
The First Doctor and his companions Ian, Barbara and Vicki arrive in Rome during the reign of the Emperor Nero. They find accommodation in a luxurious but unoccupied Roman villa while its owner Flavius Guiscard is campaigning in Gaul, but Ian and Barbara are kidnapped by slave traders and sold into slavery. Ian becomes first a galley slave then a gladiator, while Barbara ends up as a maid to Nero's wife Poppaea Sabina. In the meantime, the Doctor is mistaken for a famous lyre player named Maximus Pettulian and invited to play for Nero. (The Doctor's other companion, the newly introduced Vicki, does not have a lot to do).
The plot seems to have been written as a parody of Roman epics such as "Quo Vadis?", "Ben-Hur", and "Spartacus" borrowing elements of the plots of all those films. ("Carry On Cleo" from the previous year seems to have had a similar agenda, although in that case the main target was "Cleopatra"). The preceding paragraph gives some idea of the scriptwriter Dennis Spooner's cavalier approach to Roman history. In the first pace it is highly unlikely that a luxurious villa would have been left empty by its owner, even if he had to be away. He would have left his slaves and servants to take care of the place and protect it from robbers. Secondly, one became a slave either by being born into slavery, or by being taken prisoner in war, or by being sentenced to servitude as punishment for a crime, not by being kidnapped. Kidnapping a free-born citizen to force them into slavery would have been regarded as a crime. Kidnapping the guests or friends of a wealthy and powerful man in order to force them into slavery would have been regarded as a crime inviting severe punishment. And finally, neither "Flavius Guiscard" nor "Maximus Pettullian" is a possible Roman name.
I won't, however, claim any of these historical inaccuracies as goofs, as that would imply that Spooner was trying to get things right but inadvertently got them wrong. Rather than trying to educate British schoolchildren about Roman history, he was simply going for laughs. This was the first "Doctor Who" serial to be written as a comedy rather than as drama. Nero, therefore, is played by Derek Francis not so much as an evil tyrant but as a stock comic figure, a pompous, conceited and lustful buffoon. The scene where he ardently pursues Barbara, hoping to have his wicked way with her, seemed rather out of place in a programme intended to be broadcast for family viewing before the watershed. Similarly, the fact that the Doctor has been mistaken for someone else allows William Hartnell to clown about in a way not previously seen in his tenure of the part. There are, however, contain some classic thriller elements. Barbara, for example, narrowly escapes being poisoned by a jealous Poppaea, and the third episode ends with a classic cliffhanger- it appears that Ian, having lost a gladiatorial bout, is about to be killed by his victorious opponent.
The overall tone, however, is too light-hearted for the serial to work as a thriller, and it is not really funny enough to work as a comedy. There were some good belly-laughs to be had from something like "Carry On Cleo" or "Up Pompeii!" but nothing really comparable here. Four weekly parts from 16 January to 6 February 1965. At its best, "Doctor Who" is a basically serious drama with occasional moments of humour to lighten the tone. Trying to turn it into a pure comedy was not really a good idea. 5/10.