Day 29 — January 29th 2021
Conspiracy and Inferno
Conspiracy (The Romans — Episode Three)
I’ve really bought into the humour in this one now, and really enjoyed it throughout this episode. There’s a risk that I might just spend the entire entry today listing all the things I found funny.
First of all, Nero himself continues to delight. It’s a brilliant performance from Derek Francis, who’s enjoying sending the whole thing up. It’s a tricky thing to do convincingly — it risks going over the top and spoiling the whole thing, but here it’s working surprisingly well.
It’s been suggested that Francis had been keen to appear in Doctor Who for some time, as a good friend of Jaqueline Hill, and it’s safe to say that he’s been given the right part here. It’s a surprisingly bold take on a historical story, given that the ones we had in the first series were fairly serious affairs, treating history with a certain amount of reverence. I’m not sure I’d want every historical adventure to be like this, but as a one off it’s a fun approach.
Nero’s chase around the palace with Barbara is an especial highlight, as is his reaction when caught by his wife. The chase also ties in with another favourite thing about the serial for me — I really enjoy Doctor Who and Vicki just missing Barbara, and it never works better than during the chase. I said yesterday that the conceit hadn’t outstayed it’s welcome yet, but it actually doesn’t here either. There’s something really fun about them all having their own little adventures that are interconnected without even realising.
Right through to the point that Vicki saves Barbara’s life by switching her poisoned chalice around. Her confession to Doctor Who afterwards — ‘I think I’ve just poisoned Nero’ — is brilliant, as is the reaction. It’s said in such a nonchalant way, and it’s clearly the version of the character that best suits Maureen O’Brien’s talents. I was disappointed in The Rescue to not really engage with her, as I’ve always thought of Vicki as a favourite, but today she’s really grabbed me. She’s also especially brilliant earlier in the episode in what might be my favourite moment of the story so far;
Doctor Who: There’s some sort of conspiracy going on, my child, and I’ve decided for my own sake I must get to the bottom of it. The sooner I do it the better!
Vicki: All right. See you later.
Doctor Who: Yes, hmm, what? Where are you going?
I really love Doctor Who declaring that he’s going to get himself involved, and Vicki just shrugging it off. It’s a really nice dynamic between the two of them, and as much as I like Doctor Who hanging out with Ian and Babs, I’m really enjoying him being paired up with Vicki on her own.
7/10
Inferno (The Romans — Episode Four)
I might have been hasty in praising Derek Francis’ performance during Conspiracy, because he’s brilliant in this episode. The whole episode hangs on him doing his thing. Much like John Ringham’s turn as Tlotoxl in The Aztecs, you feel as though the performance shouldn’t work, but when you go along with it there’s so much to enjoy.
I could quote almost all of his lines here as favourites, but I’ll restrict myself to two; ‘He didn’t fight hard enough,’ having killed one of his gladiators, and ‘well pick them up, then,’ after he’s tipped a basket of coins on the floor before a load of very confused Romans. I love, too, the shot of him playing his lyre while the city burns around him. How fitting!
I’m also a fan of the story ending with the Great Fire of Rome. There’s something fitting about Doctor Who arriving just on the very edge of history, rather than smack in the middle of it. And it’s great to see his growing realisation that he was the one who caused it in the first place. So much for not changing history — he’s making it!
Vicki gets a lovely little speech about it all, which lands with extra poignancy because it comes at the end of such a comical story;
‘My first real sight of history. Isn’t it strange to think that people will read about that in books for thousands and thousands of years and here am I sitting here actually watching it. It’s a pity they got it all wrong, they didn’t mention you!’
One of my favourite ‘history’ moments in Doctor Who is Rose realising the enormity of time travel when she steps out of the TARDIS and into the world of Charles Dickens, and you can see a real through line from this speech to that scene. It’s lovely, and I think it’s likely to become a moment I return to a lot when I think of Vicki.
Something I’ve not really brought up during this story is just how lovely the sets look. I spoke yesterday about the scale of them in places, but they look so brilliant throughout. There’s a saying about the BBC always going the extra mile for historical stuff, and you can really see that in action here. Even the attempts to make corridors disappear into the distance via forced perspective paintings work better here than in most of the previous examples.
I can’t remember very much of The Romans from my last marathon, but I’ve a vague sense that I didn’t like it very much. So I’m really pleased to find that it’s chimed with me this time around. I’ve really enjoyed it, and I think it’s one I’ll be returning to again once the marathon is over — it feels like a nice one to stick on and just enjoy a bit of decent Doctor Who.
8/10
