Synopsis:
Ian and Delos discover that they are to fight wild animals in the arena...
The next morning, the Doctor learns from Tavius that "Maximus" is expected to carry out some sort of action, but has little time in which to do it.
Poppaea has suggested that Nero host a feast in honour of the Corinthian lyre player when Barbara is brought in by the major-domo and introduced to her new mistress. The Emperor cannot help but show his own lascivious interest in her. In the palace corridors, Barbara just manages to miss bumping into the Doctor and Vicki as Nero pursues her.
Vicki is left to explore on her own as the Doctor goes off to meet Nero. She finds herself in a kitchen-like laboratory, presided over by a woman named Locusta. She introduces herself as Court Poisoner.
Seeing the interest that her husband is showing in the new slave, Poppaea determines to get rid of her as quickly as possible. She goes to Locusta and orders a new poison from her.
Once it is mixed and placed in a drink, Vicki decides to switch it with an identical goblet.
In the caldarium, the Doctor tries to learn from Nero what intrigues are afoot, in order to work out what Pettulian's part was in them. Nero is sure that there are no conspiracies, as he is usually the author of them.
A short time later, Nero gives Barbara a gold bracelet and is about to share a drink with her when she manages to slip away. The Doctor rushes up and announces that the drink is poisoned, after Vicki has told him of the swap. The Emperor forces his servant Tigilinus to try the drink - and he drops down dead.
Poppaea blames Locusta for the failure to kill Barbara, and orders her sent to feed the lions in the arena.
That evening, the banquet gets underway. It is going well, until Nero announces a special entertainment - a performance by the great Maximus Pettulian. The Doctor tells his audience that the piece he is about to play is so subtle that only those with the most refined hearing will be able to distinguish it. He then plays the lyre silently. The audience, not wishing to appear lacking in artistic refinement, pretend to hear and enjoy the music - including the Emperor. When he has finished, the Doctor points out to Vicki that he has used the idea of the Emperor's New Clothes - the story by Hans Christian Andersen in which a vain ruler is duped into going naked when he thinks his clothes can only be seen by people with the taste to do so. He reveals that it was he who gave the Danish writer the idea in the first place.
Nero is furious at the amount of applause which greets the Doctor, and is overcome by jealousy.
In a foul mood, he takes himself off to the arena of the gladiator school, dragging Barbara with him. She is shocked to see that one of the fighters is Ian. He calls out to her that he will rescue her. The two men are then forced to fight, and Delos soon overpowers Ian.
Seeing that Barbara knows and has feelings for the defeated slave, Nero orders Delos to despatch his opponent...
Written by: Dennis Spooner
Recorded: Friday 8th January 1965 - Riverside Studio 1
First broadcast: 5:40pm, Saturday 30th January 1965
Ratings: 10 million / AI 50
Designer: Raymond P Cusick
Director: Christopher Barry
Additional cast: Ann Tirard (Locusta)
Farce: A comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterisation and ludicrously improbable situations...
A ridiculous situation or event, or something considered a waste of time...
They say that one of the key ingredients of great comedy is timing. Broadcasting the most openly farcical episode of an intentionally comic story on the day of Winston Churchill's funeral is, to say the least, a case of very bad timing. Of course, the production team weren't to know when the old warhorse was going to kick the bucket and get himself planted, so they were simply victims of circumstance - which, ironically, is a common component of farce.
Whilst the story overall has featured a degree of humour from the outset, it has been rationed only to certain sequences so far - such as Ian and Barbara's teasing of each other at the villa in the first episode. The idea that this story is an outright comedy from start to finish is clearly a false one. There are far more scenes of human misery - murder and enslavement - than there are funny moments.
The comedy reputation derives mostly from this third instalment.
This is the one which has a higher farcical quotient - with Nero's attempts to seduce Barbara and her manoeuvres to avoid him; the near misses between her and the Doctor / Vicki in the palace corridors; Tigilinus' "comedy" death; and the business between Hartnell and Derek Francis in the caldarium.
The character of Tigilinus is presented here as a comic figure, a humble servant who acts as cup bearer. The historical character associated with Nero was quite a different person.
Gaius Ofonius Tigillinus was the Prefect of the Praetorian Guard from 62AD to the Emperor's death in 68AD. He had gained his position through friendship with Nero's mother, Agrippina the Younger, and had a deserved reputation for cruelty. When Nero died, he switched allegiance to his successor Galba. However, he only lasted a few months (this was the 'Year of the Four Emperors') and the next ruler, Otto, ordered his execution. He committed suicide before sentence could be passed.
He was reputedly closely involved with the Great Fire of 64AD. According to Tacitus, when the fire had finally been brought under control, it broke out again on his private estate in the Aemilian district - leading people to believe he was fanning it intentionally.
Locusta is also based on a real person - but she was never "Official Poisoner to the Court". Originally from Gaul, she did help Nero and his mother poison those who stood in their path to the throne, like the Emperor Claudius and his son Britannicus. Nero is supposed to have had her train up other poisoners, and she is regarded today as the world's first ever serial killer.
She survived the death of Nero - but only just. She was executed by Galba, along with other favourites of Nero, in January 69AD.
I read a review of this story once, in which the author bemoaned the fact that the arena at the episode's conclusion was underwhelming. They seemed to think that it ought to look like the Colosseum. That famous Roman landmark was only built after Nero's death - it gets its name from the massive golden statue of Nero, in the grounds of his Golden House created on land cleared by the Great Fire.
Rome's first amphitheatre was a wooden one, and it did not get a more permanent structure until 29BC.
Attached to the arena was a gladiator school, or ludus, which had its own smaller practice arena. In this episode, it is most likely this school arena that Nero has taken Barbara to.
Below is one of my photos, taken in October 2018, of the gladiator school associated with the Colosseum - the Ludus Magnus. Note the curved structure in the upper right corner, which marks part of the footprint of the oval practice arena.
Chris Barry and Ray Cusick were quick to acknowledge that a Roman banquet did not see its guests sitting on chairs around tables. They reclined on couches known as triclinares (of the triclinium, or dining room). In a domestic setting there would have been three of these, with the head of the household taking the central one. For an event as large as an Emperor's, many triclinares would have been set out - but the studio at Riverside (see the set model image below) simply wouldn't be able to accommodate an authentic set-up.
Barry considered using some of his 75 minute recording time to retake the scene of Nero's entrance from the second episode, which he had not been happy with. However, he changed his mind and elected not to do this.
William Russell had cut his wrist during the rehearsals for the closing sword fight - and Peter Diamond sustained a cut to the forehead during the actual recording.
At one point Francis accidentally referred to himself as "Claudius Nero", instead of the scripted "Caesar Nero".
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that the Sondheim musical comedy A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (1962) might be one of this story's inspirations. The scene I was thinking about involved a pair of goblets - one of which was safe whilst the other contained poison. Naturally, these got mixed up.
One is also reminded of the 1955 Danny Kaye movie The Court Jester. This also features two cups - one safe, one not - and there is a rhyme which Kaye has to remember to illustrate which is which:
"The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle. The chalice from the palace has the brew which is true".
The Doctor appears to have visited Copenhagen at some point just prior to 1837, as that was the year in which The Emperor's New Clothes was first published by Hans Christian Andersen (1805 - 1875).
Trivia:
- Unfortunately, events on the national stage hit the ratings badly. Obviously we cannot put the low audience down to the comedy elements, as no-one would have known about them until after the episode had aired - but the appreciation figure would show exactly what the viewers thought of it at the time of watching.
- This was the longest episode of the story, at 26' 18". The instalments on either side run to just over 23 minutes.
- The recording date - 8th January - marked William Hartnell's 57th birthday.
- Jacqueline Hill was absent from rehearsals on Wednesday 6th January, visiting Ealing for some filming for The Web Planet.
- Ann Tirard returned to the series to play the Seeker in The Ribos Operation.
- A major-domo was a chief steward or servant, responsible for the running of a household - a slave in a position of authority over all the other slaves.
- The caldarium was the hot room of a Roman baths.
- Third Doctor Jon Pertwee had been one of the stars of the original London production of A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, but failed to win his role for the 1966 cinema version. That went to Phil Silvers. Pertwee was given a small cameo by way of consolation. On location one morning, he learned that Silvers was refusing to come on set, and agreed to step in and replace him. However, a member of the production team warned Silvers that he was about to be replaced and so he hurriedly arrived on set. Pertwee never forgave the crew member who had gone to speak with Silvers.
- Below, Christopher Barry's set model for this episode, which helped him plan his camera moves. We can tell which episode this covers from the three tables, laid out in a U-shape just right of centre at the front - the set-up for the Emperor's feast.
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