The Art of... The Romans

The novelisation of The Romans is by Donald Cotton, who wrote a pair of Hartnell historical stories which have a similar structure to Spooner's tale - three episodes with a lot of humour, followed by a fourth which is full of violence and bloodshed (The Myth Makers and The Gunfighters).

Cotton chose to tell the story in the form of letters, diaries and journals by a variety of characters, from assassin Ascaris to Poppaea, and poisoner Locusta to Ian and Barbara.

The cover would be sure to attract the casual buyer - with the fire and some Roman Emperor on his throne. A shame it isn't the Nero from the televised story, or even one based on the real Emperor, who we know from a number of busts. (Apparently the artist wasn't given any BBC photographs, and so used an image of Peter Ustinov from the movie Quo Vadis as a reference).

The Great Fire appears on all of these covers, despite only featuring at the very end of the fourth episode, and then only seen at a distance.

The artist is Tony Masero, and the book was first published in September 1987.

You will know from the last of these "The Art of..." posts that The Romans was released on VHS in September 1994 as part of a double-pack accompanied by The Rescue. On Andrew Skilleter's cover this story is represented by the Doctor in Roman costume, a central panel featuring the burning city, and the SPQR mosaic band along the bottom section.

Like the VHS, the Region 2 DVD was released as part of a box set coupled with The Rescue. The Great Fire forms the backdrop to photographs of the Doctor (with lyre), Ian and Barbara, and Derek Francis' Nero. Release date was February 2009. Apparently some copies of the DVD had a mistake on the rear cover, claiming the story was written by David Whitaker instead of Spooner.

The Australian / Region 4 release has the same cover, save for a wider orange band along the bottom.

The US DVD did not get its own individual release. Instead, it was packaged in a single sleeve with The Rescue. This was released in July 2009. Apart from a burning building, the cover focuses more on Vicki's introductory story.

Even though this is not a missing story, there are those who like to listen to the soundtracks. This was issued in May 2008 with linking narration by William Russell, who is also interviewed. The cover comprises a rather gaudily coloured photo-montage, including the now obligatory flames.

The audiobook was released in January 2023, and has taken a different approach to other adaptations. As mentioned, Cotton elected to tell the story in the form of various letters and journals by a number of participants, and so the audiobook employs a large cast representing these numerous individuals.

The cover is a repeat of the book's artwork and doesn't really make the most of the larger, squarer format.