N is for... Nero

Emperor of Rome in 64AD, at a time when the Doctor and Vicki visited the city. The ruler had previously despatched an assassin to kill the Corinthian lyre-player Maximus Pettulian as he was jealous of his musical talents. Discovering the body, the Doctor was mistaken for the murdered man and decided to maintain the misidentification to see where it would lead. It gave he and Vicki access to the imperial palace.

Also here, unknown to them both, was Barbara Wright. She and Ian Chesterton had been captured by slave-traders. She had been bought by major domo Tavius to act as a servant to the Empress Poppaea. 

The lecherous Nero took a shine to this new slave and pursued her through the palace complex.

Vicki learned of a poison plot by Poppaea to kill a servant (actually Barbara) and, thinking it unfair, swapped the goblets so that the Emperor would die. The Doctor managed to stop this, and Nero had his servant Tigellinus drink the fatal brew to prove it was indeed poisoned.

Aware of his vanity and volatile temperament, the Doctor had to act carefully around the Emperor. At a concert, he played silently - claiming that only the most discerning ear would hear his subtle composition. When it received rapturous applause, Nero was infuriated and decided to finally dispose of his rival.

But first he wanted to see a gladiator contest - and this proved to be between Ian and his new friend Delos. When one of his guards failed to defend him effectively, the Emperor killed him with his own sword.

The next day, Nero had planned that the Doctor should play a concert for the people in the arena when the wild beasts would be released. Tavius managed to warn him of this. As the Doctor spoke with Nero he inadvertently set light to the Emperor's plans for a new Rome - to be named after himself, of course. The Senate, however, were refusing to allow this to proceed. 

Sunlight had been focussed through the Doctor's spectacle lens. Initially furious, Nero then ordered that the Doctor be rewarded as he had been inspired to burn down the existing city - meaning that the Senate would have to agree to his plans.

The Emperor hired a number of men to start fires, under cover of which the Doctor and his companions made their way out of the city and back to where the TARDIS awaited them.

Played by: Derek Francis. Appearances: The Romans (1965).

• Francis was a friend of Jacqueline Hill and her husband Alvin Rakoff, and was the first guest artist to actively seek a role in the programme.
• Best known for comedic performances (he featured in several of the Carry On... films), he and his wife invited the regulars to their home where he put on puppet shows.
• Francis was 41 years old when he played Nero - who was in fact only in his mid-20's in 64AD.
• Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was born in 37AD and was the last of the Julio-Claudian Emperors. He and his mother poisoned his predecessor - his step-father Claudius - in order to achieve the throne. He would later have his domineering mother killed, and also murdered Poppaea in a rage - kicking her to death whilst she was pregnant.
• It's widely accepted that Nero did not start the fire, and wasn't even in Rome at the time.
• His reign came to an end four years after the events of this story, when he lost both political and military support. Fleeing Rome, he had a servant help him commit suicide at a villa north of the city. His body was cremated where the church and convent of S. Maria del Popolo now stands. A tree in the grounds was long thought to be haunted by his ghost.