Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s time for one of my favourite stories out of Season 2 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series as well as my favourite story from the William Hartnell/First Doctor era. Today, we’re taking a look at ‘The Romans’, a four-part historical adventure where our heroes – William Hartnell as the First Doctor, William Russell as Ian, Jacqueline Hill as Barbara and Maureen O’Brien as Vicki – get to visit Italy in 64 A.D. They start in a Roman villa in Assisium before ending up in Rome where the fifth Emperor – Derek Francis as Caesar Nero – reigns. This is a ‘Doctor Who’ historical adventure that is injected with a lot of comedy by the story’s writer Dennis Spooner, who’s also the script editor on Season 2.

I’ve enjoyed revisiting ‘The Romans’ and updating my thoughts on the story, based on viewing it in its latest re-release in the Season 2 Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’. The special features on ‘The Romans’ disc include the ‘Behind the Sofa’ item, featuring Maureen O’Brien, Peter Purves and Carole Ann Ford; Janet Fielding, Wendy Padbury and Sarah Sutton; and Bonnie Langford and Sophie Aldred. The ‘Behind the Sofa’ contributors share some very interesting opinions about this story from watching its highlights. Do I agree with the opinions of these lovely people about ‘The Romans’ or is my opinion unique compared to them?

Please feel free to check out, read and comment on my updated review for ‘The Romans’ by clicking on the link for it. This contains a review on the TV story as well as an updated review on the Target novelization/audiobook ‘Doctor Who – The Romans’ by Donald Cotton, read by Tim Treloar, Jamie Glover, Dan Starkey, Clare Corbett, Jon Culshaw, Maureen O’Brien and Louise Jameson.

You can purchase ‘Doctor Who – The Collection – Season 2’ on Blu-ray either from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.

Enjoy!

Bye for now!

Tim. 🙂