Review of all 4 parts:
This 4 part historical adventure from writer Dennis Spooner is a mix of serious drama and comedy. It takes place in Roman times and brings the time travellers to the court of Emperor Nero leading up to the burning of Rome. It features murder, intrigue and humour, some of which is reminiscent of a 'Carry On' film.
This is well liked by a fair amount of viewers and the first 2 episodes are certainly solid quality but I don't find much in this story particularly exceptional and find episode 3 pretty weak.
The story is mostly a comedy but is mixed with the story's occasionally dark themes of murder, slavery and the burning of a city. I find the first two parts fine but parts 3 and 4 feel too jarring to me at times. The Doctor supposedly fooling a room full of people that he is playing an instrument and Barbara being chased around like a Benny Hill sketch in part 3 take that episode into broad farce which just isn't my taste in a Doctor Who story.
The drama is relatively unexciting at times and it is mainly just a whimsical comedy interlude but the cast carry it off as well as possible and I can accept that amongst dark stories such as The Dalek Invasion of Earth and weird sci fi drama The Web Planet a story like this is intended as a bit of fun. I just find it goes a bit too far into silliness in the last 2 parts.
Writer Spooner was also the show's new script editor. His tenure had a lot more of this type of humour which is not as much to my taste as the more sophisticated style of humour in other eras.
Some good aspects to the drama and the funnier moments of humour along with some entertaining interaction and dialogue for the main characters (including a decent performance by newcomer Maureen O'Brien as Vicki) keep standards in the first 2 parts at a good standard and provide a few good scenes towards the end.
My Ratings:
Episode 1 - 7/10,
Episode 2 - 7.5/10,
Episode 3 - 4/10,
Episode 4 - 5.5/10.
Overall average rating: 6/10.