The Romans: | ||
 | ep 1 – | Didius makes no less than four attempts to put his sword into its scabbard while he's talking to Sevcheria about their intended capture of the travellers. Eventually he looks down, realises the blade is nowhere near the scabbard, and finally manages to put the thing away. |
| ep 2 – | Hartnell has one of his forgetful spells when he haltingly spits out the following after the attempt on his life: "You know I am so constantly outwitting the opposition... I tend to forget the delights and satisfaction... of the arts... of the gentle art of fisticuffs." And later on in the same scene: "My dear, it was a assepte-...an accepted thing in this age to hire an assassin, prefunbly... prebbably someone dumb, and then he couldn't denounce you." |
 | ep 2 – | Hartnell's dodgy memory strikes again the first time the Doctor meets Tavius; there's an embarrassing pause as Billy-Boy forgets what to say, and then remembers just as Michael Peake is going on to the next line of the script. |
| ep 2 – | When Nero asks the Doctor to play upon the imperial lyre, the Doc replies: "That, your Excellency, would be an impossibissi... bility." |
| ep 2 – | Nero's lyre-playing is embarrassingly fake — the notes "plucked" by the actor differ greatly from the music being played. |
| ep 3 – | This episode begins with a shot of Nero strolling down a corridor, playing his lyre. The slave alongside him annoys him, and ends up wearing the lyre as Nero smashes it over his head. However, if you look closely, you'll see that the lyre is just a frame — it doesn't have any strings on it! |
| ep 3 – | Another stumble from Hartnell as he says to Vicki, "We must not interfere with the course of progress. Or try to accelerate man's... achievements or... progress." No doubt he was meant to say "course of history" and stumbled when he realised he was about to repeat the word "progress," but couldn't think of anything better to replace it with. |
| ep 3 – | A boom mike makes an appearance while Tigilinus is chasing Nero around, trying to put his olive garland on. |
| ep 3 – | At one point while he's chasing Barbara, Nero refers to himself as "Claudius Nero" instead of the correct "Caesar Nero". |
| ep 4 – | The gladiatorial fight scene which begins this episode contains one of the few instances of mooning in the programme's history. After Ian's friend has killed one of Nero's guards, Nero kicks the body off the stage and down into the arena. The guard's very short skirt then flies up and gives the world a good long glimpse of shapely buttock. |
| ep 4 – | Nero pays his fire-starters in metal washers. |