Up Pompeii!
Encyclopedia
Up Pompeii! is a British television
comedy series broadcast between 1969 and 1970, starring Frankie Howerd
. The first series was written by Talbot Rothwell
, a scriptwriter for the Carry On films, and the second series by Rothwell and Sid Colin
. Two later specials were transmitted in 1975 and 1991.
(pre-eruption) Howerd played a slave, Lurcio . The other main characters were Lurcio's bumbling old master, Senator
Ludicrus Sextus (initially Max Adrian
and then Wallas Eaton
), the senator's promiscuous wife Ammonia
(Elizabeth Larner
), his daughter Erotica
(Georgina Moon) and his eternally virginal son Nausius (Kerry Gardner) (who wrote not very rude odes), along with the Cassandra
-esque Senna
the Soothsayer
(Jeanne Mockford
) and Plautus
(Willie Rushton
). Guest stars included several "Carry On
" actresses with Barbara Windsor
, Wendy Richard
and Valerie Leon
all featuring.
The format was little more than a backdrop for an endless series of double entendres and risqué gags. Howerd was central to most of the gags and he started each episode with a prologue
— a "to camera" piece that was seldom concluded and rarely had anything to do with the episode plot.
Bill Cotton
in an interview with author Graham McCann on 6 June 2000 said that the then director of BBC Comedy, Michael Mills, prompted by the plays of Plautus
, came up with the idea for the show for Frankie Howerd. The musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
, set in ancient Rome, was also said to be an influence. Howerd had recently played the similar role of the slave Pseudolus
in the original London stage run of the musical, and there were parallels between some other characters.
Thirteen 30-minute episodes were made, in two series (March – May and September – October 1970). In addition there was a pilot
episode (1969) and two special episodes entitled Further Up Pompeii, one in 1975 and the other in 1991. The latter sparked speculation that there could be a new series, but Howerd's death in 1992 put an end to any such prospect.
Apart from the change to the actor playing Ludicrus Sextus, there are some differences between the two series of Up Pompeii, the second series using noticeably fewer sets than the previous. This may have been due to the second series being commissioned, filmed and broadcast within four months from the end of the first.
The series was recorded in front of a live studio audience, with whom the cast interacted. Also, Howerd made anachronistic comments like "I don't use that glycerine rubbish" or "The BBC told me..." when such things didn't exist in ancient times. Howerd addressed the audience using aside
s that the other characters couldn't hear (a device that harks back to classical theatre), often commenting on the script, sometimes complaining that everyone else got the good lines. With all the leads being predominantly stage actors, this worked well.
(1971) and added such characters as Bilius, Voluptua, Scrubba and Villanus. It ended with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius
, which anachronistically (for AD79) included Nero
(who added, "Wait till you see what I've up for Rome!
"), and had a brief epilogue in which Howerd played a modern-day museum guide showing the petrified remains of the Pompeiian characters. It was produced by Ned Sherrin
and retained only Frankie Howerd from the cast of the original series (Ludicrus, for example, was played by Michael Hordern
in the film adaptation, Erotica by Madeline Smith
and Nausius by Royce Mills
). However, Aubrey Woods
appeared in the TV series and the film, playing different roles.
The two sequels were Up the Chastity Belt
(1971) and Up the Front
(1972), which transported Howerd's servile, cowardly character to Medieval
times (as Lurkalot) and the First World War (as Private Lurk), respectively, in a similar way to the later Blackadder
series starring Rowan Atkinson
.
The format of Up Pompeii inspired two later TV series, Whoops Baghdad
(1973) and Then Churchill Said to Me
, both starring Howerd. The later series was made in 1982, but was transmitted only after Howerd's death,
, to work on an updated stage version of Up Pompeii! for a proposed national UK tour, but the play was shelved when Howerd was offered a chance by Larry Gelbart
to reprise his role as Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum at the Piccadilly Theatre
in London's West End
. The new play, now revised and updated, had its premiere in Chesterfield
in January 2011 and then embarked on a UK tour. Produced and directed by Bruce James, it starred Damian Williams, host of Sky One's Are You Smarter Than A Ten Year Old?
, as Lurcio the slave. A Kindle ebook version of the play was published in 2011.
master materials. Like many television series of this era, most of the original videotapes were wiped
.
In the late 1970s, missing episodes of Up Pompeii! were found in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
(CBC) archive. Because of the differences in international broadcasting, these copies had been converted to the North American NTSC
television standard, and so one chunk of the series remained in its native PAL format, but the majority were found in a poorly-converted (dating long before digital conversion methods) NTSC state. The picture quality of some of the Canadian finds was not high, and so their marketability was severely limited. However, six episodes were released on VHS in 1991 by BBC Video. (These tapes were re-released by Second Sight in 1999, with a small music edit made to the episode featuring Jamus Bondus.)
In 2004—2005, through the success of a group of BBC employees' restoration work on similar NTSC-only episodes of Doctor Who
, the BBC decided to convert all their NTSC-only productions (as reclaimed from various international stations) back to their original PAL format using a new computer-controlled process, Reverse Standards Conversion
. A PAL-like, higher-quality image resulted in a more stable picture. The new restored masters made their debut on BBC4 in August 2006, and the BBC's DVD distribution arm 2entertain announced a brand new Frankie Howerd Collection in mid-September 2006.
The collection includes not only both original series of Up Pompeii!, but also the 1975 BBC
special Further Up Pompeii! (not to be confused with the 1991 ITV
special Further Up Pompeii), the already-released Comedy Greats: Frankie Howerd DVD, and another Howerd series along a similar vein, Then Churchill Said To Me
.
British television
Public television broadcasting started in the United Kingdom in 1936, and now has a collection of free and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channelsTaking the base Sky EPG TV Channels. A breakdown is impossible due to a) the number of...
comedy series broadcast between 1969 and 1970, starring Frankie Howerd
Frankie Howerd
Francis Alick "Frankie" Howerd OBE was an English comedian and comic actor whose career, described by fellow comedian Barry Cryer as "a series of comebacks", spanned six decades.-Early career:...
. The first series was written by Talbot Rothwell
Talbot Rothwell
Talbot Nelson Conn Rothwell, OBE was an English screenwriter.Rothwell was born in Bromley, Kent, England. He had a variety of jobs during his early life: town clerk, police officer, and Royal Air Force pilot....
, a scriptwriter for the Carry On films, and the second series by Rothwell and Sid Colin
Sid Colin
Sid Colin was an English screenwriter, working for both television and the cinema. He is best rememberd for the television comedies The Army Game , Up Pompeii! and the film Percy's Progress...
. Two later specials were transmitted in 1975 and 1991.
Plot
Set in ancient PompeiiPompeii
The city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning...
(pre-eruption) Howerd played a slave, Lurcio . The other main characters were Lurcio's bumbling old master, Senator
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
Ludicrus Sextus (initially Max Adrian
Max Adrian
Max Adrian was a Northern Irish stage, film and television actor and singer. He was a founding member of both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre....
and then Wallas Eaton
Wallas Eaton
Wallas Eaton , sometimes credited as Wallace Eaton or Wallis Eaton, was an English film, radio, television and theatre actor....
), the senator's promiscuous wife Ammonia
Ammonia
Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . It is a colourless gas with a characteristic pungent odour. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to food and fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or...
(Elizabeth Larner
Elizabeth Larner
Elizabeth Larner was a British actress and a singer with a powerful soprano voice. While her main career was the musical theatre, appearing both in London's West End and on Broadway, she was a seemingly unlikely, but inspired, choice to play Ammonia in the BBC situation comedy Up Pompeii! - a...
), his daughter Erotica
Erotica
Erotica are works of art, including literature, photography, film, sculpture and painting, that deal substantively with erotically stimulating or sexually arousing descriptions...
(Georgina Moon) and his eternally virginal son Nausius (Kerry Gardner) (who wrote not very rude odes), along with the Cassandra
Cassandra
In Greek mythology, Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. Her beauty caused Apollo to grant her the gift of prophecy...
-esque Senna
Senna (genus)
Senna , the sennas, is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae. This diverse genus is native throughout the tropics, with a small number of species reaching into temperate regions. The number of species is usually estimated to be about 260, but some...
the Soothsayer
Fortune-telling
Fortune-telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. The scope of fortune-telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination...
(Jeanne Mockford
Jeanne Mockford
Jeanne Mockford is an English actress. She is probably best known for her role as Senna the Soothsayer alongside her close friend Frankie Howerd in Up Pompeii!. More recently, however, she has made guest appearances in shows such as The Bill, Doctors, Bedsitcom, My Hero and Casualty...
) and Plautus
Plautus
Titus Maccius Plautus , commonly known as "Plautus", was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus...
(Willie Rushton
Willie Rushton
William George Rushton, commonly known as Willie Rushton was an English cartoonist, satirist, comedian, actor and performer who co-founded the Private Eye satirical magazine.- School and army :William George Rushton was born 18 August 1937 in the family home at Scarsdale Villas,...
). Guest stars included several "Carry On
Carry On films
The Carry On films are a series of low-budget British comedy films, directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. They are an energetic mix of parody, farce, slapstick and double entendres....
" actresses with Barbara Windsor
Barbara Windsor
Barbara Ann Windsor, MBE , better known by her stage name Barbara Windsor, is an English actress. Her best known roles are in the Carry On films and as Peggy Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders....
, Wendy Richard
Wendy Richard
Wendy Richard, MBE was an English actress best known for playing Miss Brahms in Are You Being Served? and Pauline Fowler in EastEnders...
and Valerie Leon
Valerie Leon
Valerie Leon is an English actress who had roles in a number of high profile British film franchises, including the Carry On series.-Early life:...
all featuring.
The format was little more than a backdrop for an endless series of double entendres and risqué gags. Howerd was central to most of the gags and he started each episode with a prologue
Prologue
A prologue is an opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information. The Greek prologos included the modern meaning of prologue, but was of wider significance...
— a "to camera" piece that was seldom concluded and rarely had anything to do with the episode plot.
Bill Cotton
Bill Cotton
Sir William Frederick "Bill" Cotton, CBE was a British television producer and executive, and the son of big-band leader Billy Cotton....
in an interview with author Graham McCann on 6 June 2000 said that the then director of BBC Comedy, Michael Mills, prompted by the plays of Plautus
Plautus
Titus Maccius Plautus , commonly known as "Plautus", was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus...
, came up with the idea for the show for Frankie Howerd. The musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart....
, set in ancient Rome, was also said to be an influence. Howerd had recently played the similar role of the slave Pseudolus
Pseudolus
Pseudolus is a play by the ancient Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus. It is one of the earliest examples of Roman literature. The play begins with the shortest prologue of any of the known plays of Plautus, though it is not known whether Plautus wrote this prologue himself or if it was added...
in the original London stage run of the musical, and there were parallels between some other characters.
Thirteen 30-minute episodes were made, in two series (March – May and September – October 1970). In addition there was a pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
episode (1969) and two special episodes entitled Further Up Pompeii, one in 1975 and the other in 1991. The latter sparked speculation that there could be a new series, but Howerd's death in 1992 put an end to any such prospect.
Apart from the change to the actor playing Ludicrus Sextus, there are some differences between the two series of Up Pompeii, the second series using noticeably fewer sets than the previous. This may have been due to the second series being commissioned, filmed and broadcast within four months from the end of the first.
The series was recorded in front of a live studio audience, with whom the cast interacted. Also, Howerd made anachronistic comments like "I don't use that glycerine rubbish" or "The BBC told me..." when such things didn't exist in ancient times. Howerd addressed the audience using aside
Aside
An aside is a dramatic device in which a character speaks to the audience. By convention the audience is to realize that the character's speech is unheard by the other characters on stage. It may be addressed to the audience expressly or represent an unspoken thought. An aside is usually a brief...
s that the other characters couldn't hear (a device that harks back to classical theatre), often commenting on the script, sometimes complaining that everyone else got the good lines. With all the leads being predominantly stage actors, this worked well.
Films and sequels
The show "inspired" three films. The first was also called Up PompeiiUp Pompeii (film)
Up Pompeii is a 1971 British comedy film directed by Bob Kellett and starring Frankie Howerd and Michael Hordern. The film was shot at Elstree Film Studios, Borehamwood, England...
(1971) and added such characters as Bilius, Voluptua, Scrubba and Villanus. It ended with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius
Mount Vesuvius
Mount Vesuvius is a stratovolcano in the Gulf of Naples, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years, although it is not currently erupting...
, which anachronistically (for AD79) included Nero
Nero
Nero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....
(who added, "Wait till you see what I've up for Rome!
Great Fire of Rome
The Great Fire of Rome was an urban fire that occurred beginning July 19, AD 64.-Background:According to Tacitus, the fire spread quickly and burned for six days. Only four of the fourteen districts of Rome escaped the fire; three districts were completely destroyed and the other seven suffered...
"), and had a brief epilogue in which Howerd played a modern-day museum guide showing the petrified remains of the Pompeiian characters. It was produced by Ned Sherrin
Ned Sherrin
Edward George "Ned" Sherrin CBE was an English broadcaster, author and stage director. He qualified as a barrister and then worked in independent television before joining the BBC...
and retained only Frankie Howerd from the cast of the original series (Ludicrus, for example, was played by Michael Hordern
Michael Hordern
Sir Michael Murray Hordern was an English actor, knighted in 1983 for his services to the theatre, which stretched back to before the Second World War.-Personal life:...
in the film adaptation, Erotica by Madeline Smith
Madeline Smith
Madeline Smith is an English actress and comedienne. She was a model in the 1960s, and appeared in many comedy films Madeline Smith (born 2 August 1949 in Hartfield, Sussex) is an English actress and comedienne. She was a model in the 1960s, and appeared in many comedy films Madeline Smith (born 2...
and Nausius by Royce Mills
Royce Mills
Royce Mills is an English television, stage and film actor.He attended Eastbourne College, then studied fine art for 5 years and qualified as a theatre designer before attending the Guildhall School where he was a prize winning student.He then joined in Bristol Old Vic and appeared in many theatres...
). However, Aubrey Woods
Aubrey Woods
Aubrey Woods is an English actor. He was born in London.His television credits include: Z-Cars, Up Pompeii!, Doctor Who , Blake's 7, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Ever Decreasing Circles...
appeared in the TV series and the film, playing different roles.
The two sequels were Up the Chastity Belt
Up the Chastity Belt
Up the Chastity Belt is a 1971 British film, a spin-off from the TV series Up Pompeii! that starred Frankie Howerd and was directed by Bob Kellett.-Synopsis:...
(1971) and Up the Front
Up the Front
Up the Front is a 1972 British comedy film. It is the third film spin-off from the TV series Up Pompeii! , directed by Bob Kellett, it stars Frankie Howerd as Lurk , a coward who is hypnotised into...
(1972), which transported Howerd's servile, cowardly character to Medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
times (as Lurkalot) and the First World War (as Private Lurk), respectively, in a similar way to the later Blackadder
Blackadder
Blackadder is the name that encompassed four series of a BBC1 historical sitcom, along with several one-off instalments. All television programme episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as anti-hero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robinson as Blackadder's dogsbody, Baldrick...
series starring Rowan Atkinson
Rowan Atkinson
Rowan Sebastian Atkinson is a British actor, comedian, and screenwriter. He is most famous for his work on the satirical sketch comedy show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Thin Blue Line...
.
The format of Up Pompeii inspired two later TV series, Whoops Baghdad
Whoops Baghdad
Whoops Baghdad is a BBC television comedy programme first broadcast from 25 January to 1 March 1973.It stars Frankie Howerd, and was similar to his earlier programme Up Pompeii!, with the setting moved from Ancient Rome to mediaeval Baghdad...
(1973) and Then Churchill Said to Me
Then Churchill Said to Me
Then Churchill Said To Me is a television comedy series starring Frankie Howerd and Nicholas Courtney. Made in 1982, the series was not screened until 1993.-Outline:The comedy is set is Winston Churchill's secret underground wartime bunker...
, both starring Howerd. The later series was made in 1982, but was transmitted only after Howerd's death,
Stage play
In 1988, Howerd asked one of his writers, Miles TredinnickMiles Tredinnick
Miles Tredinnick, also known as Riff Regan, is a rock musician, songwriter and a stage and screen writer. In the 1970s, he was the lead singer with the British rock band London. Afterwards he went on to write comedy plays for the stage...
, to work on an updated stage version of Up Pompeii! for a proposed national UK tour, but the play was shelved when Howerd was offered a chance by Larry Gelbart
Larry Gelbart
Larry Simon Gelbart was an American television writer, playwright, screenwriter and author.-Early life:...
to reprise his role as Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum at the Piccadilly Theatre
Piccadilly Theatre
The Piccadilly Theatre is a West End theatre located at 16 Denman Street, behind Piccadilly Circus and adjacent to the Regent Palace Hotel, in the City of Westminster, England.-Early years:Built by Bertie Crewe and Edward A...
in London's West End
West End of London
The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment . Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...
. The new play, now revised and updated, had its premiere in Chesterfield
Chesterfield
Chesterfield is a market town and a borough of Derbyshire, England. It lies north of Derby, on a confluence of the rivers Rother and Hipper. Its population is 70,260 , making it Derbyshire's largest town...
in January 2011 and then embarked on a UK tour. Produced and directed by Bruce James, it starred Damian Williams, host of Sky One's Are You Smarter Than A Ten Year Old?
Are You Smarter Than A 10 Year Old? (UK)
Are You Smarter Than a/Your 10 Year Old? was a British quiz show which aired on Sky1. There were two editions, one broadcast weekly in primetime, hosted by Noel Edmonds and a daily version, originally hosted by Dick and Dom, but later hosted by Damian Williams...
, as Lurcio the slave. A Kindle ebook version of the play was published in 2011.
DVD release
Until recently, no complete home video release has been undertaken due to the nature of the videotapeVideotape
A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...
master materials. Like many television series of this era, most of the original videotapes were wiped
Wiping
Wiping or junking is a colloquial term for action taken by radio and television production and broadcasting companies, in which old audiotapes, videotapes, and telerecordings , are erased, reused, or destroyed after several uses...
.
In the late 1970s, missing episodes of Up Pompeii! were found in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
(CBC) archive. Because of the differences in international broadcasting, these copies had been converted to the North American NTSC
NTSC
NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
television standard, and so one chunk of the series remained in its native PAL format, but the majority were found in a poorly-converted (dating long before digital conversion methods) NTSC state. The picture quality of some of the Canadian finds was not high, and so their marketability was severely limited. However, six episodes were released on VHS in 1991 by BBC Video. (These tapes were re-released by Second Sight in 1999, with a small music edit made to the episode featuring Jamus Bondus.)
In 2004—2005, through the success of a group of BBC employees' restoration work on similar NTSC-only episodes of Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, the BBC decided to convert all their NTSC-only productions (as reclaimed from various international stations) back to their original PAL format using a new computer-controlled process, Reverse Standards Conversion
Reverse Standards Conversion
Reverse Standards Conversion or RSC is a process developed by a team led by James Insell at the BBC for the restoration of video recordings which have already been converted between different video standards using early conversion techniques....
. A PAL-like, higher-quality image resulted in a more stable picture. The new restored masters made their debut on BBC4 in August 2006, and the BBC's DVD distribution arm 2entertain announced a brand new Frankie Howerd Collection in mid-September 2006.
The collection includes not only both original series of Up Pompeii!, but also the 1975 BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
special Further Up Pompeii! (not to be confused with the 1991 ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
special Further Up Pompeii), the already-released Comedy Greats: Frankie Howerd DVD, and another Howerd series along a similar vein, Then Churchill Said To Me
Then Churchill Said to Me
Then Churchill Said To Me is a television comedy series starring Frankie Howerd and Nicholas Courtney. Made in 1982, the series was not screened until 1993.-Outline:The comedy is set is Winston Churchill's secret underground wartime bunker...
.
Pilot
| Episode Title | Original Channel | Duration | Airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comedy Playhouse Comedy Playhouse Comedy Playhouse was a long-running British anthology series of one-off unrelated sitcoms that aired for 120 episodes from 1961 to 1975. Many episodes later graduated to their own series, including Steptoe and Son, Till Death Us Do Part, All Gas and Gaiters, The Liver Birds, Are You Being Served?... : "Up Pompeii!" |
BBC1 | 35 minutes | 17 September 1969 |
Series 1
| Episode Title | Original Channel | Duration | Airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Vestal Virgins" | BBC1 | 35 minutes | 30 March 1970 |
| "The Ides Of March" | BBC1 | 35 minutes | 6 April 1970 |
| "The Senator And The Asp" | BBC1 | 35 minutes | 13 April 1970 |
| "Britannicus" | BBC1 | 35 minutes | 20 April 1970 |
| "The Actors" | BBC1 | 35 minutes | 27 April 1970 |
| "Spartacus" | BBC1 | 35 minutes | 4 May 1970 |
| "The Love Potion" | BBC1 | 35 minutes | 11 May 1970 |
Series 2
| Episode Title | Original Channel | Duration | Airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| "The Legacy" | BBC 1 | 30 minutes | 14 September 1970 |
| "Roman Holiday" | BBC 1 | 30 minutes | 21 September 1970 |
| "James Bondus" | BBC 1 | 30 minutes | 28 September 1970 |
| "The Peace Treaty" | BBC 1 | 30 minutes | 12 October 1970 |
| "Nymphia" | BBC 1 | 30 minutes | 19 October 1970 |
| "Exodus" | BBC 1 | 30 minutes | 26 October 1970 |
Specials
| Episode Title | Original Channel | Duration | Airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Further Up Pompeii!" | BBC 1 | 45 minutes | 31 March 1975 |
| "Further Up Pompeii" | ITV/LWT | 14 December 1991 |