The Romans (novelisation)

 was a novelisation based on the 1965 television serial The Romans.

Publisher's summary
The TARDIS crew members have taken a break from their adventures and are enjoying a well-deserved rest in a luxury villa on the outskirts of Imperial Rome.

But in the gory grandeur that is Rome, things don’t stay quiet for long. If the time-travellers can save themselves from being sold as slaves, assassinated by classical hit-men, poisoned by the evil Locusta, thrown to the lions, maimed in the arena and drowned in a shipwreck, they still have to face the diabolical might of the mad Emperor Nero.

As if that isn’t enough, they also discover that, although Rome wasn’t built in a day, it was burnt down in considerably less time...

Deviations from televised story

 * Rather than write a straightforward narrative, Cotton chose to write this novelisation in the form of letters and journal entries.

Writing and publishing notes

 * No photographic reference material was available at the time and cover artist Tony Masero, instead took his inspiration from a picture of Peter Ustinov as Nero in the film Quo Vadis.

Additional cover images
To be added

British publication history

 * Hardback (April 1987)


 * W.H.Allen & Co. Ltd. UK ISBN:049103833X, copies priced £7.50 (UK)
 * Paperback (September 1987)


 * Target / W.H. Allen & Co. Ltd. Single paperback edition, estimated print run: 30,000, priced £1.95 (UK).