Four episodes
“N ero was a comic character written specially for the late Derek Francis,” director Christopher Barry told the fanzine DWB (as quoted in The DWB Interview File, 1984). History records the real Emperor Nero was just 26 at the time of the Great Fire, whereas Francis (pictured right) was 40 – so why him? Because of his passing resemblance to Frankie Howerd – or indeed Zero Mostel, the Broadway originator of Pseudolus? Or because in 1962 he’d featured in No Cause for Alarm, an ITV Television Playhouse one-off written by Dennis Spooner…?