Unmissable show?
I try not to miss Newsnight or Question Time, even though both of them often make me cross. That’s part of the pleasure, really. There’s a certain amount of schadenfreude watching Question Time once you’ve been on it, thinking about how you’d have answered a certain question. Going on there is a real adrenaline rush.
Earliest TV memory?
I remember being terrified by Doctor Who. It was in a cave full of skulls and William Hartnell looked really weird. It was the first time I remember actually being scared by TV. I remember hardly being able to watch it. But we’d just got the telly and there was a real vividness, even in black and white. So maybe that was it. The idea of moving pictures coming into your living room seemed so amazing.
Bring back...?
You couldn’t have gone on with it, but the thing I loved the most was I, Claudius. If I watched it now I might think differently; I’m sure the scenery would wobble a bit. I can vividly remember when the emperor Augustus died and the camera stayed on his face for what seemed like an age. It was such a striking moment. I shouldn’t say this, but it might be the only show where the TV version is better than the original novel.
TV turn-off?
Almost all sport. I used to watch Wimbledon and the Olympics when I was a kid. But if I wanted to see a football match, I’d rather go down to Cambridge United and see it live.
Pitch us a TV show
I’d like to see a series about people on the wrong side of history. The recent series about the suffragettes was super but I’d be fascinated to see an hour about people who didn’t want to give women the vote. There’s a tendency to tell the story from the point of view of the reformers. And, clearly, they’re in the right. But still, it would be interesting to ask what the objectors objected to. It would probably help us politically now.
Pompeii: New Secrets Revealed With Mary Beard airs on Thursday 3 March, 9pm, BBC1
